First off, you’ve been coaching now for 35-plus years – how did you get started in coaching?
After I was done with college ball I knew the NFL was going to be a long shot. I tore my ACL in my last game my Senior season – before that I thought I may have a chance to make it as a late-round pick.
I always was passionate about coaching since I was a kid. Some kids grow up wanting to be firemen or policemen – I wanted to be a coach.
Why at such an early age was that something you wanted to do?
There was just something about putting together a group of people all going in one direction. Playing is thrilling I know but leading people always felt more intriguing to me.
So what happened after college?
I asked my college coaches if they knew of any opportunities. I was done playing I told them. I talked to a friend of mine – Larry Galladay at American River College – and he had an opening. He was one of the best coaches I ever ended up coaching for.
He had me fly out there for an interview. I’m 23 years old and never coached before. So I get there at 7:45 – I got there early as every good coach and player does. I arrive with two coffees – one for him and one for me. And at that time they had the old school blackboards – they didn’t have the grease boards that some teams had then.
Larry asks me then to take me through my first day of coaching – what I’d do, what drills and techniques I’d teach, that sort of thing. He has his notebook and pencil and he’s taking notes. So I start talking about the various offensive line schemes and drills I’d run – slide and turn back protections, schemes and zones….I’m hitting every element of offensive line play I can think of.
After the first 20 minutes he put his pencil down and just listened. Two-and-a-half hours later he said we should take a break. After the break he told me it was all very impressive, especially for someone who never coached before.
What happened after that?
After that he told me he believed in everything I was saying – that he liked it. But there was just one issue. He brought me in to coach his wide receivers! The look on my face I’m sure was priceless. He asked if I’d be interested in that job and I thought about it for a bit but told him it would take me all Fall to get caught up on the position. So I said thanks but I didn’t think I could do it.
So now what?
I went home and was livid. I had a chance for my first coaching job. I thought about it some more that night then went through the phone book until I found his number. I called – it was like 10 pm – and his wife answered. I told her who I was and that I interviewed with Larry and wanted to speak with him. She told me he was asleep, but I asked if she could wake him up. That it was urgent – that my coaching career depended on it.
So Larry comes to the phone and I can hear he’s still waking up – groggy. He asked what was wrong – I think he thought there was an emergency. I told him I felt horrible waking him up but I wanted to talk to him. I told him I had a teammate who had a friend that played for him, and that I went to one of his games last year. I told him that I could coach the offensive line way better than the guy who coached those guys last year did, not to throw anyone under the bus. Well, there’s a pause on the phone. It felt like it lasted forever. Then he told me he thanked me for my honesty and my moxie and that he liked my bluntness. He then told me the guy that coached the offensive line was him!
So now that’s strike two! But then he tells me to come back in tomorrow morning to talk. So I get there with two more coffees and he tells me that he was going to coach the quarterbacks and move the quarterbacks coach to the wide receivers so he could hire me to coach the offensive line. He asked me how that sounded and I said “Outstanding!”
So then…
I asked him about my office and he told me I didn’t have one. I told him I needed one for recruiting and things like that, and he told me they don’t do that stuff there! Then he asked if I wanted to know what it paid and I said “Yeah.” He told me $3,000. I said great – $3,000 times 12 is $36,000 a year! He said no – it’s a stipend of $3,000! I finally said fine – I’ll bartend on the side and make that work.
Then a guy comes in and tells us he found an office for me. He takes me behind the gym – they had a stage back there and behind that was a janitor’s closet with all kinds of chemicals in it. They dragged in a metal desk and taped a sheet to the wall so I can watch film on my projector. They bring in two folding chairs so players can come in and sit with me. And that was my office!
And during that time you also went to Steelers camp for a bit?
I did. I failed my physical the first time. I talked to a guy that acted as my agent and he had me sign a medical waiver. So I went back but the coffee was still hot when they cut me again.
As a coach what did you gain from that experience? Any mentoring?
There were 120 guys in camp there and I was just there as an undrafted free agent on a tryout basis. I was not high on their list – few even knew my name. So no mentoring really occurred.
But I was a student of the game and observed the coaches – how they taught and interacted with the players. I watched how they prepared the players and ran practices. That was the biggest takeaway I had.
