Broncos New Coordinator Trio: 3 Things We Learned from Intro Press Conference

GM George Paton introduced Nathaniel Hackett as the Denver Broncos' 18th head coach last month. When it came to filling out Hackett's coaching staff, patience was critical for the Broncos' second-year general manager and 42-year-old first-time head coach, as the NFL playoffs delayed the completion of filling assistant coaching vacancies.

After the Los Angeles Rams emerged victoriously in Super Bowl LVI, Hackett filled the last few vacancies on his coaching staff. Last week, the Broncos officially announced Ejiro Evero as new defensive coordinator and Dwayne Stukes as special teams coordinator, both of whom come over from the Rams.

Marcus Dixon was also named the Broncos' defensive line coach. All three coaches earned a Super Bowl ring in L.A.

On a frigid sub-zero Tuesday in the Mile High City, Hackett formally introduced all three coordinators to Broncos Country.

“It takes some time to be able to put a staff together, and a great staff is so important,” Hackett explained. “I went through a nice, long process. George continually gave me that word—process. That’s what I’ve utilized. It’s been a long process showing up here. Are we in February still? Some people had to elongate this thing because they had to continue their season. We were a little frustrated with that, but very excited for them.”

After an extensive press conference that featured each assistant coach answering questions from local Denver media, what did we learn?

It’s time to review three takeaways from a new philosophy of coaching for the Broncos.

Common Coaching Mantra: Energy

Even before Hackett was announced as head coach, fans quickly hit the internet search engines to learn everything they could about the former Green Bay offensive coordinator. Hackett’s enthusiasm and level of excitement is one of the attributes any research into him will uncover.

In his own introductory press conference, Hackett doubled down, showing fans his animated personality with Star Wars references, and lively remarks. Evero, who goes way back with Hackett to their UC Davis days, touched on the head coach's unique personality.

“I think a lot of people know about Nathaniel’s personality, the connectivity, and all that stuff,” Evero said. “I think what a lot of people are going to learn is how direct he is. He doesn’t shy away from anything. He takes problems on head-on, and that’s probably what I appreciate most about him. He’s one of a kind—I can attest to that. He doesn’t shy away from anything.”

One of the biggest things the Broncos have been missing since Super Bowl 50 is accountability. Oftentimes, that term can have negative connotations, but maintaining standards via direct communication is effective energy in its own right.

In professional sports, there’s a common philosophy that a person either brings life into the room or drains it away. When players, coaches, and other personnel are never held accountable or excused — a hallmark of the Vic Fangio regime — there can be a hostile work environment with disgruntled staff.

As for his own coaching style, Evero believes in persistent synergy in the building as a whole.

“The process has got to be consistent. I think when the players feel that the coaches are consistent, their teaching methods are the same, our flow as we go through the week as the same, our approach, whether it’s a high or a low, a win or loss is the same. We’re about correcting, we’re about demanding and we’re about teaching," he said.

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Personal Connection as a Workplace Family

As functioning adults, we spend more than half of our time at our jobs with our co-workers. Just as the ups and downs of our personal lives at home, the workplace is full of highs and lows with the same level of personal feelings and emotions.

Some of the most successful organizations and businesses not only understand the nature of this, but embrace it head-on, making the effort to connect with their workforce.

On Tuesday, first-year Broncos OC Justin Outten touched on that topic.

“Coach Hackett is one of a kind," Outten said. "I love talking just football with him because a big piece of it is connecting with people... No matter what background or where you’re from—just finding a way to connect with people, whether it’s a common interest or conversation. He loves movies, so he connects with a lot of movie guys. I don’t watch films—or TV period—so we connect on a different level.”

Fangio and ex-OC Pat Shurmur were severely disconnected and out of touch with their players which created a void and eventually led to feelings of resentment. Time and time again, both men continually threw other coaches, players, and at times, even each other, under the proverbial bus in press conferences.

The results yielded losses on the field, with massive failures for an organization in desperate need of an identity. People need to feel a sense of happiness and fulfillment in life, especially at work.

Hackett's new special teams czar wants to instill the antithesis to that working environment.

“I would say is you have to have fun while you’re doing it. This is a job, but we’re all blessed to be here, in my opinion,” Stukes said. “It’s football at the end of the day. It’s about teaching, tackling, blocking, etc., and what I learned from my experience in LA. We bonded together—not only as a coaching staff, but the players actually enjoyed being around each other. There was really no rift within that locker room. Guys hung out outside of it which I think is important. Coaches did things outside of football which I think is important because you get to know people and how they are outside of football. It’s not just football.”

Internally Develop Players & Coaches

The last thing that the Broncos want to continue repeating is the bad habit of high turnover from players and coaches at any level. The quarterback and head-coaching carousels have been a sad but true reminder in the form of television broadcast animation during Broncos games.

Ideally, fans want the head coach and QB to stay forever — a la Tom Brady and Bill Belichick — but realistically, that type of dynastic success is not likely to be replicated. Instead, it's crucial for the current Broncos brass and coaching staff to develop people from within their own organization so that they can have continued success.

This not only allows the players and coaches to further their ambitions but could also make them internal candidates for future roles. Outten highlighted how such upward mobility is prioritized by Hackett.

“Working with Hackett the last three years his commitment to each and every guy on that staff—even if it was across the ball—he was really big into developing guys and making them the best versions of themselves," Outten said.

Rather than repeatedly try and jam the round peg into the square hole, it’s time to highlight the current personnel’s strengths and utilize them to the best of their ability for players and coaches. The most successful leaders in life empower their staff to be invested in the process and product which oftentimes yields favorable results.

We’ve seen ad nauseam egos from retread coaches ruin players by forcing them to camouflage weaknesses rather than empower their significant traits of talent. Evero was asked whether he plans on collaborating with assistant defensive coaches on game plans during the season.

“Yeah, absolutely. It’s not just about the coordinator’s vision," Evero said. “There’s a lot of great coaches and a lot of great ideas. When you start having the right people around you in terms of the players—a lot of these players are so smart and they’re going to give you a lot of good ideas. You’ve got to have humility. That’s a big thing we’ve all talked about. It doesn’t matter where the idea comes from.”

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