Coach Profile

Sean Payton, regarded as one of the NFL's bright young offensive coaches, joins the Cowboys as Assistant Head Coach/Quarterbacks in 2003. He comes to Dallas after four years with the New York Giants, the last three as their offensive coordinator. In Dallas, he will oversee the club's passing game while working with the quarterbacks.

Under Payton's tutelage, the Giants had one of the NFL's most productive offenses, while quarterback Kerry Collins posted franchise-record passing numbers. The Giants finished the 2002 season as the NFL's sixth ranked offense, averaging 364.1 yards a game. It was the Giants' highest ranking since the 1985 team finished fifth in the NFL in offense with an average of 367.8 yards a game. Behind Collins' career-high and club-record 4,073 passing yards, New York finished as the NFL's sixth ranked passing offense. Collins also established a club record with 335 pass completions on the year.

Under Payton, Collins became one of the most productive quarterbacks in Giants history. In 58 games with the Giants, including 55 starts, Collins stands third on the team's career list in pass attempts (1,973), third in completions (1,163), fourth in passing yards (13,765) and fifth in touchdown passes (68). Collins set an NFL record by becoming the first quarterback in league history to throw every one of his team's passes in two consecutive seasons (2000-2001). He threw a league-record 1,852 consecutive regular season passes for the Giants before the streak was broken on Dec. 15, 2001 against Dallas.

Payton solidified his reputation as one of the NFL's best young offensive coaches in 2000 when the Giants captured the NFC Championship in his first full season as offensive coordinator. With Payton constructing game plans and calling plays, the Giants scored 328 points, the team's highest total since the 1990 Super Bowl champions scored 335. The Giants rushing yardage jumped from 24th to 11th in NFL rankings, fueling a rise from 17th to 13th in total offense. Collins enjoyed one of the finest seasons of his career, throwing a career-best 22 touchdown passes. And in the NFC Championship Game, the Giants scored 41 points, including 34 in the first half.

Payton was first assigned play-calling duties prior to a game against the Jets on Dec. 5, 1999. In that game, the Giants scored 41 points and gained 490 yards, both regular-season highs in the Fassel era. He retained that assignment through the season's final five games, and then was appointed as the offensive coordinator following the season.

In Payton's three seasons as the offensive coordinator, the Giants' passing attack ranked 13th in the NFL in 2000, tied for eighth in 2001 and then finished sixth in 2002. In the 10 seasons prior to Payton's arrival, it had never ranked higher than 20th.

Others also flourished under Payton. In the past four seasons, Amani Toomer caught 311 passes (79 in 1999, 78 in 2000, 72 in 2001 and a club-record 82 in 2002) to become the first player in Giants history to catch at least 70 passes in four seasons. Toomer totaled 1,183, 1,094, 1,052 and 1,343 receiving yards over the last four years and became the first Giant in history to have four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. His 1,343 receiving yards in 2002 established a club record. With 5,309 career receiving yards, Toomer is 125 yards shy of Frank Gifford's club mark of 5,434 career receiving yards. In addition, running back Tiki Barber set a franchise record for total yards in 2000 with 2,085, and he has caught 277 passes and rushed for 3,516 yards the last four seasons. With 1,387 rushing yards in 2002, Barber finished second in the NFC and posted the second highest single-season rushing total in club history.

Payton joined the Giants as quarterbacks coach on Feb. 3, 1999. Prior to joining the Giants, Payton spent the 1997 and 1998 campaigns as the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterbacks coach.

Payton sandwiched two coaching stints at San Diego State University (1988-89 and 1992-93) around a stop at Indiana State (1990-91). During his second term with the Aztecs, Payton served as the running backs coach, working directly with Heisman Trophy runner-up Marshall Faulk, now with the St. Louis Rams, before becoming the quarterback coach. In the latter role, Payton guided Tim Gutierrez to All-WAC honors in 1993.

Following the 1993 season, Payton moved to Miami of Ohio (1994-95) where he was the quarterback coach and co-offensive coordinator. He spent the 1996 season as quarterbacks coach at Illinois prior to entering the NFL with Philadelphia.

Payton earned a degree in communications at Eastern Illinois, where as a quarterback he amassed 10,665 passing yards, which was then the third highest total in NCAA Division I-AA history. After leading all Division I-AA quarterbacks in passing in 1986, the three-time Associated Press All-America selection had brief stints with Chicago of the Arena Football League, Ottawa of the Canadian Football League and the Chicago Bears in 1987. Payton was inducted into the Eastern Illinois Hall of Fame in September of 2000.

Payton was born Dec. 29, 1963 in San Mateo, Calif., and raised in Naperville, Ill. He and his wife, Beth, have a daughter, Meghan (3/21/97), and a son, Connor Thomas (5/31/00).