Former Flyers face off as head coaches on Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football will feature two former Dayton Flyers, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley. Graphic courtesy of @DaytonFlyers on Twitter.

Peter Burtnett | Sports Editor

On one of football’s biggest regular season stages, two former University of Dayton football student-athletes will face off as NFL head coaches Monday night.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football tonight will be played between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers, but in a strange twist for a game between two teams located in the western United States, interest will be high in Dayton, Ohio. Why?

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden graduated from the University of Dayton in 1986 after spending three years playing as a backup quarterback for the football team. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley graduated from UD in 2005 after playing quarterback for the Flyers in 2003-04.

Neither Gruden nor Staley are the most prominent former Flyer NFL head coach (that would have to be former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach and 1953 UD grad Chuck Noll, who won four Super Bowls), the match-up will be a great opportunity to advertise Dayton Flyers football and the first time former Flyers face off as head coaches.

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