Vic Fangio knew he loved football, realized he wanted to stay in the sport and already appreciated helping players get better.

But as a substitute teacher working for his high school coach, Jack Henzes, in Dunmore, Pa., 40 years ago Fangio was like every young coach — looking for affirmation that could fuel his confidence.

One day, Henzes delivered.

“Hey, you’re really good, you should try and see if you can make this a career,” he told Fangio.

Decades later, when telling the story, Fangio added: “And I did.”

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Has he ever.

Four years in high school. Two apiece in college and the United States Football League. Thirty-two in the NFL. Two stops apiece in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. One stop each in Louisiana, Indiana, Texas and Illinois. And now Colorado.

Fangio’s football life would make for an entertaining book: Full of game details, working for coaches like Jim Mora Sr., and Jim Harbaugh, and coaching players like Sam Mills and Patrick Willis.

But when the Broncos report for training camp on Wednesday, he will begin a new chapter, one former players and current colleagues adamantly say is long overdue: Head coach.

Out front representing the organization on a daily basis. Subjecting himself to a new level of second-guessing when things don’t go well. Supervising a 53-man roster and 23-person coaching staff. And managing the entire game (challenges, timeouts, etc.) instead of just calling defensive plays.

“I think coaches don’t like being labeled, ‘defensive coach,’ (or) ‘offensive coach,’” former Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning said. “Vic’s a football coach. If Vic had to go be an offensive coordinator or a receivers coach, he could do it because he can coach football. He happens to be one of the great defensive minds in the game and I think he’ll be a great leader of the entire team, not just one side of the ball.”

High school to USFL

Fangio explained his path to coaching in simple terms.

“I’m a sports fan, No. 1,” he said. “And No. 2, once I figured out I couldn’t play, then my next avenue was coaching.”

None of Fangio’s four siblings played high school sports and his father, Vic Sr., who passed away in 1992, owned a local tailor shop in nearby Scranton. Decades later, Fangio credits Henzes and former East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University coach Denny Douds with inspiring him.

Henzes retired earlier this year after 444 career victories, second-most in Pennsylvania high school history. Douds was East Stroudsburg’s head coach from 1974-2018 (264 wins).

After high school, Fangio attended East Stroudsburg, 45 miles southeast of Dunmore. Douds was teaching a football class and Fangio became a regular visitor to his office to talk football, further cementing the goal of becoming a coach. Fangio became a substitute teacher at Dunmore and joined Henzes’ staff as linebackers coach in 1979. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1980-81.

Fangio spent one year at Milford (Conn.) Academy before the first of his self-created breaks. In 1983, he heard North Carolina defensive coordinator Denny Marcin was giving a speech in Scranton and wrote him a letter asking to meet. When Marcin returned to Chapel Hill, he recommended Fangio to coach Dick Crum.

The Tar Heels went 8-4 with Fangio as a graduate assistant.

The second big break followed soon after. Joe Marciano (four years older than Fangio) was also from Dunmore and was a video assistant for the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars. A special teams coach left, Marciano was promoted. Mora, the head coach, told Marciano to find a new video assistant.

Marciano called Fangio.

“I’ll always be indebted to him for that,” Fangio said of Marciano, who was a special teams coordinator for five NFL teams from 1986-2018.

Mora gave Fangio his first pro football post … for no money and no guarantees.

“I really liked it and I always knew I wanted to be in pro sports more so than college sports,” Fangio said. “But I went there with the understanding that I was going back to North Carolina for the fall season and Coach Mora offered me a full-time job to stay. So I stayed.”

The next year, Fangio was paid $20,000 (about $49,000 in today’s dollars) but was helped by occasional $100 bills from Mora and general manager Carl Peterson. In Philadelphia, Fangio also forged a long working relationship with Dom Capers.

The Stars went 16-2 and 10-7-1 in 1984-85 and won two USFL championships. Mora was hired to coach the New Orleans Saints and brought Capers, Fangio, Marciano and three other assistants with him to the NFL.

Success with Mora

Fangio was 28 when he made his NFL coaching debut as the Saints’ linebackers coach. In Mora’s second year (1987), the Saints went 12-3 for the franchise’s first-ever winning year.

In the nine years prior to Mora’s hiring, the Saints went 47-88 and intercepted 152 passes (fewest in the league).

In the nine years Mora was the Saints coach and Fangio was an assistant, the Saints went 84-59 (fifth-best), intercepted 176 passes (eighth-most) and ranked third in takeaways (336) and sacks (408). But New Orleans went 0-4 in the playoffs.

