Nathan Poole (born February 1, 1977) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He is the

s coach for

North Carolina A&T State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public university, public, Historically black colleges and universities, historicall ...

, a position he has held since 2020. He was originally signed 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 ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2001. He played

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

. Poole is best known for his game-winning touchdown that eliminated the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

from playoff contention in 2003.

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals

Poole was signed by the

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

on April 23, 2001. He was waived after training camp on September 1 but was re-signed to the practice squad on December 3, 2001. The Cardinals waived Poole again on September 26, 2002 but brought him back to the practice squad a month later on October 30 and signed him to the active roster November 6. Making his NFL debut on December 1, Poole played in five games with one start for the Cardinals in 2002, with 13 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. His first NFL score came from

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Jake Plummer Jason Steven "Jake" Plummer (born December 19, 1974) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils. Pl ...

against 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 ...

on December 8. Poole appeared in five games (one start) his first season playing, catching 13 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. As an exclusive-rights free agent in 2003, Poole was tendered a contract re-signed. He was released by the team on August 31 but was re-signed to the active roster on September 12 and remained there the rest of the season. He appeared in 15 games and started one, catching 13 passes for a career-high 177 yards and one touchdown. It was in the season finale on December 28 that Poole had his best game as a pro and became, at least for the moment, a household name. With the

leading 17-12 and needing a win to secure a playoff spot, Poole caught a 28-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

pass from quarterback

Josh McCown Joshua Treadwell McCown (born July 4, 1979) is an American professional American football, football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college foo ...

with no time remaining to win the game and eliminate the Vikings from playoff contention. Poole finished the game with five catches for 86 yards - both career highs. Because of the Cardinals' win, the Packers made the playoffs. The city of Green Bay gave Poole the key to the city and invited him to attend the Packers' playoff game at Lambeau Field against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

. Poole was initially placed in a luxury box, but then decided to go out into the elements with the rest of the Packers fans. Poole re-signed with the Cardinals on May 30, 2004 and began the season on the team's physically-unable-to-perform list. He made the team out of training camp once again and went on to play in nine games with one start. Poole finished the year with five catches for 70 yards.

New Orleans Saints

In the 2005 offseason, the Cardinals declined to tender a contract to Poole - a

restricted free agent A restricted free agent (RFA) is a type of free agent in some sports leagues, such as the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), and National Basketball Association (NBA). Such players have special restrictions on the term ...

. He signed a two-year, $1 million contract with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

on May 18. After being cut by the team on September 3, Poole was re-signed by the team less than three weeks later on September 21. On November 6, Poole tore the ACL, MCL and

patellar tendon The patellar tendon is the distal portion of the common tendon of the quadriceps femoris, which is continued from the patella to the tibial tuberosity. It is also sometimes called the patellar ligament as it forms a bone to bone connection whe ...

in his knee against the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. He was placed on season-ending

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

, finishing the season with three catches for 63 yards in seven games.

Knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

problems often kept Poole out of practice during training camp with the Saints in 2006, and he was eventually waived on July 26.

Coaching career

In April 2018, Poole was named wide receivers coach for the

Wingate Bulldogs The Wingate Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent Wingate University, located in Wingate, North Carolina, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Bulldogs compete as members of the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) for all 22 vars ...

football team. In 2020, Poole was hired as the wide receivers coach for North Carolina A&T.

References

External links

North Carolina A&T Aggies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, Nate 1977 births Living people American football wide receivers Arizona Cardinals players Marshall Thundering Herd football players New Orleans Saints players North Carolina A&T Aggies football coaches Wingate Bulldogs football coaches Coaches of American football from Virginia Players of American football from Danville, Virginia