Bishop O'Dowd Dragons coaching staff loaded with NFL experience

OAKLAND, Calif. - There have been over 20 Dragons who have played on Bishop O'Dowd's football field who have also ended up in the National Football League.

But even more than shaping players, the coaches want to shape these athletes into young men who will be leaders on and off the field. 

"We want our kids, our football players to be the best students on campus," said head coach, Hardy Nickerson.

The Dragons quarterback, Devin Wilson, admitted that's what made him come to this school.

"Yeah, I was definitely motivated because you see the success of the school, so it gives you a big motivation factor to come to this school and say, ‘I can do that too, ’" Wilson said. 

That's exactly the point, said Nickerson Sr., a 1990s linebacker and former player for the University of California Berkeley Bears, who is in his second tenure as Bishop O'Dowd's head football coach.

He's not the only coach on the staff that played in the NFL.

There are 40 years of NFL experience on the Dragons' staff, which includes two former Golden Bears, Nickerson's son, Hardy Nickerson Jr.; Super Bowl 29 champion Doug Brien; and Nikerson's teammate on that championship roster, former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver J.J. Stokes.

All these NFL greats can also mean a lot of egos, especially as they're breeding new young NFL stars on the field of the Oakland Catholic school. 

Nickerson Sr. said that he's able to manage those egos pretty well. 

"We mesh pretty well," he said. "It's all about ball. We all do something we love to talk about, and we also love teaching kids. If someone loses their composure, that's a teachable moment."

While the style of play in the NFL has changed, Stokes said his mission is to pass down the fundamentals that took him to the NFL – and help as many Dragons as he can get there, too.

"I think it's good for them if they can avoid contact faster than we did," Stokes said. "I think it's beneficial for them, but we were just trying to get off the line and go. They're setting up things with different movements and that's something they work on too. So we're getting it in."

When Nickerson Sr. added his son to the coaching staff, there was a bit of a transition for him. At first, Nickerson Sr. said that he wanted to jump in to help and direct.

And then he stepped back, realizing that his son knew what he was doing. In fact, it was a teachable moment for him to check his own ego. 

"Sometimes I find myself saying, 'Hey, make sure he's doing this.' And it's like, 'Oh, OK, you got it," said Nickerson Sr.

The Dragons are getting exceptional coaching on the field, but it's also translating off the field.

"The more you get when you come to these types of schools, the more ready you'll be," Nickerson Jr. said. "That's why you see so many guys succeed in college and the pros." 

A Bishop O'Dowd football helmet.