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LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears on Friday hired Tim Ruskell as director of player personnel.

In 23 NFL seasons, Ruskell has helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks reach the Super Bowl and the Atlanta Falcons advance to the NFC Championship Game.

Ruskell worked closely with Bears general manager Jerry Angelo with the Buccaneers from 1987-2001. Ruskell served as a regional scout (1987-1991), director of college scouting (1992-2000) and director of player personnel (2001-03). Angelo was Tampa’s director of player personnel from 1987-2001.

“First and foremost, Tim brings a wealth of knowledge to the organization, both in personnel and how things are done at every level,” Angelo said. “He’s experienced everything.

“He’s been in three different organizations and had success in all of them. I think he’s going to be a real good addition. We worked together for 14 years, and I think the commonality that we share in terms of how to build a football team will bode well not only for me but for the organization.”

Ruskell is part of a front office restructuring with the Bears. He will oversee all personnel matters on both the pro and college levels, communicating with assistant director of pro personnel Kevin Turks as well as the team’s area scouts who are responsible for evaluating college prospects. 

While Angelo and Ruskell were together in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers drafted defensive tackle Warren Sapp, linebacker Derrick Brooks, running backs Warrick Dunn and Mike Alstott, safety John  Lynch, offensive tackle Paul Gruber and cornerback Ronde Barber.

Ruskell stayed with Tampa Bay after Angelo left to join the Bears in 2001, helping the Buccaneers win Super Bowl XXXVII the following season. In Ruskell’s final seven seasons in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers made five playoff appearances and advanced to two NFC championship games.

Ruskell joins the Bears after spending the last five seasons as president of football operations and general manager of the Seahawks. In his first year in Seattle, he helped assemble a team that won a franchise-record 13 games en route to the NFC title and an appearance in Super Bowl XL.

In Ruskell’s five seasons with the Seahawks, Seattle won three division titles and four playoff games after capturing three division crowns and three post-season victories in the 29 prior years of the franchise.

Among the players that Ruskell drafted in Seattle were linebackers Aaron Curry, Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill, guards Rob Sims and Max Unger, and defensive end Darryl Tapp.

As assistant general manager with the Falcons in 2004, Ruskell helped Atlanta rebound from a 5-11 record to win the AFC South and advance to the NFC Championship Game.

Prior to his time in the NFL, Ruskell served as the director of scouting for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL in 1985-86 after working as a scout for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders  from 1983-85.    

Moving forward, Angelo is excited about reuniting with Ruskell.

“We spent a lot of time together in Tampa, particularly early on when things weren’t going well,” Angelo said. “When the ship isn’t going in the direction you want it to, that’s when you really see each other for who you are. We were able to learn from our mistakes.

“We had a tremendous amount of interplay because we had a small staff and we had to work almost hand-in-hand on everything. Through that, I felt we created a great relationship and a great personnel staff. Many of those people went on to bigger and better things in the NFL.

“I take tremendous satisfaction in placing a lot of people in the business, and Tim was an integral part of that.”