A future coaching career was on Daniel Fields’ radar from the jump.
Raised on Oakland Raiders football, Fields’ grand-uncle, the late John Madden, was the winningest coach in the organization’s history, leading the Silver and Black to seven division titles and the franchise’s first Super Bowl title.
“It was always something I wanted to do,” he says, recalling nights of his childhood spent watching and then rewatching Raiders highlights.
Now the Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers coach at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon, Fields has come a long way since those days.
A UCLA football walk-on, following his time at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose (where he also toiled in lacrosse), Fields made a name for himself on the Bruin gridiron. Earning a political science degree, while testing his mettle at wide receiver, he returned to the classroom several years later, adding a Masters in Transformative Coaching and Leadership (TCL) while serving as a graduate assistant coach.
Working his way up from a volunteer role to Assistant Recruiting & Operations Coordinator, he eventually became an Offensive and then Defensive Analyst for the Bruins.
He helped build the UCLA defensive playbook, ran player meetings, team walkthroughs and was charged with scripting offensive plays before accepting his current role at Lewis and Clark.
“Did TCL prepare me to be a better and more successful coach? 1000 percent,” Fields says.
At Lewis and Clark, a Division III athletics program with just over 3,500 total students, he says the interpersonal side of mentorship plays largely into his day-to-day responsibilities.
“It’s an extremely tight-knit community,” Field explains. “You see everybody on a daily basis.”
And that means wearing a variety of different hats in addition to his coaching role. Fields and his football colleagues help run gameday operations for the Pioneers’ basketball program. He assists with bat testing for Lewis and Clark baseball and when he’s not knee-deep in recruiting (his area of focus encompasses all of Southern California and Hawaii), Fields says time is spent designing marketing materials and teaching a physical education class to undergraduate students.
“This job has expanded the relationships I get to build — working at the small school,” he adds.
“Working with former coaches like Miss Val and Sue Enquist at UCLA has helped insurmountably in my transition and learning how to interact with so many different groups.
“The teaching you receive at UCLA is a direct model that you can use in your coaching. It has been a powerful tool for me.”
This coming year, Lewis and Clark will look to build upon its third-place finish in the Northwest Conference last fall. The Pioneers open play at home against the University of Puget Sound on September 7.
“If you’re an individual who wants to get into sports, or you’re already in sports, the TCL program does a phenomenal job of giving you resources, skills and knowledge that you simply cannot get elsewhere,” Fields says. “The wealth of wisdom from the professors you’re going to receive is second-to-none.
“And I was there when the program was new, so I can’t imagine where the classes are now. The instructors are perfectionists and I know they’ll keep striving to make it relevant and better each year.”
“The access you get — I’d argue it’s available at very, very few other places. That’s part of being at UCLA.”
A native of Los Gatos, at UCLA Fields played alongside NFL stars Ka’imi Fairbairn, Brett Hundley, Myles Jack, Eric Kendricks and Kenny Young. His Political Science undergraduate degree concentrated in International Relations. An active member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at UCLA, Fields frequently took part in community volunteer efforts during his time as a Bruin. This coming year, he will be teaching a flag football Physical Education course at Lewis and Clark.
Learn more about UCLA’s Transformative Coaching and Leadership Master of Education program.