FEATURE STORIES

CHIEFS HAVE MANY NEW COACHES

By J. J. Mosher
University Communications

Besides a new head coach, the Chiefs have brought in several new faces to the coaching staff in an effort to mould the team into a winner.

Head Coach Todd Haley brought some coaches with him from the Arizona Cardinals, but also brought in some others who have years of experience in the NFL.

Maurice Carthon is the new assistant head coach and he has 16 years of NFL coaching experience with the New York Giants (1985-91), the Indianapolis Colts (1992), the New England Patriots (1994-96), the New York Jets (1997-00), the Detroit Lions (2001-02), the Dallas Cowboys (2003-04), the Cleveland Browns (2005-06) and the Arizona Cardinals (2007-08.)  This is Carthon’s first year with the Chiefs. At Arizona he was the running backs coach for the 2008 NFC Champion Cardinals.

Another addition from Arizona is defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast. This is Pederasts’ 15th season coaching in the NFL.  He previously worked with the Houston Oilers (1995), the Dallas Cowboys (1996-02), the Cleveland Browns (2003), and the Cardinals (2004-08).  During the 2008 regular season, Arizona led the league by recovering 17 opponents’ fumbles and tied for fifth in the league with 30 total takeaways.

Ronnie Bradford is a new addition to the Chiefs staff after working for the Denver Broncos since 2003.  While in Denver, he was the special teams assistant (2003), the special teams coach (2004-06), the assistant defensive backs coach (2007), and the defensive backs coach (2008.) He will be the team’s defensive assistant.

Gary Gibbs will coach the linebackers and his move from the New Orleans Saints is an exciting one.  As a defensive coordinator for the Saints in his first year at New Orleans (2006) the team jumped 15 spots in the defensive rankings (from 28th to 13th in points per game) and won its first-ever NFC title.  His NFL resume includes coaching for the Dallas Cowboys as a linebackers coach (2002-05), and the New Orleans Saints as defensive coordinator (2006-08.)
Steve Hoffman is handed the reins as special teams coach after being the assistant special teams coach for the Miami Dolphins the last two seasons.  His NFL resume also includes working for the Dallas Cowboys (1989-04) and the Atlanta Falcons (2006.)

2009 will be Bill Muir’s 32nd NFL season as a coach, but his first with the Chiefs.  His NFL coaching career started with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1978-81) and expanded to the New England Patriots (1982-84), the Detroit Lions (1985-88), the Indianapolis Colts (1989-91), the Philadelphia Eagles (1992-94), the New York Jets (1995-01), and again to the Tampa Bay  (2002-08.)

Coaching in the NFL will be a new experience for Pat Perles as he joins Kansas City after nine years of coaching college and another six years of coaching in the Canadian Football League. He will be the team’s defensive quality control coach.

Nick Sirianni is another rookie NFL coach that joins the Chiefs staff this season.  For the last three years he was the wide receivers coach at Indiana University - Pennsylvania. He will be the offensive quality control coach.