Jerry Brady, a former co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Los Angeles Valley College, joined the UC Davis football staff in 2017. He first led the outside linebackers unit but moved to the defensive line during the 2020-21 school year and 2025 will be his ninth season on the Aggie sideline.
Brady officially became the Jane and Fred Arp Defensive Line Coach during the 2024 spring season, a title the defensive line coach will now carry going forward.
He is the fourth member of the 2015 U.S. National Team staff to join the Aggies under head coach Dan Hawkins, who served as the head coach of a squad that won the International Federation of American Football World Championship.
Current and former UC Davis assistant coaches Cody Hawkins, Robert Tucker, Isaiah Jackson and Paul Wulff also served as assistants for Team USA.
Brady's appointment also marked a reunion with both Jackson and Tucker. Formerly a defensive lineman on American River College's conference-champion squad in 2011, he transferred to Sioux Falls, where Jackson served as an assistant coach. Brady played two seasons with the Cougars, before graduating from USF with a 3.12 grade-point average in sports management in 2014.
"There aren't better guys out there than Coach Hawkins and Coach Tucker," said Brady. "To be able to continue to work under Coach Tucker and get another opportunity to work for Coach Hawkins is such a blessing.
"Coach Hawkins has done a phenomenal job putting together a group of men that will work diligently to put our student-athletes in the best position to succeed on and off the football field."
The connection with Tucker dates back to West Hills College in Coalinga, California, where Brady began his coaching career as a defensive line coach, recruiting coordinator and special teams coordinator. The Falcons defense led the country with 80 quarterback sacks in 2014, then a year later ranked No. 1 in the state in points allowed and yards allowed, while finishing fourth in both rushing defense and sacks.
Brady later followed Tucker to LAVC in 2016, where he served as outside linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator. The Monarch defense unit went 11-0 (the only undefeated team in the state), ranked fifth in California in total yards per game and tops in touchdowns allowed in Brady's lone season in Valley Glen. This success came one year after his stint with Team USA at the IFAF, for which he served as the defensive line coach.
Brady continued his interest in growing American football globally, traveling to Sweden and England to run coaches clinics and national team camps in 2019.
Originally from Ione, California, Brady was the fourth assistant named by Hawkins after the latter's arrival in November 2016.Â
