Marco Coleman | Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Famer and two-time first-team all-American Marco Coleman returns to Tech in 2023 as defensive line coach.

Coleman, who played 14 seasons in the National Football League (1992-2005) after his hall-of-fame career at Georgia Tech (1989-91), previously spent the 2019-21 seasons as the Yellow Jackets’ defensive ends/outside linebackers coach. He returned to The Flats after one season as defensive line coach at Michigan State (2022).

In Coleman’s first coaching stint at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets’ sacks and tackles for loss climbed from 1.3 and 4.2 per game in the season before his arrival (2018) to 2.1 and 6.2 per game in his second season coaching the Jackets’ defensive ends and outside linebackers (2020). In his lone season at Michigan State, the Spartans ranked among the top 45 teams in the nation and the top six in the Big Ten in both sacks (2.4/game) and TFL (6.3/game).

A Dayton, Ohio native, Coleman racked up 27.5 sacks and 50 tackles for loss in just three seasons as an outside linebacker for the Yellow Jackets, which were both school records at the end of his playing career and remain ranked fourth in the program’s all-time annals despite the fact that he played in only 34 collegiate games. He was named first-team all-America and all-Atlantic Coast Conference as a sophomore (1990) and junior (1991). As a sophomore in 1990, he led the ACC with 13 sacks and helped Georgia Tech claim its fourth national championship with an 11-0-1 campaign and a convincing 45-21 win over Nebraska in the Florida Citrus Bowl.

He left Georgia Tech following his junior season and was selected No. 12 overall by the Miami Dolphins in the 1992 NFL Draft. He went on to play 14 seasons in the NFL with the Dolphins (1992-95), San Diego Chargers (1996-98), Washington Redskins (1999-2001), Jacksonville Jaguars (2002), Philadelphia Eagles (2003) and Denver Broncos (2004-05). He was named Sports Illustrated’s 1992 NFL Rookie of the Year after tallying 84 tackles and six sacks and went on to record 610 tackles, 65.5 sacks and 18 forced fumbles in 14 pro seasons. He earned a spot in the Pro Bowl after registering a career-high 12 sacks for the Redskins in 2000.

After retiring from the NFL following the 2005 campaign, Coleman began a career in finance, eventually becoming managing partner at Matador Financial. He returned to the NFL on a full-time basis in 2018 as the Raiders’ assistant defensive line coach. His coaching experience also includes stints as a coaching fellow with the Philadelphia Eagles and defensive coordinator at Mandarin H.S. in Jacksonville, Fla., both in 2017.

Coleman majored in management as a student-athlete at Georgia Tech and completed coursework for a bachelor’s degree in business from Flagler College in 2015. He was inducted to the GT Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility. He and his wife, Katrina, have three children: Kabrione, Kennedy and Kenneth.