An Introduction To Detroit Lions Defensive Backs Coach Brian Stewart
Brian Stewart graduated from Northern Arizona in 1995 with a degree in criminal justice. He actually began his coaching career in 1993 at Cal Poly as the WR/RB coach. With 26 years of coaching experience, he brings a lot of tenure to the Detroit Lions backfield as the DB coach. What’s most notable is that Brian Stewart was the DB coach at Syracuse in 2001 under the Detroit Lions current defensive coordinator (then Syracuse HC) Paul Pasqualoni. He was also on staff with current Lions head coach Matt Patricia (then offensive graduate assistant). Although Coach Stewart’s experience has been in large part on defense (DB coach and defensive coordinator) he has also spent time on the offensive side of the ball as a WR/RB and TE/ST coach.
Matt Patricia’s familiarity with Brian Stewart and the fact that he has familiarity with both sides of the ball are likely the reasons he was hired as the Detroit Lions DB coach in 2018. I might add that in his inaugural year at Detroit he coached what many considered to be a sub-par backfield aside from Darius Slay (and an aging Glover Quin to a lesser extent) to rank as a top-10 backfield against the pass.
Stewart’s first break in the NFL was a gig as the assistant DB coach for the Houston Texans in 2002 and he continued in that position until after 2003 when he became the DB coach for the Chargers in 2004. He would spend the next two seasons there before getting the defensive coordinator job with the Cowboys in 2007. The Cowboys would finish 13-3 that season and would make the playoffs with the 13th overall defense.
Unfortunately, in 2008 Dallas’ defense would be ranked 20th, despite being in the top 10 for fewest yards allowed, and he would find himself back in the college ranks after spending a season with the Philadelphia Eagles as their special assistant in 2009. He would remain in the college ranks, not without some success (particularly at Maryland) until Matt Patricia took over as the Lions head coach in 2018, working on the same team once again some 17 years later.
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