Charger Report

Facts to Know as Chargers Welcome Back Defensive Coordinator Chris O'Leary

Chris O'Leary started his career under Jesse Minter years ago. He now is his successor after getting experience as a defensive coordinator at Western Michigan.
Thomas Martinez|
John Mersits / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Los Angeles Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers dropped a late-night news bomb on their hunt for a replacement for Jesse Minter. Minter, who is now the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, was the Chargers defensive coordinator for the past two seasons and helmed a defense which was largely responsible for the Chargers reaching the playoffs.

The Chargers announced at 4:35 pm that they had completed an interview with Western Michigan defensive coordinator Chris O'Leary for their open defensive coordinator position. O'Leary is familiar to the Chargers as he was the Chargers safeties coach in 2024 after spending six seasons at Notre Dame.

The big news dropped only hours later at 8:40pm that the Chargers and O'Leary had agreed to terms for him to return to the franchise and be Jesse Minter's successor as defensive coordinator.

What you need to know about Chris O'Leary

Chris O'Leary coaching history

Chris O'Leary follows a trend of many defensive coaches coming up the ranks where he started as an offensive player but joined the coaching ranks on the defensive side of the ball. O'Leary got his start in coaching at Georgia State as a graduate assistant under then-defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.

O'Leary moved on to Florida Tech after Minter left for the Baltimore Ravens in 2017. The following season O'Leary started his career in South Bend as a defensive assistant for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

O'Leary was promoted to defensive backs and safeties coach in 2021 with the Irish and held the position until Jesse Minter called and brought him to Los Angeles in 2024 to continue his role as safeties coach for the Chargers.

O'Leary accepted the position of defensive coordinator for the Western Michigan Broncos in 2025 in a move that matched the pattern of previously Harbaugh-connected defensive coaches. Previously both Jesse Minter and Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald went from a position coach in the NFL, back to the college ranks to gain experience as a defensive coordinator before returning to the NFL as a coordinator.

Western Michigan defense shocking performance

Western Michigan is not known as a powerhouse school. The Broncos finished with a 6-7 record and 5th in the Mid-American Conference in 2024. In 2025 the Broncos finished first in the MAC with a 10-4 record and destroyed Kennesaw State 41-6 in their Bowl game.

The biggest shock came when analyzing the variance in defensive performance from 2024 before O'Leary's arrival when compared to the 2025 version that O'Leary helmed.

Statistical ranking comparison for Western Michigan Defense between 2024 and 2025
Statistical ranking comparison for Western Michigan Defense between 2024 and 2025 | Thomas Martinez

The Broncos defense took a massive leap forward in 2025. O'Leary took a unit that was ranked 107th in the FBS in points per game and in one season finished 9th. The biggest jump was the pass rush production. In 2024 the Broncos finished with 13 total sacks as a team. In 2025, Broncos edge rusher Nadame Tucker had 14 sacks on his own to go along with 43 as a team. O'Leary helped the defense get the quarterback in a historic turn around, going from 118th in the nation in 2024 to 5th in a single season.

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The Chargers players love Chris O'Leary

When the hiring of Chris O'Leary became public, Chargers players who had played with O'Leary in 2024 immediately began showing their excitement on social media.

Veteran safety Tony Jefferson gave O'Leary significant praise at the end of the 2024 season when speaking with Ari Meirov, who covers the NFL for The 33rd Team. Meirov will commonly ask his guests who are players for coaches who deserve more recognition and based on Jefferson's answer, he clearly saw O'Leary as a defensive coordinator in the near future.

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Elijah Molden trade just days before the start of the season

At the end of training camp in 2024, Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz swung a trade with the Tennessee Titans for defensive back Elijah Molden. Molden has primarily been a slot cornerback at that point in his career but had bounced around between defensive back positions including safety. He arrived just ten days before the start of the season.

Molden needed a crash course to get up to speed in a new defense and focusing on playing safety. He did not start week one but he did start in week two and got his first interception with the Chargers.

Chris O'Leary was tasked with getting Molden up to speed in the safeties room. Daniel Popper of The Athletic wrote "Molden and O’Leary had one meeting each day from Aug. 29 to 31, just the two of them. Molden said each meeting lasted 2 to 2 1/2 hours," Popper said. "O’Leary installed defensive coordinator Jesse Minter’s entire playbook in those three meetings, according to Molden.

Summary

Chris O'Leary will seamlessly step back into the Chargers defensive room. The players know him and he runs the same defense installed by Jesse Minter.

More importantly, O'Leary was able to get the best out of his roster in Western Michigan while gaining valuable experience calling plays. Western Michigan edge rusher Nadame Tucker had only played 161 snaps in his first three years of college football with only one sack before transferring to Western Michigan. In one year with O'Leary, Tucker played 579 snaps and finished behind only Texas Tech's David Bailey with 14 sacks on the season.

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Thomas Martinez
THOMAS MARTINEZ

Thomas Martinez has covered the Chargers and the NFL draft since 2022. Born and raised as a Chargers fan, experienced the improbable Super Bowl run in the 94’ season as a child, survived Ryan Leaf, the Marlon McCree fumble and Nate Kaeding in the playoffs. He graduated from UC Riverside with a degree in Political Science and The University of Redlands with an MBA.

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