Beyond the Visor: Getting to Know the Saints Coaching Staff

Welcome to a new feature on CSC, Beyond the Visor. In this series of posts, I will touch on the histories and backgrounds of the Saints coaching staff, beyond the big names we already know much about.

This inaugural edition will profile the current offensive coordinator, Payton's right-hand man, your friend and mine, the fantastic, the electrifying, the amazing...Pete Carmichael, Jr.!!!!

Make the jump to learn more about him...

HansDat Note: Information for this article was found on Pete's profile page of the Saints official web site, and a nola.com article about him by Kevin Spain from August of 2009.

If you're like me, you know Pete Carmichael, Jr., as the bespectacled guy who is often found just off Payton's shoulder on the sidelines, or the dude sitting with Brees on the bench between offensive series, looking at the polaroids and processing the in-game info.  You may also have mistakenly thought at one time that he was related to the former Eagles receiver Harold Carmichael. But there's more to this guy than that...much more.

Pete was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, and played both football and baseball in high school. He lettered in baseball at Boston College, where he was team captain, and MVP as a senior. In 1994, he graduated with a degree in mathematics. It's also interesting to note that his father is/was a football coach, too.

Junior jumped right into the coaching ranks after that, signing on as the assistant offensive line coach for the mighty Wildcats of the University of New Hampshire in 1994, and his next coaching stop was a five-year run as the quarterbacks coach for Louisiana Tech, a tenure during which numerous team and individual passing records were set.

The reborn Cleveland Browns gave him his first NFL coaching gig, as a tight ends/offensive assistant in 2000. Pete then served as a quality control coach for the Redskins in 2001, before latching on with the San Diego Chargers from 2002-2005. During his time with the Chargers, he moved up from an offensive assistant/quality control coach to assistant wide receivers coach.

Carmichael has worked with quarterbacks and the passing game since coming to New Orleans in 2006, taking over the offensive coordinator position in 2009, when Doug Marrone left to become head football coach at Syracuse.

With offensive guru Sean Payton as head coach, one might wonder just what Carmichael's duties actually are. Sean Payton described in the 2009 Kevin Spain article referenced above.

During the practice week:

"Pete handles all the quarterback meetings with (quarterbacks coach) Joe (Lombardi)," Payton said. "Pete sits in on all the installs. He's involved in the installs. He handles the staff. (Friday night) for example, practice is ending, the staff is meeting at the hotel and Pete's running the meeting. I'm not there. That happens a lot. He's done a great job."

Game-day duties:

"His role on game day is on the sidelines he'll work hand in hand with the quarterbacks as they come off, communicate with Joe Lombardi," Payton said. "They'll go through the pictures with Drew (Brees) and the quarterbacks and really be my voice or ear in the passing game with my thoughts each series. I have a lot of trust in him. He works very hard at it, is very diligent and very thorough. He's done a great job."

Pete is a married man, with a wife, Tina, and some children -  Peter, John, and Allison.