Ronald Eugene Rivera is an American football coach and former player, and is currently the head coach of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League . Rivera played college football for the University of California, and was recognized as an All-American linebacker. He was selected in the second round of the 1984 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the 1985 Chicago Bears, who won Super Bowl XX. As a coach, Rivera was the defensive coordinator for the 2006 Chicago Bears, who won the National Football Conference championship and competed in Super Bowl XLI. Rivera was born in Fort... Ord, California. His father was a Puerto Rican commissioned officer in the United States Army stationed in California. There he met his future wife, Rivera's mother of Mexican heritage. As a result of his father's military service, Rivera had to travel and was educated in military bases in Germany, Panama, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Finally his family moved to central California. There, he attended Seaside High School, where he first started playing football.
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