When Chris Tabor took his first collegiate coaching job more than a decade ago, he never realized it would eventually lead him to the National Football League.

Hutchinson Community College sits along way from Tabor’s new office in Chicago. The St. Joseph native signed a contract Monday to become the assistant special teams coach for the Chicago Bears.

“It’s just like anything. If you put your mind to it and keep plugging along, you can find some breaks,” Tabor said by phone Wednesday afternoon. “It’s taking advantage of the breaks when you find them.

“I told everybody, ‘Hell, they’ll hire anybody. Look they hired me.’”

A graduate of Benton High School, Tabor spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Western Michigan in charge of running backs and special teams. This followed stints at Utah State, Culver-Stockton (Mo.) as a head coach and Central Methodist (Mo.) College.

His most recent experience focused on special teams, which led him to the Bears during the middle of last week. Kevin O’Dea vacated the position last Tuesday to become special teams coach for the Jets, and Bears head coach Lovie Smith met with Tabor the next day.

“Probably about as fast as you can do her,” said Tabor, who moved into his office at the Bears facility this week.

Tabor said his first few days have been an adjustment, literally just watching tapes of kickoffs and punts while also helping out with evaluation of talent at the NFL combine.

“Obviously, it’s different from the college game, but if you put it all in perspective, it’s football,” Tabor said. “The biggest difference I’ve noticed is it’s football 24 hours a day.”

Instead of working on recruiting letters and making sure players are in class, Tabor’s immediate future revolves around improving the return and kicking games for the Bears. This includes critiquing and working with All-Pro kick returner Devin Hester, whom Tabor called one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.

The hardest part for Tabor right now is separation from his family.

Tabor’s wife Nikki — his high school sweetheart — and daughters Paityn, 6, and Lainey, 2, remain in Kalamazoo, Mich., trying to sell their house.

The interim is a product of Tabor’s coaching lifestyle, which he hopes to continue to advance in years to come. He credits his father and longtime high school coach Don Tabor, Benedictine coach Larry Wilcox and coaching veteran Steve Schottell with starting him on this track.

Tabor hopes to continue to advance and share his successes with those same inspirational people.

“Obviously, you always hope and work towards those goals (of the NFL),” Tabor said. “The last 5 or 6 years, I’ve gotten really involved in the special teams thing. You start to realize if you can get into one of these assistant jobs, you have a chance to become a special teams coordinator.

“This was a goal, and now it’s time to re-establish some new goals. When I got the job at Hutchinson Community College, I wasn’t thinking I’m going to coach in the NFL some day. I’m always setting goals for where I’m at — high goals, but attainable goals.”

Sports reporter Ross Martin can be reached at rossmartin@npgco.com