Steve Russ

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Position: Assist. Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coord./Secondary Experience: 1st year College: USAFA, 1995

Steve Russ enters his first year at Air Force as the assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach.

Russ, a 1995 Air Force Academy graduate and four-year football letterman, returns to the Academy from Wake Forest, where he coached since 2008, most recently as the secondary coach.

Prior to coaching the secondary last season at Wake Forest, Russ spent his first two seasons working with the tight ends and fullbacks and was the linebackers coach in 2010. He coached at Syracuse for three seasons (2005-07) and spent four seasons as an assistant at Ohio (2001-04). Russ began his coaching career at Air Force as a graduate assistant strength coach in 1995.

While playing at Air Force, Russ earned second team All-WAC honors in 1994 and was selected to play in both the Blue-Gray All-Star game and the East-West Shrine game following his senior season. Russ received the Air Force's Brian Bullard Award, which is the program's highest honor, in 1994 and was a seventh round draft pick of the Denver Broncos in the 1995 NFL Draft. He is one of just seven players in Air Force history to be drafted in the NFL.

Following two years of active service in the military, Russ joined the Broncos and spent four seasons with the team and was a part of Denver's 1997 and 1998 Super Bowl Championship teams under the direction of head coach Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Greg Robinson.

He began his full-time coaching career in 2001, joining the staff at Ohio University as the outside linebackers coach. Brian Knorr was serving as Ohio's head coach at the time. Russ became the inside linebackers coach in 2001 and added the responsibility of coordinating special teams in 2004. In 2005, Russ moved to Syracuse as the linebackers coach and became the defensive coordinator prior to the 2007 season.

In 2008, Russ moved to Wake Forest where he coached tight ends and fullbacks in 2008-09. He coached linebackers in 2010 and the secondary in 2011. The punt coverage team, which Russ coordinated, led the nation in punt return defense, allowing just nine yards all season in 2008. When he took over the secondary in 2011, the Wake defense showed dramatic improvement. From 2010 to 2011, the pass efficiency defense improved 56 spots nationally, the third-down defense improved 52 spots nationally and the scoring defense improved 45 spots nationally. In 2011, Russ coached safety Josh Bush to first-team All-ACC and third-team AP All-American honors. Bush was drafted in the sixth round by the New York Jets. Russ also coached Merrill Noel, who was named the ACC Defensive Rookie of The Year and was a Freshman All-American by numerous publications as he led the country in pass break-ups.

A native of Stetsonville, Wis., Russ is a 1995 graduate of the Air Force Academy with a degree in management. He and his wife, Betsy, are the parents of a daughter, Mackenzie, and a son, Tyler.