Chris O’Leary stepped to the podium Tuesday at The Bolt.

The Chargers new Defensive Coordinator hit a number of topics as he spoke for 20-plus minutes.

Here are five takeaways from O’Leary’s press conference:

Chris O’Leary was back in a familiar place Tuesday afternoon.

Yes, O’Leary is the Chargers new DC. But he’s also a familiar face around the building as he spent the 2024 season with the Bolts as the safeties coach.

O’Leary, who spent the 2025 season as Western Michigan’s Defensive Coordinator, it was “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to have the chance to come back to the Chargers.

“Every day that I come in the building, it will be to make these players proud and give them something to aspire to and to go achieve and also to make them proud because they’ve given me this opportunity,” O’Leary said of the Chargers front office.

As far as the timeline of O’Leary’s hire, he said it all seemed to happen at warp speed.

The Chargers announced January 28 that they had agreed to terms with O’Leary only four hours after announcing they had completed an interview with him.

“When [Jesse Minter] took the Baltimore job I talked to [Chargers General Manager] Joe [Hortiz] and talked to some other people, went through the interview process and it happened pretty quick,” O’Leary said.

And while O’Leary’s hire may have been a surprise to some, it wasn’t for the 34-year-old.

“I have the confidence in myself that the foundation of this defense, what makes this defense special and different, I own those areas,” O’Leary said. “I feel I have a mastery of those areas.”

He later added: “The things that separate, I feel really strong about those and what it takes to evolve those and elevate those … I have a lot of confidence to do this. I think I’m the right man for the job.”

O’Leary, of course, also faced questions about the transition he now faces with coaches and players who were here with him in 2025.

From a coaching staff standpoint, he now leads a staff with people he was peers with in 2024. And from a roster standpoint, he is now in charge of an entire defense rather than just the secondary.

He said he has “100 percent” thought about both areas.

“I think as a coach, you want to win, that’s Step 1. Step 2, you want to be respected along with that and you want to feel like you’re growing as a coach as well. For me, that’s my job,” O’Leary said. “We’re going to do things in order to win, they already have my respect and I’m going to put them in position to grow as coaches.”

He later added: “Things I learned through the journey, and ultimately it starts with respect from peer to peer and being decisive and making sure the vision is set every day.”

But make no mistake about it.

Both O’Leary and the Chargers are fired up for the future and the potential of the Bolts defense.

“It’s been incredible,” O’Leary said about his first week back with the Chargers. “I think the thing I appreciated the most in my time here is that you’re around people that want to be the best version of themselves, they want to be elite.

“They’re elite competitors, and that’s from coaches, front office, the players,” O’Leary added. “They demand your best and they demand excellence. For me, walking into that environment every day is really what drives me.”