Shawn Mennenga (born January 8, 1971) 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 was the special teams coordinator for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

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 ...

from 2019 to 2020. since

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. After beginning his NFL coaching career with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

under

Pat Shurmur Patrick Carl Shurmur (born April 14, 1965) is an American football coach who serves as the offensive coordinator at the Colorado Buffaloes football team, University of Colorado. Prior to joining the staff at Colorado, he most recently served as ...

after years of college coaching experience. During 2018 Shawn became the special teams coordinator for Vanderbilt before ultimately returning to the NFL.

Playing career

Mennenga lettered one season as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Coaching career

College coaching

Shawn began coaching in the college ranks Mennenga also coached in the collegiate ranks at

Southwest Baptist University Southwest Baptist University (SBU) is a private Baptist university in Bolivar, Missouri, United States. It is affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2023, it had a total enrollment ...

, first as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

in 1994 and then coaching the team's secondary from 1995 to 1996. This was followed by Shawn coaching the 1997 season as the outside linebackers coach for

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

. He followed this by spending 3 years as the defensive coordinator at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. He followed this by becoming the defensive coordinator at Culver-Stockton College for the 2001 season. Following the season he received a promotion to become the head coach of the team a position he would hold until 2004. After his head coaching sting Shawn would spend four years at

Fort Hays State University Fort Hays State University (FHSU) is a public university in Hays, Kansas, United States. It is the largest university in western Kansas, and the fourth largest of the six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents, with a total ...

as the team's defensive coordinator. Mennenga spent the 2009–2010 seasons as the linebackers coach at

South Dakota State South Dakota State University (SDSU or SD State) is a public land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota, United States. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest university and is the second oldest continually operating universit ...

, he helped the defensive improve and lead the team to their first-ever appearance in the

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

playoffs.

Return to college

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Shawn returned to college becoming the special teams coordinator at Vanderbilt. He helped punter Parker Thome rank 4th in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

with an average of 44.9 yards per punt on 51 punts, including 14 punts of 50-plus yards and 19 inside the 20-yard line. Thome's average was tied for the fourth best in a season in school history, and he set a single-game school record by averaging 55.3 yards on three punts in Vanderbilt's win vs.

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

NFL coaching

Cleveland Browns

In , Mennenga made the jump to the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a 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 Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

and served as the special teams assistant for the

under

, a position he would hold for seven seasons (

–

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

). During this time, Mennenga helped the Browns rank No. 7 in the NFL over that span in punt return with an average of 9.9 yards and opponent kickoff return average 21.8 yards. In addition the Browns were the only team in the AFC to earn at least one AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award each season from 2011 to 2016, picking up seven awards over that span of time.

Green Bay Packers

Shawn Mennenga returned to the NFL in becoming the

special teams coordinator under first year head coach

Matt LaFleur Matthew Robert LaFleur ( ; born November 3, 1979) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He has served as the quarterback coach of the W ...

. Mennenga was fired on January 29, 2021.

Head coaching record

Family

Mennenga and his wife, Christie, have a son, Garrett, and a daughter, Ashley.

References

External links

Shawn Mennenga Packers coaching bio

Shawn Mennenga Vanderbilt coaching bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mennenga, Shawn 1971 births Living people American football defensive backs Cleveland Browns coaches Culver–Stockton Wildcats football coaches Fort Hays State Tigers football coaches Green Bay Packers coaches Hutchinson Blue Dragons football coaches Missouri Tigers football players People from Marshall County, Iowa Sportspeople from Strongsville, Ohio Players of American football from Cuyahoga County, Ohio South Dakota State Jackrabbits football coaches Southwest Baptist Bearcats football coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaches