Rich Bisaccia, the Green Bay Packers' special teams coordinator and assistant head coach, is stepping away from the organization, leaving a coaching staff already thinned by offseason departures. Bisaccia, 65, said he had been "reflecting over the past few weeks" before reaching his decision.
The announcement landed as the Packers prepare for a 2026 season that now carries a new layer of uncertainty. The NY Post reported that former defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley already left to take the head coaching job in Miami, and several assistants followed him out the door. Bisaccia's exit compounds the turnover.
Bisaccia has coached at the college or professional level every year since 1983. That's 43 consecutive years on the sideline. He held the Packers' special teams coordinator role for four seasons and was elevated to assistant head coach in March 2023, a title that reflected his broader influence within the building.
His units produced results. During his four years in Green Bay, the Packers ranked seventh in field-position margin and were tied for second in the league with 42 kickoff returns of at least 30 yards from 2022 to 2025. In 2021, he stepped in as interim head coach for the Raiders, holding the franchise together during one of the most chaotic stretches in modern NFL history.
Bisaccia released a statement through the team:
"I am incredibly grateful to Matt LaFleur, Brian Gutekunst, Ed Policy and Mark Murphy for their unwavering trust and support throughout my time in Green Bay. I am also thankful to the players for their consistent work and relentless effort to improve every single day."
He closed by saying he looked forward to "whatever is next" for himself and his family, leaving the door open without walking through it in either direction.
Head coach Matt LaFleur acknowledged the weight of the departure:
"Rich was a tremendous resource to me and our entire coaching staff who had a profound impact on our players and our culture throughout the building. We can't thank him enough for his contributions to our team over the last four years."
Bisaccia wasn't just drawing up return schemes. A coach who has survived and thrived across four decades of football, through regime changes and interim appointments and conference realignments, brings something that doesn't show up on a depth chart. He brings institutional gravity. LaFleur, who called the loss "disappointing," now has to replace that alongside an already gutted defensive staff.
Green Bay's situation is worth watching closely. Losing a defensive coordinator to a head coaching opportunity is a compliment, the kind of attrition successful programs expect. Losing the assistants who follow him is the tax. But losing a 65-year-old assistant head coach who chose to step away on his own terms is a different animal entirely. That's not ambition pulling someone toward a better job. That's a man deciding, after four decades, that the moment to pause has arrived.
The Packers now face a compound staffing problem heading into a season where continuity matters. Young rosters need steady hands. The franchise just lost several of them at once.
Bisaccia's statement was gracious to the point of being airtight. He thanked the front office, the players, the fans, and "the people throughout the Green Bay community." No grievances. No hints of friction. Just a clean goodbye from a man who has earned the right to make one.
"Coaching for the Green Bay Packers was truly an honor, and I will always be grateful for my time here."
Whether he returns to coaching elsewhere or steps away for good remains an open question. What isn't open to debate is what he left behind: a special teams unit that consistently outperformed expectations and a locker room presence that both players and coaches leaned on.
Green Bay will fill the role. Someone will draw up the punt coverage schemes and manage the return units. But forty-three years of football knowledge doesn't get replaced by a hire. It just gets missed.