Bret Ingalls is an American football coach. He previously served as an offensive assistant for the New Orleans Saints from 2009 to 2016. He also served as offensive coordinator for San Diego State, Louisville, Northern Iowa and Idaho between 1992 and 2003.

Early life

Bret Alexander Ingalls was born in 1960 to James L. Ingalls and Elizabeth Sites. His father was an all-state football player and went on to play semi-professional football for the Seattle Ramblers. He is a graduate of

Snohomish High School Snohomish High School (SHS) is a secondary school located in the Snohomish School District, in Snohomish, Washington, United States. SHS, built for 1200 students, contains 1,689 9th–12th graders (as of 2016–17). The school serves primarily t ...

, in

Snohomish, Washington Snohomish is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,098 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Snohomish River, southeast of Everett and northwest of Monroe. Snohomish lies at the intersection of U.S. Rou ...

, where he played trumpet in the jazz band and lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. In the 1976-77 season, under the leadership of head coach Dick Armstrong, Ingalls helped the Snohomish High Panthers win the school's first state championship. In his senior season, he received All-American honors as a halfback for the Panthers. Ingalls earned an athletic scholarship to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, but transferred after his first year to

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

. His career was ultimately cut short by a neck injury.

Coaching career

College

Ingalls started his coaching career as an offensive graduate assistant at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

for first time head coach

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ( ...

. He then moved on to coach defensive backs, running backs, and offensive line through

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, and the Vandals won four Big Sky conference championships. In 1989, Ingalls was hired as running backs coach by the

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...

, and offensive coordinator in 1993. Ingalls coached three-time All-American running back and

Marshall Faulk Marshall William Faulk (born February 26, 1973) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. He is widely regarded as one of the grea ...

, a future

hall of famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

. Ingalls continued to coach as offensive coordinator at Louisville in 1995 and 1996, Northern Iowa from 1997 to 1999. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, he returned to his alma mater as the offensive coordinator alongside head coach

Tom Cable Thomas Lee Cable Jr. (born November 26, 1964) is an American football coach who last was the offensive line coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the Seattle Seahawks assistant head c ...

for four seasons. Ingalls then served short stints at Indiana State and Miami(OH), before joining Northwestern in 2006. In 2008, Ingalls helped the Wildcats to 142 yards per game despite starting five first-year starters.

New Orleans Saints

Ingalls was hired by the New Orleans Saints in 2009 as the running backs coach, before being named the offensive line coach in 2013. As the running backs coach in 2009, Ingalls coached the trio known as the 'three-headed monster' made up of Pierre Thomas,

Reggie Bush Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...

, and Mike Bell. Additional backs that have played under Ingalls include

Chris Ivory Christopher Lee Ivory (born March 22, 1988) is a former American football running back. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2010 and also played for the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Buffalo Bills. He ...

Mark Ingram II Mark Valentino Ingram II (born December 21, 1989) is an American football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, where he was the first Alabama player to win the Heis ...

and

Darren Sproles Darren Lee Sproles (born June 20, 1983) is an American football executive and former running back and return specialist who is a personnel consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football a ...

. In Ingalls first season the Saints attained a 13-3 regular season record and successfully went on to win the franchise's first NFL championship in

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

. In 2009 the Saints were the No. 1 overall offense, finishing No. 6 in rushing (131.6 ypg) and No. 4 in passing (272.2 ypg). As the offensive line coach, Ingalls coached 6-time Pro-Bowler

Jahri Evans Jahri Divine Evans (born August 22, 1983) is an American former football guard who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Bloomsburg. Evans was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round of the ...

, in addition to developing new pro linemen Terron Armstead and Andrus Peat. In the 2015 season, the Saints offensive line was ranked No. 3 by

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

Return to college

Ingalls was hired by second year

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

head coach

Jim McElwain James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Central Michigan University. He previously served as the head coach at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, ...

as an offensive assistant in 2016. Ingalls continued in similar role for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's team ...

between 2018 and 2020. At the end of the 2020 season, Ingalls joined the coaching staff of the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

as an offensive analyst. After the Utes appeared in the

2022 Rose Bowl The 2022 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2022, with kickoff at 5:13 p.m. EST (2:13 p.m. local PST) and televised on ESPN. It was the 108th edition of the Rose Bowl Game, and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games co ...

against the

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, Ingalls was hired as offensive analyst for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

in March 2022.

Personal life

Ingalls is married to his wife Diana, and the couple have three children. He is a 1982 graduate of the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

and holds a degree in

Business Management Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

. Ingalls started graduate studies at Idaho before taking a permanent position on the football staff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingalls, Bret 1960 births Living people Wichita State Shockers football players People from Snohomish, Washington San Diego State Aztecs football coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches Miami RedHawks football coaches Florida Gators football coaches New Orleans Saints coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Utah Utes football coaches Players of American football from San Jose, California