One of the annual rites of Broncos training camp is the parade of other professional and college teams that bring their coaches down to Dove Valley, now UCHealth Training Facility, to see how the orange (gold) standard runs things.

Last week it was Mike Bobo and the Colorado State University football team. Monday brought head coach Michael Malone and general manger Tim Connelly of the Denver Nuggets, themselves hoping to mine some nuggets of wisdom from Gary Kubiak, John Elway and the Broncos about running a championship-caliber camp. Troy Calhoun, head coach of the Air Force Falcons, was also in attendance.

The head men from each organization met briefly after practice and each addressed the media afterwards.

Here’s what Malone had to say about the experience…

Michael Malone: “I think any time that you can go to a different sport and learn from guys like John Elway and Gary Kubiak, and pick anything up, why wouldn’t you? (It’s) great to be out here and I’ve always been a Steeler fan, but now I have to become a Bronco fan.”

Malone: “one thing I asked Coach Kubiak, it’s so big, everything about the Broncos. They have 90 players on their roster right now and they have 20-something coaches. I talked to him about how he delegates to his staff and how he trusts his coaches to do their jobs. Obviously, he kind of steps in whenever he sees fit, so we talked about that. How you handle your coaching staff and really just the coaching lifestyle. We talked about myself being fired in (Sacramento), when he got fired in Houston, and how it really does make you stronger and makes you a better coach at the next opportunity that you get.

Malone: “I was impressed with how hard the players worked. I know they had a good game against Seattle and they came out here and spent some time on special teams, which I think is the one area they struggled in a little in game one. Seeing the effort and Coach Kubiak talked about the leadership they have and how important internal leadership is with your team. It’s the same thing for us in the NBA; we need our players to step up. Right now we have guys on our team that are getting all their teammates together and working hard. When you have teammates and leadership do that without coaches prompting them all the time, you have a chance to be a special team.”