SAINTS-TEXANS CONNECTIONS
Owner/Executive Vice President Rita Benson LeBlanc is a Texas A&M graduateÉSaints Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams served as a graduate assistant at the University of Houston from 1988-89, then started his NFL coaching career when he joined the Houston Oilers, for who he'd serve on their staff for ten seasons, the last three when they relocated to Tennessee. Williams and Texans defensive coordinator Frank Bush served on the same Oilers staff from 1992-94ÉSaints secondary coach Dennis Allen played at Texas A&M from 1992-95 and served on their staff from 1996-99. Allen and quarterbacks coach Joe Lombardi served on the same Atlanta staff with Texans quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp...Assistant secondary coach Tony Oden served in a similar capacity with the Texans from 2004-05...Saints LB and 2009 special teams captain Troy Evans played for Houston from 2002-06...Houston CB Mark Parson spent part of the 2009 season on the Saints practice squad...Texans special teams coordinator Joe Marciano coached special teams and tight ends for the Saints from 1986-95. Marciano tutored director of player programs Fred McAfee with the Saints from 1991-93 and with Tampa Bay in 1999...Defensive line coach Bill Johnson served in the same position at Texas A&M from 1992-99, where he coached alongside Kubiak from 1992-93...Head Coach Sean Payton served on Houston senior defensive assistant Ray Rhodes' coaching staff in Philadelphia from 1997-98, his first NFL coaching stop. Assistant. head coach/linebackers Joe Vitt and Texans linebackers coach Johnny Holland also served on Rhodes' staff in Philadelphia and in Green Bay...S Darren Sharper played for Rhodes when he served as head coach in Green Bay in 1999. Sharper was teammates in Green Bay with Houston FB Vonta Leach. Leach appeared in one game for the Saints in 2006...Vitt, Houston offensive line coach John Benton and Texans asst. head coach/defensive line Bill Kollar served on the same staff in St. Louis from 2004-05. Kollar tutored DL Anthony Hargrove in Buffalo from 2006-07 and served as Saints coaching assistant Brian Young's position coach in St. Louis. Vitt and Texans running backs coach Chick Harris served on the same coaching staff in Seattle from 1983-91 and with the Los Angeles Rams from 1992-94. Hargrove and Houston P Matt Turk were teammates in St. Louis in 2006...Texans dir. of pro personnel Brian Gardner is a New Orleans native who played at Nicholls State and served as defensive coordinator and director of player personnel with the Arena Football League's New Orleans Night from 1991-92...Houston director of video operations Joe Malota served as video director of the Saints from 1997-2002...Texans director of player development. Sean Washington played for the Saints in 1994...Houston WR Jacoby Jones prepped at Abramson HS...S Roman Harper, Texans C Antoine Caldwell and LB Demeco Ryans were college teammates at Alabama...Wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson tutored Houston WR Andre Johnson at the University of Miami (Fla). Johnson, TE Jeremy Shockey and LB Jonathan Vilma were teammates with the Hurricanes. Vilma later played with Texans T Rashad Butler, C Chris Myers and T Eric Winston at Miami. LS Jason Kyle and Butler were teammates in Carolina. C Jonathan Goodwin, Vilma, Texans TE Joel Dreessen and G Wade Smith wereteammates with the New York Jets. Goodwin and Turk were Jets teammates in 2002...RB Reggie Bush, TE Sedrick Ellis and Houston TE Darnell Bing, DT Shaun Cody and LB Brian Cushing were teammates at Southern California. T Charles Brown and Ellis were later Trojan teammates of Cushing and Booty...FB Heath Evans, CB Randall Gay, TE David Thomas, Texans WR Andre Davis and S Eugene Wilson were teammates in New England. Wilson, the University of Illinois' all-time leader in punt return yardage and Texans LB Danny Clark were tutored in college by special teams coordinator Greg McMahon. Davis played at Virginia Tech with S Pierson Prioleau. Thomas starred at the University of Texas, where he was a teammate of Texans DT Frank Okam. CB Jabari Greer and Davis were teammates in Buffalo in 2006. Greer and Texans TE Derek Fine were Bills' teammates in 2008...Evans and Smith were team- mates in Miami in 2005....P Thomas Morstead prepped at Pearland HS...WR Robert Meachem, LB Marvin Mitchell and Texans RB Arian Foster were teammates at Tennessee...CB Danny Gorrer prepped at Port Arthur Memorial HS and played at Texas A&M from 2005-08...LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar and Houston DE Tim Bulman were teammates at Boston College in 2003...LB Jonathan Casillas, Texans TE Owen Daniels and TE Garrett Graham were teammates at WisconsinÉDT DeMario Pressley, Houston TE Anthony Hill DE Mario Williams were teammates at North Carolina State...WR Adrian Arrington, Houston DE Tim Jamison and T Adam Stenavich were team- mates at Michigan. Tight ends coach Terry Malone tutored Stenavich with the Wolverines...Texans C Chris White prepped at Winona (Ms.) HS and was a two-year starter at Southern Mississippi. TE Tory Humphrey and White were teammates in Green Bay from 2005-06....Houston QB John David Booty prepped at Evangel (Shreveport) Christian...Texans WR Trindon Holliday prepped at Northeast (Zachary) HS and lettered in track and football at Louisiana State...DE Junior Galette and Houston T Steve Maneri were teammates at Temple...Texans LB Isaiah Greenhouse played at Northwestern State...QB Drew Brees and Houston CB Jacques Reeves were teammates at Purdue. LB Scott Shanle and Reeves were teammates in Dallas from 2004-05...CB Tracy Porter and Houston S Nicholas Polk were teammates at Indiana...OL Tim Duckworth, WR Montez Billings and Texans RB Ben Tate were teammates at Auburn...Texans DL DelJuan Robinson prepped at Hernando (Ms.) HS and played at Mississippi St...Texans asst. defensive backs coach Perry Carter is a McComb, Ms. native who played at Southern Mississippi.
