Ron Rivera was born Ronald Eugene Rivera on the 7th January 1962, in Fort Ord, California USA, and is a former American Football player, and current professional football coach, best known as a head coach of the NFL team the Carolina Panthers since 2011. Ron spent his entire playing career as a linebacker with the Chicago Bears, and won Super Bowl XX with the team. Rivera’s playing career lasted from 1984 to 1992, and he has been a coach since 1997.
Have you ever wondered how rich Ron Rivera is, as of mid- 2016? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Rivera’s net worth is as high as $5 million, an amount earned through his successful career in football. His yearly salary is $3 million, but he also made plenty of money in his playing days, which improved his wealth.
Ron Rivera Net Worth $5 Million
Ron Rivera was born into a Puerto Rican-Mexican family, a son of Eugenio Rivera who was an officer in the US Army. He spent most of his childhood on military bases around the world, including in Panama and Germany before his family settled in Monterey, California where Rivera went to Seaside High School and started playing football there.
Rivera enrolled in the California University and emerged as one of the country’s hottest linebackers, earning All-American status. He set several records while in college, including for most tackles for losses in a season, which is still unbroken.
The Chicago Bears selected Rivera as the 44th pick overall in the 1984 NFL Draft, and he immediately won his only Super Bowl in 1985, after Chicago defeated New England Patriots 46-10, making Rivera the first Puerto Rican/Mexican to win the title. Although mainly used as a rotational player in his first few years, Rivera became a starter in 1988, and was a key player in the Bears’ defence for the remainder of his career. Rivera spent his entire playing career with the Bears before retired in 1992.
Before got a job as a defensive quality control coach at his former team in 1996, Rivera worked as a TV analyst for WGN-TV and SportsChannel Chicago, covering the Bears and college football as well. He later became a linebacker coach at the Philadelphia Eagles and helped the team reach the NFC Championship game for three years in a row. Rivera was credited with developing linebacker Jeremiah Trotter who turned out to be a two-time Pro Bowler.
The big coaching breakthrough for Rivera was from 2004 to 2006, when he served as a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. The Bears’ defense was the second best in 2005, and his coaching skills secured him a few head coach job interviews with teams including the Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dallas Cowboys. However, Rivera moved to the San Diego Chargers to become their new inside linebackers coach in 2007, but he was promoted to defensive coordinator a year after. Ron stayed in San Diego until 2010, which only increased his net worth by a large margin.
In 2011, Rivera became the Carolina Panthers head coach, but struggled in his first two seasons, with the record of 13 wins and 19 losses. Many thought he would be sacked, but Rivera bounced back in 2013 with the arrival of quarterback Cam Newton, and the Panthers finished the regular season with a 12-4 record. However, they lost the NFC Divisional game against the San Francisco 49ers, and the next year they lost to the Seattle Seahawks. Still, Rivera’s success in 2013 earned him the coach of the year award, repeated in the 2015 season.
In 2015 the Carolina Panthers were the best team in the regular season, with 15 wins and only one defeat. Cam Newton won the MVP award while Rivera was the best coach, but they eventually lost the Super Bowl 24-10 to the Denver Broncos.
Regarding his personal life, Ron Rivera has been married to former WNBA’s Washington Mystics assistant coach Stephanie and has two children with her. In January 2015, Rivera’s house in Charlotte, North Carolina caught fire, but luckily, nobody was hurt. His brother Mickey died in July 2015 after a two-year battle with cancer.
