Bowling Green State University football coach Scot Loeffler has made a few staff changes, but if anyone believes he planned to hire his good friend Tom Brady as his quarterbacks coach, it was not going to happen.

The 44-year-old Brady announced Sunday that he is going to play another NFL season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I don’t know how he’s doing it at 44. I’m 48. I am getting gassed out here, so I’m good,” Loeffler said.

Instead, Loeffler hired Brian White as running backs coach, Alex Bayer as special teams coordinator and Sammy Lawanson as the outside linebackers coach.

White, who replaces Terry Malone, has a longstanding relationship with Loeffler. White and his wife Sally lived in Loeffler’s basement until they could get settled in BG. The Whites then bought a house adjacent to Loeffler’s backyard.

White, who previously worked with Loeffler at Florida (2009-10) and Boston College (2016-18), comes to BG after spending two seasons at Colorado State as the senior associate head coach and running backs coach.

“Brian and I have known each other literally forever,” Loeffler said. “He was the quarterbacks coach at Michigan, he was the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin, and he had some great backs at Wisconsin.

“We were able to be on the same staff together with coach (Urban) Meyer down in Florida. He was the tight ends coach and quarterbacks coach, and we had three years together at BC (Boston College),” Loeffler continued. “I can tell you this about Brian, he is not a good coach. He is an elite coach. He is a great recruiter and gets along with players.

“He holds them to the very highest standards, kicks their rear end and make them work like no other, and he’s great for myself. He’s a better coach and he knows me inside and out.

“He can say, ‘Hey Loeffler, this is a great idea,’ or he can say, ‘What the hell are you doing and you’ve to change course and this is the right path to go down.’

“So, the reason I miss coach White is because, hey, he is a big part of me inside and out. He’s a great guy, too, super smart — a Harvard quarterback. The guy is coaching football who graduated from Harvard.”

‘A football family’

White has been coaching football for over 36 years. His son coaches at North Carolina State, he has brothers who are football coaches, and his daughter aspires to a position in the football world.

They are “a football family,” Loeffler said.

White also does a weekly Twitter show about cooking.

Bayer, a 2013 BGSU alum, returns home after spending 2021 at Valparaiso as the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.

“Alex Bayer, a captain here, he was a stud, and I’ve always wanted to have him on our staff. We interviewed him a couple times,” Loeffler said.

“Obviously, he is a class recommendation and having him on our staff is great. I think he can relate to our players — he was on teams that were 2-10.

“The next thing you know they won a championship, and he knows how to stay together, and how a culture should look, and how it should look with the players driving the team,” Loeffler continued. “He was the one that drove the team, so having him here as our special teams coordinator is absolutely fantastic.”

Lawanson comes to BGSU after spending two seasons at Northern Arizona. He replaces Cato June, who left in February for the Indianapolis Colts where he is an assistant linebackers coach.

“He played with (BGSU defensive coordinator) Eric (Lewis) and I did not know him. He is the first guy that I’ve hired on the staff that I truly did not know, or work with, inside and out, but Eric did,” Loeffler said.

“I think he has energy, he cares about his players, and he wants to make sure that his players are successful on and off the field. He’s going to spend a bunch of time off the field with them, which is huge.

“He will fit into our philosophy and I’m excited to have him. He’s going to be a great addition to our staff, and he’s a great recruiter and that is always good to have.”

Coming to BGSU, Loeffler inherited one of the nation’s biggest rebuilding projects as the BGSU offense and defense both ranked nearly last in the nation the season before his arrival.

Now entering his fourth year, his teams are 7-22 over his first three years. He says it is all about building culture.

“We’ve been very luck our core (staff) has not left,” Loeffler said. “I feel very good about our guys. Our staff now is enjoying coming to work.

“To say those first two years here was enjoyable, it wasn’t. It was miserable. The older kids laugh about it all the time because it was tough.

“To be able to change that culture and have guys in and out the way that we did, it was not fun and then put COVID on top of it. It was miserable,” Loeffler continued.

Starting now, “the old days” are over, Loeffler said.

“‘The new days’ are fun right now, our kids are in a mindset, the kids are great, it’s fun, our coaches are having fun. I’ve never seen more guys in and out of our offices when they don’t need to be here, so it’s starting to feel right. I’m excited about it.”