Thread: Bears add scouts, expand personnel department

Bears add scouts, expand personnel department
By Dan Pompei, Tribune reporter

11:56 a.m. CDT, June 5, 2012
The Chicago Bears have completed a long-anticipated, major overhaul of their personnel department under new general manager Phil Emery, adding eight scouts and promoting six others.

The most significant moves were the promotions of longtime area scouts Marty Barrett and Chris Ballard. Barrett will serve as the director of college scouting and Ballard will be the director of pro scouting.

The Bears had been operating without pro and college scouting directors for more than two years.

The highly respected Barrett has been an area scout in the West region for the Bears for 15 years, having worked for Mark Hatley, Jerry Angelo and now Emery. He previously was with the Saints.

Ballard long has been considered a rising star in the Bears organization. As the Bears' Southwest area scout, he has had considerable sway in the draft process for a number of years. He has been with the organization since 2000.

Ballard does not have experience on the pro side, but in a statement released by the team, Emery indicated that was not an issue.

"The focus during the selection process for the directors’ position was not whether the scout came from a pro or college background, rather it was their level of skill as communicators and evaluators," Emery said. "We were also looking for people with a successful background in coaching, organizational and administrative experience.

"Chris and Marty’s abilities in these important areas really stand out. Their high level of skill in these areas is why we placed them in these leadership roles."

Emery also shifted one of his pro scouts to the college side, naming James Kirkland to Atlantic area scout. Kirkland, who has been with the Bears for three years, previously was a pro scout for the Browns.

Replacing Kirkland will be former Bears cornerback Dwayne Joseph, who had been a pro scout with the Dolphins. Joseph played for the Bears for two years, and then worked for them as director of player development.

Kevin Turks also remains as assistant director of pro scouting.

On the college side, Emery promoted four scouts.

Midwest area scout Jeff Shiver, in his 26th year with the Bears, was named executive scout/assistant director of college scouting. His focus will be the Big Ten.

Rex Hogan and Mark Sadowski were promoted to national scouts. Hogan will focus on the West region, and Sadowski will focus on the East.

Ted Monago was promoted to executive scout with a focus on the critical Southeast Conference.

New area scouts are Kent Kahl (Central States), Francis Saint-Paul (West) and Sam Summerville (East). Kahl had been a regional scout with the 49ers. Saint-Paul comes to the Bears from Northern Arizona, where he was the wide receivers coach. And Summerville previously was a player personnel assistant with the Browns and Eagles.

The Bears also added Breck Ackley, Bobby Macedo, Zach Truty and David Williams as scouting assistants. Ackley had been a grad assistant coach at Southern University. Macedo was the running backs coach at Millikin University. Truty was director of player personnel for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena League. Williams worked with Emery as player personnel assistant with the Chiefs.

This is by far the largest scouting staff the Bears ever have had. The 2012 Bears personnel staff will have 18 scouts, six more than the 2011 staff.




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