From today’s
Coach Mora availability:
-> MORA WELCOMES PAGANO
Mora has known John Pagano since he was six-years-old. They worked together for the New Orleans Saints.
So when Mora had the opportunity to bring the 26-year NFL coaching veteran here as a special assistant to the head coach, it was an easy call.
"We go way back," Mora said. "Our families are really close. We have similar backgrounds.
"He's a tremendous defensive mind, tremendous football mind. He's had a lot of success at the NFL level as a defensive coordinator in San Diego and Oakland and as a position coach in other places he's been. He spent some time with us in the spring and he bonded with our staff. Our players really took to him. He gave them great advice whether it was about football or about life. He had a willingness and desire, and he's passionate about football, and wanted to get back closer to it. So we took the opportunity to hire him."
Pagano most recently served as the outside linebacker coach with the Denver Broncos in 2020 and 2021. He served as a senior defensive assistant and outside linebackers coach for the Houston Texans during 2018-19. Before that, Pagano was the then San Diego Chargers' defensive coordinator from 2012-16 and the Raiders' assistant head coach in 2017. <-