First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?
When I was done playing in ’09, I came home and started teaching in 2012. They asked if I wanted to coach and I told them I wasn’t ready yet. But in 2018 I finally said I’d do it. My first year was a struggle and I said I wouldn’t do it again. But three months later I was named the AD and head coach!
I’m now in my fifth season and we’ve won a lot of games since then and had a lot of fun. It’s been fun coaching my boys and nephews too.
Do you find yourself modeling your coaching style after any former players and coaches?
Absolutely. Not one specific one – but I responded to a lot of the coaches I played for. They had different ways of motivating people and pushing the right buttons that stuck with me.
I also made friends easily in the locker room. As a former quarterback too, I paid close attention to the X’s and O’s so I probably thought about those more than a lot of tight ends.
Dennis Franchione was one guy – he was a hard-nosed coach in college – he was strict. Ran a tight ship – more than I liked. But coincidentally I spoke to him not too long ago and told him that I was more like him than I thought.
LeBeau, Andy Reid, RC Slocum, Marvin Lewis – they were other coaches that influenced me. Jon Kitna had a huge impact on my career – Reggie Kelly too. They were very great people – unselfish.
Playing basketball and as a former quarterback, how did those backgrounds help you as an NFL tight end’?
I think playing quarterback helped me understand the concepts. Not just memorizing specific routes – the why behind them. I think that was a strength of mine. In the NFL you run a lot of the same plays. On Tuesdays you’d come in and they’d hand you the gameplam, and a lot of the plays were the same. Just your responsibilities were different. It would be harder to manage that if all you were doing was memorizing the plays. To be fair, we’re all really just taking from each other as coaches. My nephew actually just told me the other day that he knew I didn’t come up with the plays. I told him “Yes – 100%!”
How aware were you of the Steelers-Bengals rivalry when you were drafted?
I wasn’t aware – but I certainly learned to understand it quickly. Pittsburgh – Baltimore too – they had our number early on. Really everyone had our number that first year! Pittsburgh beat us bad in Cincinnati. In Pittsburgh I caught a touchdown in the fourth quarter but Pittsburgh came back and beat us.
Marvin used to tell us that Pittsburgh week was “two-chinstrap week” Porter and Gildon too – they always talked trash. I never liked to talk trash – I think Porter talked more trash than any other player I played against. And Troy Polamalu – he was the nicest guy I ever played against.
The intensity of those games – going to Pittsburgh – it was an awesome place to play. In the Winter they’d paint the field green because there was no grass left. I told them they should just keep it brown so people would see we were just playing on dirt!
What did Troy and Porter say to you?
Troy would just tell you great job – he’d compliment you when you did something. That was very opposite of Porter – but both would equally get after you on the field. Aaron Smith I remember too – he wasn’t a talker. But our big run play then was Power. When we’d watch film we’d focus on Smith and how he handled the double teams. He was always so good and turning his body to make plays. It’s funny too, because Power is my big run play now as a coach.
Those games were always about the details too. When you play the same team twice every year, you mostly know what each other are doing. So it’s more about the details and execution. There were few surprises – except with LeBeau and his crazy, exotic blitzes he’d throw at you.
Any memories stand out most to you from those games?
I remember when Polamalu hit Carson Palmer – I think it was in ’04 – it was so loud we all heard it. The hit sealed the game. I remember thinking how ruthless that hit was – he and Carson were roommates in college!
And that general feeling on the team we were building. Pittsburgh and Baltimore too were – we were starting to be able to push back against the teams that pushed us around for so many years.
How did that turnaround happen for you guys?
Marvin Lewis came in and he brought with him a different level of anxiety and professionalism. There was a purpose to the practices. We’d watch practice film and if he saw someone not doing their job he would point them out in front of everyone. He created anxiety and urgency to the team that I try to do now as a coach. It was a mentality change.
Was there real animosity between players when you played the Steelers, or was that overblown?
We did have more dislike for Pittsburgh than other teams for sure. To be honest most players are just looking out for their careers – they want to make the team first, then they worry about things like rivalries. But there was definitely animosity there between the teams – it would get chippy.
Porter was the ringleader in Pittsburgh for sure. In Cincinnati Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh – those were the two talkers. They were just different as wide receivers – they were probably talking trash with the defensive backs more about routes and beating them than anything. But they brought a cockiness we needed – in a good way.
On defense Justin Smith was our rock. But we had more turnover on defense than on offense when I was there. Coming off of a 2-14 season, it was just fun seeing it turn around.
Having kids now in that recruiting stage and in college, what advice do you give them on their football journey?
I try to guide them through it. If they tell me that they think their coaches don’t like them or worry that the guys in college are so much better than the kids in high school, I just tell them to stay focused. Take it one day at a time.
I played pro football, but it didn’t just happen. There were a lot of challenges along the way – injuries, position changes, transfers… You have to stay the course and keep taking it one day at a time. You don’t get too low or too high. But you can’t just tell them that – you have to give them examples. I was a third-string tight end as a Junior. Coach Francione said I couldn’t block. Yet I had a solid Senior year and got drafted in the third round. It shows, you never know what can happen.