Wisconsin native has extensive ties to the state

Mike Spofford

GREEN BAY Sam Siefkes has joined new Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon's coaching staff. He will be Green Bay's linebackers coach, replacing Sean Duggan, who moved on to Miami to continue working with former Packers DC and new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley.

Here are five things to know about Siefkes.

Siefkes comes to Green Bay after one season as defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. The Hokies ranked in the middle of the pack in the 17-team Atlantic Coast Conference last year in yards allowed, finishing 10th at 378 per game, but they ranked 15th in scoring, allowing 30 points per game.

During Gannon's first two years as head coach at Arizona (2023-24), Siefkes was the Cardinals' linebackers coach. He landed that position after two years as a defensive assistant with Minnesota, his first NFL coaching gig, working first as a quality control coach and then as an assistant with the Vikings' linebackers.

Siefkes grew up in Oconomowoc, Wis., and played college football at Wisconsin-La Crosse, a decorated Division III program. Injuries cut his playing career short, and he became a student assistant coach at La Crosse in 2012 before moving on to various coaching jobs in the college ranks.

He worked as a strength and conditioning intern at Air Force (2013), a defensive assistant at Florida International (2014), a graduate assistant at Wisconsin (2015), as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin-Platteville (2016-17) and as defensive coordinator at Wofford (2018-20) before breaking into the NFL.

Siefkes' Wofford defenses ranked first in the Southern Conference in both total defense and rushing defense two years in a row (2018-19) as the program won back-to-back league titles and qualified for the FCS playoffs. Both defenses also ranked second in the conference in points allowed.

He didn't coach a third season at Wofford because the Covid-19 pandemic prompted the Southern Conference to move their games from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021, and he was hired by the Vikings before that season began.

As a graduate assistant at Wisconsin in 2015, Siefkes worked with defensive coordinator Dave Aranda as the Badgers led the nation in scoring defense and ranked second in total defense. He also earned a master's degree in educational leadership and policy analysis from Wisconsin.