The Coaching Tree – Defensive Staff

We continue our introduction of the Chiefs coaching staff by focusing on the defensive side of the ball. Let us begin with defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast. Clancy was born in Arizona and graduated from the University of Arizona in 1990. He began his career as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State and subsequently had coaching stops at USC, OU and UAB. In 1995, he was hired as an assistant coach with the Houston Oilers. In 1996, he became a quality control coach (1996-2000) with the Cowboys, then was the team’s secondary coach in 2001-02. It is of interest that in 2002 he worked under the tutelage of head coach Bill Parcels (Pioli’s father in law).

In 2003, Clancy became the linebackers coach at Cleveland. While at Cleveland he impressed Jeremy Green, personnel man and son of Dennis Green. Jeremy Green convinced his father to hire Clancy as defensive coordinator in 2004. In 2006, when Ken Whisenhunt became head coach, he retained Clancy as defensive coordinator only to fire him after the Super Bowl. Clancy became one of the first, if not the first, coordinators to be fired after a super bowl appearance

During his last three years at Arizona his defense accumulated the following rankings:

• 2006 29th in total points and 29th in total yards
• 2007 27th in total points and 17th in total yards
• 2008 28th in total points and 19th in total yards

Of interest is that Whisenhunt favored using the Steelers’ 3-4, however, Clancy preferred the 4-3 while at Arizona.

Gary Gibbs recently became the Chiefs linebackers coach. Like Pendergast, Gibbs has been a defensive coordinator, most recently with the Saints in 2006-08. A former linebacker for OU, Gibbs began his coaching career under the direction of Barry Switzer, ultimately becoming OU’s defensive coordinator in 1981. In 1989 amidst controversy, shootings in the dormitories and NCAA, he ascended to head coach at OU . Interestingly, he had a young assistant on his staff named Clancy Pendergast. Despite having a six year record of 44-23-2 during his six years at OU, he was fired in 1994 due to his inability to beat Texas, Nebraska and Colorado on a consistent basis

After leaving OU, he eventually became defensive defensive coordinator at Georgia in 2000 then LSU in 2001. He left the college ranks in 2002 to work with Cowboys (Parcells and Pendergast), where he was the linebackers coach until 2005.

The Coaching Tree continues. It is clear that Pioli and Haley didn’t pull their coaches names out of a hat. These were men they had previously worked with and had grown to trust. Although both men were fired from their most recent jobs, they were based on offensive-minded teams. The familiarity of Penergast with Haley probably was the deciding factor in his becoming D.C.

Next week — key assistants.

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