GopherLady
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The #Cardinals are hiring 29-year-old Nick Rallis as their defensive coordinator, per sources.
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GopherLady
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High praise ->
Ogee Ogilthorpe
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Hell Yes!
RISE UP RED SEA!!!
He's got his work cut out for him, Cards roster has some holes on it on the defensive side of the ball but this is awesome!
RISE UP RED SEA!!!
He's got his work cut out for him, Cards roster has some holes on it on the defensive side of the ball but this is awesome!
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Next head coach after Fleck retires after a couple Rose Bowl wins?
WoodburyTim
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Wow that’s cool. Was unaware of his coaching chops.
Would be cool but doubt it, next move should be to NFL HC
gopher71runner
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Per the Athletic:
By Doug Haller
Feb 22, 2023
17
TEMPE, Ariz. — Don’t ask people who know Nick Rallis well whether they’re surprised at his coaching success. It’s a waste of time. With some, the path is clear long before it is traveled.
This week the Arizona Cardinals named Rallis their defensive coordinator. At 29, he becomes the youngest in the NFL to hold any coordinator position. Since the Cardinals moved to the desert in 1988, they haven’t had a defensive coordinator younger than 37.
Mike Sherels, Rallis’ position coach at the University of Minnesota, noticed friends sharing the Rallis news on Instagram over the weekend. The accompanying comments featured a similar theme: “Yeah, saw this one coming.”
Rallis played his final college season in 2016, not even seven years ago. Had someone told Sherels at the time that a Minnesota player one day would coach in the NFL, he said the answer would’ve been obvious.
“There wouldn’t be one person on staff or on that team as a player who wouldn’t have answered Nick,’’ he said. “Not one. I would bet everything on that.”
Rallis’ career has unfolded at lightning speed. After college, he spent a season at Wake Forest as a quality control coach, then three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings in similar roles. In 2021, Rallis was hired as linebackers coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, working under coordinator Jonathan Gannon. On Feb. 12, the Eagles lost to Kansas City in the Super Bowl in Glendale. Two days later, the Cardinals hired Gannon as head coach.
Around that time, Reed Boltmann, who had coached Rallis at Edina High School in Minnesota, talked with Rallis. He told him to keep working, bide your time, “you’ll be a defensive coordinator in a year or two.”
A week later, Gannon hired Rallis to run Arizona’s defense.
“His passion for it has always been there and his mind for it has always been there, so this is just the next step for him,” Boltmann said. “Moving up the ladder.”
Rallis grew up in a football family, the youngest of three boys. Stew Rallis coached his sons in youth leagues, letting Nick suit up for warmups when he was too young to play. Football was a passion for all three boys, but more so for Nick. While neighborhood kids played outside at night, he sat in front of the television, watching videos from the family’s library of NFL films.
“I just remember going, ‘Why are you watching the NFC championship game from eight years ago?’” Stew Rallis said.
At Edina High School, Rallis played everywhere, but he flourished at safety. Boltmann quickly realized that Rallis was different. He didn’t just want to learn his position — he wanted to learn every position. Offense, defense, special teams. During one practice, he told Rallis to sub in at left tackle. Another coach smirked, “He doesn’t know what he’s doing over there.”
Replied Boltmann simply, “Watch him.”
Matt Rallis, the oldest brother, coached Nick for three high school seasons. (The middle brother, Mike, would play football at the University of Minnesota and become a WWE wrestler named “Madcap Moss.”) From the first year, Matt Rallis noticed his younger brother not just learning the defensive calls but trying to understand the logic behind them. “I hardly ever had to correct him,” said Matt Rallis, adding that by the third season, Rallis probably could’ve just called the defense himself.
In 2011, Rallis was featured on the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s “Metro Area Dream Team.” Of the 6-foot three-star safety, the newspaper wrote, “Sure tackler with an excellent motor. Plays well in space and closes fast.” Also featured on the team was a linebacker/quarterback from Waconia named Maxx Williams.
Williams just completed his fourth season as a tight end with the Cardinals.
Rallis and Williams signed with the University of Minnesota. So did Jack Lynn, a linebacker from Lake Zurich, Ill. Over five years, Lynn learned something about Rallis, who shifted to linebacker in college.
“He was talented on the field, don’t get me wrong, but just his process and how he broke everything down, even training-wise, he was just far and away so much more superior than anyone on our team,’’ Lynn said. “Just the day-in and day-out grind of watching film, breaking things down, getting his body right … It was almost like he liked the process more than he loved the actual playing on Saturday.”
