
Iowa Grad Makes History After Being Hired by Chicago Bears
As a long-suffering Chicago Bears fan, I regret to inform you that I'm once again optimistic about my team. After hiring the most-coveted coach on the market in Ben Johnson last week, the Bears are in the process of building a brand new staff. As fate would have it, an Iowa boy just made history upon agreeing to a very important role.
Since making Johnson the team's 19th head coach in franchise history, the Bears, and their new leader, have been busy assembling a coaching staff. Johnson leaned on experience on the defensive side, Dennis Allen, who was fired midseason by the Saints in November, as defensive coordinator. Johnson went out-of-the-box for his offensive coordinator hire: a coach with deep ties to Iowa.
Johnson hired Declan Doyle as his offensive coordinator, a name that will be foreign to most Bears fans and NFL fans in general. Doyle served as the tight ends coach of the Denver Broncos for the past two seasons, under Sean Payton. His relationship to Payton goes all the way back to New Orleans, where Declan Doyle served as an assistant on the offense from 2019 to 2022.
The New Orleans Saints' website still has his bio active, and explains his deep Iowa roots:

[Declan Doyle] started his coaching career as an offensive student assistant at the University of Iowa. At Iowa, Doyle primarily assisted the offensive staff during daily individual drills and broke down film of upcoming opponents' defenses.
In 2018, Doyle graduated from Iowa with a degree in business management, marketing and related support services. The Iowa City native transferred to Iowa after serving as the baseball team captain at Iowa Western Community College - per the New Orleans Saints' website
At 28-years-old, Declan Doyle is officially the youngest coordinator in all of football. The second-youngest is Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, at 31-years-old. It looks like the 38-year-old Ben Johnson has found an understudy.
By now, maybe the name "Chris Doyle" has entered your mind. Chris Doyle served as Iowa's strength and conditioning coach for over 20 years, having been one of Kirk Ferentz's original hires in 1999.
Doyle's long-standing tenure with the team came under scrutiny in 2020 when multiple former Iowa players spoke out about racial disparities in the Iowa program, going as far as to accusing Doyle for making "racist comments" and belittling players to boot.
A number of former Iowa players added that Doyle and then-offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz, Kirk's son, furthered the racial disparities at the school.
Doyle went on to be hired by Urban Meyer to serve as the Jacksonville Jaguars' strength and conditioning coach in 2021. Due to backlash, Doyle resigned barely 24 hours after accepting it. He hasn't officially worked in football since his time at Iowa.
Another Iowa native to watch in the NFL? Count me in. However, with Ben Johnson expected to call plays, Doyle will presumably be more focused on scheme, play design, and execution. The youth movement continues for my Chicago Bears. Ultimately, I just want to see a winning football team.
Read more about Declan Doyle on his Wikipedia page.
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