First, can you talk about how you got into coaching?
Well. it was purely by accident. I think that’s the case wth a lot of people. I never thought I’d be a coach – I just wanted to continue doing the thing I loved since I was a child.
My last year playing football was in the Arena League and was 30 years old. Pat Monroe – an old Penn State teammate- called me and asked what I was going to do next, and I told him I had no idea- my plane just landed and I hadn’t even thought about it yet. He asked if I would consider coaching with him at Duquesne High School. I said yes and ended up coaching for a year as their defensive coordinator. I had the same rush from the game that I had when I played, but I didn’t wake up the next morning all beat up like when I played.
Then Greg Gattuso got the head coaching job at Duquesne University and asked if I wanted to coach. I said yes and stayed there for five years. The last two seasons I was on retainer earnings – thank God I could live with my dad and mom – they let me live on the farm.
I knew I would never want to coach at a bigger FCS level – I don’t know how they do it – you never see your wife and kids – I enjoyed coaching at this level.
Anyone help shape the way you coach now – any coaching mentors?
I don’t know – I guess Rich Dukakis – he was at South Allegheny. I coach the same way he did. A player is never quite good enough – whatever you’re doing, you never can reach the brass ring – there is always room to be better. It’s the faceless opponent – where you don’t set your success around one game or play.
I really don’t think about it much though to be honest. I just want my player to be themselves – to not give up their individualism to play the game. If I can get them invested in that mindset, they play harder for us.
How does that help the program?
We can’t afford to spend the money the bigger schools do. We are honest and upfront with the kids. We try yo help them understand what they can get out of a program like ours – what we can deliver for them here.
It’s funny, I’ve been coaching for over 30 years now. It used to be “Yes sir, no sir.” They’d run through walls for you. Now they ask us why we do things. I have four older sisters and 14 nieces and nephews. and three kids. The secret is to make kids do what you want them to do but make them think it was their idea!
You played for the Steelers in 1987 – what made you sign with them in the strike season?
I grew up in Pittsburgh – I’m a Mon Valley guy – went to school at South Allegheny. I grew up watching those Super Bowl teams – all those talented players. I bled Black and Gold.
I roomed with Franco’s brother at Penn State – I knew about the Penn State-Pittsburgh tradition. I played in the USFL after I was done at Penn State. After the league folded, I got in touch with the Steelers – Tony Dungy was the defensive coordinator. They brought me in for a tryout and then brought me in to camp. They wanted me to play nosetackle but they wanted a 300 pound nosetackle and I came in at 275 pounds. I put on 25 pounds but I was rusty after not playing for a while after the USFL and they ended up releasing me. But when the strike happened they brought me back and I had knocked the rust off.
After that season though I decided to stop playing for personal reasons – my wife had enough so I thought about my marriage and took a break before I played another few years again the Arena League.
Was there any pressure not to cross the line that season and play?
I never felt pressure. Most guys play because they love the game. When the neighborhood kids would yell “Let’s play ball”, we’d all run to the yard. That has always been my mentality.
I played in the NFL, USFL, PSFL, Arena League…. Heck, most people never even heard of the PSFL – I slept overnite in the car to tryout for the PSFL and made the team before it went out of business before the first game was ever played. The Pittsburgh Gladiators – that was just another opportunity for me to play. But the Steelers were my biggest thrill of course. I played three games and it was exciting to compete at that level. To be around great people and great teammates, The relationships we build in the locker room are the reason we play. The guys who have success have fun. You can’t worry about what you can’t control.
Any fun memories of your time there?
As a Pittsburgh guy, the other guys were always climbing into my car to go do things around the city – to go to places they wouldn’t have known about. I remember taking Steve Bono around – showing him the steel mills and taking him to out of the way shot and beer bars.
I also remember when they forced the rookies to stand up and sing for the vets. Someone – I think it was Keith Willis – yelled my name. I just remember another guy yelling at him that that rookie he was yelling at was older than he was!
There seem to be close ties between the Steelers and Duquesne – that still the case?
We are still yes. The Rooneys have been tremendous to Duquesne. Our field is named Rooney Field. There used to be a bubble they had over our field in the Winter and the Steelers would practice there in the Winter for a while.
We have close connections to the Pittsburgh community. There are a lot of talented high school kids that we recruit that go on to bigger schools but. It doesn’t always work out for those kids, and we’re a great landing place for some who came back to Pittsburgh when it doesn’t work out for them. They come back and transfer to Duquesne.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
