Born January 31, 1979, in Dearborn, Michigan, to Lebanese immigrants, Robert Jalal Saleh graduated from Fordson High School in 1997. He attended Northern Michigan University in Marquette from 1997 to 2001, earning a degree in finance while playing football. Saleh was a four-year starter as tight end for the Wildcats, earning all-conference honors, though he would become far more renowned for his coaching career than his playing days. His brother David's survival during the September 11 attacks in 2001—he was in the South Tower's sixty-first floor and escaped before the second plane hit—inspired Saleh to pursue his dreams of coaching football.
Saleh began his coaching career in 2002 as a defensive assistant at Michigan State before working at Central Michigan and Georgia. He joined the Houston Texans as a defensive intern in 2005, advancing to assistant linebackers coach by 2009. In February 2011, Saleh joined the Seattle Seahawks as defensive quality control coach under Pete Carro...
