Justin Garza High School (Fresno, California) head football coach Josef Fares is a member of the Chicago Bears coaching staff, thanks to the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. It’s the third year in a row that Fares is a part of the program. The objective of it is to use NFL club’s preparations in advance of the regular season to give opportunities to observe, participate and gain experience, with the ultimate goal of earning a full-time NFL coaching position.
Coach Garza is one of six coaches that will be with the National Football League team under the program. Four of the other five are coaching at the collegiate level:
- Michael Bellamy – Howard University, Assistant Wide Receivers/Senior Offensive Analyst/Special Teams Assistant
- Stefon Wheeler – Yale, Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line coach
- Angela Rowe – Huntingdon College, Head Flag Football Coach
- Michael Bearden – Notre Dame, Assistant Wide Receivers Graduate Assistant
- Anthony Blevins – Las Vegas Vipers (Defunct XFL team), Head Coach
“We are very excited to welcome six new coaches to join our coaching staff during our 2024 veteran minicamp and training camp sessions,” said Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus. “We are confident that these six coaches will be outstanding assets to our coaching staff, and we are looking forward to learning from each other and growing together. I’m excited to see them gain experience and develop as coaches and people over the course of training camp.”
Designed as a vocational tool to increase the number of full-time NFL minority coaches, all 32 NFL clubs participate each year. Specific aspects of the program — including hiring, compensation and coaching duties — are administered on a club-by-club basis. The NFL does not mandate any elements of the fellowship to the clubs, but it recommends several best practices, including:
- Hiring participants for the duration of training camp, including all pre-season games.
- Encouraging clubs to hire at least two fellows with an offensive coaching background.
- Mentoring participants in the form of continuing and constructive feedback regarding their work while with the club.
