A MEETING OF MINDS

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            From Dom Capers to Wade Phillips to now Baylor head coach Dave Aranda, Brian Stewart has had the good fortune of being around some of the greatest defensive minds in the country.
            "I like being around great football minds," said Stewart, who joined Aranda's staff at Baylor as the cornerbacks coach. "They say if you hang around three millionaires, you'll be the fourth. So, if you hang around three great football minds, you'll be the fourth. That's my plan."
            A cornerback and safety himself at Santa Monica College and Northern Arizona, Stewart got his start in coaching on the other side of the ball, coaching wide receivers (1993) and running backs (1994) at Cal Poly.
            Since then, his winding career path has taken him to nine other stops in the collegiate ranks, including defensive coordinator stints at Maryland, Houston and Rice. He's also coached 10 years in the NFL with five different clubs, highlighted by two years as Phillips' DC with the Dallas Cowboys (2007-08) and the last two seasons as the Detroit Lions' secondary coach.
            The 55-year-old Stewart calls his time with the Cowboys a great learning experience working with Phillips, a longtime NFL defensive coordinator who helped the Los Angeles Rams get to the Super Bowl a year ago.
            "Wade is awesome, he's like my dad," Stewart said. "We've always talked."
            One of Phillips' biggest lessons to a then 42-year-old NFL defensive coordinator was to not over-coach.
            With the Cowboys' linebackers coach trying to explain in great detail about how to drop in pass coverage to nine-time Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware, Phillips motioned for Stewart.
            "Coach looked at me and said, 'Go tell him, just drop to the numbers, and let him figure it out,''' Stewart said. "Because he was going to drop maybe four times a game. Just the simplicity. We all want to do right, we all want to be experts at our craft, at our position. But, we can over-coach.
"You want DeMarcus Ware chasing the quarterback. If you've got him worrying about how he's going to drop, he'll be worried about getting his feet right and all that. Nah. Don't over-coach it, don't over-think it, and you have a chance to be successful."
Stewart has certainly seen his share of success.
Darius Slay became the first Detroit Lions cornerback in 40 years to earn three-straight Pro Bowl nods, including the last two with Stewart as his position coach. At Maryland, his 2012 defense finished in the top three in the ACC in total defense (21^st nationally), rushing defense and passing defense.
At Houston, Stewart's 2011 defense ranked in the top 15 nationally in red zone scoring, interceptions, tackles for loss, takeaways and opponent completion percentage. Cornerback DJ Hayden, a junior college transfer, earned USA Defensive Newcomer of the Year honors that year and was the 12^th player taken in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.
            With the Cowboys, his defense was ranked in the top 10 in the league in fewest yards allowed in each of his two seasons. In 10 seasons in the NFL, Stewart has helped 16 players earn Pro Bowl appearances, including an NFL-best five with the Cowboys in 2007.
            While he was coming up the collegiate ranks, Aranda said he "learned a lot from Coach Stewart, and a lot of my vision for defensive back play originated from him."
            "Brian is one of the top defensive back coaches in the country," Aranda said. "He is a great teacher of fundamentals and technique. He connects with his players, and his players play hard for him. . . . He is a Christian man, a family man, and will be a great fit for Baylor."
            Stewart is part of an impressive defensive staff that includes former head coach Ron Roberts as the coordinator, former LSU assistant Dennis Johnson with the defensive line, Hall of Fame high school coach Joey McGuire with outside linebackers and Matt Powledge coaching safeties.
            "Ron is smart, he has a strong defensive acumen," Stewart said. "(Johnson) is a great D-line coach, very technically sound. He's like myself, I like to demonstrated and talk about it. Matt Powledge does a good job. And then, we've got some young guys in the room that are very talented as well. Some of the young guys that will help us, whether that's breaking down film or doing other stuff. I'm excited to get to work with those guys just because the energy level is so phenomenal."
            Although he didn't get to evaluate his corners in spring football due to COVID-19, Stewart liked what he saw on game tape from Kalon Barnes and Raleigh Texada.
            "I think those guys are competitive and they attack the ball," he said, "but the other guys are unknown commodities. Just from looking at the guys that I've seen on tape, I think they play the ball really well. I really have a lot of admiration for (former defensive coordinator Phil Snow). I remember him coaching at Boise State when I was a player."
            Baylor football kicks off the 2020 season with a neutral-site matchup against Ole Miss in the Sept. 5 Texas Kickoff at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The deadline for renewing your season tickets has been extended to April 15. For ticket information, go to the Football Tickets link.

A MEETING OF MINDS

Players Mentioned

Kalon Barnes

Raleigh Texada

Footer