Perry Fewell (born September 7, 1962) 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 currently serves as the senior vice president of officiating administration for 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)'s officiating department. Previously, he served as the defensive backs coach or defensive coordinator for eight NFL teams between 1998 and 2019. He also served as the interim

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 ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

in 2009 and for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

in 2019. Fewell won

Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

as the defensive coordinator of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

, a position he held for five seasons.

Early life

Fewell attended South Point High School in

Belmont, North Carolina Belmont is a small Suburb, suburban city in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States, located about east of Gastonia, North Carolina, Gastonia. The population was 10,076 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. Once known as Garibaldi ...

. In 1979, he helped lead the school to a 3-A state football championship.

College

Fewell attended Lenoir-Rhyne College and was a football standout. In football, he was a four-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

. As a senior, he was named the team's Most Improved Player.

Coaching career

College

Fewell was a college coach for 13 years (1985–1997), working as an assistant at North Carolina, Army, Kent State, and Vanderbilt.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Fewell entered the NFL as the defensive backs coach for Tom Coughlin in 1998 and stayed there through 2002. Jacksonville's pass defense ranked third in the NFL in 1999 and two years later the Jaguars gave up only 13 touchdown passes.

St. Louis Rams

In 2003, Fewell moved to St. Louis, where he was the secondary coach of the Rams.

Chicago Bears

Fewell was a defensive backs coach with Chicago from 2004 to 2005 under head coach

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach. He has served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL) and the Illinois Fighting Illini. Smith has be ...

Buffalo Bills

Fewell was hired as defensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills in 2006. In what was statistically their best season under Fewell, the 2008 Bills defense ranked 2nd in the AFC in negative yardage plays, recorded 7 games of holding opposing offenses to less than 100 yards rushing, finished 4th in the NFL in red zone defense (41.8%), and allowed just 14 passing touchdowns all year. In Week 10 of the 2009 season, the Bills fired head coach

Dick Jauron Richard Manual Jauron (; October 7, 1950February 8, 2025) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played eight seasons in the NFL as a safety, five with the Detroit Lions and three with t ...

after a 3–6 start and Fewell was appointed interim head coach. He led Buffalo to a 3–4 finish. Following the season finale, the Bills fired their entire coaching staff, including Fewell.

New York Giants

On January 14, 2010, Fewell was hired as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. Fewell served under head coach Tom Coughlin, under whom Fewell previously worked during his time with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

. On February 5, 2012, the Giants defeated the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

21–17 to win

. Under his leadership, the Giants defense was often criticized for being "off and soft", allowing other teams to come back into games they should not have been able to. On January 7, 2015, the Giants and Fewell parted ways after he spent five years in charge of the defense.

Washington Redskins

Fewell served as defensive backs coach for the Washington Redskins for two seasons.

Return to the Jacksonville Jaguars

After Tom Coughlin returned to the

as the executive vice president of football operations, Fewell was brought in to act as the defensive backs coach on Doug Marrone's staff.

Carolina Panthers

Fewell was named the secondary coach of the Carolina Panthers on January 15, 2019. He was named interim head coach on December 3, 2019, following the dismissal of

Ron Rivera Ronald Eugene Rivera (born January 7, 1962) is an American football executive and former professional player and coach who is the general manager for the California Golden Bears. He played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as ...

. The team lost all four games with Fewell acting as Head Coach.

NFL officiating

In 2020, Fewell joined the NFL's officiating department as senior vice president of officiating administration.

Head coaching record

* – Interim head coach

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fewell, Perry 1962 births Living people New York Giants coaches Buffalo Bills coaches Buffalo Bills head coaches Chicago Bears coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Washington Redskins coaches St. Louis Rams coaches Carolina Panthers coaches NFL defensive coordinators Army Black Knights football coaches Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches Lenoir–Rhyne Bears football players North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches People from Belmont, North Carolina African-American coaches of American football Players of American football from Gaston County, North Carolina Lenoir–Rhyne University alumni NFL executives Carolina Panthers head coaches