Griz losing DC Bradford to NFL's Dolphins

Ronnie Bradford, who guided Montana’s resurgent defense during a run to the Division I Football championship game, is on his way back to the National Football League.

On Monday morning Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Bradford has been named a senior special teams assistant for the Miami Dolphins.

Last season, Bradford’s first as Montana’s defensive coordinator, earned praise. The Griz had one of the best defenses in the Football Championship Subdivision and Montana ripped off 10 straight victories on the way to the FCS title game, where UM lost 23-3 to No. 1 South Dakota State on Jan. 7..

Bradford, who spent the last three seasons at Montana, is now headed back to the NFL, where he played 10 seasons with the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings. 

Bradford came to Montana as the cornerbacks coach ahead of the 2021 season. He coached Justin Ford, who led Division I football in interceptions and became an All-American that season. Corbin Walker and Trevin Gradney were each first-team All-Big Sky Conference picks at cornerback last season.

Previous to his stint at Montana, Bradford was the defensive backs coach at USC from 2016-18 before taking some time away from coaching. 

In the NFL Bradford played with the Denver Broncos from 1993-95, in 1996 with the Cardinals, from 1997-2001 with the Falcons and his final season in 2002 with the Vikings. He played in the Super Bowl 33 with the Falcons, a 34-19 loss to his former team, the Broncos.

From 2003-08 he worked as a special teams assistant coach and defensive backs coach for the Broncos, and the Colorado alum spent two seasons in Kansas City with the Chiefs before joining the staff at Cal in 2010.

Last season was Bradford’s first defensive coordinator job. Among Montana’s current defensive coaches, linebackers coach Roger Cooper was the defensive coordinator at Idaho State from 2018-21 and defensive analyst Tim Hauck was the DC for head coach Bobby Hauck at UNLV in 2013-14.