5 Takeaways From Derrick Ansley’s Media Availability

Ansley’s elevation led to other movement on staff, as his former role was filled by Tommy Donatell.

Now the Passing Game Coordinator/Secondary coach, Donatell was the assistant secondary coach under Ansley for the past two seasons.

“Well-deserved. Tommy is sharp. He’s a guy whose arrow is on the up rise,” Ansley said. “He’s very professional, very knowledgeable on the backend and the front. This promotion was warranted.

“We all know what we have in him, the organization knows what they have in him,” Ansley added. “It’s awesome to see a guy work his way up through the organization and get an opportunity to be successful.”

The secondary flourished under Ansley and Donatell in 2021, as the Bolts ranked seventh in the league with just 200.4 passing yards allowed per game.

5. Ready to impact the entire defense

Ansley has been a coordinator before at the college level, as he was the University of Tennessee’s defensive coordinator & defensive backs coach in 2019 and 2020.

And he knows that the focus is now on impacting the entire defense, not just his position group.

Ansley said he’s hand a hand in that over the past two years but is ready to take it to another level.

“football is all about relationships – player-to-coach, coach-to-player. Players just want you to be real with them, no matter if that’s at the college level or the pro game,” Ansley said. “Give them the information that they need to be successful.

“That’s one thing that Coach Staley preaches, that he wants coaches to touch the whole team. As position coaches, we coach special teams guys, as well, with [Chargers Special Teams Coordinator] Coach [Ryan] Ficken, in some aspects of our roles. Those things won’t change, our relationships with all of those guys. If anything, they’re intensified moving forward.”