The Chargers turned to a familiar face to fill a glaring void after defensive coordinator Jesse Minter departed last week to become the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. The Chargers named Chris O’Leary, their former safeties coach, as Minter’s replacement on Wednesday night.
O’Leary spent the 2024 season with the Chargers, Minter’s first season with the team after Jim Harbaugh hired them. O’Leary and Minter led the Chargers’ defense to an NFL-low average of 17.7 points allowed during the ’24 season, when they won 11 games and made the playoffs.
After one season with the Chargers, O’Leary spent the ’25 season as the defensive coordinator at Western Michigan, helping to guide the program to a 10-4 record and the Mid-American Conference championship with a defense that gave up an average of only 17.4 points per game.
The Chargers also interviewed Rams assistant head coach/passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant, Denver Broncos assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr and Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson.
They also stayed in-house by interviewing defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale, safeties coach Adam Fuller and outside linebackers coach Dylan Roney, Clinkscale and Minter were co-defensive coordinators while with Harbaugh at Michigan in 2022 and ’23.
O’Leary began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Georgia State in 2015. He moved to the Florida Institute of Technology as a safeties coach in ’17 and then to Notre Dame from 2018 to ’23, serving in a number of roles, including defensive backs/safeties coach for his final three years.
Harbaugh hired him to coach the Chargers’ safeties in 2024, and their defense emerged as the NFL’s stingiest in the red zone, giving up touchdowns only 45% of the time. Derwin James Jr., the Chargers’ top safety, was selected to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his career in ’24.
The Chargers’ defense was ninth in the league in points allowed per game (20) in Minter’s second season as their defensive coordinator. They were fifth in net yards given up per game (285.2), eighth in net rushing yards given up per game (105.4) and fifth in net passing yards given up per game (179.9).
The hiring of O’Leary comes after the Chargers hired former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as their offensive coordinator on Monday. McDaniel replaced Greg Roman, who was fired on Jan. 13 after two seasons on the job, after the Chargers’ AFC wild-card playoff loss to the New England Patriots.
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