Brunell Goes From Florida High School Coach to Lions QB Coach
Mark Brunell has jumped from the high-school ranks to the NFL — as an assistant coach.
On Friday, the Detroit Lions hired the one-time 19-year pro quarterback and the 1991 Rose Bowl Most Valuable Player for the University of Washington as its new quarterbacks coach.
For the past eight years, Brunell has been the head coach for Episcopal School, a private high school in Jacksonville Florida, where he spent the bulk of his NFL career playing for the Jaguars.
Brunell joins the staff of new Lions coach Dan Campbell, 44, a former NFL tight end and a compelling personality. Campbell got a lot of air time recently with his entertaining comments at his introductory news conference, referencing his resemblance to "the Big Lebowski" and offering his colorful mindset for his team.
"We're going to kick you in the teeth, right? And when you punch us back, we're going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we're going to get up and on the way up, we're going to bite a kneecap off. All right? And we're going to stand up and it's going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we're going to take your other kneecap and we're going to get up and it's going to take three shots to get us down. And when we do, we're going to take another hunk out of you."
Brunell and Campbell played in the NFL at the same time though never together. The quarterback retired in 2011 from the New York Jets, Campbell in 2008 after spending 10 seasons with three teams, the last with the Lions.
Returning to the NFL, Brunell will be expected to break in a new starting quarterback for Detroit after the franchise and long-time starter Matthew Stafford agreed to make a trade happen and go separate ways. Stafford was the Lions starter for the past 12 seasons.
Brunell will work with new Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn, who was the Los Angeles Chargers head coach for the past four seasons. These two were together previously in Jacksonville in 2003 and with the Jets in 2010 and 2011, when Brunell was a QB and Lynn was a running-backs coach.
At the UW, Brunell was hailed for his leadership qualities in making good decisions at all times on the football field. He led the Huskies to a 10-2 record, a late No. 2 ranking and a near-miss of a national championship for the 1990 season, one marred only by a 20-14 defeat to Colorado on the road and a 25-22 upset loss to UCLA.
He was named Rose Bowl MVP after leading the Huskies to a 46-34 victory over Iowa that wasn't nearly that close.
Brunell was a fifth-round pick for the Green Bay Packers and initially backed up Brett Favre. He started 151 of 193 games for five teams. In 2009, he was the backup to Drew Brees for New Orleans' Super Bowl-winning team.
Now after 10 seasons away from the NFL, he's back.