It was in the veins! Despite being from a football background, Robert Saleh’s life and football journey wasn’t that easy. Two major incidents occurred in his family that prompted Saleh to choose an NFL career for himself.

Born on January 31, 1979, to dad Sam Saleh and mom Fatin Saleh, Robert Saleh is their second son. The first is David Saleh, a person whose life’s tragedy, compelled Robert to follow the football path. But before that, it’s important to learn that Robert is “considered one of three Arab-American head coaches in NFL history.” Why? Because he was born to Lebanese parents, who lived in Michigan, despite hailing from Lebanon.

Together, the couple have supported their children in every phase of life. And it is because of his father, Sam, sons Robert and David, both have a soft corner for football. Sam played college football at Eastern Michigan. After some time, he received “an offer to join the school’s coaching staff following graduation.”

However, Sam didn’t choose any of these things, instead he “went back to Dearborn to join his family business.” Now this decision helped him financially, but there was a major part missing in his life throughout. And due to this decision, he kept on regretting not choosing football for his career. Similarly, Robert Saleh’s brother, David Saleh, had football connections till college level, but he too left the sports to join finance in the corporate world.

But as Robert Saleh saw all these, including his father’s deep regret of leaving football, the New York Jets head coach, decided to do the opposite. After completing his four years at Northern Michigan and graduating in finance, Saleh left football to join the desk job. However, after seeing his family’s condition, he decided to quit his corporate job and return to football into the coaching world. Hence, now it’s safe to say that this decision of Robert was absolutely correct for his career.

But wait! There’s more to the story. Sam’s regret wasn’t the only push for Robert Saleh to go for a football coaching job. This idea also kicked him when Robert’s brother, David, fought back the outer world to save his life.

That was a fateful day for Robert Saleh and his parents!

That day was 9/11. Yes, no one can forget the tragedy that happened on that day, when the World Trade Center complex fell down from the attacks. That day, Robert Saleh too, had a close member inside the building, and that was his brother, David Saleh. Although David, who was working on the 61st floor of the South Tower, was fortunate enough to save his life, this tragedy deeply shocked the Saleh family. Talking about the same, Robert’s father, Sam, confirmed that the thought of losing his big brother, triggered Robert to do something big for his family.

In an interview, he revealed, “He [Robert] barely said two words, but you could see he had anxiety in his face. You could see the anxiety and fear that he might have lost a brother. Right then and there was the turning point for Robert. He said, ‘You know what? I’m going to live my life. I’m going to do something that will make me happy.’ That might have turned his life.” This turning point was recalled by the head coach himself, who expressed, “Going through my brother’s experience and the tragedy that he experienced, being able to self-reflect on what I was doing at that moment and realizing that I had a passion for football, really triggered this whole thing.”

And here we are! Robert Saleh has made his well-known name for himself and his family is proud of him.