Dat Nguyen

For the boxer, see Dat Nguyen‎ (boxer).

Dat Nguyen

No. 59
Linebacker
Personal information
Date of birth: September 25, 1975 (1975-09-25) (age 36)
Place of birth: Fort Chaffee, Arkansas
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	Weight: 238 lb (108 kg)
Career information
College: Texas A&M
NFL Draft: 1999 / Round: 3 / Pick: 85
Debuted in 1999 for the Dallas Cowboys
Last played in 2005 for the Dallas Cowboys
Career history
As a player: Dallas Cowboys (1999-2005) As a coach: Dallas Cowboys (2007-2009) (Assistant Linebackers/Quality Control Coach)
Career highlights and awards
NFL Honors 1999 All-Rookie Team (Special Teams) 1× All-Pro selection (2003) 2003 Pro Bowl (Alternate) College Awards 1998 Unanimous Consensus All-American Chuck Bednarik Award (1998) Lombardi Award (1998) Jack Lambert Award (1998) Butkus Award Finalist (1998) 1998 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year 3x First Team All-Big 12 (1996,1997,1998) 2005 Big 12 10th Anniversary Team 2010 AP All-Time Big 12 Team Texas A&M Athletic Hall Of Fame (Inducted 2004) AT&T Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame (Inducted 2007)
Career NFL statistics as of 2005
Games Played	90
Games Started	65
Tackles	516
Sacks	6.0
Interceptions	7
Forced Fumbles	4
Stats at NFL.com
Stats at pro-football-reference.com

Dat Tan Nguyen ( /ˌdæt ˈwɪn/; Vietnamese: Nguyễn Tấn Đạt, pronounced [ŋʷjə̌ˀn tə̌n ɗàːt]) (born September 25, 1975) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was the first Vietnamese American to play in the NFL. He played for the Dallas Cowboys from 1999 to 2005. He played college football at Texas A&M. He was the Cowboys' assistant linebackers coach and quality control coach from 2007–2009. On February 14, 2010, Nguyen was named the new inside linebacker coach at his alma mater.

Early years

Nguyen's family left South Vietnam during the fall of Saigon, which led to the end of the Vietnam War, and he was born in a refugee center in Arkansas. He lived most of his childhood in the Gulf Coast town of Rockport, Texas. In high school, Nguyen played middle linebacker and handled punting duties. Nguyen earned All-State honors as a punter. Nguyen was recruited and received scholarship offers from Michigan, UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas and Florida. Nguyen eventually decided to play closer to home and chose Texas A&M University.

Playing career

College

Nguyen battled the perception that he was too small to play linebacker for as long as he was involved in the game of football, despite his muscular 5'11", 238-pound frame. Proving critics wrong at an early stage, he finished his college career with Texas A&M University as the Aggies' career record holder with 51 consecutive starts, 517 career tackles and a 10.7 tackles-per-game average. His 517 career tackles is a Texas A&M record. He is the only Aggie to ever lead the school in tackles for four consecutive years. It is widely acknowledged that Nguyen was the undisputed on-field leader of the famous "Wrecking Crew" defense, as well as being its most famous and decorated player.

In 1995, he was named Southwest Conference Defensive Newcomer of the Year. From 1996 to 1998, he earned first-team All-Big 12 honors three consecutive times. In 1997, he was named Aggies MVP. In 1998, he was named a consensus All-American by every awarding publication, won the Bednarik Award for College Defensive Player of the Year and the Lombardi Award for Outstanding College Lineman. Nguyen was also selected as a finalist for the Butkus Award eventually becoming first runner-up. Nguyen missed winning the Butkus Award by a single vote out of more than 45 votes cast. It remains to date the closest vote in Butkus Award history. He was named Defensive Player of the Game for the 1998 Cotton Bowl after recording a bowl record 20 tackles including 7 tackles for a loss. Dallas Morning News named him Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year in 1998, and he earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in the Big 12 Conference. He also won the Jack Lambert Award in 1998. In 2005 he was named to the Big 12 Conference's 10th Anniversary Team. In 2010, he was voted on to the AP All-Time Big 12 Team tying with former University of Texas player Derrick Johnson for most votes at linebacker (19 out of 20.) Nguyen is generally acknowledged as the best defensive player in Texas A&M football history and one of the greatest defensive players of all-time in the history of the Big 12 Conference. In 2004, Nguyen was inducted in the Texas A&M Athletics Hall Of Fame.^[1] In April 2007, Nguyen was also inducted into the AT&T Cotton Bowl Hall Of Fame.^[2]

