NFL Coach

Romeo Crennel | Biography

Romeo Crennel played football throughout his high school and college years, he never got drafted to an NFL team

• By Anil Pradhan
• Update : December 17, 2021

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Romeo Crennel is a renowned American Football coach for the NFL team Houston Texans.

Who is Romeo Crennel?

Romeo Crennel is an NFL coach and football performance advisor. He has also played American Football throughout his high school and college years. However, he never got drafted to an NFL team.

Crennel began his college football coaching career in 1970 as a graduate assistant coach. Later, he got promoted to defensive line coach and served the team from 1971 to 1974. He then moved on to represent several other NCAA division teams like Texas Tech (1975-1977), Ole Miss (1978-1979), and Georgia Tech (1980).

NFL Career

Following a successful collegiate coaching career, Crennel joined his first NFL team, the New York Giants, in 1981. He represented them as an assistant coach from 1981 to 1983, special teams coach from 1983 to 1989, and defensive line coach from 1990 until 1992. He left the New York Giants after the 1992 season. 

Crennel then served as the defensive line coach for the New England Patriots (1993-1996) and New York Jets (1997-1999) before moving to Cleveland Browns as their defensive coordinator in 2000.

Crennel landed his first head coach job with the Cleveland Browns in 2005 and served until 2008. In 2010, Kansas City Chiefs hired him as their defensive coordinator and made him the interim head coach in 2011. On 9 January 2012, Crennel occupied the head coach position and remained their defensive coordinator. However, he had a poor run with the team and eventually got fired in December 2012.

Houston Texans

On 20 January 2014, Crennel signed his current team Houston Texans. He joined as their defensive coordinator under a three-year contract from 2014 to 2016. By the end of the 2016 season, the Houston Texan team peaked at no. 1 in defense ranking. 

Shortly after, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Head coach in January 2016 and later became the team's interim head coach in October 2020. Although on an interim basis, Crennel was the first African-American head coach in the history of the Houston Texans and the oldest head coach (73 years of age) in the history of the NFL.

As of December 2021, Crennel is the full-time head coach of Houston Texans. He also holds the senior advisor position on the team's football performance.

How old is Romeo Crennel?

Romeo Crennel was born on 18 June 1947 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He is 74 years as of 2021, and he has not disclosed any information about his early age except his education. 

Crennel received his high school education partly from Fort Knox High School in Kentucky and later joined Amherst County High School. He then enrolled in Western Kentucky University and committed to their football team. He eventually graduated with both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in physical education in 1970.

Wife and Family

The American football head coach has been married to Rosemary for a long time now. But, no other information about his love and marriage life has been disclosed yet. He is the father of three daughters, Tiffany, Kristine, and Lisa, and grandfather of eight grandchildren.

Salary and Net Worth

There is no authentic information on Romeo Crennel's 2021 salary and net worth. However, according to a post in 2014 by espn.com, Crennel had signed with the Houston Texans for annual pay of $1.8 million for three years. 

He has renewed the contract several times but has not yet revealed his salary.