Jon Hoke joins the Atlanta Falcons as the secondary coach on Jan. 26, 2021. He has 40 years of coaching experience, including 16 seasons in the NFL.
Hoke spent the last two seasons as Maryland's defensive coordinator and safeties coach and was the defensive backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before that (2016-18).
In 2018, third year safety Andrew Adams was near the top of the NFL leaders in interceptions with four, while six different Buccaneers tallied a pick. The year prior, Brent Grimes led the team with 11 passes defensed and tied for the team lead in interceptions, with three.
Hoke also helped oversee the development of rookie safety Justin Evans, who tied for the team lead with three interceptions, tied for the third-most among NFL rookies. Evans started the final 11 games he played in the season.
In Hoke's first season with Tampa Bay (2016), he helped coach a secondary that was responsible for 14 of the Buccaneers' 17 interceptions on the season. Grimes, who was named a Pro Bowl alternate in his first season with Tampa Bay, tied for the team lead in interceptions, with four, while leading the NFL in passes defensed, with 24. Tampa Bay's three safeties (Chris Conte, Bradley McDougald and Keith Tandy) combined for 207 tackles, 23 passes defensed and eight interceptions. Hoke also assisted in the development of rookie cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III, who started all 16 games for the Buccaneers, recording nine passes defensed and one interception.
Hoke joined Tampa Bay after spending 2015 as the South Carolina co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach. Before returning to the college ranks, Hoke spent six seasons on the Chicago Bears' coaching staff (2009-14), working as the teams' defensive backs coach.
Under Hoke's tutelage, cornerbacks Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman earned four Pro Bowl selections, with Tillman being named first-team All-Pro (2012) and Jennings being named second-team All-Pro (2012). During Hoke's six seasons, Chicago tied for the fourth-most interceptions in the NFL (111) and led the NFL in interceptions returned for touchdowns, with 20.
In 2012, Tillman and Jennings were both named Pro Bowl starters, the first cornerback tandem to do so since 1988 (Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield, Cleveland Browns). Jennings led the NFL with nine interceptions, tied for the second-most in Bears history, while Tillman led the NFL with a career-best 10 forced fumbles. Hoke also helped guide safety Chris Harris to a second-team All-Pro selection (2010).
Prior to his time in Chicago, Hoke worked as the Houston Texans' defensive backs coach for seven seasons (2002-08), his first NFL coaching experience. During his time with the Texans, defensive backs accounted for 82.8 percent (72 of 87) of the teams' interceptions.
Hoke began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Dayton in the fall of 1982. He spent the spring of 1983 as a graduate assistant at North Carolina State before securing his first full time position at Bowling Green in 1983 as the Falcons' secondary/special teams coach. He spent four seasons in Bowling Green before taking a position as the defensive backs/special teams coach at San Diego State from 1987-88. He spent the next five years as the defensive backs coach at Kent State (1989-93), adding the title of defensive coordinator in his final season with the Golden Flashes. He mentored the defensive backs at Missouri for five seasons from 1994-98 before joining the University of Florida staff in Gainesville in 1999.
Hoke spent three seasons (1999-2001) at Florida as the Gators' defensive coordinator/secondary coach, adding the title of assistant head coach in his final two years. In his last season with the Gators, Florida's defense ranked first in the SEC in total defense, scoring defense, and pass efficiency defense, and was second in rushing defense.
A four-year letterman at Ball State (1976-79), Hoke garnered all-MAC honors as a defensive back. During his playing career, the Cardinals earned league titles in both 1976 and 1978. Hoke logged a brief stint in the NFL as a player, seeing action in 11 games for the Chicago Bears in 1980, recording seven tackles.
A native of Kettering, Ohio, Hoke and his wife, Jody, have four children: Mallory, Kyle and twins Kendall and Carly.