Professional

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys drafted Nguyen in the third round (85th overall) of the 1999 NFL Draft. Nguyen made an impact with the Cowboys from the very beginning, leading the team in special-teams stops as a rookie and becoming Dallas' starting middle linebacker in his second season. In 2001, he completed his first full season as a starting NFL middle linebacker and recorded 112 tackles. In 2003, with Nguyen leading the team in tackles, the Cowboys were the most effective defense in the NFL by a very wide margin.;^[3] he was selected second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press.

Nguyen officially retired from the NFL on March 3, 2006 after a neck injury, which hindered his 2005 performance, failed to improve. He led the team in tackles three times, in 2001, 2003, and 2004, and amassed 516 tackles in seven seasons, despite missing half of two separate seasons to injury.^[4] As of November 2010, Dat Nguyen currently ranks 10th all-time in Cowboys recorded history for career total tackles.^[5]

Coaching career

Dallas Cowboys

In February 2007, Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips announced the hiring of Nguyen as assistant linebackers coach and defensive quality control coach. Along with Phillips' son Wes, Nguyen was the first assistant hired under Phillips.^[6][7] Nguyen left the Cowboys on January 27, 2010.^[8]

Texas A&M

Nguyen was named the inside linebackers coach at Texas A&M University on February 12, 2010.^[9] In Nguyen's first year as the A&M inside linebackers coach, the Aggies went 9-3 in the regular season with wins over nationally ranked Oklahoma and Nebraska as well as wins over Texas and Texas Tech. This marked the first time in school history that A&M had beaten all four of those teams in a single season. The resurgence of the Texas A&M defense to it former glory as "The Wrecking Crew" and particularly the outstanding play of the linebacker corps has been cited as a major reason for team's 2010 season success.

Nguyen helped cement linebacker Von Miller's status in Texas A&M history by coaching him in the 2010 season which led to Miller being awarded the 2010 Butkus Award.

Personal

Nguyen married his college sweetheart, Becky, and they have two daughters. In May 2004, Nguyen was awarded a Golden Torch Award at the Vietnamese American National Gala in Washington, D.C. He was also featured in HBO's Hard Knocks series (2nd season).

References

1. ^ http://lettermen.tamu.edu/fame.php
2. ^ http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/041307aaa.html
3. ^ "NFL Statistics - 2003". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics?sort=ypg&stat=team&pos=def&league=nfl&season=2&year=2003. Retrieved 2010-01-16. 
4. ^ Pasquarelli, Len (January 26, 2006). "Injuries likely to force Nguyen to retire". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2307171. Retrieved 2010-01-16. 
5. ^ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/dal/career-defense.htm
6. ^ Eatman, Nick (February 13, 2007). "Dat Nguyen, Wes Phillips Added To Coaching Staff". DallasCowboys.com. http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=BE7C527A-BE80-1C4B-EC3DC15724C84661. Retrieved 2010-01-16. 
7. ^ Smith, Michael David (February 14, 2007). "Wade Phillips Hires His Son and Dat Nguyen as Assistants". AOL Fanhouse. http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2007/02/14/wade-phillips-hires-his-son-and-dat-nguyen-as-assistants/. Retrieved 2010-01-16. 
8. ^ Archer, Todd (January 27, 2010). "Wade Phillips on Dat Nguyen". The Dallas Morning News. http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/01/wade-phillips-on-dat-nguyen.html. Retrieved 2010-01-28. 
9. ^ http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/021310aaa.html#

External links

• Dallas Cowboys coaching bio

Persondata
Name	Nguyen, Dat
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 25, 1975
Place of birth	Fort Chaffee
Date of death
Place of death

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