BREAKING: Ravens hire Jesse Minter as next head coach
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
The Baltimore Ravens have hired Jesse Minter as their next head coach, per a team announcement.
Minter, 42, was the Chargers defensive coordinator for the last two years and will now become the fourth head coach in Ravens franchise history. He was long considered the favorite to replace John Harbaugh, who was fired after the team missed the playoffs.
“I am truly honored to serve as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens,” Minter said in a statement. “This is an organization whose values, culture, and tradition of excellence reflect everything I believe about the game of football and how it should be played. My family and I are thrilled to join the Ravens Flock and we can’t wait to make the fans, the great city of Baltimore, and Maryland proud.”
Owner Steve Bisciotti also issued a statement expressing his excitement about his new head coach.
Minter beat out 12 other candidates who interviewed for the job. Three others took positions with other teams, and the Ravens still had an initial interview request out for Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi. Minter, former Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel, Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver, and Bills OC Joe Brady all came to Baltimore for in-person interviews. The Ravens’ meetings with Weaver and McDaniel, who is biracial, ensured that they were compliant with the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to conduct in-person interviews with two minority candidates for head coaching vacancies.
The Ravens were interested in hosting coaches from teams competing in the conference championships this weekend for in-person interviews, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. However, those could not take place until next week, and Minter was gaining steam for the Raiders’ head coaching job. Rather than risk losing their preferred candidate, the Ravens swooped in and closed the deal with Minter.
Minter is returning to Baltimore nearly a decade after he first joined the Ravens as a defensive assistant in 2017. He spent his first year working with future Ravens defensive coordinators Wink Martindale and Mike Macdonald on Dean Pees’ staff and continued to serve as a key lieutenant on Martindale’s staff after Pees retired. In 2020, Minter was promoted to defensive backs coach; the following year, he left Baltimore to take join Vanderbilt as their defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
Minter’s first season as a coordinator did not go well. The Commodores allowed 35.8 points per game, the most in the SEC and the 12th-most in the FBS. That did not dissuade Jim Harbaugh from hiring Minter as Michigan’s defensive coordinator to succeed Macdonald, who took the same job in Baltimore. In Michigan, Minter began to shine. He inherited a strong defense from Macdonald and upheld the standard in his debut year. The Wolverines allowed 16.1 points per game in 2022, the seventh-fewest in the FBS.
In 2023, Minter put together the best defense in college football. The Wolverines surrendered just 10.4 points and 247 yards per game – which both led the FBS – on their way to a national championship. Harbaugh then left Michigan to take the Chargers’ head coaching job, and he brought Minter along to run the defense.
This is a breaking story that will be updated with more information.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos