Football Operations

Ron Milus enters his fourth overall season with the Broncos in 2011 as the club’s secondary coach after previously coaching defensive backs for Denver from 2000-02. Now in his 12th NFL season, Milus, 47, was named to his current position on Jan. 25, 2011.

Prior to his return to the Denver, Milus spent two years coaching Carolina’s secondary under John Fox (2009-10). His decade-plus NFL experience also includes time with St. Louis (2006-08), New York Giants (2004-05), Arizona (2003) and Denver (2000-02).

Last season, Carolina held opponents to just 212.1 passing yards per game to rank sixth in the NFC. In Milus’ first year with the team in 2009, the Panthers secondary ranked fourth in the NFL in pass defense (191 ypg) and interception percentage (4.44%). The defense intercepted 22 passes and limited opposing quarterbacks to a 71.7 passer rating for a 10-point improvement from 2008.

Milus spent three years (2006-08) coaching the secondary for St. Louis, where in his final season, he was promoted to secondary coach after two years as the team’s assistant secondary coach. In 2008, the Rams’ defensive backs collected 16 interceptions, the most by the team’s secondary in 10 years.

Prior to joining the Rams, Milus worked as the secondary coach for the New York Giants from 2004-05. In his first year with the club, the team allowed just 189.4 passing yards per game, which ranked eighth in the NFL.

In 2003, Milus served as the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive backs coach. Under his guidance, safety Dexter Jackson tied for fourth in the NFC with six interceptions. He entered the NFL with the Broncos in 2000, working as the defensive backs coach for two seasons before coaching the nickel backs in 2002. In Milus’ first year with the Broncos, the secondary accounted for 21 of the team’s 27 interceptions, the club’s highest total since 1987. In 2001, cornerback Deltha O’Neal intercepted nine passes and earned a Pro Bowl selection.

Milus spent nine seasons at the collegiate level before joining the NFL coaching ranks. In 1999, he instructed the defensive backs at Texas A&M University. He coached at the University of Washington for eight seasons (1991-98), spending the last seven as defensive backs coach after beginning his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Huskies. Milus’ 1993 unit lead the nation with 22 interceptions, while his 1995 group ranked first in the Pacific-10 Conference with 16 picks. His first coaching experience came at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Wash., where he tutored the team’s defensive backs for three seasons (1988-90).

Milus played cornerback and was a return specialist at the University of Washington from 1982-85, where he ranks in the school’s top 10 in punt return average. A native of Tacoma, Wash., he and his wife Sandra have two sons: Ryan (20) and Bobby (17). Ryan is a sophomore on the Arizona State University track team. His last name is pronounced MY-luss.