A former Minnesota linebacker himself, Sherels was learning the craft. He started as a graduate assistant before getting promoted to linebackers coach. He told Rallis and his group, “I’m a young coach. You’re going to make mistakes, I’m going to make mistakes, but we’re going to grow together.”
In 2016, Sherels had to leave the team because of a serious health matter. In his absence, Rallis and graduate assistant Adam Hippe ran the position room. By that time, the defense was used to Rallis taking charge. He had run offseason workouts. He had organized film sessions. In a game against Wisconsin in 2015, Rallis knew the Badgers’ offense so well he called out their plays before the snap.
“He clearly had the (linebacker) room’s respect, and the room knew he had my trust and my respect,” Sherels said. “It was kind of a foregone thing that Nick was in charge right now.”
On Nov. 5 that season, Rallis made a hard hit in the fourth quarter of a home win over Purdue. After a video review, he was ejected for targeting. That meant Rallis would have to sit out the first half of the following week’s game against Nebraska. His focus shifted to backup Thomas Barber.
The next week, Rallis waited for Barber after every practice. “Shower up, get some dinner, we’re going back up,” he told the freshman. The two then watched film for nearly an hour in the linebackers’ room. They studied tendencies of Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. They watched the offensive line.
“When I got to college, I considered myself decently detailed with the game, but Nick was just at another level,” Barber said. “He’d call out certain plays, certain things. He’d make all the checks. Safety checks, D-line checks, LB checks. It was something crazy to witness.”
In Arizona, Rallis inherits a defense with many questions. The defensive line lost J.J. Watt to retirement. Promising end Zach Allen is an unrestricted free agent. Linebackers Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons are talented but inconsistent. The secondary lacks depth.
Those closest to Rallis aren’t concerned about him earning the unit’s respect. They all describe him in a similar way. Quietly confident. Someone with a strong sense of self and purpose. Someone who knows who he is.
Tracy Claeys, the former head coach at Minnesota, said Rallis has proved he’s willing to work. He has learned from great coaches like former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. Perhaps age doesn’t matter as much anymore. Claeys said long-time offensive line coach Carl Mauck once told him that all pro players want to know is whether their coach can place them in positions to make plays so they can earn more money.
“And it wouldn’t take long to be around Nick to know that he’s going to put in the time and do everything he can to make them the best,’’ Claeys said.
Those closest to him have seen Rallis do it at every level. That’s why his rise in the NFL was never a matter of if, but when.
“He’s a kid that has worked for this spot his entire life, and I think he’ll do great things,” said Boltmann, the high school coach. “He’s very passionate and he has a way of bringing his energy to the guys around him. He did that as a player and I think he’ll do that as a coach.”
(Photo: Rich Schultz / AP)
How the Arizona Cardinals’ Nick Rallis became the NFL’s youngest coordinator at 29
By Doug Haller
Feb 22, 2023
17
TEMPE, Ariz. — Don’t ask people who know Nick Rallis well whether they’re surprised at his coaching success. It’s a waste of time. With some, the path is clear long before it is traveled.
This week the Arizona Cardinals named Rallis their defensive coordinator. At 29, he becomes the youngest in the NFL to hold any coordinator position. Since the Cardinals moved to the desert in 1988, they haven’t had a defensive coordinator younger than 37.
Mike Sherels, Rallis’ position coach at the University of Minnesota, noticed friends sharing the Rallis news on Instagram over the weekend. The accompanying comments featured a similar theme: “Yeah, saw this one coming.”
Rallis played his final college season in 2016, not even seven years ago. Had someone told Sherels at the time that a Minnesota player one day would coach in the NFL, he said the answer would’ve been obvious.
“There wouldn’t be one person on staff or on that team as a player who wouldn’t have answered Nick,’’ he said. “Not one. I would bet everything on that.”
Rallis’ career has unfolded at lightning speed. After college, he spent a season at Wake Forest as a quality control coach, then three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings in similar roles. In 2021, Rallis was hired as linebackers coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, working under coordinator Jonathan Gannon. On Feb. 12, the Eagles lost to Kansas City in the Super Bowl in Glendale. Two days later, the Cardinals hired Gannon as head coach.
Around that time, Reed Boltmann, who had coached Rallis at Edina High School in Minnesota, talked with Rallis. He told him to keep working, bide your time, “you’ll be a defensive coordinator in a year or two.”
A week later, Gannon hired Rallis to run Arizona’s defense.
“His passion for it has always been there and his mind for it has always been there, so this is just the next step for him,” Boltmann said. “Moving up the ladder.”
