"Mike Nolan was a hard-hitting safety coming out of the University of Oregon and was invited to the Denver Broncos' training camp. While he didn't make the team, he made a lasting impression.

A few years later, Nolan received a call from Dan Reeves, who had cut him, to see if he would join his coaching staff.

"I hired Mike to come in, and he coached special teams and also he coached the defensive secondary," Reeves said Tuesday. "Then when I went to New York, I hired him as our defensive coordinator. He was with me a long time.""