Entering his eighth season as a coach in the NFL, Shawn Mennenga begins his first year with the Packers in 2019 as the club’s special teams coordinator.
Named to his position on Feb. 1, 2019, by Head Coach Matt LaFleur, Mennenga (MEN-in-guh) comes to Green Bay after spending the 2018 season as the special teams coordinator at Vanderbilt University. He served as the special teams assistant for the Cleveland Browns for the previous seven seasons (2011-17).
In 2018 at Vanderbilt, Mennenga helped punter Parker Thome rank No. 4 in the Southeastern Conference with an average of 44.9 yards per punt on 51 punts, including 14 punts of 50-plus yards and 19 inside the 20-yard line. Thome’s average was tied for the fourth best in a season in school history, and he set a single-game school record by averaging 55.3 yards on three punts in Vanderbilt’s win vs. Tennessee.
From 2011-17, Mennenga helped the Browns rank No. 7 in the NFL over that span in punt return average (9.9) and opponent kickoff return average (21.8). Cleveland was the only team in the league to earn at least one AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award each season from 2011-16, picking up seven awards over that span.
In 2017, punter Britton Colquitt set franchise single-season records for net punting average (40.6 yards), topping his own mark set in 2016 (40.3 yards), and punting average (47.6 yards, No. 5 in the NFL). Kicker Zane Gonzalez set a Browns rookie record with 15 field goals, including a 54-yarder in Week 7 vs. Tennessee that was the longest FG by a rookie in team history. As a team, Cleveland finished No. 8 in the NFL in kickoff return average (22.6), with rookie RB Matthew Dayes posting two kickoff returns of 50-plus yards on the season (71, 53).
As a team in 2015, the Browns finished No. 4 in the NFL in punt return average (11.2), with WR Travis Benjamin checking in at No. 3 in the league with an 11.6-yard average. P Andy Lee recorded a punting average of 46.7 yards (No. 8 in the NFL) with a 40.1-yard net average and K Travis Coons set an NFL record with 18 consecutive field goals to start his career, finishing the season with an 87.5 percentage (28 of 32).
In 2014, Mennenga assisted with a special teams unit that finished No. 2 in the league in opposing field position on kickoffs, including 16 stops inside the 20-yard line. The Browns also registered their first blocked punt since 2003, which resulted in a safety as the team rallied from a 25-point deficit at Tennessee in Week 4, scoring 26 unanswered points to defeat the Titans in the largest road comeback win (29-28) in league history.
In 2013, K Billy Cundiff set a franchise record with 42 touchbacks on kickoffs. Benjamin ranked No. 8 in the NFL with an 11.7-yard punt return average, highlighted by his franchise-record 179 yards on seven returns (25.6 avg.) with a 79-yard TD vs. Buffalo in Week 5.
In 2012, K Phil Dawson and returner Josh Cribbs were both selected to the Pro Bowl, marking just the second time in team history (2008) that the Browns had two specialists selected to the all-star game. Dawson, who was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his 14-year career, connected on 29 of 31 field goals, a 93.5 percentage (tied for No. 2 in the NFL) that was the best in a season in franchise history. Dawson made his first 23 FGs of the season to bring his streak of consecutive FGs made to 29, a team record. Cribbs finished No. 4 in the NFL in kickoff return average (27.4) and No. 6 in punt return average (12.0). In addition, Johnson Bademosi registered a team-high 18 tackles on special teams on his way to being selected as the special teams player on the Pro Football Weekly/PFWA All-Rookie team.
As a team, the Browns led the NFL with nine punt returns of 20-plus yards in 2012, including Benjamin’s team-record 93-yard return vs. Kansas City in Week 14. Cleveland was tied for the league lead in opponent average starting position after kickoffs (19.9) and was second in the NFL in opponent kickoff return average (19.8).
In Mennenga’s first season with the Browns in 2011, the team ranked No. 2 in the league in average starting position after kickoffs (24.5). Dawson connected on seven field goals of 50-plus yards, tied for the most in the NFL on the season, and P Brad Maynard was tied for No. 3 in the NFL with 32 punts inside the 20, which matched the top single-season mark in team history.
Prior to joining the Browns, Mennenga spent the 2009-10 seasons as the linebackers coach at South Dakota State University. In 2009, the Jackrabbits ranked in the top 20 in the country in total defense (No. 17, 289.5 ypg), rushing defense (No. 14, 104.3 ypg) and points allowed (No. 16, 17.4 ppg), and made their first-ever appearance in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Mennenga spent the previous four seasons (2005-08) as the defensive coordinator at Fort Hays State University (Kan.). He coached at Culver-Stockton College (Canton, Mo.) from 2001-04, serving as the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator in 2001 and as the head coach from 2002-04.
Mennenga also coached in the collegiate ranks at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College (defensive coordinator, 1998-2000), Western Kentucky University (outside linebackers, 1997) and Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University (secondary, 1995-96; graduate assistant, 1994).
Born Jan. 8, 1971, in Melbourne, Iowa, Mennenga lettered one season as a defensive back at the University of Missouri in 1992.
Mennenga and his wife, Christie, have a son, Garrett, and a daughter, Ashley.
