Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy will serve as the head coach of the American Team for the 74th annual Reese's Senior Bowl Feb. 4 in Mobile, Ala.
"I am extremely honored to be selected as the head coach for the American Team in the 74th Senior Bowl," Getsy said. "It is a privilege to be able to work alongside my peers from around the league and to be able to lead this special group of men that are the future of the NFL. Thank you to everyone at the Senior Bowl for this awesome opportunity and I look forward to a great week in Mobile."
Senior Bowl practices will be held Tuesday through Thursday Jan. 31 - Feb. 2 in advance of the game Saturday afternoon at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama. Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will serve as the head coach of the National team. The Bears hold the No. 1 pick in the draft, while the Raiders own the No. 7 selection.
The Bears have coached in the Senior Bowl on four previous occasions—in 1976 with Jack Pardee, 1992 under Mike Ditka, 1996 with Dave Wannstedt and 2017 with John Fox.
Wannstedt and the Bears were so impressed with Mississippi State cornerback Walt Harris while coaching him at the Senior Bowl that they traded up five spots to take him with the 13th pick in the first round of the draft. Harris played the first six of his 13 NFL seasons with the Bears, appearing in 87 games with 84 starts and recording 15 interceptions.
In addition to Getsy, linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, assistant special teams coach Carlos Polk and assistant tight ends coach Tim Zetts will also be part of the game's coaching staffs.
This year marks the first time in Senior Bowl history that two full staffs from NFL clubs will not be coaching the game. Under a new arrangement to promote professional development, NFL Football Operations has implemented a "coach up" format where coordinators and assistant coaches are placed into elevated or different roles from the ones they currently hold with their respective clubs. Head coaches and general managers from all non-playoff teams had the opportunity to nominate assistant coaches and those candidates were then selected by a group comprised of league office executives, representatives from the General Managers Advisory Committee, and Senior Bowl leadership.
In total, at least one coach from all 16 teams that submitted nominations were chosen and six clubs had multiple coaches appointed to this year's American and National rosters (Bears 4, New Orleans Saints 4, Washington Commanders 4, Las Vegas Raiders 3, Cleveland Browns 2, and Pittsburgh Steelers 2).
All three days of practice will be televised on both NFL Network and ESPN and the game itself will be aired live on NFL Network at 1:30 CT.
