Professional Bio

2nd Year NFL Coach • 2nd with Chiefs

Owning over 30 years of coaching experience, Joe D’Alessandris (pronounced dal-uh-SAN-dris) embarks on his second season as Kansas City’s assistant offensive line coach in 2009. The career of this veteran coach includes stints in three different professional leagues, as well as an expansive 26-year college coaching resume.

Prior to his arrival in Kansas City, D’Alessandris spent six seasons serving as the offensive line coach at Georgia Tech (2002-07) working under head coach Chan Gailey. At Georgia Tech, D’Alessandris’ blockers helped pave the way for one of the ACC’s top rushing attacks. In 2007 the Yellow Jackets compiled 2,591 rushing yards, for an average of 199.3 ypg. En route to an ACC Coastal Division Championship in 2006, the Georgia Tech offensive line cleared the way for RB Tashard Choice, the conference’s leading rusher.

Under D’Alessandris’ tutelege in 2005, the Georgia Tech line — which started one senior, three sophomores and a freshman — led the ACC in fewest sacks allowed with 10.0 and ranked third in the conference in rushing. In all, five linemen from his units spent time on an NFL roster including first-team All-ACC picks T Nat Dorsey and C Hugh Reilly, who earned first-team All-ACC honors. Reilly was also a finalist for the Dave Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center.

Before joining the Yellow Jackets, D’Alessandris coached the offensive line for five seasons at Duke (’97-01). During his tenure with the Blue Devils, five of his offensive linemen went on to spend time in the NFL. He arrived at Duke after one-year stints at the University of Pittsburgh (’96) and Texas A&M (’94). During his stint in College Station, the Aggies ended the season with a 10-0-1 record and averaged 172.0 yards per game on the ground.

In addition to his NFL tenure, D’Alessandris enjoyed one-year stints with the Ottawa Rough Riders (’90) and the Memphis Mad Dogs (’95) of the Canadian Football League. He also spent two seasons on head coach Chan Gailey’s coaching staff of the Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football (’91-92). That unit compiled a 12-9-1 record in the franchise’s two years of existence. He began his long association with Gailey when the two spent one year together at Samford in ‘93 when D’Alessandris served as the club’s assistant head coach/offensive line coach.

The Aliquippa, Pennsylvania native was a four-year letter winner and a three-year starting offensive guard at Western Carolina. A team captain during his senior season, D’Alessandris received the Catamounts Big Cat Award as the football team’s most valuable player. He began his coaching career a year later as a graduate assistant at his alma mater (’77-78) before moving on to coaching the offensive lines at Livingston (’79-83), Memphis (’84-85) and UT-Chattanooga (’86-89). He also served as the offensive coordinator at Livingston (’83) and UT-Chattanooga (’86-87).

Personal Bio