Winning Defensive Football
Richard Bell coached 12 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy overall, including eight years as defensive coordinator. He won the American Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 1998. A year prior to that, Bell was nominated by the AFA staff for the Broyles Award as the nation s top assistant coach. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Bell has helped Air Force to four post-season bowl games and coached Chris Gizzi to All-American honors. (Gizzi, a two-time WAC defensive player of the year, developed into one of the finest players ever to wear the blue and silver. He played professionally for the Green Bay Packers.) Bell also turned former Falcon Anthony Schlegel into a big-time college player. (Schlegel, selected to The Sporting News Freshman All-America team in 2001, was a first-team all-conference selection in 2002 before transferring to Ohio State. Schlegel was a third-round draft pick by the New York Jets in 2006.).