Broncos tight end coach Pariani has a chance to add to his Super Bowl ring collection By Derek Arild Marin Independent Journal February 6, 2016

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1 Broncos tight end coach Pariani has a chance to add to his Super Bowl ring collection By Derek Arild Marin Independent Journal February 6, 2016 Former Marin Catholic High School football coach Larry Gondola would not say that Brian Pariani was a great football player. But that s not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to coaching. In all the years I ve coached, the best coaches are usually not great players, said Gondola, in his final year as the assistant athletic director at Marin Catholic before retiring. That applies to Pariani, the Denver Broncos tight-ends coach who played one year for Gondola but was considered a better forward on the basketball court than a wide receiver for Marin Catholic. He s a very smart kid.... I could see why, Gondola said of Pariani, 50, becoming a coach in the NFL. (Coaches) think about the game. They re very smart about the game. Most great athletes couldn t teach a kid to do it. I m sure he s a really good teacher. Now the 1983 Marin Catholic grad and former Terra Linda resident will have a chance to pick up his fourth Super Bowl ring if the Broncos can beat favored Carolina in Sunday s Super Bowl 50 at Levi s Stadium in Santa Clara. Pariani will have plenty of family in attendance on Sunday, including his younger brothers Todd, Tim and Scott. All three were standout football players at Marin Catholic and benefitted from Pariani s coaching at one point. He s pretty fired up to be (in the Super Bowl), said the 45-year-old Todd, who lives in Windsor. They were knocking on the doorstep a few years (when Brian) was in Houston. Any time you can get back to the Super Bowl is pretty sweet for him. Pariani has a knack for being on the winning sideline during the big game. He s 3-0. He picked up his first Super Bowl ring as a scout and offensive assistant with the 49ers in 1995 and notched back-to-back rings in his first stint with the Broncos in COACHING START His coaching career started as a volunteer gig with his younger brothers teams. I always enjoyed sports and being around them, said Pariani, whose parents Ray and Jolene still live in Terra Linda. It started with my brothers teams and escalated from there to other teams. I really wanted to coach. Wasn t even sure what sport (I wanted to coach). He got his coaching start as a grad assistant for the UCLA football team under coach Terry Donahue. While soaking up as much coaching knowledge as he could and creating some solid contacts, Pariani landed his first NFL job when he was hired as a scouting assistant with the 49ers in the summer of 1990.

2 Advertisement His Denver Broncos connection began as a 49ers offensive assistant when Mike Shanahan became offensive coordinator. After the 49ers Super Bowl victory in 1995, he became the tight-ends coach for the Broncos when Shanahan was named Denver s head coach. MEETS KUBIAK That was around the time that Pariani also got acquainted with current Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak, who started his NFL coaching career as the 49ers quarterbacks coach in 1994 and spent the next eight years in Denver as QB coach and offensive coordinator. It was a good working relationship, Pariani said. (Kubiak) is a great coach and an even way better person. He s a great man... a great leader. Somebody I would call my friend, but respect as a human being. Outside of one season where Pariani was the offensive coordinator at Syracuse University, he s worked alongside Kubiak. They were together eight years when Kubiak got his first head-coaching gig with the Houston Texans ( ), one year with the Ravens when Kubiak was offensive coordinator and now their first season back with Denver. STAR QUARTERBACKS While Pariani has had plenty of chances to pick Kubiak s brain over the years, he s also had that luxury of grooming Broncos starting tight end Owen Daniels. Pariani has been Daniels coach for his entire 10-year playing career with the Texans, Ravens and Broncos. Daniels, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, had both touchdown receptions in the Broncos AFC championship victory over New England two weeks ago. Back-up tight end Vernon Davis has also been a key for Pariani since he was traded to Denver by the 49ers early in the season. (Davis) has definitely helped us, Pariani said. To bring another body to the tight-end position who can stretch the field and has 10 years of experience is a great addition. Along with getting to work with some top-notch tight ends, Pariani has been surrounded by some of the best quarterbacks. I ve been pretty fortunate by the quarterbacks, he said. Troy (Aikman) at UCLA, Joe Montana, John Elway, Joe Flacco in Baltimore and working with Peyton (Manning). They are all winners. They are all chasing one dream... to win a ring. Win or lose, the Pariani clan will be in the stands to cheer on its favorite NFL coach. We have our fingers crossed, said his brother Scott, 47, who lives in Petaluma. It s an amazing circle of events. The way it started with the 49ers and now back in the Bay Area for the 50th Super Bowl and Brian turning 50 this year. No matter the outcome, being in the Bay Area he will cherish this.

