A Coach’s Journey: BYU Defensive Ends Coach Preston Hadley
Oct 19, 2022, 1:21 PM | Updated: 1:22 pm
Safeties coach Preston Hadley throws to his players while warming up before the Blue-White game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, April 7, 2018. (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
(Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – BYU’s defensive ends coach Preston Hadley was inspired to begin his coaching career by Duane Busby.
Hadley played his college career first at Snow College before transferring to BYU, where he started 26 games for the Cougs in 2011 and 2012.
Earlier this year, he sat down with KSL Sports Zone host, Hans Olsen, to talk about his personal coaching journey that has led him to a successful career under Kalani Sitake with the Cougs.
Preston Hadley’s Journey To BYU Football
His first break into the coaching world came as a graduate assistant for the Cougs, after a year of that, he went to California to coach at Santa Ana College where he coached cornerbacks, kick/punt return teams and was the recruiting coordinator.
After a year he spent time with Weber State and then it was back to BYU in 2018 where he started coaching the safeties. Now, he is the defensive ends/hybrids coach.
Excellent season for Kalani Sitake and his staff:
Aaron Roderick, Fesi Sitake, Jeff Grimes, Steve Clark, Eric Mateos & Harvey Unga on the offensive side.
Iliasa Tuiaki, Ed Lamb, Jernaro Gilford & Preston Hadley on the defensive side.
These guys committed themselves to the end!— Hans Olsen (@975Hans) December 23, 2020
In the interview, Hadley spoke fondly of his time coaching at Weber State under head coach Jay Hill.
“I really look up to him and who he is as a person and a coach and his understanding of the game. The way he navigates his relationships with his players,” Hadley said of Hill.
Olsen and Hadley talked about the financial struggles many new college coaches face as they are trying to break into the industry.
“You just have to ask yourself, ‘is it worth it?'”
It was worth it for Hadley, he spent time delivering food on Doordash to make his dream come true while coaching JUCO.
A Coach’s Journey is a special addition to the Hans & Scotty G. podcast feed hosted by Hans Olsen. Olsen seeks to have in-depth conversations with local college football coaches about their ups and downs as they chase the dream.
