Sean Payton, coach whose Saints lifted spirits in post-Katrina New Orleans, says he is stepping down

By Steve Almasy, CNN

Updated 2216 GMT (0616 HKT) January 25, 2022

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints looks on before the 2019 NFC championship game.

(CNN)Sean Payton, who led the New Orleans Saints to an emotional Super Bowl win in the years after Hurricane Katrina, announced Tuesday that he is stepping down as the team's head coach.

Payton, 58, had been with the organization since taking over before the 2006 season. He guided the Saints to playoffs nine times in his 15 seasons as head coach. In 2009, the Saints energized New Orleans, still reeling from Hurricane Katrina four years earlier, on their way to a 13-3 regular season record and a march to their first and, so far, only Super Bowl title.«I don't like the word 'retirement,'» Payton said Tuesday at a news conference. «I still have a vision for doing things in football. And I'll be honest with you, that might be coaching again.… But that's not where my heart is right now.»He told reporters he doesn't know what's next in his career despite reports he might get a job in media. Read More«I think I'd like to do that. I think I'd be pretty good at it,» he said.Before Payton arrived, the Saints had only seven winning seasons and they were 3-13 in 2005 as they played in several stadiums while the storm-damaged Louisiana Superdome was closed for repairs.Payton talked Tuesday about the next season when the Saints had a rookie coach and a new quarterback, Drew Brees, and went 10-6.«I don't think any of us when we started, certainly I didn't when I started, understood the dynamics and what took place post-Katrina with that '06 season, that… I would argue was every bit important as any other season.»The Saints made the playoffs that season but lost to