Shortly after Northern Arizona introduced
Chris Ball as its new head coach of the football program, the long-time assistant coach's phone blew up with inquiries as to who would be on his staff.
"I took my time," Ball said, adding after the fourth or fifth day, he had around 875 texts on his phone. "I think you make a mistake if you rush and put a staff together without sitting down and really thinking about it. It probably took me three or four weeks before I hired my college roommate
Jerry Partridge."
Partridge is among a group of assistants Ball said he knew he would look to as staff members if he ever ended up as a head coach. His ties to Northern Arizona's new defensive coordinator go back further than any others.
Both natives of Missouri, the two played at Missouri Western in the mid 1980s before embarking on their respective coaching careers. Following a pair of stops as a graduate assistant for FBS programs Missouri and Notre Dame, Partridge returned to his alma mater from 1991-95 as Missouri Western's defensive coordinator and again in 1997 as the program's head coach.
It was then that Partridge and Ball's coaching paths intersected for the first time, with the former hiring the later as the Division II program's defensive coordinator. Ball departed the program after two seasons, moving on to Idaho State, Washington State and Alabama in the years to follow.
Meanwhile, Partridge led Missouri Western's program until 2016 before landing at Delta State as defensive coordinator for two years prior to his arrival in Flagstaff
"He was bugging me every day about it, but i just wanted to make sure it was the right fit for the program and the right fit for me. I always knew it was, but I wasn't in a big hurry to get it done," Ball said. "It is great to have Jerry here because Jerry was a head coach for 20 years. That helps a ton, I can bounce a lot of things off of him."
"THEY ARE LIKE BROTHERS"
Partridge isn't the only long-time friend Ball brought to Northern Arizona. Running backs coach/special teams coordinator
Aaron Price and offensive line coach/run game coordinator
Bob Connelly also coached with Ball at multiple schools over the years.
"Those three guys right there are guys that are family to me," Ball said, "Those guys, we are as close as we can be. Those guys are going to be honest with me, they don't have an agenda, they are like brothers. We can disagree and still love each other at the end of the day."
Ball, Price, Connelly, as well as
Robin Pflugrad, coached together at Washington State under Price's father Mike Price. The former trio all headed to Alabama to work under Mike Price after the 2002 season. Ball and Connelly remained at the school together through the 2006 season while Price departed the school in 2003 to coach under his father at UTEP.
Ball's relationship with Price spans multiple schools, with the two first meeting in when the former arrived at Washington State for his first stint at the school under Mike Price, newly hired in Pullman. The two coaches together again at Missouri Western, under Partridge, in 1998 and at Idaho State in 1999.
"Aaron and I have known each other since 1989, he is a guy that is going to bust his butt," Ball said. "He called or text me every day, he is very passionate and emotional about being here with me."
While Ball moved to Pittsburgh and Washington State immediately after leaving Alabama, Connelly eventually landed back with Aaron and Mike Price at UTEP. The two reunited at Arizona State in 2012 before Connelly moved on to a few other stops, including Oklahoma State and USC.
"He is probably one of, if not the best, offensive line coaches in the country," Ball said. "We have always talked about if either of us get the chance, we are going to go get this done and do it the right way. He is a guy that can be really honest with me, I bounce a lot of things off of him because I know I am going to get an honest answer with him.
"Those guys always knew I was going to hire them if I ever got the chance," Ball said. "They are great men, they are really, really good football coaches and they do it for the right reasons.
I made Aaron interview, I made Jerry wait, me and Bob had some intense conversations at the convention, but we got them here and we are very lucky to have them."
FINDING THE RIGHT FITS
Ball said he looked for a specific response when interviewing candidates for his staff. Not interested in hearing how the options wanted to move their way up the coaching ladder and pursue national championships, Ball desire a similar message to what he has shared early in his tenure.
"I was looking for guys that want to change a man's life through this great game, it was really simple," Ball said. "At the end of the day, you have got to do this passionately and you want to change someone's life. The game of football grabs these 18 to 22 year olds attention and what a great platform to be able to show them how to be great husbands, great fathers and productive citizens and help them accomplish the goals that they have."
While some of the fits were easy, with Price and Connelly arriving from high school coaching jobs in Texas and California respectively and Partridge moving up from D-II, others needed a longer search.
"It took awhile to gather everyone in. I had an idea in my head how I wanted to do it and it wasn't easy," Ball said. "Sometimes when you drop down a level and you are trying to get guys, people are at different parts of their lives. Financially some guys could do it, some guys couldn't. Some guys got mad we couldn't pay them, there's a lot of stuff that goes into it."