3 Q&A with tight ends coach Brian Pariani By Ben Swanson DenverBroncos.com February 6, 2015 What characteristics do you look for in tight ends in this offensive system? We re always looking for athletic players, which obviously, the Broncos have on their roster. You re looking for people that are athletic, can make plays in the passing game, want to block at the line of scrimmage and have some type of toughness to them to hold up in protection and in the run game. You've had some experience working with tight ends who were converted from other positions. What's that like? It s challenging. Like I said, you re looking for athletes to play the position. And throughout our [time] with [Kubiak] and in the system and stuff, we have taken players that weren t tight ends in college: receivers, quarterbacks Owen Daniels was a quarterback in college, then he was converted to tight end, obviously Shannon Sharpe was a receiver converted to a tight end, Byron Chamberlain were players that were receivers converted to tight ends, Billy Miller. These are people in the past that have played here. There are obviously players that are big time players in the league. I think you have to get into the right system. You have to just continue to do things day in and day out to develop those things: putting your hand in the dirt, coming off, working with tackles, working against defensive players, learning how to play football again, and that s the learning curve in this league. Nowadays, there s not as much time to develop guys. You ve got to go Day 1 because of the way the structure of the league s set up for free agency and you have to be able to develop quickly so you can play. When you talk about athleticism, I see the importance of lateral agility, especially. How important is that side-to-side movement in the zone blocking scheme? In the zone blocking scheme or in the gap scheme, we do both we do it all. The key to anything in football is movement, per se. So if you re quick and quick-twitch and those kind of things, you re creating an advantage to beat the defense. You're familiar with Coach Kubiak and Coach Dennison, obviously having worked with them in the past. What's the feeling like coming back to where your careers took that big step? It s almost like a dream come true to be able to walk back into the building the other day and see some of the people that were here. You were raised here and hopefully everyone s raised the right way. Everyone has to kind of go out and kind of see if they can succeed on their own in a sense and now obviously John s asked Gary to come back, and Mr. Bowlen and Joe have asked Gary to come back and we re fortunate enough to come with him. It really is special to be back and it s still family. Having worked with the Broncos before, how much do you appreciate the culture they have here? Obviously, it all starts with Mr. B and that s kind of what he s always stood for and what the Broncos stand for. I was very young when I came and he gave me an opportunity, as well as Coach Shanahan, and to learn to teach and to be able to grow, and I guess once you get that family atmosphere, which the Broncos have because we re not the only ones who have ever succeeded within the organization; there have been players and coaches who have come and gone and done that. And there s just something about Colorado and Denver Broncos and the history that s here and the fans that stays consistent throughout the years and we re just happy to be back.

4 How did you get your start in coaching, and why did you want to coach? I started didn t play in college but I started as a GA [Graduate Assistant] for Coach Donahue at UCLA. I always enjoyed coaching as a younger [guy], when I was growing up and always asked to come back and try to coach and help younger kids that were playing in front of me or in that standpoint. I actually started coaching when I was 12 years old baseball, basketball and then football came later, obviously, because there wasn t that much coaching at that time. And so I always had a administration eye in the sport and I didn t know what it was going to be, I just wanted to go somewhere where the school was big and sports were important. And so I ended up at UCLA and, asked if could try to get into it, and Coach Donahue gave me a chance and here we are today sitting here, how many years later.

5 Broncos hire Brian Pariani as tight ends coach DenverBroncos.com Jan. 28, 2015 ENGLEWOOD, Colo. The Denver Broncos hired Brian Pariani as their tight ends coach, it was announced on Wednesday. Pariani owns 24 years of coaching experience in the NFL ranks, including 19 seasons as a tight ends coach. He previously held that position with Denver from He coached Baltimore s tight ends in Broncos Head Coach Gary Kubiak s offense in 2014, instructing a unit that combined for 76 catches for 800 yards (10.5 avg.) with five touchdowns. The group overcame the loss of Dennis Pitta to an early season injury and was led by Owen Daniels, who ranked third on the club with 48 receptions for 527 yards (11.0 avg.) with four touchdowns. Pariani coached tight ends in Houston for Kubiak s entire eight year tenure as head coach of the Texans. During that time, Daniels developed into one of the premier tight ends in the NFL, earning two Pro Bowl selections (2008, 12) and totaling 385 receptions for 4,617 yards (12.0 avg.) with 29 touchdowns second only to wide receiver Andre Johnson s on the franchise s all time receiving list in each of those categories. Prior to spending the 2005 season as offensive coordinator at Syracuse University, Pariani coached Denver s tight ends for 10 seasons ( ) and was a member of Denver s 1997 and 98 Super Bowl Championship teams. Under Pariani s instruction, Pro Football Hall of Fame tight endshannon Sharpe was named to three consecutive All Pro teams ( ) by the Associated Press and tight end Dwayne Carswell earned a Pro Bowl invitation (2001). Pariani entered the NFL as a scouting assistant with San Francisco in 1990 and spent three additional seasons ( ) with the 49ers as an offensive assistant. He earned his first career Super Bowl ring as a member of San Francisco s 1994 team that established franchise records for points (505) and touchdowns (62). A political science major at UCLA, Pariani began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for his alma mater in 1989 under Head Coach Terry Donahue. He was a three sport athlete (football, basketball, baseball) at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, Calif., and was born on July 2, 1965 in San Francisco.

