A veteran coach of 14 NFL seasons, Michael Pope begins his first season as a Redskin assistant coach after spending the past three seasons with the New England Patriots. He has been a coach on three Super Bow teams, including the Patriots appearance against Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXI last season. He was also a member of the New York Giants coaching staff that captured Super Bowl titles in 1986 and 1990.
Pope made his NFL coaching debut as an assistant special teams coach for the Giants in 1983. He became tight ends coach the following season, and remained on the Giants staff through the 1991 season. Developing young tight ends has been Popes trademark with four players Zeke Mowat (1983), Mark Bavaro (1985) Howard Cross (1989) and Tony McGee (1993) making the NFLs all-rookie team. Following the 1991 season, Pope spent two seasons (1992-93) with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1993 after spending his first season as the Bengals tight ends coach. He joined the Patriots coaching staff in 1994 as running backs coach and took over coaching the tight ends for New England in 1995.
Popes coaching career began at Lenoir (NC) High School in 1964 and he coached at high schools in Charlotte, NC, Jacksonville, FL and Lake Wells, FL. He joined the collegiate ranks in 1970 as a graduate assistant at Florida State. After five seasons at Florida State (1970-74), Pope served as an assistant coach and recruiter for three seasons at Texas Tech (1975-77). From there, Pope moved to Ole Miss (1978-82) as receivers coach, plus kickers and punters.
Pope played quarterback at Lenoir Ryne College, where he won all-conference honors three consecutive seasons. He led the team to a national title and a combined 34-8-3 record during his playing career. Born March 15, 1942 in Monroe, NC, he attended Monroe High School where he earned all-conference honors in football, basketball and baseball. He has two sons, Travus and Daron and resides in Sterling, VA.