8 years after NFL career ended, Brandon Fusco is loving first big coaching job at Mississippi State
STARKVILLE, Miss. — When Brandon Fusco went from playing Division II football right to the NFL, he took a giant leap.
Now he’s taking another one.
The Seneca Valley High School and Slippery Rock University graduate — who spent eight years as a starting NFL offensive lineman — is now an offensive line assistant coach with Mississippi State of the Southeastern Conference. He took the job in March.
The only prior coaching experience Fusco, 38, has was spending last fall as the offensive line coach for Liberty High School in the Las Vegas area. That team finished 9-2 and reached the Nevada state semifinals.
“I wasn’t doing anything and I missed football,” Fusco said of taking the high school coaching position. “Once I got on the sidelines, went through all of the practices, working with the kids ... I realized how much I missed football.”
Fusco owns a home in Las Vegas. He and his wife, Jennifer, were married earlier this summer in Mexico. They are renting a house in Starkville while maintaining their Las Vegas residence.
“We’ve been dating since COVID (2020),” Fusco said. “I wasn’t planning on taking any big coaching job or anything. We want to build a family, and I was fine concentrating on that.”
Fusco spent six years with the Minnesota Vikings, one each with San Francisco and Atlanta before his playing career ended in 2018. Phil Loadholt, who started alongside Fusco for six years with the Vikings, is the offensive line coach for Mississippi State.
He needed an assistant and immediately called Fusco.
“Phil and I are best friends. He was in my wedding,” Fusco said. “When he called me about joining him, it was a blessing, an opportunity to return to the game. My wife knows how much I love and have missed football.
“She was all in favor of this, very supportive.”
Fusco knows about building a career. He was a 240-pound lineman at Seneca Valley who was barely recruited. He wound up at SRU, becoming a four-year starter at center and winning the Gene Upshaw Award as the top lineman in all of D-II.
A sixth-round draft pick of the Vikings, he started all but three NFL games he played over eight seasons.
“From Division II to the NFL ... this move is very similar, 100%,” Fusco said. “The hours are crazy, but I love it. This is a challenge. I’m hoping to build a coaching career, and I’m hoping to be here for a number of years.
“At this level, of course, comes the pressure of winning. We have to win.”
Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby, in his third season, is good friends with Loadholt. The two were teammates at Oklahoma during their collegiate years.
The Bulldogs were 5-8 last season, just 1-7 in SEC play.
“There were a lot of close losses there,” Fusco said. “They were up by 17 against Texas and lost, lost by two to Florida, were up 10 on Tennessee and lost. ... There is a lot of talent here. I think this team is going to surprise a lot of people.
“Phil played tackle during his career, I was a guard and center. We complement each other well. I learned from a lot of great coaches when I played, and I’m excited about passing along whatever knowledge and technique I can to our players.”
Fusco has learned the hours a college coach puts in is more than the players.
“I’m here at 6 a.m. every day and don’t leave until 9 or 10 at night,” he said. “I’m sure those hours will lessen in time, but this is more than worth it to me.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity and plan to make the most it.”
