# Brandon Staley

Brandon John Staley (born December 10, 1982) is an American professional football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers from 2021 to 2023, defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams in 2020, an assistant coach for the San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, and Chicago Bears.

## Early life and college

Staley was born on December 10, 1982, in Perry, Ohio. He attended the University of Dayton and started two years at quarterback for the Flyers from 2003 to 2004, guiding the team to a 16–5 record. He finished his playing career at Mercyhurst College, playing on the football team in 2005.

## Coaching career
### College

Brandon began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois from 2006 to 2008 before working with defensive linemen and special teams at Division III St. Thomas (Minnesota) in 2009.
In 2010 and 2011, Staley served as the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Hutchinson Community College (Kansas). He spent the 2012 season at Tennessee as a graduate assistant. Staley then spent three seasons (2013, 2015, 2016) as the defensive coordinator/secondary coach with John Carroll University (Ohio). Staley spent 2014 as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at James Madison University (Virginia). Staley was announced as the Defensive Coordinator of the Chattanooga Mocs (Tennessee) in January of 2017, but would step away from this role within the same month to pursue NFL opportunities.

### Chicago Bears

In 2017, Staley was hired by the Chicago Bears as their outside linebackers coach.

### Denver Broncos

On January 15, 2019, Staley was hired by the Denver Broncos as their outside linebackers coach, reuniting with then-head coach Vic Fangio.

### Los Angeles Rams

On January 16, 2020, Staley was hired by the Los Angeles Rams as their defensive coordinator, replacing Wade Phillips. In his lone year as defensive coordinator, Staley helped guide the Rams defense to first in points and total yards allowed, positioning himself as an attractive head coaching candidate around the league.

### Los Angeles Chargers

On January 17, 2021, Staley was hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, replacing Anthony Lynn.
On September 12, 2021, Staley made his head coaching debut against the Washington Football Team and led the Chargers to a 20–16 road victory. Staley led the Chargers to a 9–7 record through the first 16 games of the 2021 season. However, against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18 in a win or tie or go home situation, Staley came under scrutiny for two decisions during the game. The first involved a failed fourth down conversion on the Chargers' own 18-yard line, giving the Raiders a short field, which they would score on to extend their lead to six. The second was calling a timeout with 38 seconds left in the overtime period with the Raiders at the Chargers' 39-yard line. Staley claimed that he called the timeout to get the right defensive personnel on the field as the Raiders were running the ball. Following the game, there was conjecture that the timeout proved to be costly for the Chargers as the Raiders kicked a 47-yard field goal as time expired, winning 35–32, and eliminating the Chargers from playoff contention. However, when discussing the moment on a podcast, Raiders' interim head coach at that time Rich Bisaccia stated that "the timeout was really irrelevant".
In the 2022 season, Staley led the Chargers to a 10–7 record, finishing in second place in the AFC West. The Chargers finished as the #5-seed in the AFC and played the #4-seed 9–8 Jacksonville Jaguars on January 14, 2023, in the AFC Wild Card round. The Chargers roared out to a 27–0 second quarter lead, but the Jaguars came back to win the game 31–30 with a field goal as time expired. It was the third-largest comeback in NFL playoff history.
After a 5–9 start to the 2023 season and losing 63–21 to the Raiders on Thursday Night Football in Week 15, Staley was fired on December 15, 2023. The Chargers-Raiders game set a Chargers franchise record for most points allowed in a single game, along with a Raiders franchise record for most points scored in a single game (doing so just four days after playing in one of the lowest-scoring NFL games in league history, in a 3–0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings).

### San Francisco 49ers

On March 2, 2024, Staley was hired by the San Francisco 49ers. His role as assistant head-coach was revealed on May 22.

### New Orleans Saints

On February 21, 2025, Staley was hired by the New Orleans Saints as their new defensive coordinator under head coach Kellen Moore, whom Staley worked with when he was head coach of the Chargers.

## Head coaching record

| Team | Year | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Postseason | Postseason | Postseason | Postseason |
| Team | Year | Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result |
| LAC | 2021 | 9 | 8 | 0 | .529 | 3rd in AFC West | — | — | — | — |
| LAC | 2022 | 10 | 7 | 0 | .588 | 2nd in AFC West | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to Jacksonville Jaguars in AFC Wild Card Game |
| LAC | 2023 | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | Fired | — | — | — | — |
| Total | Total | 24 | 24 | 0 | .500 | | 0 | 1 | .000 | |

## Personal life

Staley was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2006 and is considered cancer-free after undergoing chemotherapy. He married Amy Ward in 2011. They have three children.