By Joe Scacco, NAU Media Relations

DALLAS, Texas - Football coaches are charged with the task of assembling winning teams, but through his experiences, former NAU cornerback and defensive backs coach Brian Stewart learned there is more to the game of football than just X's and O's. Over his 15-year coaching career, Stewart has mentored football's next generation from San Jose, Calif., to Syracuse, N.Y., and just about everywhere in between.

At 43, Stewart has assembled an impressive coaching resume with extensive experience at the college and professional ranks. The former Lumberjack is currently in his second season as the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. Prior to his stint with Dallas, Stewart spent time with the San Diego Chargers and Houston Texans as a defensive backs coach.

“Going to college and seeing people from all different areas helps you deal with people tremendously,” said Stewart when comparing the college and professional games. “In the NFL you don't do any recruiting. The scouts kind of take care of that for you. In the NFL, you are not as close to players as you are in college. In college, you have the chance to evaluate guys and pick players you feel can do what you want defensively. When you go to different areas of the country and recruit, you really get to see maybe in this area of the country there are not a lot of fathers present or the mothers are the ones kids listen to. Some areas it is the preacher or the pastor that has a lot to do with it. There are just so many different things. You learn more about people than you do about the sport of football itself.”

Stewart continues the distinguished lineage of former NAU coaches to find success in the National Football League, a list that includes current head coaches Mike Shanahan, Andy Reid and Brad Childress. Stewart however is one of the more unique cases having starred for the Lumberjacks as a player in the late-1980s and then returning as a promising young coach in 1995.

“I went [to NAU] to get my degree and ended up getting a career,” Stewart said.

After graduating from Nogales High School in La Puente, Calif., Stewart arrived at NAU with aspirations of attaining a degree and playing football; however, progress is not always in a constant forward motion. For some, youthful exuberance produces alternate paths, returning towards an anticipated end, but perhaps through different means than previously intended.

After Stewart's freshman season, he was ruled academically ineligible and could not return on scholarship for his sophomore year. Stewart decided to transfer to Santa Monica City College in Santa Monica, Calif., and worked to get his grades up. He spent three semesters in junior college, playing one year for Santa Monica before returning to NAU with two years of eligibility left.

“Basically I was some units short and could not come back on scholarship—chalk that up to being young,” Stewart said. “So I was academically ineligible and played at Santa Monica City College. I wanted to go back to NAU because I knew the situation there and believed I would have an opportunity to play. If I went back, I thought my best chance of being successful would be there.”

“When I came back I played immediately. I played cornerback on the 1986 and 1987 teams. We were good both years at 7-4. I was one of the guys fortunate to be a starter on a team that swept the Idaho schools (Boise State, Idaho and Idaho State) and beat Montana. That was kind of big. I have never lost to Montana.”

The adversity Stewart faced during his playing career, losing his scholarship and then fighting to get it back, prepared him for the rigors of the coaching profession. The Southern California native learned quickly how demanding a life spent in football can be. Stewart spoke candidly of the lessons he learned coaching at NAU.

“The thing that I really learned about coaching at Northern Arizona was it is not easy,” Stewart said. “It is going to take some work. It was all hands on. Nobody checked on you to make sure you were doing what you were supposed to do. All the coaches were young and there was no book on how to be a coach. The hardest thing for me at that time was what questions to ask, how to learn, how to find out things. It was an ongoing process.”

After one season at NAU, Stewart moved on to the University of Missouri where he served as a graduate assistant. While at Missouri, Stewart fell under the wing of Buzz Preston, who he credits as his first coaching advisor.

“Early on, my mentor was Buzz Preston, who is now the running backs coach at Georgia Tech,” Stewart said. “I met him when I was a graduate assistant. Over the years he kept tabs on me about what I needed to be doing. You need to know the playbook so he showed me how to study a playbook. He really did a great job of teaching me that.”

“Later on when I had an area to recruit he taught me how to recruit. What schools to go to, what schools not to go to, how to have relationships with high school coaches, not just to talk to the coaches but to counselors, and questions to ask; finding out who the person was that was going to make the decisions in the family. When you go to a family on a visit, is the mom in charge, is the dad in charge, is the kid going to be left alone with the decision. Those are all factors if you don't know, then you don't know. You try and put yourself in the best possible position to get that kid to your school.”

Stewart jumped around Division I football building his coaching resume with stops at San Jose State, Syracuse and another tour at Missouri. In 2002, Stewart was hired by the Houston Texans and has worked in the NFL ever since.

“I have always felt if you are a good person and you are a hard worker, people will recognize it, sometimes later than sooner, but people will recognize it,” Stewart said. “Coaching gave me a lot of drive. I believe being an athlete you always have drive. I truly do. Your drive is motivated by being in that sport. Once that sport is gone and you have to work some people don't use the same drive in work that they used in the sport. People will tell you I speak at clinics still to this day and I still go to clinics this day because I am fascinated by the sport and there is so much I still can learn. I don't know if you can put on a meter how much you know and how much you don't know but the more I have been into this sport the more I feel I don't know. It is that drive that I had when I was a player. That is what has helped me to get to the position I am in now. You put opportunities, being a good person and a hard worker together with your drive to be a better coach.”

Current NFL Assistants with NAU Ties

Joe Barry, Detroit Lions
(NAU Assistant, 1996-99)

Darrell Bevell, Minnesota Vikings
(NAU Player, 1989)

Jeff Imamura, Minnesota Vikings
(NAU Assistant, 2000-02)

Derek Mason, Minnesota Vikings
(NAU Player, 1987-91)

Marty Mornhinweg, Philadelphia Eagles
NAU Assistant, 1988, 1994)

Pat Morris, Minnesota Vikings
(NAU Assistant, 1978)

Frank Pollack, Houston Texans
(NAU Player,1986-87; Assistant 2005-06)

Dante Scarnecchia, New England Patriots
(NAU Assistant, 1979)

Brian Stewart, Dallas Cowboys
(NAU Player, 1986-87; Assistant, 1995)

Ken Zampese, Cincinnati Bengals
(NAU Assistant, 1992-95)