Last year at the American Football Coaches Association convention, Rocky Hager and Monte Kiffin ran into each other and quickly started to talk about Gus Bradley, who had completed his second year as the Seattle Seahawks? defensive coordinator.
Bradley was a player and started his coaching career when Hager was the coach at North Dakota State. He got his start as an NFL assistant when Kiffin was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? defensive coordinator.
That day in San Antonio, Kiffin had a prediction.
?We were talking about Gus and coach Kiffin said, ?You need to pay attention because he?s going to be an NFL head coach someday soon,? ? Hager said.
That day came sooner than those close to Bradley expected when the Jaguars hired him as their new coach on Thursday.
Hager?s pride was evident during a phone interview later in the day.
?I would label Gus as one of a kind,? said Hager, who is now an assistant coach at Bryant University in Rhode Island. ?It?s his personality, his enthusiasm and because he?s positive. He has the incredible ability to allow people to feel good about themselves and what they?re doing will make them successful.?
Bradley turned around Seattle?s defense from 27th in yards and tied for 25th in points allowed two years ago to a dominant unit this year that was fourth and first in those categories. The Seahawks went 11-5 and beat Washington in the wild card round before losing to Atlanta on Sunday.
While the coordinator-to-head coach elevation is nothing new in the NFL, Bradley?s route was unconventional ? 16 years at the Division II level and then three years with the Buccaneers before his big break to run the Seattle defense.
Hager got a glimpse of Bradley?s coaching potential during the 1988 season when the Bison held a one-day football clinic during an open Saturday on their schedule.
?We had 400-some kids there and every kid that would go to Gus? station gravitated toward him and had more energy and had more fun being a part of his group,? Hager said.
Bradley was a free safety and punter for the Bison, who were a Division II power in the 1980s and have won the Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision) title the past two years. As a player, Hager said Bradley displayed a diverse knowledge of the Bison?s defensive scheme.
?If he was on the field, he knew exactly where the other 10 players needed to be and if he wasn?t on the field, he knew where the 11 players were supposed to be and how it all fit together,? Hager said. ?He could tell what things needed to be looked at and who needed some coaching.?
Bradley started as a student and then graduate assistant for the Bison in 1990-91. After a four-year stop at Fort Lewis (Colo.) College, he returned to North Dakota State for a 10-year stint, twice as defensive coordinator.
Kiffin discovered Bradley while gathering information on another Bison assistant. Their talk soon turned to defensive philosophy and Kiffin?s ?Tampa 2? scheme.
Before the 2006 season, Kiffin hired Bradley as a quality control assistant on defense.
?Coach Kiffin is not easily impressed and you need to know things up front and can?t miss things,? Hager said.
Bradley was the Buccaneers? linebackers coach in 2007-08 but when coach Jon Gruden was fired, Kiffin left to work for his son, Lane, at the University of Tennessee. New Seattle coach Jim Mora Jr. hired Bradley as defensive coordinator.
Mora was fired after one year but new coach Pete Carroll retained Bradley on the recommendation of Kiffin, who later went to USC and was hired last week by the Dallas Cowboys to run their defense.
?That speaks volumes to the kind of person Gus is ? he goes from Tampa Bay to Seattle and now he?s The Guy,? Hager said.
Ryan O?Halloran: (904) 359-4401
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