Speaker 1: Grandma called hi. Hey, he pulled me into office.
Speaker 2: Was like your grandma called today, Grandma called, I'm Pinatuman.
Speaker 3: And this is the NFL Player's Second Act podcast with
Speaker 3: me as always my first skill host, mister Roman Harper.
Speaker 1: What's up? I'm doing good man? This is gonna be
Speaker 1: a great one right here.
Speaker 4: This is a legendary guy that we got here and
Speaker 4: for a lot of more ways than just being on
Speaker 4: the football field. So I'm not even gonna waste any
Speaker 4: guy's time. Let's jump right into a peanut because I
Speaker 4: want to get as much as you can.
Speaker 3: I mean, this dude, this dude right here is a
Speaker 3: He's your quarterback's favorite quarterback.
Speaker 1: Yes you know what I'm saying, Like like he was him.
Speaker 3: Your quarterbacks favorite quarterback, no doubt be number one overall pick.
Speaker 3: Thirteen year NFL VET, four time Pro Bowler, recent inductee
Speaker 3: into the College Football Hall of Fame, and now the
Speaker 3: head coach of Norfolk State. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome
Speaker 3: Michael Vick post. I hustled to get here today, baby,
Speaker 3: Hey man, what you mean you hustled to get here?
Speaker 5: I was coming from a rehearsal with Fox and we
Speaker 5: was down in the super Dome and traffic is crazy
Speaker 5: out there, so it was like I was borderline. It
Speaker 5: was like twelve forty were with like one mile and
Speaker 5: like thirty minutes and like this thing. You know, I'm
Speaker 5: adding of them like two thirty by the time I
Speaker 5: get here. Yeah, I say, man, for my boys, I'm
Speaker 5: let me out so much, driver, let me out. I
Speaker 5: found my way really quick, man, like for real. I
Speaker 5: used the waves bo put the glasses on, hat down,
Speaker 5: be lying I'm here.
Speaker 3: Hey man, New Orleans. They ain't mess with nobody out here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody love New Orleans, everything about the culture. People.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: I know you spent some time here of course a
Speaker 5: little bit, and so yeah, well.
Speaker 4: How's it or has it even sat in there like
Speaker 4: you are a head coach of a college football team?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I run, Thank you appreciate it. Ironically, this morning,
Speaker 5: I'm thinking about all the things that I gotta do today.
Speaker 5: I went to sleep kind of early last night, but
Speaker 5: this morning I could not get the school football everything
Speaker 5: that was happening within, you know, our.
Speaker 1: Football program out my mind.
Speaker 5: And I'm telling myself, I gotta I gotta find some
Speaker 5: time to get Norfolk State out of my mind because
Speaker 5: my whole focus has been the you know, whatever I
Speaker 5: gotta do on a day to day basis to turn
Speaker 5: the program around. And I'm here, my guys are there,
Speaker 5: and so I would say that it's really soaking in that,
Speaker 5: you know, I'm a head football coach because instantly I
Speaker 5: felt the responsibility and I got a lot of people
Speaker 5: that I can't let down, include myself. But it's been
Speaker 5: really fun the last month. It's been a lot of work,
Speaker 5: more than I expected, but kind of anticipated it a
Speaker 5: little bit, and so I'm not trying to feel overwhelmed
Speaker 5: like I stepped into something I would and ready for it,
Speaker 5: because mentally, I've been trying to prepare myself for coaching
Speaker 5: because I knew I was going to do it one day,
Speaker 5: whether it was at the age of forty eight or fifty.
Speaker 5: And God put it in front of me at the
Speaker 5: age of forty four, and I'm extremely blessed for that.
Speaker 5: And I felt like, you know, it was put in
Speaker 5: front of me for a reason, So go ahead, try
Speaker 5: to walk through the door.
Speaker 4: How are you now at a place where, like you said,
Speaker 4: I can handle it now.
Speaker 5: Always felt the responsibility of carrying a franchise or program.
Speaker 5: Being a quarterback is a lot of responsibility, and so
Speaker 5: I'm like taking on that burden now. I feel like
Speaker 5: I'm back in the same realm, just not with the
Speaker 5: football in my hands, which makes it a little more
Speaker 5: frustrating because it's not for me to go dudes, for
Speaker 5: me to hand it over to pretty much all my
Speaker 5: quarterbacks at some point and for them to go out
Speaker 5: and execute and do it. So I just I don't
Speaker 5: know what that's going to feel like. Yeah, but I'm
Speaker 5: trusting the process.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about.
Speaker 4: What you were wearing when you did your first press conference.
Speaker 4: I mean, the jacket all good. Where the hell was
Speaker 4: you going with that whistle?
Speaker 1: Though?
Speaker 4: Mike had Okay, okay, Oh, I love that whistle, So
Speaker 4: you love while you're whistle that whistle.
Speaker 1: I got it from Jimmy Johnson.
Speaker 5: He presented it to me on the Fox set when
Speaker 5: I made the announcement was made, and that day I
Speaker 5: cried so much, man, that that whistle is like my
Speaker 5: comfort level. And I cried, you know, because you know,
Speaker 5: it was a bittersweet, you know, like I said, it
Speaker 5: abruptly happened.
Speaker 1: And I love working at Fox. I love the people
Speaker 1: I was with.
Speaker 5: I loved, you know, just the Fox in general, just
Speaker 5: the whole you know, company, administration, everybody in it. And
Speaker 5: they treated me with such respect over the last eight
Speaker 5: years that allowed me to grow.
Speaker 1: They gave me time. I felt like I matured there
Speaker 1: a lot.
Speaker 5: And so, you know, going through the segment, it had
Speaker 5: been a rough morning seeing everybody, and then they had
Speaker 5: a segment that they put together with Jimmy, and so
Speaker 5: Jimmy presented the whistle to me, and I just when
Speaker 5: he gave it to me, I just it was like
Speaker 5: a transformation, Like this is.
Speaker 1: It officially made me a coach?
Speaker 5: I felt like, And I was like, man, I'm carrying
Speaker 5: this with me every day everywhere I go in a
Speaker 5: football set.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I won't want that way right now because I'm weird.
Speaker 5: But the day I signed, I was like that whistle
Speaker 5: was like my comfort level and kept me from crying.
Speaker 5: And sometimes it do make me cry because I think
Speaker 5: about the moment with Jimmy and I think about just
Speaker 5: you know, the transformation. It's a different it's a career change,
Speaker 5: and you know, a lot of people be afraid to change,
Speaker 5: and I always tell people, don't be afraid to change.
Speaker 5: I found myself telling people that don't be afraid to
Speaker 5: change and experience change, because you know, people are afraid
Speaker 5: of that. And there was a moment where I had
Speaker 5: to be you know, strong in that moment and kind
Speaker 5: of practice what I preached.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you'd head coach, it's the first movie making
Speaker 3: as your head coach.
Speaker 1: What's the first decision?
Speaker 3: Was the first thing?
Speaker 5: First move I made as a head coach was hiring
Speaker 5: a defensive coordinator. Okay, other positions, especially on the offensive
Speaker 5: side of the ball. I know what I'm looking at.
Speaker 5: I know what I'm looking for, But you guys know
Speaker 5: on defense. Excuse me, you guys know on defense it's
Speaker 5: a different dynamic. Like people take for granted that when
Speaker 5: we say defensive win championships.
Speaker 1: Man, you know you're just talking. No, it's the truth.
Speaker 5: You know, you can score as many points as you want,
Speaker 5: but if you can't get off that field. So I
Speaker 5: wanted to find a good quality decordinator who you want
Speaker 5: understood defenses and understood what it would take to win
Speaker 5: in the me at conference and somebody who had experience
Speaker 5: and loved it, was passionate about the game. And so, uh,
Speaker 5: you know, my former teammate Turns Govin. He was the
Speaker 5: guy that I spent a lot of time with over
Speaker 5: the years he was at Florida Memorial. He's had a
Speaker 5: success a lot of cessing his young football career, and
Speaker 5: I expect them to be a rock star in this game.
Speaker 3: And how have you been adjusting to the to the
Speaker 3: job since being named a coach.
Speaker 5: It's been an adjustment, big adjustment. Spend spending more time
Speaker 5: on calls and spending time with donors, fundraising, Yeah, trying
Speaker 5: to help the school and whatever way I can.
Speaker 1: That hasn't been really overwhelming. It's been fun.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And knowing that you know, these reps that I
Speaker 5: gotta get, These are rooms that I got to sit in,
Speaker 5: conversations that I got to have, and I can't shy
Speaker 5: away from it. So I'm looking at it like, man,
Speaker 5: I'm maturing in a lot of ways, and there's no
Speaker 5: different than what you know, Andy Reid might have went
Speaker 5: through at some point, of Sean Payton or Chip Kelly,
Speaker 5: all these guys that I've been around to work with
Speaker 5: who kind of forewarmed me. If you get into coaching,
Speaker 5: it's a lot of responsibility. So I'm just trying to
Speaker 5: take it all this strap.
Speaker 4: It's funny because a lot of people get into coaching
Speaker 4: because we love football and the ex is and the
Speaker 4: o's and on the grass. And then the only thing
Speaker 4: you're telling me about right now is meetings, hugging, kissing babies,
Speaker 4: raising money.
Speaker 3: Sound I mean, sounds like coach.
Speaker 1: You know, guys, you know why I say that though,
Speaker 1: because we we know the football part.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm just like, can we just get to the
Speaker 5: games already? And I but I know springball is around
Speaker 5: the corner. But I can't get the spring ball without handling.
Speaker 5: But I got to handle what's in front of me.
Speaker 5: And so I'm like, let me back up and take
Speaker 5: it one step at a time. It's almost like learning
Speaker 5: the offense. I can't go on the field and try
Speaker 5: to execute against the defense until I know exactly what
Speaker 5: I'm doing. And so now, you know, trying to just
Speaker 5: bring everything together structurally. So when we finally get to
Speaker 5: the season, well we get to springball, I could just
Speaker 5: focus on football and then I can tell everybody, Hey,
Speaker 5: we're in springball right now.
Speaker 1: Give me a break. Okay.
Speaker 4: So I also want to know one more thing, because
Speaker 4: the college athlete now is different than when we were
Speaker 4: in college. Yes, so everything's a little bit different. Yes,
Speaker 4: And so how are you handling the today's college athlete
Speaker 4: when I know we say that we can communicate with them,
Speaker 4: and everybody's going to listen whatever mike Vic says to them,
Speaker 4: right like, we're all going to hold onto your words.
Speaker 4: But how are you adjusting as their coach? And that
Speaker 4: I know they're going to be looking at me for
Speaker 4: guidance and all those other things in front of that room,
Speaker 4: And how are you looking at this young athlete like
Speaker 4: what are they doing differently?
Speaker 1: Or how are you treating them?
Speaker 5: Trying to have an open line of communication form. They
Speaker 5: all got my number, they all can reach out, they
Speaker 5: all can call and they all different too. Some of
Speaker 5: them are more outgoing than the others. Some of them
Speaker 5: going to pick up the phone. Hey, coach, what you
Speaker 5: think about this? Say coach? I'm trying to figure out
Speaker 5: this situation. And I know some of them feel like
Speaker 5: they don't want to bother me, but I make it
Speaker 5: a point if I'm not busy to get back with them.
Speaker 5: I want to have an open door policy. I want
Speaker 5: them to feel like they can call me and talk
Speaker 5: to me anytime and that's what I'm there form there
Speaker 5: for leadership, and they're for mentors ship and to teaching
Speaker 5: football at the end of the day and make them
Speaker 5: better men. So that's a part of it, preaching communication
Speaker 5: and how we got to communicate with one another. And
Speaker 5: so I got to hold up to my endview, do
Speaker 5: they treat.
Speaker 4: You like a celebrity on that campus, because like it's
Speaker 4: gotta be a little bit, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Hey, so a couple of them asks for pictures already,
Speaker 5: I'm like, I'm like, man, and I love that for them.
Speaker 5: I love the fact that they get to soak up
Speaker 5: the whole experience. And so when a couple of them
Speaker 5: asked me for pictures, I was like, this is really weird,
Speaker 5: but I'm not gonna say nothing.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's do it.
Speaker 5: Because I could have easily been like, no, I'm your
Speaker 5: coach now, don't we can take pictures all year?
