- Born
- Birth nameRonald Eugene Rivera
- Nickname
- Riverboat Ron
- Height6′ 7″ (2.01 m)
- Ron Rivera is known around the league as a teacher with an innate ability to build his team around the strengths of his players. A two-time NFL Coach of the Year, Rivera inherited a 2-14 Carolina team as a rookie head coach in 2011 and guided it back to relevance in 2015 as Carolina won its second NFC Championship in franchise history, third consecutive NFC South division title and appeared in Super Bowl 50. Carolina finished the season with a franchise-best 17-2 record, including home playoff victories over Seattle in the Divisional round and Arizona in the NFC Championship game. Brought to Carolina for his defensive expertise, Rivera has not disappointed as the Panthers put together four consecutive top 10 finishes in yards allowed from 2012-15, joining Seattle as the only teams to accomplish the feat.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steven Thompson
- Born Jan. 7, 1962, in Fort Ord, Calif., Ron Rivera lived in Germany, Panama, Washington and Maryland before his family settled in Marina, Calif. He attended Seaside High School in Seaside, Calif., and was a three-sport star in football, basketball and baseball. Rivera and his wife, Stephanie, have two children, Christopher and Courtney. Stephanie is a former assistant coach for the WNBA's Washington Mystics. Rivera's identity has been shaped by his family. The son of a U.S. Army officer and the second youngest of four boys, Rivera learned from a young age about chain of command and many of the principles he teaches and expects from his players. Selected in the second round of the 1984 NFL Draft by Chicago, Rivera played all nine of his pro seasons with the Bears. Rivera was a member of six NFC Central division title teams and a Super Bowl XX championship team in 1985. Rivera was named the Bears' Man of the Year in 1988 and earned the club's Ed Block Courage Award in 1989. Rivera gained his first coaching experience with the Bears as defensive quality control coach from 1997-98. Rivera spent five seasons from 1999-2003 as the linebackers' coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. From 2004-06, Rivera oversaw the Chicago Bears defense, engineering the unit to two top-five finishes in the league. Rivera coached with the Chargers from 2007-10 working with the inside linebackers before taking over as the team's defensive coordinator midway through the 2008 season. Now in his ninth season with Carolina in 2019, Ron Rivera is known around the league as a teacher with an innate ability to build his team around the strengths of his players. Rivera is a two-time NFL Coach of the Year and just the third Latino head coach in NFL history. In 2015, Carolina won its second NFC Championship in franchise history, third consecutive NFC South division title and appeared in Super Bowl 50. Carolina finished the season with a franchise-best 17-2 record. In 20 seasons as a coach and nine as a player, he has been with teams that have reached the playoffs 19 times, including nine conference championships and three Super Bowls.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Amazon Studios
- SpouseStephanie Tamayo-Rivera(June 1, 1985 - present) (2 children)
- Played college football at the University of California.
- Linebacker with the Chicago Bears, 1984-1992.
- Head coach of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, 2011-2019.
- Inducted into the University of California Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.
- He is just the third Latino head coach in NFL history, joining Tom Flores with the Oakland Raiders from 1979-87 and Seattle Seahawks from 1992-94 and Tom Fears with the New Orleans Saints from 1967-70.
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