Chargers Coaches – Syndication Server

Chargers hire 4 to sports performance staff

The Chargers are close to having their entire staff built out after adding four more on Thursday.

Los Angeles announced the hirings of executive director of player performance Ben Herbert, head strength and conditioning coach Devin Woodhouse, director of performance analytics and performance analyst Lincoln DeWolf.

Head strength & conditioning coach Jonathan Brooks will continue in his role on the staff.

Herbert spent the last six seasons at the University of Michigan as their strength and conditioning coach.

Woodhouse recently spent the 2023 season at Michigan as their assistant strength and conditioning coach. He served in the same role for the University of Wisconsin the two seasons prior (2021-22).

Rabe worked the past four seasons (2020-23) on the strength and conditioning staff as an assistant at Michigan.

DeWolf recently worked as the associate director of performance analytics at Michigan.

Chargers hire Will Tukuafu as assistant defensive line coach

Will Tukuafu will work alongside Mike Elston.

The Chargers hired Will Tukuafu as their assistant defensive line coach.

Over the past two seasons, Tukuafu served as a defensive quality control coach with the Seahawks.

Tukuafu’s playing days began with the Seattle in 2010 as an undrafted free agent out of Oregon. He was released before joining the 49ers that same year. Jim Harbaugh was his head coach from 2011 to 2014. Tukuafu played fullback, defensive line and on special teams.

After five seasons with San Francisco, Seattle signed him again and he went on to play with them for three seasons before calling it quits.

Tukuafu will work alongside defensive line coach Mike Elston.

Chargers announce 2024 coaching staff

The Chargers have announced the members of head coach Jim Harbaugh’s coaching staff for the 2024 season.

Some of the biggest names were already known as the hirings of offensive coordinator Greg Roman and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and the holdover of special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken.

Roman will be working with passing game coordinator Marcus Brady, quarterbacks coach Shane Day, run game coordinator/tight ends coach Andy Bischoff, wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal, offensive line coach Mike Devlin, and senior offensive assistant Marc Trestman.

Linebackers coach NaVorro Bowman, defensive line coach Mike Elston, defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale, safeties coach Chris O’Leary, senior defensive assistant Rick Minter, defensive assistant Dylan Roney, and defensive quality control Robert Muschamp will work with Minter.

Assistant special teams coach Chris Gould rounds out the group.

Several spots on the coaching roster, including running backs coach, still need to be filled.

Nick Hardwick returning to Chargers in coaching role

Former Chargers center Nick Hardwick is returning but as a coach.

Los Angeles is hiring Hardwick as their assistant offensive line coach, according to NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo.

Hardwick played his entire professional career with the Chargers and served as a team captain for five seasons. He earned a Pro Bowl selection in the 2006 season and was picked as an alternate four times.

Hardwick started 136 games for the Chargers, playing in all 16 games five times in his career.

After his playing days, Hardwick joined the radio world on the team’s broadcasts and as a talk show host on XTRA 1360, where he did that for three years.

Hardwick will work alongside Mike Devlin, who was hired as the Bolts’ offensive line coach.

Here’s who’s on Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers coaching staff

Here’s a look at who’s onboard the Chargers coaching staff as it continues to take shape.

Since being hired as head coach of the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh has been hard at work to build out his staff.

Here’s a look at who’s onboard as it continues to take shape:

Report: Chargers hiring Chris O’Leary as safeties coach

Chris O’Leary reunites with Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.

The Chargers are hiring Chris O’Leary as their safeties coach, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

O’Leary finished his third season as Notre Dame’s safeties coach, establishing himself as a quality position coach for head coach Marcus Freeman.

O’Leary was credited for working with Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton, a first-round pick by Baltimore in the 2022 NFL draft. This past season, O’Leary worked with the Nagurski Trophy winner, Xavier Watts, who led the nation in interceptions.

O’Leary started as a defensive analyst in 2018. O’Leary held the titles of senior football analyst in 2019 and defensive graduate assistant before being promoted to safeties coach. In 2020, he helped coach now Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who won the Butkus Award.