6 Gary Kubiak adds Rick Dennison, Brian Pariani to Broncos' coaching staff By Mike Klis The Denver Post January 19, 2015 Gary Kubiak was packing his bags with one hand, and using his phone to hire coaches with the other. The Broncos' new coach had not yet arrived in Denver when he hired Rick Dennison to be his offensive coordinator and Brian Pariani as his tight ends coach, according to two NFL sources. Dennison, 56, previously was a nine-year linebacker and 15-year coach with the Broncos. He also coached with Kubiak with the Houston Texans and, last season, with the Baltimore Ravens. Dennison is well-schooled in the zone-blocking, play-action offensive system Kubiak prefers. With Dennison coming to Denver, Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase is moving out. Gase flew Monday evening to Baltimore, where he will interview Tuesday for the Ravens' offensive coordinator position vacated by Kubiak. This past season, the Ravens' offensive staff was led by Kubiak with Dennison his quarterbacks coach and Pariani his tight ends coach. Pariani was also the Houston Texans' tight ends coach during Kubiak's entire head coaching term there from Meanwhile, Broncos tight ends coach Clancy Barone will shift to offensive line coach so he can teach the blockers the techniques in zone-blocking. Barrone was an offensive line and tight ends coach in Atlanta where the Falcons with quarterback Michael Vick employed the zone-blocking system from , leading the league in rushing all three seasons. The Broncos also want to retain receiver coach Tyke Tolbert. Don't be surprised if the Broncos also bring back zone-blocking guru Alex Gibbs as a coaching consultant. Strength and conditioning coach Luke Richesson and his staff will return. However, Richesson's top assistant, Jason George, is drawing interest from multiple teams to become head of strength and conditioning. Broncos quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp, who also is well-schooled in the Kubiak-Dennison offense, and running backs coach Eric Studesville also figure to have a chance to stay. Broncos special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers and assistant secondary coach Sam Garnes have been hired by new Chicago Bears and former Broncos head coach John Fox. Broncos defensive backs coach Cory Undlin is likely to take the same position with the Philadelphia Eagles. Broncos linebackers coach Richard Smith was Kubiak's defensive coordinator in Houston from , but Smith also was fired from that role. Smith has multiple offers elsewhere, but he might also have a chance to stay with the Broncos.

7 On defense, Kubiak would like to bring along Vance Joseph, his defensive backs coach in Houston from However, Joseph is also drawing interest from the San Francisco 49ers. Joseph interviewed for the Broncos' head coach job Friday. He is the Cincinnati Bengals' defensive backs coach. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis probably would not release Joseph unless he received a promotion to defensive coordinator. Dennison file A look at new Broncos offensive coordinator Rick Dennison: Playing career College: Played for Colorado State ( ) as a tight end. NFL: Played nine years for the Broncos ( ) as a line- backer. Coaching career : Was an offensive assistant with the Broncos : As the Denver special-teams coach, helped the Broncos win the Super Bowl in the 1997 and 1998 seasons , 2009: Coached the Broncos' offensive line in separate stints : Took over as the Broncos' offensive coordinator when Gary Kubiak left Denver to be the head coach of the Houston Texans : Worked for Kubiak as the Texans' offensive coordinator. 2014: Was the Baltimore Ravens' quarterbacks coach, with Kubiak serving as offensive coordinator. Nicki Jhabvala, The Denver Post Pariani file A look at new Broncos tight ends coach Brian Pariani: : Worked as a scout and offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers, winning a Super Bowl championship ring in : Helped the Broncos win two Super Bowls. In his 10-year tenure in Denver, Broncos tight ends combined for 859 receptions and 9,948 yards, while Broncos running backs rushed for 22,483 yards, most in the NFL during that span. 2005: Spent one season as Syracuse's offensive coordinator.

8 : Was the Texans' tight ends coach during Gary Kubiak's entire head coaching tenure in Houston. From , the Texans were one of only two teams, with the Broncos, to have their total offense, passing offense and rushing offense all rank among the NFL's top five in that span. 2014: Followed Kubiak to Baltimore, where he served as the Ravens' tight ends coach.

