Sean Desai’s path to becoming Eagles defensive coordinator was shaped by an immigrant story

Sean Desai had already diverted from medical school to an expected career in education when he told his parents he was turning down a tenured position teaching at George Washington University to chase his dream of coaching in football.

The Desais, father Suresh and mother Shila, had emigrated from India years earlier in search of the American Dream and to give their two sons greater opportunities. Sean had taken advantage, having gone to Boston University and then Columbia for his master’s degree.

But his next turn, after getting his doctorate from Temple, would test his parents’ resolve. Desai had been a graduate assistant under Owls coach Al Golden for a few years, earning essentially nothing, when the GW offer came.

Golden didn’t have a full-time job to match. But he told Desai that if one opened in six months, it was his to take. With only that assurance, and the encouragement of his then-girlfriend and future wife, Ojus, the then-26-year-old Desai decided to bet on himself.

His parents didn’t need much convincing to go along with their son.

“I think that’s a credit to them. … But they knew that each way I built up some equity because I kept to my word,” Desai said. “And I was going to finish my degree. I was going to get my master’s. I got my doctorate. I did it in three years, a year ahead of what you should do. I did a master’s in a year — probably a-year-and-a-half to two-year program.

“Like so I was going to hold up my end. I was not going to not have a plan.”

Golden, true to his word, promoted him in six months’ time and Desai’s plan was kick-started. Over the next 14 years, he steadily rose the coaching ranks and in 2021 became the first NFL coordinator of Indian descent with the Chicago Bears.

» READ MORE: How Temple helped shape new Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai

In February, the Eagles hired Desai to replace Jonathan Gannon as defensive coordinator. The 40-year-old said he takes pride in the cultural significance of his ascension, but he knows he will be judged strictly on his defense’s performance.

“I try to enter this job by trying to be the best defensive coordinator in the NFL, right, and be the best defensive coordinator I can be, not being the best Indian defensive coordinator or not being the best, whatever, you know,” Desai said. “My job is to be defensive coordinator. I’ve been hired to be a defensive coordinator. I have to be the best defensive coordinator.”

Desai sat down with The Inquirer recently for an expanded interview for the podcast “unCovering the Birds.” The conversion started at the beginning: his formative years growing up as a Shelton, Conn., native with his parents, brother Semil, aunts, uncles, and cousins — 11 total — under one roof.

“It was awesome. It was just great,” Desai said. “It really was because I tell everybody my first cousins — they’re really like my brothers and sisters. And I’ve got my brother, too. So that’s how we grew up. And so it was really close.”

The brother and cousins played all kinds of sports and Desai, right in the middle age-wise, was as competitive as any one of them.

“I had a little bit of a John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors type of personality on the tennis court,” he said. “I’ve been known to break a few rackets and bend a few pingpong paddles. I was relentless with those. Had a few cracked ones of those, as well.”

» READ MORE: New coordinator Sean Desai brings ‘workman mentality’ to Eagles defense

While Desai’s parents initially knew little about American sports, and were slow to allow their sons to play contact sports — especially at the expense of their academic pursuits — they eventually embraced their participation in football.

And came to love the most popular sport in their new homeland.

“A lot of immigrant stories are probably similar,” Desai said. “You force yourself to find the balance of retaining your own culture and your own roots to assimilate quickly and fit in almost. And you’re seeing that now, on a bigger scale, the conversations happening in the last recent years on a bigger scale.

“And it’s an important conversation that needs to be said because you don’t necessarily need to lose one part of yourself to assimilate yourself to another part.”

Two other prominent first-generation Indian-Americans who followed similar paths to the coach go into detail about their trailblazing experiences on “unCovering the Birds,” Episode 10, “One of us.” And Desai expounds on his career journey that started at Temple and wound its way into the NFL through Chicago and Seattle before returning to Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: How will the Eagles defense change — or stay the same — under new Sean Desai?

He joins a team coming off a narrow loss in Super Bowl LVII to the Chiefs. Gannon, who left to become Cardinals head coach, had been vilified by a vocal local segment for most of his two seasons in Philly, especially after his defense couldn’t stop quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the second half in Arizona.

Gannon’s unit played a large part in the Eagles’ success last season and was statistically among the best in the NFL. But his scheme wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to some fans and he comparatively struggled against top passers.

Philly has historically been tough on defensive coordinators, especially over the last 15 years. Desai may be given some leeway because he’s simply not Gannon. His aspirational story is also one that many will applaud. But he’s focused mostly on the task at hand.

“I don’t want to down-credit that because they are important — the ability to represent a race or a minority group. … It’s really important,” Desai said. “But I can’t get caught up in that because that’s [going to make me] lose my attention on what my job is.”

Listen to Episode 10, “One of us,” of “unCovering the Birds” here.