With the hiring of Brendan Daly as an assistant coach, Thursday, Illinois State head football coach Denver Johnson came a step closer to completing his staff heading into the 2004 season.
Daly will replace Tim Thornton, who accepted the head coaching job at Peoria Woodruff High School a couple of weeks ago. Daly will work with the Illinois State tight ends.
This a great opportunity to come and work with a bunch of respected coaches and to be a part of a tremendous football conference, Daly said. Its nice to get back to an area that Im familiar with and Im just looking forward to the opportunity to be part of this football program.
A native of Springfield, Ill., Daly has spent the last three seasons at Oklahoma State. He spent the last two seasons coaching the defensive ends and assisting with special team units. On the defensive line, Daly coached Greg Richmond, who garnered first team All-Big XII honors in 2003.
In 2001 with the Cowboys, Daly assisted with the offensive line, while also working with special teams. In fact, Oklahoma States kickoff return average (26.83) ranked No. 3 in the nation.
Prior to Oklahoma State, Daly spent a season at Maryland assisting with the offensive line and tight ends. He came to Maryland after spending a year at Villanova. With the Wildcats, Daly coached tight ends and assisted with the offensive line.
Brendan is a bright, young coach with a tremendous background, Johnson said. He has had some time on the job and several coaching stops. Brendan has been around some awfully good coaches on some awfully good staffs. I think hell bring a lot to the table a lot of insight and a lot of expertise coaching the tight end position.
Daly graduated from Drake in 1997 with a bachelor of arts degree. He returned to his alma mater as a graduate assistant in 1998, after working one year at Ridgewood High School in New Port Richey, Fla., as an assistant football coach. At Drake, Daly coached the tight ends and assisted with the offensive line. The Bulldogs posted a 7-3 record that season and claimed the Pioneer Football League championship.
As a player with the Bulldogs, Daly lettered two seasons as a tight end and was a member of the 1995 PFL championship team.
Johnson has one coaching vacancy left to fill on his staff.
