First off, what are you up to now?
I’m living here in Indianapolis now, being a dad. I have a four-year old dude who is just getting smarter and more active-that’s harder than coaching!
Are you looking to coach again?
If it happens yes. But what happened in Arizona – the issue with me and my wife … we’re still together now. But it was a bad two hours and wasn’t something that was supposed to happen.
I’m not sure what people think now -the landscape changes and if you don’t have those relationships – it’s tough to crack that. It is what it is. I’m not not working because I don’t know how to coach. But I’m trying to be better because of all that happened.
Did you have mentors early on as a player?
There were so many people I listened to. I never expected to be an NFL player. I didn’t realize it until I went to the NFL combine.
The person I was – I wouldn’t let anyone outwork or outsmart me. That’s what kept me on rosters. I did the right things – I wasn’t the most physically gifted but I could functionally contribute to a team.
How do you think being a former player helped you as a coach?
I never thought I’d coach. I played for Marty Schottenheimer. I remember – it was my third year in the league and I was in the locker room at Arrowhead Stadium. It was the end of the day and most people were gone. I was sitting on a table minding my own business when someone comes out of the elevator and walks by me. It was Marty – I said “Hey coach.” He walked by then stopped and turned around and said “Sax, did you ever think about coaching?”
Why do you think he asked that of you?
I don’t know! I was just in my third year in the league. I looked at him sideways then and asked him “Are you thinking of cutting me?” That planted the seed for me about coaching.
So after playing how did you get started as a coach?
When I retired I didn’t actively look for a job. When I got my first coaching job I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I didn’t start off as an assistant. I learned by trial by fire. That was 25 years of coaching ago. Two in college and 23 in the NFL.
I never grew into a coordinator position though. May because of timing. I sat in meeting rooms for 25 years – there aren’t many conversations I missed.
One thing I learned. Great staffs are where people do their jobs. I won a lot of games in the NFL and ran across a lot of people and you never really know about someone until you’re in the room with them.
How did you land in Pittsburgh in 2014?
It was strange. I was in Buffalo in 2000 then went to Kansas City for seven years. I never had an interview at that point – not until my 10th year in the NFL. I got let go by Miami and was in the process of moving to California when Leslie Frazier in Minnesota gave me a call. I had fun in Minnesota- that lasted for three years until they let Leslie go. I loved Leslie as a person.
I went then to Green Bay for an interview – Mike McCarthy was the head coach there then. On my way there Todd Haley called – I had never met him and told him I was going to Green Bay for an interview. He told me to call him after the interview.
I interviewed with Mike in Green Bay and told him I was going to Pittsburgh next for an interview. He said “No you’re not!” But they didn’t give me an offer – they wanted to wait I think until after the Super Bowl. So I flew to Pittsburgh and interviewed with them Saturday, went home Sunday and got the offer on Monday from Pittsburgh.
Did Mike and Todd give you any sense of what they were looking for from you?
I got hired as an assistant coach. I just went and followed the landscape and learned how they operated. It was a unique place then. It was all about football – no fluff to it. Every organization experiences the corporate push that impacts the team. But Pittsburgh was the purest place to work, football-wise. The corporate side didn’t really impact the team. That’s all you can ask for as a coach.
There were a number of good backs over your time there with very different running styles – how do you handle that as a coach?
Your ego has to be able to be moved. You can’t say “This is the way I did it.” You have to see what they are capable of doing. It’s like walking your kid to school. If you know they’ll stay on the sidewalk you don’t have to hold their hand. But if you think they’ll run the street you hold their hand!
Le’Veon was the brightest back I coached. Great players want to be coached – I hope young coaches understand that. You have to find a way to communicate – it just doesn’t happen in the good times. You can lose five straight games and need to be able to have those hard conversations. Mike Tomlin understood that part of the game.
Young players are the same across all generations. This generation just has more information and I think that’s a good thing. You just have to know how to work with that.
Were there guys you really wanted in the draft process – guys that really excited you?
The beauty of the draft is that a coach can be passionate about someone but there are several sets of eyes on a player and they may not see what you see. And that’s their job to evaluate talent to see if they are a fit.
I was really excited about Dri Archer – I thought he had a real chance to be special. I’m not sure if he just didn’t love the game that much -I don’t know if that’s the case. On tape he had special space qualities – it just didn’t come together for him.
What people don’t understand is there’s a lot to navigate for players. When someone says they don’t think a player is intelligent – I don’t see how that’s possible to get that far not being intelligent when you have to navigate so much.
With Dri, I wish I knew what happened. Then I’d have the elixir for any player with potential! Sometimes there are moments that determine if this is for you as a player – and some of those moments are loud. Sometimes those moments are just too big.
Were there guys you really enjoyed working with the most?
My big thing is fumbling. Le’Veon is the only player I ever coached that I didn’t worry about fumbling. I remember, unsolicited on the practice field one day, he was on his own. My thing was always that it was unfair to the rest of the 50-plus players if you fumbled the ball. Well that day he said to me “Coach, I never want to be known as a fumbler!” We never had another conversation about fumbling. The was one of the proudest moments I ever had as a coach, because it mattered to me and he knew that. That was the caveat to building trust. I didn’t have to worry about him after that.
What stands out most to you of your time in Pittsburgh?
The coaching staff was great – they were all real people. Everyone was working towards the same goal. It’s a left-handed compliment to Mike Tomlin – he had an air about how he wanted his coaches to be. It was easy to work for him.
Can you describe what you mean by that?
He handled everything other than football. He dealt with the personalities – that’s how I saw it. If there were any issues, and with the general day-to-day functionality – he handled those things so we could do our jobs. He didn’t try and reinvent the wheel – he wanted to give his guys something they were all capable of doing all the time at a high level. I think that’s why he is so good and I’m surprised more coaches don’t try to do the same.
He had remarkable concepts on what he thought football teams should look like. They worked hard to find guys that fit the mold – and some get beyond a certain threshold. Guys like Cam Heyward or Antonio Brown. Cam is the quintessential Steeler and Antonio Brown was the greatest wide receiver I have ever seen – well he and Larry Fitzgerald. Mike knew how to find guys like that who put in the work. I knew Larry at the end of his career and was there in the in-between years of Antonio Brown. Mike did a great job of identifying and working with those guys. Talent is easy to see but it’s hard to manage.
You talked briefly about Todd Haley earlier -what was it like working with Todd Haley? Any fun stories?
Todd was one of the brightest, most unique coaches I have ever been around. I have nothing but great things to say about Todd. That human was the same dude every single day. There was no pretense – if he told you he was going to do something it was done. And if said he wasn’t going to do something it wasn’t going to be done.
He was from the Bill Parcells school and Parcells is one of my favorite human beings. There’s no in-between. You either love him or you’re afraid of him! As for stories- there are no PG stories with Todd!
What happened after that 2018 season – did they talk to you about why they didn’t renew your contract? That seemed to surprise a lot of people.
That was just the decision he made – I’ll leave it there. Everyone knows – if they want you they’ll extend you. I wouldn’t go further than that – you’d have to ask them why. It was what it was.
What’s the dream job if something were to come up now?
Getting the winning Lotto numbers!
All I know now is that the world is changing – the galaxy is not in the same place as it was!
Pittsburgh was such a unique place – it extends throughout the facility. The city is unique – the people are great – as unique a place as any I’ve been. I have fond memories of the city – you had to move around a lot to get to places there. Every time I went to a supermarket I saw something different!