Jim Harbaugh<\/a> was hired in early 2024, Clinkscale has spend the pair of seasons as the Bolts defensive backs coach.<\/p>\nThe cornerbacks and safeties have been a big part of the team’s defensive success in the pair of seasons with the coach, as they’ve seen a number of rookies and outside free agents be able to slot in and make an impact.<\/p>\n
The Chargers secondary has seen a lot of success under Clinkscale.<\/p>\n
Aside from helping the unit be a top 10 scoring defense in 2024 and 2025, they’ve also ranked in the top 10 in passing yards allowed per game and interception rate in each of those two season.<\/p>\n
And when looking at the secondary in particular, they’ve stacked up among the best in the NFL.<\/p>\n
The Chargers cornerbacks and safeties have allowed the third-lowest passer rating when targeted in the NFL with an 86.9 over the last two seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n
They also have 34 interceptions and have allowed just 40 touchdowns in that same timeframe, which is also good for third-best in the NFL.<\/p>\n
Prior to making the jump to the NFL coaching ranks, Clinkscale coached in some high-level collegiate games at Michigan.<\/p>\n
Clinkscale spent three years with the Wolverines alongside Harbaugh as their defensive backs coach, adding the co-defensive coordinator title near the end of his tenure.<\/p>\n
He helped Michigan capture the National Championship in his final season with the university, as he helped them finish the year with the top-ranked defense in college football, allowing just 247.0 total net yards per game enroute to a 15-0 record.<\/p>\n
4. Extensive college resum\u00e9<\/p>\n
While the Chargers were his first NFL coaching job, Clinkscale’s coaching experience in college dates back.<\/p>\n
Clinkscale had a focused expertise with defensive backs, spending time at Kentucky, Cincinnati, Illinois, Toledo and Western Carolina over his career.<\/p>\n
This was after getting his career started at his alma mater, Ashland University, following his being a student-athlete there.<\/p>\n
5. Experience calling plays<\/p>\n
Clinkscale does have some experience calling plays.<\/p>\n
During his three years at Cincinnati, he spent the first two as their secondary coach before earning the defensive coordinator job in his final season.<\/p>\n
He helped the Bearcats rank third in the American Athletic Conference in pass yards allowed in 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chargers on Monday confirmed they have interviewed Steve Clinkscale for the defensive coordinator position. Bookmark the Chargers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[4498,241,7,34,1014,262,2444,2443,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-707917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-articles-5-things-to-know","9":"tag-chargers","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-homepage-cp","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-losangeleschargers","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115964852790691675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}