Why former NFL players are becoming high school football coaches
The sunset of his NFL playing career came almost 30 years ago.
So what is Bucky Brooks doing before sunrise, unlocking the gate outside the Granada Hills High football field?
He’s getting in touch with his roots the way dozens of former NFL players are from coast to coast, teaching the game he loves to the latest generation.
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Granada Hills football coach Bucky Brooks, a former NFL player, talks about why he coaches high school football and why it attracts many former NFL players. (Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)
“There’s nothing like it,” said Brooks, 55, of coaching high school football. “The athletic part of you dies when we retire. There’s nothing that gives you that same feel of being the gladiator in the ring. But this is the closest thing. Even though you’re not playing, you live vicariously through their experiences.”
According to USA Today, there are 128 high school head coaches around the country who once played in the NFL. That includes Carson Palmer, the Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick from USC, who in his debut season led Santa Margarita to a CIF state Open Division championship and was named MaxPrep’s 2025 national coach of the year.
“I’m where I need to be,” said Palmer, whose son, Fletch, is a quarterback and junior on this season’s team. “I missed so much when I was playing because I was so involved in so much.”
After retiring in 2018, he contemplated going the route of a lot of former players and working NFL games as a color analyst.
“I almost signed a contract doing TV stuff,” said Palmer, whose daughter, Bries, is a freshman at the school. “I wouldn’t be around when my kids come by my office at lunchtime, or when somebody has a stomachache and needs to take a class period to take a nap on my couch. I love that.”
Santa Margarita will open the season Friday by playing host to Jones High of Orlando, Fla. — a team coached by former Atlanta Falcons defensive back Elijah Williams.
“The standard’s been set, the culture’s been built, and now you’ve just got to carry it on,” Palmer said.
“This class that we have right now has done a phenomenal job. We’re running more stuff than we were last year, just because it’s these kids’ second year in the program.” He added the receivers, in particular, are playing with confidence because of their detailed route work — precise depths, footwork, releases that are “NFL routes” as opposed to “seven-on-seven stuff.”
If you’re an up-and-coming quarterback, there has to be an extra layer of pressure and expectation if your father played the position at an elite level. Philip Rivers understands that. His son, Gunner, a four-star quarterback in the class of 2027 who plays for his dad at St. Michael Catholic High in Fairhope, Ala. The younger Rivers will be headed to North Carolina State, following in the sizable footsteps of his father.
Likewise, Philip Rivers followed his own dad, Steve, a legendary Alabama high school coach.
Granada Hills coach Bucky Brooks watches his players run drills during a recent practice.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
“I grew up wanting to be my dad’s quarterback, and now I’m getting to coach my son and relive it all again 30 years later,” said Philip Rivers, who also has a younger son, Pete, on the team. “Everything goes too dang fast. There’s some long days throughout the years, but it all goes too fast. You wish you could slow it all down.”
All of this gives Philip a better understanding of his own father.
“My dad’s in the state Hall of Fame,” he said, “but he never won a state championship. His championship trophies were in his desk drawer, the letters players had written him over the years. We want them to be better men for having been in our football program. That’s the mission.”
Almost three years ago, former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck was hired as varsity football coach at Ensworth High in Nashville. He gave up his job as primary game analyst for “ACC Primetime Football” in part to coach his son, Taylor, now a quarterback at Wyoming.
Granada Hills coach Bucky Brooks huddles with defensive players during a recent practice in preparation for the 2026 high school football season.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Coaching high school football became a family affair, with parents Don and Mary Beth selling their Boston house of 50 years and moving to Tennessee, and Don — the former NFL tight end who died last year — joining his son’s staff. Matt Hasselbeck, Tim’s brother and a former Super Bowl quarterback, came on board as well as Ensworth’s offensive coordinator.
“We all had coaches who made an incredible impact on our lives,” Matt said. “And we probably had coaches who had a negative impact as well. … I didn’t seek out coaching. I said I’d do a three-day clinic. I just don’t remember stopping.”
By Archie Manning’s count, about 30,000 high school players have been enrolled in the 30 years of the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodeaux, La. The weeklong camp focuses on quarterbacks and receivers, and college players from around the country serve as counselors, as do brothers Peyton, Eli and Cooper Manning.
“I tell Peyton and Eli, ‘Listen, when these kids get home, their granddaddy is going to ask them, ‘Did you meet Peyton and Eli?’” said Archie of his two NFL quarterback sons. “And I want them to say, ‘Yes.’ OK, so get your butt around to everyone. They try to get in front of every kid.
“The kids we deal with are just so eager and excited, and that’s what makes it so fun.”
Back at Granada Hills, where he has coached since 2019, Brooks is looking to instill in his players some of the lessons he learned from the all-star cast of NFL coaches he played for as a defensive back — among them Marv Levy, Mike Holmgren, Tony Dungy, Marty Schottenheimer and Jon Gruden.
“We all feel an obligation to give back,” Brooks said. “Your Pop Warner coach, your high school coach, your college coach. … I want to take those same lessons people gave me and give it to the next people.”
Granada Hills coach Bucky Brooks talks to his players before practice.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
That requires sacrifice. Brooks has worked as a sportswriter for Sports Illustrated and analyst for NFL Network. Now, he’s a commentator for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ TV Network, meaning he finishes a high school game and flies to where the Jaguars are playing.
Sometimes, that means hopping on a plane to London after coaching a Friday night game. His assistant coaches, mostly a group of his former Granada Hills players, have to pick up the slack sometimes with the subsequent practices early in the following week.
“It’s been a great leadership lesson for me,” Brooks said. “I’ve learned to delegate and let other people take over.”
Everyone, it seems, is getting an education.