Where are they now? Zaven Yaralian (1 Viewer)

[Waymer]

The Rio Grande Club, ranked Sixth Best Course Upscale by Golf Digest, and the Best Nineteenth Hole in Colorado by Colorado Golf Magazine, is poised to become one of the leading full-scale resorts in the country under new management. Former NFL player and coach Zaven Yaralian signs in as the new owner effective July 14, 2006.

“I want to take the Club to the next level so that it becomes an experience our guests will not forget,” states Yaralian. He says that after guests have visited the Club, he wants them to feel like they’ve had the experience of a lifetime, not only with the golf course, but with the amenities the Rio Grande offers such as tennis, fishing, swimming, and fine dining. The scenic views of the mountains and rivers are one of the biggest reasons visitors come to the area.

http://www.golfviews.com/april-07-riogrande.htm

 

[Eeyore]

I thought that he was an excellent coordinator. He must have found a more peaceful life because there is no reason that he couldn't find work as a coach.

 

[Eric in LA]

Remember Ditka paying a bet off to him after that Raider's game? I believe it involved stopping Tim Brown on that slant/crossing route the Raiders ran.

 

[DavidM]

I thought that he was an excellent coordinator. He must have found a more peaceful life because there is no reason that he couldn't find work as a coach.

I agree. There's a guy who seemed to get a lot out of what he had to work with.

 

[CAVALIER]

I never saw a ZY defense sit and wait for things to happen in fromt of them....

 

[Ti Rider]

I thought that he was an excellent coordinator. He must have found a more peaceful life because there is no reason that he couldn't find work as a coach.

Me too. I thought he did a great job with the D talent Mora left. He was the last Saints' D coordinator to when and how to call a disguised blitz. Ever since he left you can pick out who and where the Saints blitzers are coming from as soon as the opposing O breaks the huddle. I've wondered how different things would've been had Yaralian stuck with the team and been the one to survive the great purge instead of Venturi........Good to know he's doing well......

 

[Broad St. Saint]

That's bizarre. Must be by choice.

I mean, Mike McCarthy and Ron Zook landed on their feet, and I would've through ZY did as good a job as they did as a coordinator. Though there may be some sort of Ditka-related stigma.

 

[OldTimeGamer1966]

The camel back specialty defense we used against the Cowboys and stopped Aikmen and Smith and company. It was that blitz that sent the LBers right up the gut,juast sent everything we had and Dallas had no answer.

 

[JGunn]

Our defense was pretty good under him. I remember the year he left the D just left with him and hasnt really returned since.

 

[MLU]

Here is an old article about Zaven I enjoyed...

 

[Eeyore]

From CNNSI in October of 1998...

"
The man behind the Saints defense

The man behind the Saints' swarming, blitzing, "Swamp Dog" defense is defensive coordinator Zaven Yaralian. He grew up in Lebanon during the country's bloody civil war in the 1950s, where he was forced to wear a red shirt in school so the Muslims could identify him as a Christian.
When Yaralian was 10, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he immediately fell in love with football.
Yaralian has built one of the NFL's best defenses -- one that blitzes more than 30 times a game and has an NFL-best streak of 53 games in a row with a sack. "People want to know why I never play it safe," Yaralian told me. "Well, look how I grew up. War was a way of life for me and it taught me you can't sit back and let things happen. You have to attack.""

 

[Saint by the Bay]

Maybe we could coax him out of retirement.

 

[Eeyore]

Maybe we could coax him out of retirement.

I'm guessing that the guy has found his peace. After reading about how he grew up and about the way that he was replaced in Denver I would imagine that living where he does right now is like a dream come true.

 

[saintkreaux]

I met him way back in '98 when the Saints played (and subsequently won) in Indy during Peyton Manning's rookie year. That win put us at 3-0 to start the year.....with Wuerffel as QB. We happened to be staying at the same hotel as the team and I saw him in the lobby and said Hi to him and wished him luck in the game. He was a very nice man.

 

[RebSaint]

Btt.