Thomas Mark Bradley (born July 12, 1956) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former collegiate player. He most recently served as the defensive backs coach for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

. Before joining the Steelers, he was the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coa ...

for the

UCLA Bruins football The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles, in college football as members of the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Bruins play their home games at the ...

team. Before arriving at UCLA Bradley served as the senior associate head coach of the

West Virginia Mountaineers football The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University (also referred to as "WVU" or "West Virginia") in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. West Virginia plays its home games at Milan Puskar ...

team. He is best known for his four-decade association with

Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference, which they joined in 1993 afte ...

as a player and coach. Bradley served as the interim head coach of

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' Hig ...

following

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 20 ...

's dismissal nine games into his 46th season as head coach and left the Penn State program in 2012. Bradley has participated in a remarkable 34 bowl games. He played in four as a player at Penn State, twenty-seven coaching at Penn State, one coaching at West Virginia, and two coaching at UCLA. Bradley has been recognized for his defense's outstanding performances. He was named the Associated Press Defensive Coordinator of the Year in 2005 and was named Rivals.Com Defensive Coordinator of the Year in 2008. Additionally Rivals.com had Bradley ranked as the 2nd best defensive coordinator in the nation before he was named interim head coach in 2011. From 2004 to 2011 Penn State's defense ranked 3rd in the nation in scoring defense (16.4 ppg) and was 5th in total defense (298.7 ypg). In 2009, the Nittany Lions ranked in the top 15 nationally in the six primary defensive categories. Additionally, from 2004 to 2009 Penn State finished in the top 15 in total and scoring defense. From 2004 through most of the 2011 season, Penn State held 53 of its 88 opponents to 17 points or fewer. 10 of those 53 came in Penn State's illustrious 2009 campaign. Bradley was inducted into the Cambria County Hall of Fame in 1998, and served as the honorary chair of the Special Olympics in 2006. He was inducted into the Western

Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame The Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (PSHF) is a nonprofit organization established in 1962.Home page
Pennsylvania Sports Hall o ...

in May 2014, and is a member of the 2020

Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame The Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (PSHF) is a nonprofit organization established in 1962.Home page
Pennsylvania Sports Hall o ...

class. He was also inducted into the Pittsburgh Athletic Association Hall of Fame in January 2015, where he is one of only four collegiate football coaches to receive this honor.

Coaching career

Bradley was named a graduate assistant for the 1979 season immediately following his graduation from

in 1978. He became a full-time assistant midway through the 1979 season. Over the next 20 years, he coached running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs, linebackers, and special teams. In 1999 Bradley was named

at Penn State. Bradley was a highly successful recruiter in addition to his role defensively. He served as lead recruiter for

Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

such as Shane Conlan,

Lavar Arrington LaVar RaShad Arrington (born June 30, 1978) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Penn State and was drafted second overall by the Washington R ...

Paul Posluszny Paul Michael Posluszny (; born October 10, 1984) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at Penn State Universit ...

Sean Lee Sean Patrick Lee (born July 22, 1986) is a former American football linebacker. He played his entire 11-year professional career with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Penn State, and was selected by the Cowboys in the second r ...

, Brandon Short, and Justin King. Bradley has coached many All-American and all

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

standouts including

, Dan Connor,

Devon Still Devon Joshua Still (born July 11, 1989) is a former American football defensive end. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State, where he earned consensus All-Ame ...

, Shane Conlan, and David Macklin. Bradley was a part of 31 Bowl Games at Penn State. Through the years Bradley remained loyal to Penn State and Paterno, and it was widely rumored that Paterno was preparing him to be his successor. Bradley's feelings about coaching at Penn State or another school have been quoted, "there's a lot of loyalty that has been built up over the years. There's a family atmosphere between the staff, the players, and the community. It's a place that means a lot to my family. I don't want to go be a head coach just to say I've been a head coach. That's never been part of it. If I find something better, I'll go. But I haven't found it. It's that simple." In January 2011, Bradley was reported to have been interviewed as a candidate for the head coaching openings at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, and

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called ...

, but Bradley ultimately remained on Penn State's staff for 2011. On November 9, 2011, Bradley was named Penn State's interim head coach after the university's board of trustees fired Paterno. He coached Penn State for the final four games of the season, including the 2012 TicketCity Bowl. On January 7, 2012, Bradley resigned from the Penn State coaching staff after not being named head coach, having spent 37 years at Penn State as a player, graduate assistant and full-time assistant. Bradley spent two years as the football color analyst for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 57 ...

before being hired by West Virginia University's

Dana Holgorsen Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is the head football coach at the University of Houston. He was the head coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018. During his coaching career he has served under coaches such as Hal Mumme, Mik ...

as senior associate head coach on February 21, 2014. Bradley coached the defensive line, specifically. On February 23, 2015, Bradley was hired to be the

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

. On February 8, 2018, Bradley was hired to be the

defensive backs coach In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the

. On January 14, 2021, the

announced that they wouldn't renew Bradley's contract.

Personal life

Bradley is the second-oldest of seven children. He graduated from

Bishop McCort High School Bishop McCort High School is a private, Catholic high school located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in Cambria County. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, though it is not run by the Roman Catholic Diocese due to its priv ...

in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1974, where he played basketball and football. Tom was a three-year letterman in football and a captain his senior year. His father, Sam, played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

for the

. His older brother Jim was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and standout

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

at Penn State from 1971 to 1974, played for the Cincinnati Bengals, and is the long-time team orthopedic surgeon for the

. His younger brother Matt played linebacker for the

from 1978 to 1981. Matt briefly played for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

and the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL. Bradley's nephew, Jim Kanuch, also played receiver at Penn State from 2002 to 2005. His two sisters Patty and Cassy were All-American track athletes at Villanova. Bradley is a graduate of Penn State and played for the

team from 1975 to 1978 as a

. Bradley was given the nickname "Scrap" by teammates due to his tenacious play. In 1978 the Nittany Lions special teams adopted the name, calling themselves the "Scrap Pack." Fans printed

t-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generall ...

s and

bumper sticker A bumper sticker is an adhesive label or sticker with a message, intended to be attached to the bumper of an automobile and to be read by the occupants of other vehicles—although they are often stuck onto other objects. Most bumper stickers ar ...

s honoring them. Bradley helped lead the Lions to 38–10 record during his playing career, including two Sugar Bowls, a Fiesta Bowl and a Gator Bowl. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration and completed a master's in sports administration, later becoming a full-time coach after graduation.TOMBRADLEYINC.COM

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

UCLA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Tom 1956 births Living people American football defensive backs College football announcers Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football players Pittsburgh Steelers coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches Sportspeople from Johnstown, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania