Joe Vitt Joe Vitt ( born August 23 , 1954 ) is the assistant head coach and linebackers coach of the New Orleans Saints . He was the interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints during the 2012 season . Early life . Vitt was raised in Blackwood , New Jersey where he graduated from Highland Regional High School in 1973 before spending a year at Staunton Military Academy in Virginia . He was a three - year letterman ( 1974 – 75 , 1977 ) as a linebacker at Towson State University despite being an undersized 5 ' 10 " and smallish 190 pounds . He graduated in 1978 . NFL coaching career . He entered the National Football League ( NFL ) as the strength / quality control coach for the Baltimore Colts from 1979 through 1981 . Vitt was the Seattle Seahawks ' strength coach when Chuck Knox came to be head coach in 1983 . He quickly promoted Vitt to defensive backs coach . Vitt moved with Knox to the Los Angeles Rams , where he worked , along with Mike Martz , on his staff from 1992 to 1994 . Vitt has also been an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers . He served under former St . Louis Rams coach Dick Vermeil for the Kansas City Chiefs for three years until Martz brought him to St . Louis as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach . It marked Vitt ' s eighth time in the National Football League , and the second with the franchise . During the 2005 NFL season , Vitt served as the interim Head Coach of the Rams while Martz was out due to a bacterial heart infection . He coached the team from Week 5 until the end of the regular season ; soon afterward , Martz was fired . Vitt had a record of 4 - 7 , and was replaced by Scott Linehan in the off - season . Fans and media alike enjoyed Vitt ' s " Jersey Joe " persona . Vitt had " Vittisms " like " I can ' t sing or dance so I coach football " and " no excuses play like a champion , " which have made him a cult icon in some hardcore Rams fan circles . New Orleans Saints . The New York Jets reportedly had interest in bringing in Vitt as their head coach after Herman Edwards signed with the Kansas City Chiefs before hiring Eric Mangini . Instead , Vitt was hired by the New Orleans Saints on January 27 , 2006 to serve as their assistant head coach / linebackers coach . The Saints ' new head coach , Sean Payton , who had never been a head coach before , chose Vitt to provide a degree of experience that Payton lacked : Vitt ' s role has been half - seriously compared to that of a consigliere in a Mafia crime family . In that position , Vitt earned a Super Bowl ring as part of the 2009 Saints team that won Super Bowl XLIV . As assistant head coach , Vitt spent a portion of 2011 serving in the head coaching capacity as Sean Payton recovered from a broken leg . In March 2012 , the NFL suspended Vitt for the first six games of the 2012 season after it found he had been complicit in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal . According to a league statement , Vitt had been assigned to monitor Williams , but failed to tell anyone about the slush fund Williams implemented to pay defensive players for deliberately trying to knock opponents out of games . The league also found that he had helped to cover up the scheme during both of its inquiries into the matter . In December 2012 the Associated Press reported that , according to transcripts of the players ' appeal hearing , former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams , who was under investigation for starting the bounty program , testified that he wanted to end the program after the NFL began investigating , but Vitt overruled him . However , Vitt denied the claims , and offered to take a polygraph test . Vitt also stated that witnesses of the program had lied in the investigation . Saints ' Interim Head Coach . Despite the suspension , on April 12 Vitt was named as interim coach of the Saints for the 2012 season while Payton sits out a year long suspension . Offensive line coach Aaron Kromer ran the team while Vitt sat out the first six games of the regular season . Saints quarterback , Drew Brees , called Vitt the " obvious choice " to replace Sean Payton . Personal life . Vitt is married to Linda and has two children . His son , Joe Vitt , Jr . , is a scout for the Saints . His daughter , Jennifer , is married to Adam Gase , currently the quarterbacks coach for the Denver Broncos .