O’Leary reunites with Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter as they coached together at Georgia State and O’Leary played at Indiana State during Minter’s time as an assistant coach.

Report: Chargers hiring Sanjay Lal as wide receivers coach

Sanjay Lal has coached NFL wide receivers dating back to 2009.

The Chargers are hiring Sanjay Lal as their wide receivers coach, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Lal, 54, spent the past two seasons with the Seahawks as their wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. He also worked in Seattle as a senior offensive assistant in 2020.

Lal began his career in the NFL in 2007, working as a quality control coach for the Raiders before being promoted to wide receivers coach. He worked in that same role with the Jets, Bills, Colts, Cowboys and Jaguars.

Lal began his college career at UCLA in 1989 before transferring to the University of Washington, where he played from 1990 to 1992.

Report: Chargers bringing back Shane Day as quarterbacks coach

The Chargers are bringing back a familiar face.

The Chargers are bringing back Shane Day to serve as the team’s quarterbacks coach, according to NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo.

Day was previously Los Angeles’ QBs coach during the 2021 and 2022 seasons under former head coach Brandon Staley. He was relieved along with former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi.

Day spent the 2023 season as the Texans’ senior offensive assistant.

Day cracked in the NFL in 2007 as the 49ers’ offensive quality control coach.

Day has served as the quarterback coach of the Bears (2010-11) and 49ers (2019-20), the assistant offensive line coach of the Commanders (2014-15), and the tight ends coach of the Dolphins (2016-18).

Justin Herbert had a good relationship with Day, so familiarity should be good for him as the fifth-year signal-caller is about to play in yet another new offensive system.

The Chargers announced Greg Roman as their offensive coordinator and Marcus Brady as their passing game coordinator.

Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh brings in two more coaches from Michigan

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh continues to build out his staff.

After hiring strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Harbaugh is bringing two more coaches with him from Michigan, as Mike Elston and Dylan Roney are coming to Los Angeles.

NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported about Elston and MLive’s Aaron McMann reported about Roney leaving.

Elston served as the Wolverines’ recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach for the past two seasons, producing two All-Big Ten selections and draft selections last year in Mazi Smith and Mike Morris.

He’s had coaching stops at Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame. Elston spent 11 years with the Fighting Irish as their defensive line coach.

Roney was a graduate assistant who helped Elston over the past two seasons, working with Michigan’s edge defenders.

Seahawks hiring Jay Harbaugh, Ryan Ficken likely to remain with Chargers

The Chargers are likely a retaining a key piece of their coaching staff.

The path has been paved for Chargers’ special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken to remain with the organization after the Seahawks signed Jay Harbaugh in the same role.

Curveball! The Seahawks are working on hiring Michigan’s Jay Harbaugh as their special teams coordinator, per sources. So rather than join his dad Jim in LA, Jay Harbaugh will team up with ex-Wolverine staffmate Mike Macdonald in Seattle.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 5, 2024

Harbaugh had been in Chargers’ staffing rumors with Jesse Minter and Greg Roman to join his father, Jim Harbaugh, in Los Angeles. However, the tone had shifted through recent weeks with Ryan Ficken becoming more likely to stay in Aaron Wilson’s updated reporting. Jay Harbaugh going to Seattle all but confirms that Ficken will remain in Los Angeles.

Ficken has been the leader of a special teams renaissance for a Chargers’ team that struggled in Brandon Staley’s first season. The Chargers ranked 31st in Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings despite a 9-8 season in 2021. Previous special teams coordinator Derius Swinton was replaced with Ficken in 2022. Los Angeles proceeded to jump 24 spots to 7th in the same rankings.

Last year, the Chargers continued their dominant special teams performance under Ficken with a fifth-place finish. Key contributors like Cameron Dicker, JK Scott, and Josh Harris have been critical acquisitions in Ficken’s system.

While Ficken staying on the current coaching staff is not confirmed, the Chargers have not interviewed other candidates while blocking other teams from speaking to him. Harbaugh signing with Seattle should accelerate the process of LA finalizing Ficken’s return.