Rallis grew up in a football family, the youngest of three boys. Stew Rallis coached his sons in youth leagues, letting Nick suit up for warmups when he was too young to play. Football was a passion for all three boys, but more so for Nick. While neighborhood kids played outside at night, he sat in front of the television, watching videos from the family’s library of NFL films.
“I just remember going, ‘Why are you watching the NFC championship game from eight years ago?’” Stew Rallis said.
At Edina High School, Rallis played everywhere, but he flourished at safety. Boltmann quickly realized that Rallis was different. He didn’t just want to learn his position — he wanted to learn every position. Offense, defense, special teams. During one practice, he told Rallis to sub in at left tackle. Another coach smirked, “He doesn’t know what he’s doing over there.”
Replied Boltmann simply, “Watch him.”
Matt Rallis, the oldest brother, coached Nick for three high school seasons. (The middle brother, Mike, would play football at the University of Minnesota and become a WWE wrestler named “Madcap Moss.”) From the first year, Matt Rallis noticed his younger brother not just learning the defensive calls but trying to understand the logic behind them. “I hardly ever had to correct him,” said Matt Rallis, adding that by the third season, Rallis probably could’ve just called the defense himself.
In 2011, Rallis was featured on the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s “Metro Area Dream Team.” Of the 6-foot three-star safety, the newspaper wrote, “Sure tackler with an excellent motor. Plays well in space and closes fast.” Also featured on the team was a linebacker/quarterback from Waconia named Maxx Williams.
Williams just completed his fourth season as a tight end with the Cardinals.
Rallis and Williams signed with the University of Minnesota. So did Jack Lynn, a linebacker from Lake Zurich, Ill. Over five years, Lynn learned something about Rallis, who shifted to linebacker in college.
“He was talented on the field, don’t get me wrong, but just his process and how he broke everything down, even training-wise, he was just far and away so much more superior than anyone on our team,’’ Lynn said. “Just the day-in and day-out grind of watching film, breaking things down, getting his body right … It was almost like he liked the process more than he loved the actual playing on Saturday.”
A former Minnesota linebacker himself, Sherels was learning the craft. He started as a graduate assistant before getting promoted to linebackers coach. He told Rallis and his group, “I’m a young coach. You’re going to make mistakes, I’m going to make mistakes, but we’re going to grow together.”
In 2016, Sherels had to leave the team because of a serious health matter. In his absence, Rallis and graduate assistant Adam Hippe ran the position room. By that time, the defense was used to Rallis taking charge. He had run offseason workouts. He had organized film sessions. In a game against Wisconsin in 2015, Rallis knew the Badgers’ offense so well he called out their plays before the snap.
“He clearly had the (linebacker) room’s respect, and the room knew he had my trust and my respect,” Sherels said. “It was kind of a foregone thing that Nick was in charge right now.”
On Nov. 5 that season, Rallis made a hard hit in the fourth quarter of a home win over Purdue. After a video review, he was ejected for targeting. That meant Rallis would have to sit out the first half of the following week’s game against Nebraska. His focus shifted to backup Thomas Barber.
The next week, Rallis waited for Barber after every practice. “Shower up, get some dinner, we’re going back up,” he told the freshman. The two then watched film for nearly an hour in the linebackers’ room. They studied tendencies of Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. They watched the offensive line.
“When I got to college, I considered myself decently detailed with the game, but Nick was just at another level,” Barber said. “He’d call out certain plays, certain things. He’d make all the checks. Safety checks, D-line checks, LB checks. It was something crazy to witness.”
In Arizona, Rallis inherits a defense with many questions. The defensive line lost J.J. Watt to retirement. Promising end Zach Allen is an unrestricted free agent. Linebackers Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons are talented but inconsistent. The secondary lacks depth.
Those closest to Rallis aren’t concerned about him earning the unit’s respect. They all describe him in a similar way. Quietly confident. Someone with a strong sense of self and purpose. Someone who knows who he is.
Tracy Claeys, the former head coach at Minnesota, said Rallis has proved he’s willing to work. He has learned from great coaches like former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. Perhaps age doesn’t matter as much anymore. Claeys said long-time offensive line coach Carl Mauck once told him that all pro players want to know is whether their coach can place them in positions to make plays so they can earn more money.
“And it wouldn’t take long to be around Nick to know that he’s going to put in the time and do everything he can to make them the best,’’ Claeys said.
Those closest to him have seen Rallis do it at every level. That’s why his rise in the NFL was never a matter of if, but when.
“He’s a kid that has worked for this spot his entire life, and I think he’ll do great things,” said Boltmann, the high school coach. “He’s very passionate and he has a way of bringing his energy to the guys around him. He did that as a player and I think he’ll do that as a coach.”
(Photo: Rich Schultz / AP)
