Falcons announce 2023 Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellows

The Atlanta Falcons announced Friday that the team has named Brandon Cuevas, Justin Manning, Adrian McDonald and Angela Rowe as Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellows for the 2023 AT&T Atlanta Falcons Training Camp.

The Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship was established in 1987 and is intended to give talented coaching prospects an opportunity to observe, participate, and gain experience as an NFL coach during training camp, and ultimately to earn a full-time role on an NFL coaching staff In addition, the program strives to create more diversity in the coaching ranks in the National Football League. All 32 teams participate each year, and the program is open to people who previously played in the NFL or have held coaching positions at the high school, college, or professional level in the CFL, XFL etc.

Learn about this year’s fellows and their backgrounds and experience with the details from the Falcons’ press release below:

Cuevas comes to Atlanta as the current offensive line coach at Princeton University. In his first two seasons with the Tigers as running backs coach, Cuevas coached first-team All-Ivy League Collin Eaddy as well as Freshman All-American and Jerry Rice Award finalist Ryan Butler. Prior to Princeton, he spent two seasons (2018-20) at Lehigh University where he coached tight ends (2019) and running backs (2018). Cuevas has close to 10 years of coaching experience, having also coached at Marist College, Susquehanna University and Salve Regina University. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Susquehanna University.

Manning is currently in his second stint at Tufts University, serving as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, after previously coaching cornerbacks at Tufts in 2016. Prior to his current role, Manning spent four seasons at Duke as the special assistant to the head coach in 2021, and assistant defensive line coach/defensive quality control from 2017-19. In between Duke stints, he spent the 2020 season as the assistant defensive line and outside linebackers coach at Eastern Illinois University. Manning was a part of the Bill Walsh fellowship in 2015 where he worked with the tight ends for the Los Angeles Chargers. Prior to interning with the Chargers, he was a member of the Boston College coaching staff for two seasons and spent two seasons on the Fayetteville State University staff. He received his Bachelor of Science in business administration and Master of Science in athletic administration from North Carolina Central University.

McDonald is the defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley after two seasons as the defensive backs, special teams coach and recruiting coordinator at Midwestern State University. Prior to Midwestern, McDonald was a defensive graduate assistant at Texas State University. McDonald has experience in secondary education as a special education teacher and defensive backs coach at Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena, Texas, in 2018. As a player, McDonald spent time on the practice squads of the Buffalo Bills (2017) and Los Angeles Chargers (2016). McDonald received his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at the University of Houston where he played safety from 2012-15, serving as a team captain and setting the program’s career record with 17 interceptions.

Rowe is the head flag football coach at Bethel College and is also the quality control/advisor for the Atlanta Empire of the X-League, a women’s indoor football league. Prior to her time with the Empire, she served as head coach of the Atlanta Phoenix, a women’s semi-professional team which is part of the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC). In 2019, Rowe was the head coach for SS Flex Football in Sandy Springs, Ga. Flex football provides a bridge from flag to tackle football by teaching tackling technique while limiting contact. Rowe was also the co-head coach of the Reloaded Flag football team in Atlanta, which is a part of the Atlanta Women’s Flag Football League (AWFFL), where she was a seven-time MVP. In 2010, Rowe was a part of the Atlanta Ravens as a player and a coach. Rowe has previous experience as the defensive coordinator at McNair Middle School, as well as the co-head coach at Columbia Middle School, both located in Atlanta. She received her bachelor’s degree in communications from Western Carolina University.

Plenty of familiar names have come up through the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, including former Falcons special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong, former Falcons assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and interim head coach Raheem Morris, Marvin Lewis, Mike Tomlin, Teryl Austin, and Duce Staley.