Fangio followed Capers to the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995 for his first defensive coordinator post (Capers was the head coach). The Panthers reached the NFC title game in their second year. Fangio was a finalist for the San Diego Chargers head-coaching job in 1997, but long-time offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride got the job instead.

Capers was fired after the 1998 season and Fangio reunited with Mora and former Carolina general manager Bill Polian with the Indianapolis Colts.

Polian’s rebuild started with drafting Manning first overall in 1998. The Colts went 13-3 and 10-6 in Fangio’s first two years running the defense. But in 2001, the Colts finished 29th in yards allowed and last in points allowed. Polian believed the Colts needed a simplified defense. Mora contended that the personnel needed to be improved.

Polian wanted Mora to fire Fangio. Fangio had a coordinator job with the Houston Texans lined up and told Mora to make the change. Mora refused and Polian fired them.

Fangio calls Mora his chief head-coaching influence.

“They all have (had an influence) in their own way,” Fangio said. “But it’s probably Jim Mora because I worked with him for 14 years and learned a lot from him about running a team and being demanding and to make sure that if you want something, you have to emphasize it and you have to be a stickler on it.”

A career detour

Fangio’s second expansion team adventure wasn’t as successful. In four years running the Texans’ defense, Houston went 18-46.

“I learned that I didn’t want to be on a third expansion team,” he said.

Fangio’s career path took a detour in 2006, one that he said will benefit him as the Broncos’ coach. Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick hired Fangio as an assistant to the head coach.

“It was a great experience for me,” Fangio said. “Basically, what I did was help the coaches on both sides of the ball. When Brian took over the play-calling (in 2006), I helped be his game management guy — clock management, penalties, special situations. That was very valuable. It gave me a chance to back away from the hard core of defense and offense and I saw the big picture. I would recommend it for anybody.”

Billick was fired after the 2008 season, but Fangio was retained by John Harbaugh, who kept him as a head-coaching assistant in 2009 and moved him to linebackers coach in 2010.

“Just a brilliant coach,” Harbaugh said. “There’s no doubt Vic is going to be a great head coach.”

It was in Baltimore where Fangio got to know Harbaugh’s brother, Jim, then the coach at Stanford. After the ’10 season, Fangio joined Jim as Stanford’s defensive coordinator.

“Jim told me he was going to stay at Stanford one more year and then take an NFL job and he wanted me to come (along) a year early,” Fangio said. “I agreed to.” Related Articles Why Broncos coach Vic Fangio has a friend in Cubs manager Joe Maddon

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Harbaugh was hired by the San Francisco 49ers a year later and Fangio was back in the NFL, running the 49ers defense.

Fangio experienced unparalleled success with San Francisco. Three consecutive NFC title-game appearances (one win). No losing seasons in four years. Thirteen first- or second-team All Pro honors. And the fourth-most takeaways (122).

Harbaugh left for Michigan after feuding with general manager Trent Baalke. The 49ers passed over Fangio as their head coach for defensive line coach Jim Tomsula. San Francisco hasn’t returned to the playoffs since.

Fangio moved on to Chicago as coordinator, hired by former Broncos coach John Fox.

“He’s something else”

The Bears record during Fangio’s first three years was 6-10, 3-13 and 5-11. But the defense improved from 20th to ninth in fewest points allowed, a big reason why new coach Matt Nagy retained him last year.

Acquiring pass rusher Khalil Mack at the end of the preseason helped position the Bears for a defensive tour de force: Fewest points (17.7 average), rushing yards (80.0) and yards per play (4.8), and most takeaways (35) and interceptions (27). The Bears went 12-4.

“A great coach, a great mentor, a great leader,” Bears safety Eddie Jackson said.

Hours after the Bears lost a playoff game to Philadelphia in January, Fangio met with Broncos general manager John Elway in suburban Chicago. He was hired days later.

“I didn’t stress about becoming a head coach,” Fangio said. “I was very happy being a defensive coordinator in the NFL, especially with Chicago. We had finally gotten that thing to where we were good. I’m glad this happened. I’m thrilled to be in Denver.”

Can Fangio be an overnight sensation 40 years in the making?

The Broncos need him to be.

Previously one of the league’s marquee franchises, Denver has sunk into a state of mediocrity (three consecutive years out of the playoffs) and, as much as they don’t want to say it, are rebuilding.

What Elway is banking on: Fangio, despite no head-coaching chops, will lean on his decades of NFL coaching experience to bring a no-nonsense, accountable approach to the Broncos while also running an innovative defense.

“The type of coach he is, he knows how to get the best out of everybody,” Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller said. “If you can make it to a head-coaching job in the National Football League, you have something special about you. We’ve had that earlier with coaches we had, but Coach Fangio is something else. I feel he can get the most out of all the players, including myself.”