Courtesy of HutchCC Athletics
Hutchinson Community College football now has two former assistant coaches who are now head coaches in the National Football League.
After the Carolina Panthers fired Frank Reich on Monday after a 1-11 start to the season, they named Chris Tabor as the interim head coach. Tabor was in his second season as the Panthers’ Special Teams Coordinator.
Tabor was the running backs coach for the Blue Dragons in 1994 under head coach Andy Hill.
Tabor joins Brandon Staley as former Blue Dragon assistants who are now head coaches in the NFL. Staley is in his third season as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Staley, a Blue Dragon linebacker coach under Rion Rhodes in 2010 and 2011.
Three other former Blue Dragon assistant or head coaches are currently on NFL staffs as assistants – Phil Serchia (Los Angeles Chargers); Andy Hill (Kansas City Chiefs); and Brian Natkin (Arizona Cardinals).
The 1994 Blue Dragons went 8-4 and finished second in the Jayhawk Conference. The Blue Dragons advanced to the KJCCC Playoff championship game for the first time. The season culminated with a 41-37 loss to Mesa Community College in the Valley of the Sun Bowl in Mesa, Arizona.
Since his one season at Hutchinson, Tabor has worked his way up the coaching ladder:
+ 1995-96 – Offensive Coordinator at Central Methodist University;
+ 1997-99 – Offensive graduate assistant at the University of Missouri;
+ 2000 – Running Backs and Special Teams coach at Missouri;
+ 2001 – Head Coach at Culver-Stockton University;
+ 2002-04 – Assistant head coach, Wide Receivers coach at Utah State University;
+ 2005 – Running Backs coach and Special Teams coach at Utah State;
+ 2006-07 – Running Backs coach and Special Teams coach at Western Michigan University;
+ 2008-10 – Assistant Special Teams coach with the Chicago Bears;
+ 2011-17 – Special Teams Coordinator with the Cleveland Browns;
+ 2018-21 – Special Teams Coordinator with the Chicago Bears;
+ 2022 – Special Teams Coordinator with the Carolina Panthers;
+ 2023 – Special Teams Coordinator, Interim head coach with the Carolina Panthers.
In 2020 while with the Bears, Tabor mentored former Blue Dragon All-American Cordarrelle Patterson. All Patterson did in 2020 was lead all NFC kick returners for the second-straight season in both kick return average (29.1) and kick return yards (1,017). Patterson made NFL history in Week 10 by returning a kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown, a Bears record. It was his eighth career kickoff return for a touchdown, tying an NFL record.