Sean Payton has been the head coach of the New Orleans Saints for 16 years.
New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2006).
He turned a losing side into a Super Bowl champion.
The Saints missed out on the playoffs despite posting a 9-8 winning season after the retirement of quarterback Drew Brees.
At the news conference, he did not rule out a return to coaching.
I still have a vision for doing things in football and that might be coaching again at some point in the future, but that is not where my heart is right now.
The 58-year-old said he had spoken to him the previous night about the decision.
The relationship between him and the media has been up and down since he was accused of rewarding his players for injuring opponents and suspended for the 2012 season.
He said that when he was a young coach he made a lot of mistakes.
The Saints had never been to a Super Bowl before he took over. The Superdome, home to the Saints, was used as a shelter during Hurricane Katrina, and the Saints Super Bowl victory a few years later was seen as going some way to healing the traumas of the disaster.
The owner of the New Orleans Saints said that he has the highest appreciation for what Sean Payton has meant to the team.
Sean came to New Orleans during a difficult time for our organisation, as well as the entire region following Hurricane Katrina.
Sean helped lead this football team to new heights with easily its most successful period, showing what can be accomplished with a combination of vision, hard work, and leadership of his coaching staff and players.
Nine times, Payton took the side to the play-offs with quarterback Drew Brees. The Saints missed out on this year's playoffs because of a weakened side going into the final weeks of the regular season.
My parents talked a lot about leaving a place better than they found it.
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