9 Two Ravens assistants follow Gary Kubiak to Broncos By Jamison Hensley ESPN.com January, 18, 2015 The Baltimore Ravens' coaching staff will undergo another big turnover for the second straight year. Less than an hour after offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak reportedly accepted the Denver Broncos' head-coaching job, a league source confirmed that quarterbacks coach Rick Dennison and tight ends coach Brian Pariani are following Kubiak to Denver. Many expected both Dennison and Pariani to leave because they came from Houston to Baltimore with Kubiak last offseason. But there had been speculation that either Dennison or Pariani might stay to take over as offensive coordinator. This means the Ravens have lost five coaches over the past six days: Kubiak, Dennison, Pariani, secondary coach Steve Spagnuolo (who became the New York Giants' defensive coordinator) and offensive quality control assistant Jay Harbaugh (who became the University of Michigan's tight ends coach). The Ravens will add a new offensive coordinator, tight ends coach and secondary coach for the third offseason in a row. Ravens coach John Harbaugh has shown the ability to put together a staff and not experience much of a transition. The Ravens have never had a losing season in Harbaugh's seven seasons, and they've reached the postseason in six of them.

10 Ravens Hire TEs Coach Brian Pariani, Promote Steve Spagnuolo To Secondary Coach By Ryan Mink BaltimoreRavens.com January 29, 2014 The Ravens have hired Tight Ends Coach Brian Pariani and have appointed Steve Spagnuolo as their new secondary coach. Spagnuolo has also been named the team's assistant head coach. Pariani replaces the longest-tenured coach on John Harbaugh s staff, Wade Harman, who was with the team from 1999 to Brian has earned a reputation as one of the NFL s top tight ends coaches, and we re excited that he was available and willing to join us, Harbaugh stated. Another factor that immediately makes him valuable to us is his familiarity with the offense we want to run. We are making changes on offense, and Brian will be able to help teach and implement them. Tight ends see a lot of action in Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak s offensive system. In 2012, the Texans used the most two-tight end sets in the NFL. Now Kubiak will have somebody he s very familiar joining him in Baltimore to coach the tight ends. Pariani was Gary Kubiak s tight ends during his entire tenure as head coach in Houston ( ). He was previously a tight ends coach with Kubiak in Denver as well. Known for being an intense, business-like coach, Pariani has a track record of getting the most out of his tight ends. He has developed strong pass-catching tight ends who are also good at blocking in the Texans stretch-zone run scheme. Owen Daniels was a fourth-round pick who became a two-time Pro Bowler (2008 and 2012). Daniels caught 70 passes for 862 yards and two touchdowns in 2008, and 62 passes for 716 yards and six scores in Houston s Garrett Graham, another fourth-round pick, turned into a solid receiving option last year when Daniels went down. He caught 49 passes for 545 yards and five touchdowns. Rookie sixth-round pick Ryan Griffin also caught 19 passes for 244 yards and one touchdown last year. The Ravens will be looking for Pariani to do the same with whatever tight ends they have on the roster next year. They currently only have two tight ends on the roster in Matt Furstenburgand Nathan Overbay. Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson are both unrestricted free agents. Pitta said he would love to stay and General Manager Ozzie Newsome said we would like to have Dennis on our football team.

11 Pitta is very much in the same mold as Daniels, both as sizeable pass-catching tight ends who can find openings in zones, create mismatches and flex out wide. Fullback Kyle Juszczykmay also work with Pariani and could be more of a pass-catching option in Kubiak s system. Spagnuolo, who was a senior defensive assistant last year, will be filling the void left by Teryl Austin s departure to be Jim Caldwell s defensive coordinator in Detroit. Spagnuolo will be returning to being a secondary coach for the first time since he was coaching with Harbaugh in Philadelphia ( ). Although Spagnuolo has been a defensive coordinator (New York Giants, New Orleans Saints) and head coach (St. Louis Rams), his roots are coaching defensive backs. The Ravens have a talented, young group of defensive backs for Spagnuolo to work with. Cornerback Jimmy Smith emerged last year, and is expected to start opposite Lardarius Webb again in Rookie Matt Elam started nearly the entire year, and the Ravens could welcome in a new playmaking free safety, according to Newsome s desires. Last season, Spagnuolo helped Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees studying opponents and contributed some ideas and insight that were different from what the Ravens had done in the past. How fortunate are we to have a former NFL head coach, former defensive coordinator and secondary coach become the Ravens coach for our defensive backs? Harbaugh said. Steve is one of the outstanding teachers in the NFL, and he already worked with our defensive staff and players last season as a senior assistant. Our players respect him, and a number of our veteran defensive backs recently said to me that they wanted Steve to coach them. Special Teams Coordinator Jerry Rosburg was the team s assistant head coach, and has moved up to associate head coach.