I tried to embody what I learned when I started coaching. I mimicked what I witnessed. Ron Blackledge and Hal Hunter were the co-offensive line coaches and Tom Moore ran the offense then. They were so organized – to the Nth degree. How they interacted with players on the field and in the classroom – they all had their style. And I’m sure some of it wouldn’t be endearing to today’s generation of players. But I was impressed with how they interacted with the players.
You coached for numerous college and NFL teams. Any preference between the two?
I always thought I was built more for the NFL. The attention to detail and passion of it.
When I left college coaching to coach in the NFL I realized that in the NFL all the problems I dealt with were football problems. In college maybe two out of every 10 problems were football problems. The rest were about recruiting, academics, things like that. You’re pulled in so many different directions that you couldn’t always give players all they needed to be great. There are too many time constraints to be detailed enough for college players.
As a coach, what changes to the sport have affected you the most?
Over 37 years, the game changes. Player safety I know has taken a lot of the brutality out of the game. I know a lot of older guys like me probably say “Just put flags on them!”. But I realize that we’re talking about taking care of players after they are done playing. We’ve seen too many stories of guys that have issues after playing. So that’s a huge change. Players today are faster, bigger and more powerful. Collisions between players today are much worse than those of 3o years ago.
How does that affect you as a coach?
A lot of it is about changing the techniques you coach. You can’t do things now that were allowed back in the day. So you make sure to stay up on the rules and not to coach things that may get them fined.
Also, we’re changing how we teach players. To keep them more involved and motivated. As a coach for 35-plus years, I see how the game has morphed. We need as coaches – especially older coaches – to rethink how we interact with today’s players. If you can help players play better and longer that’s a big win.
I also noticed over your career you transitioned from offensive line to tight end some. How did that occur?
I tell people I’m bilingual – I can coach offensive linemen and tight ends!
I lucked into coaching tight ends. I was an offensive coordinator my last eight years of college so I had to know what all the offense was doing – not just the lineman.
When I coached in Atlanta Gary Knapp was there and he was a hot coach – people thought he’d become a head coach soon. That was when Michael Vick was tearing up the league. He asked me that if he got hired would I want to go with him as his offensive coordinator? He told me I knew the run game, but would have to learn how to work more with tight ends and the passing game. So I started working with the tight ends. After that season though we were all let go. The new coach – Petrino – he offered to bring me back but he was a first-time NFL coach, so I didn’t like that idea much. At the same time Marty Schottenheimer offered me a chance to work for him in San Diego. He was a legendary coach – that was a no-brainer.
You also won a Super Bowl ring in Denver – what was that experience like?
I was hired back by Norv Turner after the prior coach there was fired. Then they brought in Josh McDaniels and I coached the tight ends then offensive line there. They fired three head coaches during my time and brought in Gary Kubiak who I had worked with at Texas A&M. In fact that was his first-ever coaching job. Gary gave me the chance to stay on with the team as well.
That Super Bowl season we lost our starting Pro Bowl left tackle in camp to injury – Ryan Clady. We drafted a guy in the second round but he wasn’t ready yet – but we had to play him. But then he injured his shoulder and went on IR in the fourth game of the season.
So it was a patchwork line for a bit but then we got hot, around the sixth game, and led the league in rushing. We beat the Patriots twice – with a backup quarteback in Brock Osweiler and with Peyton Manning.
The Super Bowl was in San Diego – I was from Northern California so that was great. My wife and kids and friends were able to see the game. It was a great end to the season.
Anything stand out about that Super Bowl?
Thinking back, they never prepared you for what happened after the game. Two years before we lost the Super Bowl and we were all in the locker room together after the game. We lost but we were all there together and said goodbye to one another and the coaches said something to the players. But in Super Bowl 50 we never got that chance. They paid people to be on the field so we never had the chance to all be together in the locker room. To say goodbye and congratulations and all that stuff. One minute you’re playing, then guys are on the field for the ceremony only, some are on buses…we were never together that one last time. I was able to see a couple of my linemen on the field and say congratulations and goodbye to them. But it was awkward not seeing many of the other guys. I wish that wasn’t the case.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
