The name on everyone's lips in Wisconsin: Matt LaFleur.
There's been no shortage of buzz since news broke that the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator is set to become the next head coach of the Green Bay Packers.
While football analysts, sportswriters and fans dissect his career, study his coaching style and speculate about what the 39-year-old Michigan native will mean to the future of the Packers, we're calling a quick timeout to get to know a little about the family side of LaFleur
1. He's a dad. He’s married to wife, BreAnne. They have two young sons, Luke and Ty
2. Both of his parents were coaches. His parents, Denny and Kristi, still live in his hometown of Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Population: 25,847.
They both taught physical education and coached at Mount Pleasant High School from the ’90s until their retirement in 2015. They were grand marshals of the school's homecoming parade in 2017.
3. He grew up around football with his dad. Denny was a longtime defensive assistant at Central Michigan University, where he played linebacker in the 1970s. As a kid, Matt spent a lot of time around that program with his dad.
“He was always with me on the sidelines,” Denny said in
2009 interview with MLive. “He got that college experience from an early age. He was there for all of the home games, the away games. Even for bowl games, he was right there with me.”
4. He learned about the power of being positive from his mom. Kristi, who was on the sidelines as a cheerleader when Denny was playing college ball, was the competitive cheer coach at Mount Pleasant High, often taking kids with no tumbling skills and turning them into teams that repeatedly went to the state finals.
“I’ve learned so much from my mom, watching her with her teams and how positive she was with those kids, and just how powerful that is,” Matt told
The Tennessean in August. “If people know you believe in them, it raises their play and their confidence in what they can do.”
5. His brother coaches in the NFL, too. He has a younger brother, Mike, who is the San Francisco 49ers wide receivers/passing game coordinator.
Matt was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams and Mike was the 49ers receivers coach when the two teams played each other in 2017. Not wanting to choose sides, their mom came up with a team of her own, the San Angeles Rammers. She had T-shirts made with a red, blue and gold logo and wore one to the game.
In a 2017
interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kristi recalled how the two brothers often wrestled around the house. Both competitive, she described Matt as more intense and Mike as more laid back.
“I can put a smile on my face even when I don’t want to,” Mike said. “Where Matt, I would say, wears his emotions on his sleeve.”
6. His grandpa was a coach. Matt’s grandfather, Bob Barringer, coached football for nine years at Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the 1960s and ’70s. When he died in 2010,
a story in the Kalamazoo Gazette described him as an intense coach who always pushed his players, always made them tougher.
A former player recalled the time Barringer told him he’d be returning punts in a game.
“If I fumbled, he told me I would be up in the stands selling popcorn with my dad. I didn’t know my dad was selling popcorn (which he wasn’t), but he got my attention.”
