Donnie Henderson (born May 17, 1957) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. He most recently was the defensive coordinator at Arizona State, and before that he was defensive coordinator of the Salt Lake Stallions of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan area ...

(AAF).

Biography

Henderson first joined the Jets during the

2004 NFL season The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004, to January 2, 2005. Hurricanes forced ...

. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, the Jets had a second-ranked defense against the pass, but a 32nd-ranked defense against the run, which undoubtedly was one of the factors leading to the team's disappointing 4–12 record (in addition to Chad Pennington and

Curtis Martin Curtis James Martin Jr. (born May 1, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college football for the Pit ...

being absent for most of the season due to injury). Henderson was not kept on after

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Herman Edwards Herman Lee Edwards (born April 27, 1954) is an American football coach and former player. He played cornerback in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. Edwards was also a head coach in the NFL ...

was replaced by

Eric Mangini Eric Anthony Mangini (born January 19, 1971) is an American former professional football coach and current television sports analyst. He served as a head coach for the New York Jets from 2006 to 2008 and the Cleveland Browns from 2009 to 2010. ...

following the season. Henderson soon accepted the defensive coordinator position for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

and new head coach, Rod Marinelli. The Lions went 3–13 in 2006 and finished the season ranked 27th out of 32 in total defense. Henderson was fired from his position on January 2, 2007. In 2010, he was hired by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

as a defensive backs coach. Henderson coached at Southern University in 2011 and was named the defensive backs coach at Syracuse University in 2012. He was hired by the Buffalo Bills in 2013 to coach the defensive backs. He was a coach in

The Spring League The Spring League (TSL) was an American football Minor league football (gridiron), developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional football (gridiron), p ...

in 2017 and 2018. In October 2018, he was announced as the defensive coordinator for the Salt Lake Stallions of the

. During the 2021 season, Henderson filled in at Arizona State as the interim defensive backs coach, and then following the season, he was promoted to defensive coordinator.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Donnie 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Baltimore Players of American football from Maryland African-American coaches of American football NFL defensive coordinators Arizona Cardinals coaches Baltimore Ravens coaches Buffalo Bills coaches Detroit Lions coaches New York Jets coaches Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches California Golden Bears football coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Sacramento Mountain Lions coaches Southern Jaguars football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches Utah State Aggies football coaches The Spring League coaches Salt Lake Stallions coaches 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen