[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 18 (Monday, February 1, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                       HONORING COACH SEAN DESAI

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 1, 2021

  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor Coach Sean 
Desai, the first person of South Asian and Indian heritage to attain 
the elite position of Defensive Coordinator in the National Football 
League (NFL). Sean's trailblazing ascent with the Chicago Bears 
football team serves as a shining example of what South Asian and 
Indian-Americans can achieve in our nation and in professional sports.
  Coach Desai was born in Shelton, Connecticut and attended Boston 
University, where he majored in Philosophy and Political Science and 
graduated Cum Laude in 2004. He then earned a master's degree in higher 
and postsecondary education from Columbia University, and a doctorate 
in educational administration from Temple University. Postdoctorate, 
Coach Desai served as an adjunct professor at Temple and Defensive and 
Special Teams' Coordinator for the Temple Owls football team. He joined 
the University of Miami as Assistant Director of Football Operations in 
2011 and spent the 2012 season as the Running Backs' Coach and Special 
Teams' Coordinator at Boston College.
  In 2013, Coach Desai was hired by the Chicago Bears as a Quality 
Control Assistant, working with defensive backs and linebackers while 
assisting the special teams' coaches. Coach Desai held this position 
until 2018, when he was promoted to Safeties Coach. His colleagues 
attribute Coach Desai's meteoric rise to his experience as an educator 
and his ability to connect with his players. In his own words:

       The ability to develop and have a chance to lead young men 
     and bring them past what they can do . . . opened my eyes to 
     a whole new world of education. To me, that's what an 
     educator has to do-whatever you are teaching . . . I mean, if 
     you're not out there to develop and help bring kids to a 
     place that they can't be on their own, then I don't know what 
     the purpose of education is.

  Racial biases have thwarted upward mobility for men and women of 
color since the NFL's inception in 1920. As the first South-Asian and 
Indian-American Defensive Coordinator in the NFL, Coach Desai will 
inspire young men and women of all ethnicities and races to believe 
that they can and should aspire to positions of leadership in 
professional sports.
  As a die-hard Chicago Bears fan, I am thrilled to congratulate Coach 
Sean Desai on his remarkable achievement with the Bears and the trail 
he is blazing for future generations. I wish him great success in his 
new role and in all his future endeavors. Let's Go Bears!

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