Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If artificial intelligence ever creates a real-life coach's son, it may want to get some DNA from Vinnie Sunseri.

Gators coach Billy Napier officially announced Sunseri on Thursday as the newest addition to his coaching staff as co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach. Although there is no evidence that the 33-year-old Sunseri was born wearing a helmet and shoulder pads, it was only a matter of time.

Many Gators fans may remember Sunseri as a hard-hitting safety for Alabama from 2011-13, where he helped the Crimson Tide win back-to-back national championships his first two seasons. Sunseri made the tackle on the opening kickoff in his first game and never let up, using a hard-nosed style of play that made him a fan favorite in Tuscaloosa.

In a win at Mississippi State during his freshman season, a kamikaze block on special teams knocked out Sunseri. When he woke up, he asked a trainer for his cell phone so he could call his mom, Roxann Sunseri, to make sure she knew he was OK.

Vinnie and brother Tino Sunseri, who is three years older, are the sons of longtime NFL and college defensive coach Sal Sunseri, who served as the Gators defensive line coach in 2018. (D-Line coach Sunseri knows greatness when he sees it).

Sal Sunseri is a coach's coach, an NFL and college football veteran, and was last an assistant on Deion Sanders' Colorado staff in 2023. He played at Pittsburgh and started coaching at his alma mater in the 1980s. Sal spent the next 40 years on the sideline at more than a dozen stops.

"My dad was a blue-collar coach, one of the best coaches I've ever been around,'' Vinnie Sunseri told the Indianapolis Star in October. "He knew a level of expectation, and he would always push us to the same level he coaches his players to. I think it was always in the back of our minds to be football coaches. It's what we've grown up in. It's been a constant in our lives since we were little."

The Sunseri brothers became a story in October when Washington, where Vinnie was a defensive assistant last season, played at Indiana, where Tino was the quarterbacks coach for the Hoosiers. It marked the first time the Sunseri boys had been on the same field as competitors.

The Hoosiers won 31-17 and advanced to the College Football Playoff later in the season. Meanwhile, the brothers have been on the move in recent weeks.

Vinnie left Washington, where he worked under UF graduate and Huskies first-year head coach Jedd Fisch and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, the son of six-time Super Bowl winner and new North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, to become the defensive coordinator at Jacksonville (Ala.) State. Tino was recently hired as the offensive coordinator at UCLA.

Vinnie's brief stay at Jacksonville State ended when Napier contacted him about an opportunity to join the Gators, where he replaces Austin Armstrong on the defensive staff. Armstrong left after the regular season to become defensive coordinator at Houston.

Napier's interest came on the heels of first-year Jacksonville State coach Charles Kelly luring Sunseri from Washington.

"Vinnie is one of the brightest young coaches in the country," Kelly said in a release earlier this month. "He brings unparalleled energy, a wealth of football knowledge, and a relentless commitment to excellence. His experience as both a player and coach at the highest levels of the game makes him the perfect fit to lead our defense to new heights."

Sunseri will share defensive coordinator responsibilities at UF with veteran Ron Roberts, who joined Napier's staff last season.

Over the last decade, Vinnie Sunseri has coached in the NFL and college. He has put together a resume that is starting to look like his father's and brother's. Before he was at Washington, Vinnie was running backs coach for the New England Patriots from 2021-2023.

They are a football family.
 

"There were a lot of backyard basketball games, and couch football in the living room and everything,'' Tino Sunseri told the Indianapolis Star in October. "We've always competed against each other, and we've always tried to be able to push each other to be the best we could be, while also being able to absolutely love the heck out of each other."

They were not the only athletes in the family. Roxann played volleyball at Pitt, where she met Sal when they were in college. Their sister, Ashlyn Sunseri, played volleyball for two seasons at Tennessee and finished at UAB. She is now a physician's assistant based in Florida.

One of the most memorable seasons for Vinnie was his freshman season. His dad was a defensive assistant on Nick Saban's staff that year, and they won a national championship. Sal left after the season to join Derek Dooley's staff at Tennessee. Vinnie stayed at Alabama to finish his playing career.

Still, Dad knew then his youngest son had a coach's eye for detail.

"He's very conscientious about making sure he holds up his part,'' Sal Sunseri told the Anniston (Ala.) Star. "That's what I'm so proud about. That's just the way we are. You have to understand, as a coach's kid and when you move around as much as we moved around, all you really have is each other."