ExtremeRavens Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago Jesse Minter used to be the guy down the hall sharing a small office with three other staffers. Remembering his first Ravens stint from 2017 through 2020, organizational higher-ups still viewed Minter merely as someone who handled draft materials for players near the bottom of their board. “It was hard for me to envision Jesse like he is,” general manager Eric DeCosta acknowledged. Who he is, now, is the fourth head coach in Ravens history. Minter was first hired by the Ravens nine years ago to be a defensive assistant. He left four years later as defensive backs coach, taking the defensive coordinator job at Vanderbilt. Then Minter won a national championship at Michigan and followed Jim Harbaugh to Los Angeles, where he revamped the Chargers’ defense. This time around, the more he reconnected with the now 42-year-old Minter, the quicker DeCosta changed his tune. “He just blew us away in person,” DeCosta said. Minter flew to Baltimore last week for his in-person, second-round interview. DeCosta liked what he heard, at least enough to fly him across the country, but in a way, still had trouble imagining him in the big chair. For most of their previous interactions, the two were at opposite ends of the football decision-making spectrum. Then they sat together in DeCosta’s office. Minter explained how his confidence bloomed with the Chargers, being in an NFL leadership role, and how that readied him to manage both sides of the ball. “Your own style sort of begins to come out,” he said. Minter spelled out his vision for the future of the Ravens. He answered questions about how his success at three stops since he was last in Baltimore could translate to leading a team right in the middle of a championship window. DeCosta’s mind wandered a bit, visualizing Minter in a “crisis situation” or how he’d act in the halftime locker room. “I started to imagine Jesse as our head coach,” DeCosta said, “and what that might look like.” DeCosta did his due diligence. He called Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz, the Ravens’ former director of player personnel. Then he got on the phone with Los Angeles safety Tony Jefferson and retired safety Eric Weddle — both of whom overlapped with Minter in Baltimore. They vouched for him hard. Jefferson worked closely with Minter in Baltimore. He saw first-hand Minter inherit a Chargers defense that ranked 30th in pass defense, 24th in points allowed and 27th in yards per play, flipping to top-seven in all three categories. The Chargers owned the league’s top scoring defense in 2024 — that helped remind DeCosta, too, that Minter had matured into a prominent NFL leader. A small contingent of current Ravens players on both sides of the ball were involved in the process too, according to DeCosta. Some were in Owings Mills and a few called in over Zoom. Finding John Harbaugh’s replacement presented a tall task. He won a Super Bowl in Baltimore. He exemplified stability and owned what it meant within the building to be a Raven. He embodied the characteristics of a culture he inherited then made his own, before the Ravens fired him Jan. 6. Owner Steve Bisciotti challenged the search committee of DeCosta, team president Sashi Brown and executive vice president Ozzie Newsome, to find the next coach who could pilot the Ravens for the next two decades. DeCosta called the process a two-week sprint. They spoke with at least 20 candidates in various formats. Some connected on a preliminary basis over the phone, others were grilled on Zoom interviews. A select few flew to Baltimore for in-person meetings. “It became apparent quickly that Jesse Minter was the right guy to be our next head football coach,” DeCosta said. “Jesse’s smart, he’s a leader, he’s got great humility, he’s a problem solver, a great tactician and he started at the bottom.” At one point, Harbaugh texted Minter to pledge his support. “They should hire you,” he wrote. Minter wanted the job from the get-go too. He had been eyeing this coaching cycle since last summer as a potential opportunity. In his interview, he made it clear to DeCosta that his familiarity with folks in the building wasn’t the reason he wanted to coach the Ravens. It was “because of my time here that I was able to see how this place operates and knowing that everything is in place to be a championship organization.” Eight teams interviewed the former Chargers defensive coordinator: Browns, Cardinals, Dolphins, Falcons, Giants, Raiders, Ravens and Titans. He completed a few in-person visits as well. At the last minute, the Raiders were reportedly making a heavy push. Baltimore didn’t want to waste any more time. “It was clear to us,” Bisciotti said, “that Jesse is a special talent who has what it takes to lead us as head coach of the Ravens.” Minter just had to remind them he’s not the same man he was a decade ago. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. View the full article Quote
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