Phil Snow enters his second season as Carolina's defensive coordinator in 2021 after coming to the Panthers from Baylor as part of head coach Matt Rhule's staff.
In 2020, the Panthers had 11 rookies record defensive snaps with six starting at least one game. Carolina led the NFL with 3,498 total defensive snaps by rookies. That group accounted for 287 tackles, the most by any first-year group in the NFL and fifth-most by a rookie class since 2000. Carolina led the NFL with 15 fumble recoveries and tied for the league lead with three fumble recovery touchdowns.
Linebacker Jeremy Chinn garnered votes for the NFL Rookie of the Year award and earned PFWA All-Rookie honors as the second-round draft pick led the NFL with the most tackles (116) by a rookie. He became the first player in the Super Bowl era with fumble recovery TDs on consecutive plays from scrimmage (at MIN 11/29/20) and became the first Panther with two NFL Rookie of the Month awards in one season (October and November).
Defensive end Brian Burns led the Panthers with 9.0 sacks while ranking fifth among DE's with 21 QB hits. Rookie defensive tackle Derrick Brown garnered PFWA All-Rookie honors as he posted eight tackles for loss, ranking third among all rookies in 2020.
Snow joined the Panthers in 2020 after spending the last three years as defensive coordinator at Baylor with Rhule. Snow and Rhule have coached together for over eight years, with stops at Temple, Baylor and now Carolina.
A veteran with 37 years of collegiate coaching experience, Snow has served as defensive coordinator at seven previous schools, among them UCLA, Washington, Arizona State, Boise State and Temple and Baylor. He also coached four seasons in the NFL with the Detroit Lions.
Under Snow's leadership in 2019, Baylor ranked 20th in the nation in total defense, and finished second in turnovers gained (30), third in interceptions (17), eighth in sacks per game (3.31), and fifth in turnover margin (1.08). During Snow's final year in Waco, he saw Baylor defensive tackle James Lynch finished fifth in the nation in sacks (13.5) and cornerback Grayland Arnold ranked fifth in interceptions (6). Lynch was also named the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year, and the unit placed two players on the All-Big 12 First Team Defense.
Prior to Baylor, Snow spent four seasons at Temple under Rhule, where his squad led the AAC in defense in both 2015 and 2016. The 2016 defense ranked third nationally in total defense (282.5 ypg) and 11th in scoring (18.4 ppg) to help lead the Owls to an AAC championship and 10-4 record. Snow coached All-AAC linebacker and eventual first-round draft pick Haason Reddick, picked 13th overall by the Arizona Cardinals in 2017.
Snow's 2015 defense at Temple led the conference in most defensive categories, including rushing and scoring, led by first-team All-American linebacker Tyler Matakevich. The 2014 Owls' defense ranked fourth nationally in scoring (17.5 ppg, an improvement from 29.8 the previous season). Temple made 30 takeaways to rank among the top five programs nationally (including a nation's-best 19 fumble recoveries).
Prior to Temple, Snow spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Eastern Michigan University.
From 2005-08, Snow coached in the NFL with the Detroit Lions, where he mentored the linebackers. In 2007, linebacker Ernie Sims ranked fourth in the NFL with 134 tackles.
Prior to his stint in the NFL, he coached at the University of Washington, in 2004 as the defensive coordinator and 2003 as co-coordinator.
Snow spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at UCLA, where he mentored current Baylor head coach Matt Rhule during the 2001 season. The Bruins led the Pac-10 in total defense in Snow's first season. Linebacker Robert Thomas, a 2002 first-round draft pick of the Rams, won 2001 Pac-10 Defense Player of the Year honors.
Prior to UCLA, Snow spent nine seasons as the defensive coordinator at Arizona State and helped lead the Sun Devils to the 1996 Rose Bowl, 1997 Sun Bowl and 1999 and 2000 Aloha Bowls.
Snow was defensive backs coach at California from 1987-91, served as an assistant at Boise State from 1982-86 and took his first collegiate job at Laney College in 1979 where he worked through 1981.
A 1978 graduate of Cal-State Hayward, Snow began his coaching career at the high school level, coaching at Berkeley (Calif.) High School in 1976 and at his high school alma mater, Winters (Calif.) High School, from 1977-78.
The Woodland, Calif., native, earned his associate's degree at Sacramento City College in 1975 before completing his bachelor's at Cal-State Hayward. Snow and his wife, Debra, have two sons, Philip and Jacob.
- 1979 | Laney College | Defensive Backs
- 1980-81 | Laney College | Defensive Coordinator
- 1982 | Boise State | Defensive Backs
- 1983-86 | Boise State | Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
- 1987-91 | California | Defensive Backs
- 1992-94 | Arizona State | Defensive Backs
- 1995-2000 | Arizona State | Defensive Coordinator
- 2001-02 | UCLA | Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
- 2003 | Washington | Co-Defensive Coordinator/Cornerbacks
- 2005 | Detroit Lions | Defensive Assistant
- 2006-08 | Detroit Lions | Linebackers
- 2010-12 | Eastern Michigan | Defensive Coordinator
- 2013-16 | Temple | Defensive Coordinator
- 2017-19 | Baylor | Defensive Coordinator
- 2020-pres | Carolina Panthers | Defensive Coordinator
