Florida Gators officially announce hiring of Vinnie Sunseri
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators coach Billy Napier officially announced the hiring of Vinnie Sunseri as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach on Thursday.
Sunseri, as first reported by Gators Online, arrived in Gainesville last week to interview with Napier and accepted the job on Saturday.
Sunseri, a two-time national champion at Alabama, served as the safeties coach at Washington during the 2024 season after spending the previous four years on the New England Patriots coaching staff.
“Vinnie Sunseri has a great pedigree coming from a football family and has also played and coached for exceptional coaches throughout his career,” Napier said. “He is a two-time national champion with NFL and collegiate experience. Vinnie will help our organization improve as we continue to build. I’m excited to welcome he and his wife, Kaci, to Gainesville.”
Sunseri, 33, was recently hired as the defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State by first-year coach Charles Kelly, the former DC at Auburn, Colorado and Florida State.
“I’m incredibly excited to join Coach Napier, his outstanding staff and the University of Florida,” Sunseri said. “Coaching in a premier conference like the SEC has been a lifelong dream. I’m ready to work with young, talented and motivated players and help them achieve success on and off the field.”
In 2024 at Washington, the former Alabama and NFL safety worked with Huskies defensive coordinator Steve Belichick (now at UNC) after they spent four years together with the New England Patriots.
Sunseri helped the Huskies to an appearance in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. The team was ranked fifth nationally in passing yards allowed per game at 166.8 and finished eighth in pass efficiency defense at 110.51.
Sunseri, who played for the Patriots during the 2016 season, was hired by former New England coach Bill Belichick in 2020 as a defensive coaching assistant before being becoming the team’s running backs coach from 2021-23.
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Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for 1,040 yards in 2022, the Pats’ first 1,000-yard rusher in six years. In 2021, Sunseri helped guide Damien Harris to career highs in rushing yards (929) and touchdowns (15), tied for second in the NFL.
Background on Vinnie Sunseri
Sunseri began his coaching career in 2019 at his alma mater, Alabama, as a graduate assistant. He has multiple ties to Florida, most notably with UF coach Billy Napier after they crossed paths twice in Tuscaloosa.
Sunseri played three seasons at Alabama (2011-13), winning BCS national titles during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Two of those years were spent with Napier, who was first hired by Nick Saban in 2011 and rejoined his staff in 2013.
Florida co-offensive coordinators Russ Callaway and Rob Sale were also assistants at Alabama in 2011 when Sunseri started. He and UF senior analyst Joe Houston worked together in New England for the same four years as well.
Sunseri is the son of Sal Sunseri, a long-time college and NFL football coach and consensus All-America linebacker at Pitt in 1981. His father provides another tie to the program, having served as Florida’s defensive line coach in 2018.
Sunseri was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. After two seasons with the Saints, he spent the first portion of the 2016 season with the Patriots before signing with the San Francisco 49ers.
