With a month to go until the season kickoff, the Portland Steel have made an addition to their coaching staff. Today, they reached an agreement with veteran coach Kirk Broussard to be the team’s Wide Receiver coach. While Broussard, affectionately known by his players as Coach Bru, has experience with arena football, he most recently has served as a coaching intern with multiple NFL teams.
In 2015, he served as Offensive Assistant Intern Coach of Tight Ends and Running Backs for the Buffalo Bills, serving on Rex Ryan’s staff. Working with talent like Charles Clay, LeSean McCoy and others, Broussard was an important component of the Bills team. His NFL coaching career also includes stints with the Detroit Lions in 2014 and the Minnesota Vikings.
Broussard has spent a lot of time working with talent and the collegiate and indoor football levels as well, both in a coaching capacity and a front office role. These include jobs as a Wide Receiver Coach with Bluefield College, Director of Player Personnel for the Columbus Lions of American Indoor Football and Offensive Coordinator of the Mississippi Mudcats.
By taking the job with the Portland Steel, Broussard will be returning to arena football, a prospect that excites him.
“I am thrilled to be back in Arena Football, I am looking forward to working in a city that I have adopted as a home away from home. I have family here now so It’s going to be great to Coach near them.” Broussard added “I am also focused on winning a championship with this team. I have wanted a ring my entire coaching career.”
Broussard joins an overhauled coaching staff and personnel team as Portland’s Arena Football League team, formerly the Portland Thunder, undertakes its first season under AFL ownership as the Portland Steel. Leading the team as both head coach and general manager is Ron James, a coach with years of AFL experience.
In addition, the Steel have brought in a new, highly touted quarterback to throw to the receivers under Broussard’s tutelage. Shane Austin has been brought in to the Steel after spending 2015 with the Cleveland Gladiators. 23-12 in his two seasons with Cleveland, Austin was one of the best statistical quarterbacks in the league in 2015 and should let Coaches James and Broussard avoid a quarterback controversy for the first time in the team’s tenure in Portland.
The Steel will kick off their season on April 1st at the Moda Center. They will take on the five-team Arena Bowl Champion Arizona Rattlers and the game will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
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