You're Cutting Film or Cutting a Rug,
You Can't Volunteer Too Much for Knowledge
T HANKS TO MY DAD 'S CONNECTIONS I got an interview to become a graduate assistant on the University of Tennessee coaching staff. The Volunteers had one of the greatest offensive minds at the college level in Walt Harris, their offensive coordinator and still one of the topflight coaches in the world.
Walt, who became head coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 1997, was the guru of coaching college quarterbacks at the time. Before joining Johnny Majors's staff at Tennessee he spent three seasons at the University of Illinois, where he developed future NFL quarterbacks Tony Eason, Dave Wilson and Jack Trudeau. Eason and Wilson were first-round picks, while Trudeau was a second-rounder.
Gary Horton, who was one of my dad's scouts when my dad was reassigned from running backs coach to personnel director for the Buccaneers just before John McKay resigned as their head coach, lined up the interview because of a friendship he formed with Walt when they worked together at Illinois. I really owe so much to Gary, who does independent personnel analysis for NFL teams as well as for The Sporting News. It's amazing,
the people you meet and how they impact your life. I'll never be able to thank Gary enough for helping me get an opportunity to interview at Tennessee. My dad was the one who helped prepare me for it years earlier by having me draw all those circles.
Graduate assistants aren't paid. You get meal money, a place to live, and a minimal amount of living expenses. You're basically a glorified gofer, doing a lot of menial tasks for the coaches but also getting the chance to learn from them and do a little bit of actual coaching yourself. Tennessee had six GA spots-three on offense, three on defense. The way I understood it, under NCAA rules at the time, you could only be a GA for two years.
After that it's time to find a job that pays.
To me it sounded like the greatest deal in the world. I was so excited to get behind the wheel of my Pontiac Grand Prix and make that eight-hour drive from Dayton to Knoxville, Tennessee, a place I had known about only from seeing it on TV.
The Volunteers had just won the Sugar Bowl, beating the University of Miami 35-7. As soon as you reached the middle of town you could immediately sense the championship atmosphere surrounding the place. When I got there I just found myself staring in awe at this huge structure they called Neyland Stadium.
Following my dad's advice I made sure I got a haircut and brought along a jacket and tie. I also had on a nice pair of brown leather Dingo boots that I thought would just put me over the top as far as my professional appearance. After that it would be a matter of selling myself to Walt, showing him that I would be exactly what he was looking for-a young guy who would work hard, who wouldn't be a pain in his ass, and who maybe was a good coaching prospect. I must have done okay, because I got the job. As for the part about being a good coaching prospect, I can only guess whether Walt actually thought that, considering he never put me on the board. Thank God, because all I could have drawn were circles-beautiful blank circles with no lines. I was like Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes. I knew nothing.
I realized how fortunate I was to be hired. Walt could have gotten anybody he wanted. He could have gotten guys from big-time college programs: Florida, Miami and of course Tennessee.
There were a lot of guys who wanted that job, and he ended up picking a Division III backup quarterback-a totally obscure guy with no knowledge about the business. Go figure.
Walt handed me a playbook and told me to be back after I finished school at Dayton. Spring practice at Tennessee would start a couple of weeks later, so UD accelerated my courses to allow me to complete my studies early enough to make it back to Knoxville and be part of spring practice. The playbook, which was three or
You Can't Volunteer Too Much for Knowledge
T HANKS TO MY DAD 'S CONNECTIONS I got an interview to become a graduate assistant on the University of Tennessee coaching staff. The Volunteers had one of the greatest offensive minds at the college level in Walt Harris, their offensive coordinator and still one of the topflight coaches in the world.
Walt, who became head coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 1997, was the guru of coaching college quarterbacks at the time. Before joining Johnny Majors's staff at Tennessee he spent three seasons at the University of Illinois, where he developed future NFL quarterbacks Tony Eason, Dave Wilson and Jack Trudeau. Eason and Wilson were first-round picks, while Trudeau was a second-rounder.
Gary Horton, who was one of my dad's scouts when my dad was reassigned from running backs coach to personnel director for the Buccaneers just before John McKay resigned as their head coach, lined up the interview because of a friendship he formed with Walt when they worked together at Illinois. I really owe so much to Gary, who does independent personnel analysis for NFL teams as well as for The Sporting News. It's amazing,
the people you meet and how they impact your life. I'll never be able to thank Gary enough for helping me get an opportunity to interview at Tennessee. My dad was the one who helped prepare me for it years earlier by having me draw all those circles.
Graduate assistants aren't paid. You get meal money, a place to live, and a minimal amount of living expenses. You're basically a glorified gofer, doing a lot of menial tasks for the coaches but also getting the chance to learn from them and do a little bit of actual coaching yourself. Tennessee had six GA spots-three on offense, three on defense. The way I understood it, under NCAA rules at the time, you could only be a GA for two years.
After that it's time to find a job that pays.
To me it sounded like the greatest deal in the world. I was so excited to get behind the wheel of my Pontiac Grand Prix and make that eight-hour drive from Dayton to Knoxville, Tennessee, a place I had known about only from seeing it on TV.
The Volunteers had just won the Sugar Bowl, beating the University of Miami 35-7. As soon as you reached the middle of town you could immediately sense the championship atmosphere surrounding the place. When I got there I just found myself staring in awe at this huge structure they called Neyland Stadium.
Following my dad's advice I made sure I got a haircut and brought along a jacket and tie. I also had on a nice pair of brown leather Dingo boots that I thought would just put me over the top as far as my professional appearance. After that it would be a matter of selling myself to Walt, showing him that I would be exactly what he was looking for-a young guy who would work hard, who wouldn't be a pain in his ass, and who maybe was a good coaching prospect. I must have done okay, because I got the job. As for the part about being a good coaching prospect, I can only guess whether Walt actually thought that, considering he never put me on the board. Thank God, because all I could have drawn were circles-beautiful blank circles with no lines. I was like Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes. I knew nothing.
I realized how fortunate I was to be hired. Walt could have gotten anybody he wanted. He could have gotten guys from big-time college programs: Florida, Miami and of course Tennessee.
There were a lot of guys who wanted that job, and he ended up picking a Division III backup quarterback-a totally obscure guy with no knowledge about the business. Go figure.
Walt handed me a playbook and told me to be back after I finished school at Dayton. Spring practice at Tennessee would start a couple of weeks later, so UD accelerated my courses to allow me to complete my studies early enough to make it back to Knoxville and be part of spring practice. The playbook, which was three or
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