Dom Capers

Dom Capers

Capers in August 2011
Green Bay Packers
Position:	Defensive Coordinator
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1950-08-07) August 7, 1950 (age 66)
Place of birth:	Cambridge, Ohio
Career information
High school:	Byesville (OH) Meadowbrook
College:	Mount Union
Career history
As coach:
Kent State (1972–1974) Graduate assistant Washington (1975) Graduate assistant Hawaii (1975–1976) Defensive backs coach San José State (1977) Defensive backs coach California (1978–1979) Defensive backs coach Tennessee (1980–1981) Defensive backs coach Ohio State (1982–1983) Defensive backs coach Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (1984–1985) Defensive backs coach New Orleans Saints (1986–1991) Defensive backs coach Pittsburgh Steelers (1992–1994) Defensive coordinator Carolina Panthers (1995–1998) Head coach Jacksonville Jaguars (1999–2000) Defensive coordinator Houston Texans (2002–2005) Head coach Miami Dolphins (2006) Special assistant to head coach Miami Dolphins (2007) Defensive coordinator New England Patriots (2008) Special assistant & secondary coach Green Bay Packers (2009–present) Defensive coordinator
Career highlights and awards
AP NFL Coach of the Year (1996) Super Bowl champion (XLV)
Head coaching record
Regular season:	48–80 (.375)
Postseason:	1–1 (.500)
Career:	49–81 (.377)
Coaching stats at PFR

Ernest Dominic Capers (born August 7, 1950) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Capers served as the head coach for the NFL's Carolina Panthers from 1995 to 1998 and for the Houston Texans from 2002 to 2005. He is the only person to serve two different NFL expansion teams as their inaugural head coach.

After playing high school football for the Meadowbrook Colts in Byesville, Ohio, Capers attended Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio where he played linebacker and defensive tackle. He is a brother of the Alpha Nu chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kent State University and the University of Washington. Later he was an assistant coach at Hawaii; San Jose State; University of California, Berkeley; Tennessee and Ohio State.

After a stint in the USFL, he began his NFL career as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints and was named defensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992, including a trip to the AFC Championship game in 1994. He remained with the Steelers until becoming head coach of the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995. After 1995's 7–9 season, a record breaking mark for an expansion team, the Panthers posted a 12–4 record in 1996 and advanced to the NFC Championship game, where they were defeated by the Green Bay Packers. This would end up being Capers' only winning season as a head coach, as well as the only season where his team qualified for the playoffs. Continuing to spend against the salary cap, and eventually taking control of personnel matters in 1997, the Panthers went 7–9, followed by a dismal 4–12 season in 1998, at the end of which he was terminated.