Rich Bisaccia steps down as Packers special teams coordinator

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Rich Bisaccia steps down as Packers special teams coordinator

2026-02-18 09:37 Last Updated At：10:10

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Rich Bisaccia has stepped down as the Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator after four seasons.

Bisaccia said Tuesday in a statement released by the team that he had made the decision “after taking some time to reflect over the last few weeks.”

The Packers’ season ended Jan. 10 with a 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs.

Bisaccia, 65, joined Packers coach Matt LaFleur’s staff after going 7-6 as Las Vegas’ interim head coach in 2021 and helping the Raiders reach the playoffs that season. Bisaccia added the title of assistant head coach in March 2023.

Bisaccia was the Packers third special teams coordinator in as many years when he got to Green Bay.

The Packers were hoping Bisaccia could fix Green Bay’s history of special teams issues, a trend that began well before LaFleur’s tenure started in 2019.

He had mixed results in that regard.

Keisean Nixon followed Bisaccia to Green Bay from Las Vegas and earned All-Pro honors as a kick returner in 2022 and 2023. This season, Daniel Whelen became the first Packer to lead the NFL in gross punting average since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.

Yet Green Bay also had some notable special teams breakdowns the past few years, making Bisaccia a major target for criticism among Packers fans.

With the NFC North lead at stake, the Packers fell 22-16 in overtime at Chicago on Dec. 20 after the Bears recovered an onside kick to set up the tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. In Green Bay’s playoff loss at Chicago, Brandon McManus went 0 for 2 on field-goal attempts and missed an extra point.

Before coming to Green Bay, Bisaccia had worked as a special teams coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002-10), San Diego Chargers (2011-12), Dallas Cowboys (2013-17) and Raiders (2018-21).

“While we are disappointed to lose a person and coach as valuable as Rich, we respect his decision to step down from the Packers,” LaFleur said in a statement.

“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. We wish Rich, his wife, Jeanne, and the rest of their family all the best moving forward.”

Bisaccia’s decision means the Packers will have a new special teams coordinator as well as a defensive coordinator for the 2026 season. The Packers hired former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon as their defensive coordinator to take over for Jeff Hafley, who left after two seasons to become the Miami Dolphins head coach.

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What to know about the removal of Peru's president — yet again — and what's to come

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s Congress on Tuesday voted to remove interim President José Jerí from office, triggering fresh political instability weeks before a presidential election.

Jerí was Peru’s seventh president in less than a decade, and will now be replaced by a member of Congress, who will be expected to lead the country during the April 12 election and until the newly elected president is sworn in on July 28.

Jerí, a 39-year-old lawyer, was elected to Peru’s Congress in 2021 for Somos Peru, a small conservative party. He was the head of Peru’s Congress in October, when lawmakers voted to remove then President Dina Boluarte from office as the nation faced increasing rates of violent crime.

Following Boluarte’s removal, Jerí was elected by his peers as the nation’s interim president, with the expectation that he would stay in office until July, when a new presidential term begins. But his mandate was cut short as corruption allegations surfaced against him and Congress grew impatient with his leadership.

Jerí is facing a preliminary investigation for corruption and influence peddling launched by Peru’s Attorney General’s office earlier this year.

The charges stem from a series of undisclosed meetings with two Chinese businessmen in December. One of those businessmen holds active government contracts, while the other is under investigation for alleged involvement in an illegal logging operation.

Jerí has denied wrongdoing. He said he met the executives to organize a Peruvian-Chinese festivity, but his opponents have accused him of corruption.

While Jerí still hasn’t been found guilty of corruption, his former colleagues in Congress cited the allegations as one of the reasons to remove him, arguing that Jerí had become unfit to execute his presidential duties.

A clause in Peru’s constitution enables legislators to remove presidents who are found to be “morally incapable” of conducting their duties.

This clause has given legislators great leverage over Peru’s executive branch, which has also struggled in recent years to build congressional majorities.

The moral incapacity clause has been interpreted widely by legislators who have used it, along with corruption allegations, to remove presidents that no longer suit the interests of the nation’s political parties.

Peru has had seven presidents over the past decade — with only two of those elected by a popular vote. The others have been vice presidents who have stepped in for deposed presidents, and members of Congress who have been selected by their peers to lead the South American nation.

Despite the revolving door of presidents, Peru’s economy has been stable over the past decade, with governments sticking to orthodox economic policies that include modest fiscal spending.

The South American nation had a public debt to gross domestic product ratio of 32% in 2024, one of the lowest in Latin America, and has welcomed foreign investment in sectors like mining and infrastructure.

However, observers have noted that the nation’s increasingly powerful Congress has also passed legislation in recent years that threatens the independence of Peru’s judiciary.

Legislators will convene Wednesday night to elect a new interim president. Four candidates have been nominated by coalitions within the congress that span the ideological spectrum.

Rafael López Aliaga, a conservative businessman and former mayor of Lima is currently leading a crowded field of candidates that also includes former legislator Keiko Fujimori, a three-time presidential candidate whose father was the nation’s president in the 1990s.

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes in the April 12 election, there will be a runoff in June between the top two contenders.

Rueda reported from Bogota, Colombia.