One of the few coaches with no connections to any other on the staff, outside linebackers coach
Junior Tanuvasa came with recommendations from others Ball called. Playing at Mt. San Antonio College, San Jose State and New Mexico Highlands, Tanuvasa returned to his first college to coach for nine years. During his time on Mt. SAC's staff, Tanuvasa served as co-defensive coordinator before moving to D-II Dixie State for one season.
Ball found the team's new defensive backs coach through Partridge, with
Jesse Thompson moving to Flagstaff from Delta State as well.
"I had met him when I was at Memphis, he is a really knowledgeable secondary coach and he has a great story," Ball said. "He's very passionate about changing lives. I told Jerry, 'This is your hire, tell me who you want,' and it was very easy for him to decide on Jesse."
Rounding out the defensive staff, Ball went with
Everrette Thompson on the defensive line. Spending last season as a graduate assistant on Northern Arizona's staff, the former Washington Husky played for a staff that included Dan Cozzetto. Cozzetto and
Robin Pflugrad, assistants at Arizona State in the late 1990s, joined forces at Phoenix College in 2015. Thompson joined the staff as well in 2015 before following Pflugrad to Northern Arizona for the 2018 season.
"He had a lot of roles and was basically doing it for free," Ball said of Thompson's time at Phoenix College. "He was up here working hard. He's very, very smart and mature. He played at a high level and is very knowledgeable."
The last of the newcomers to Northern Arizona's staff also came with a small connection to Pflugrad. Wide receivers coach
Junior Taylor played for Mesa High School in the late 1990s before heading to UCLA in 2001. During his time in the Valley, then Sun Devils receivers coach Pflugrad recruited Taylor, who earned all-state honors as a Jackrabbit.
"He's from Mesa, he's a name in state. It gives me a guy that played at UCLA and a guy that was familiar with Southern California, two key recruiting spots," Ball said of Taylor, who coached for his former high school before leaving for Wagner College for the 2018 season."We are really lucky to have him. I wanted Aaron to have one of his own guys, I said this is your hire tell me what you want to do. So that's how we stumped onto Taylor.
"We have a wide variety of guys," Ball added. "You don't just want to hire a whole bunch of people you know, because now you don't bring new ideas to the table."
KEEPING SOME FAMILIARITY
While Ball's new staff brings experience from various locations around the country and from the FBS level, few on the staff have spent much time at the FCS level or the Big Sky Conference specifically.
Ball's time at Idaho State along with Price accounts for the only Big Sky experience among the new staff, a rarity across the conference's schools. Of the 13 Big Sky members, four coaches (Bobby Hauck, Rob Phenicie, Bruce Barnum and Tim Walsh) have spent considerable time in conference during their coaching careers. Three others (Earnest Collins, Dan Hawkins and Aaron Best) played for the school they currently lead and Demario Warren coached at Southern Utah for multiple season before being promoted to the head coaching job.
The four coaches without considerable connections to the conference or their school, Weber State's Jay Hill, Montana State's Jeff Choate, Idaho's Paul Petrino and Sacramento State's Troy Taylor, all currently employ assistants with past Big Sky experience.
Hill's assistant Brent Myers coached at Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington for more than 10 years combined and Petrino assistant Mike Breske spent time at Montana and Montana State. Taylor hired former Northern Arizona defensive coordinator Andy Thompson to his staff and Choate brought back Montana State grad and former coach Kane Ioane to his staff this offseason.
Ball elected to go a similar route by retaining offensive coordinator
Aaron Pflugrad and assistant head coach/tight ends coach
Robin Pflugrad. Aaron enters his fifth season with the program, his second as offensive coordinator, and also shares a small coaching history with Ball.
Serving as a graduate assistant at Arizona State from 2012-2015 after completing his playing career, Aaron worked on the same staff as Ball. During Robin's Washington State tenure from 2001-05, he worked with Ball before the latter's move to Alabama.
"When you come in, you don't know the players, so it is nice to have somebody that can give you an honest answer about the players," Ball said of both Aaron and
Robin Pflugrad. "They held it together recruiting wise which really helped us, there's a big relationship there. I pulled out a picture of Aaron when he was 12 years old, we were all hanging out together."
Robin's time at Portland State, Weber State and two stints at Montana, also gives Ball an assistant with considerable time spent in the Big Sky.
