Los Angeles Chargers Head Coach Brandon Staley and his wife, Amy ‘14G, brought their three children to John Carroll’s campus last weekend for a trip down memory lane.
Just five years after finishing a three-year stint as the Defensive Coordinator for John Carroll Football, Brandon Staley has become a household name in Los Angeles, recently ascending to his current position as the Head Coach of the Chargers. He’s preparing for his first year as the commander of a National Football League locker room, continuing the JCU pipeline to the NFL that has sent 27 Blue Streaks to the league in various positions, from scouting to coaching to ticketing to sports medicine to communications.
To anyone who interacted with Brandon when he coached at JCU, Staley’s rise is no surprise. He is a charismatic person who brings the best out of those around him, and continues to showcase his genius with the X’s and O’s of the game as a coach. From the outside looking in, his accelerated ascension may seem like quite a leap, so the Chargers’ video crew visited JCU’s campus this weekend to learn more about how John Carroll molded Staley into an individual who is ready to succeed at the highest level of his field.
"It takes a special person to go to Carroll (because of) what’s expected of you in the classroom, what’s expected of you on the field, what’s expected of you in the community," Staley said. "Being a Jesuit school, being a man and woman for others, JCU represents the total package."
Brandon, his wife Amy Staley ’14G, and their three children – Colin, Will, and Grant – reminisced on campus during their visit on Saturday, June 26. Brandon and Amy stopped at many points on campus to show their sons the place they used to call home, and spent plenty of time in Don Shula Stadium. The Staleys walked through the Shula Room and the coaches’ offices in the lower level, even tossing around the pigskin on the stadium’s new turf. Staley took a moment during his visit to speak on John Carroll’s long-lasting impact on his life:
