Ernest Dominic Capers (born August 7, 1950) is an American football coach who is a senior defensive assistant for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the inaugural head coach of the Carolina Panthers and the Houston Texans for four seasons each. Capers is the only head coach to lead two different NFL expansion teams during their first seasons. A defensive assistant for most of his coaching career, Capers held his first defensive coordinator position with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992. He left Pittsburgh to become the Panthers head coach in 1995, where he guided the team to a 7–9 record, the best finish for an NFL expansion franchise in their inaugural season. The following year, Capers led the Panthers to a division title and the NFC Championship Game, making them the youngest NFL expansion franchise to clinch their division and (along with the Jacksonville Jaguars) appear in a conference championship. Capers' early success with Carolina would result in him becoming the inaugural head coach of the Texans in 2002, although he was unable to lead them to a winning record or playoff berth. He continued to hold assistant coaching positions afterwards, most prominently as the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers from 2009 to 2017, with whom he helped win a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XLV. Early years After playing high school football for the Meadowbrook Colts in Byesville, Ohio, Capers attended Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio where he played linebacker and defensive tackle. He is a brother of the Alpha Nu chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Coaching career College He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kent State University and the University of Washington. Later he was an assistant coach at Hawaii, San Jose State, University of California, Berkeley, Tennessee, and Ohio State. Professional After a stint in the USFL, he began his NFL career as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints and was named defensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992, including a trip to the AFC Championship game in 1994. He remained with the Steelers until becoming head coach of the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995. After 1995's 7–9 season, a record breaking mark for an expansion team, the Panthers posted a 12–4 record in 1996 and advanced to the NFC Championship game, where they were defeated by the eventual Super