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was like, let me just get it out
Speaker 1: the way right now. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: And so after a while, once once camps start, once
Speaker 5: we get into spring ball, and I got to lay
Speaker 5: into one of them. Yeah, that's when they're gonna be like, oh,
Speaker 5: he's really coached for real, because it's gonna happen. It's
Speaker 5: gonna happen, and I want to do it in the
Speaker 5: most structured way and the best way where I can
Speaker 5: communicate it so they understand. Like, you know, I watched
Speaker 5: coaches like Andy and you know, Chip, Kelly Dan. We
Speaker 5: never really raised their voices.
Speaker 1: That guys.
Speaker 5: They just they demanded respect. Y'all know, some coach All
Speaker 5: coaches are different. We all had coaches. It was our
Speaker 5: coaches and coaches too, And so I got to figure out, like,
Speaker 5: what's what's my middle ground, Like what's gonna make me
Speaker 5: a coach that they gonna respect. I think it happens
Speaker 5: in the split second, like when something happens, you either
Speaker 5: gonna lose it or you're gonna keep your cool or you're
Speaker 5: gonna handle it how you're gonna handle it. And so
Speaker 5: that's the exciting part I'm ready for. In the football
Speaker 5: aspect of it.
Speaker 3: What's one of the best lessons you've learned. You just
Speaker 3: named some like five great coaches. What's one of the
Speaker 3: best lessons you've learned.
Speaker 1: Yeah, treat everybody the same, you know in the program.
Speaker 5: You know, whether it's the people in the cafeteria, you know,
Speaker 5: our locker room. You know, treat the you know, treat
Speaker 5: the schnitors, the same secretaries, everybody in the administration, you know,
Speaker 5: showing them a great deal of respect, you know, because
Speaker 5: that's what you want. And ultimately being the leader that
Speaker 5: everybody feel like they can come to him, being accessible.
Speaker 5: I want to be that guy when I leave, I
Speaker 5: want them to say or if I have a leave
Speaker 5: or whatever happens, like he did everything he can to
Speaker 5: show that. You know, he was just like us, and
Speaker 5: he wasn't the celebrity head coach. He was Mike Victor
Speaker 5: football coach, and he really cared about everything that was
Speaker 5: happening around us. And I want my coaches to feel
Speaker 5: the same way. I want everybody to expire to be great,
Speaker 5: and you know, we all take on the same attitude
Speaker 5: of making sure that we hold ourselves accountable in every aspect.
Speaker 3: We're going to take a short break and we'll be
Speaker 3: right back.
Speaker 4: Tell me or help me define what success would look
Speaker 4: like at Norfolk State this. You know, I don't want
Speaker 4: to bring up too much, but they haven't had They
Speaker 4: were four and eight last season, and so what does
Speaker 4: success look like with you guys going forward.
Speaker 5: Day, I'm gonna start with the now because I feel
Speaker 5: like we got to win it every quarter of the
Speaker 5: year this year, and so in this quarter, we got
Speaker 5: to be the best that we can be in our
Speaker 5: strength and conditioning program. You know, obviously it's a lot
Speaker 5: of voys and a lot of things that can be
Speaker 5: fixed that I pointed out, and we want to start
Speaker 5: with this quarter. When we get into the spring ball
Speaker 5: the second quarter, I expect us to go out and
Speaker 5: be officient. In the spring, learn the offense, learn the
Speaker 5: little things, the details. I expect the coaches to be
Speaker 5: on top of the players and the players, asking a
Speaker 5: lot of questions and as we learn, you.
Speaker 1: Know, the newness.
Speaker 5: And then in the summer, I don't want anybody to
Speaker 5: take any days off like you know, we know how
Speaker 5: in college football is summer was really it was important.
Speaker 5: I know one summer I took off and all my
Speaker 5: numbers dropped in the weight room like Vince went down,
Speaker 5: Squat went down. The second year after I thought I
Speaker 5: made it, so you should never really feel like you
Speaker 5: made it.
Speaker 1: And then in the in the final quarter, go.
Speaker 5: Out there and and let it all out and ultimately
Speaker 5: compete for that MEAC championship. That's that's a successful season.
Speaker 5: And I'm gonna set high standards and high goals and
Speaker 5: very lofty and they might not they might be far fetched,
Speaker 5: but you know, we're gonna shoot for him and if
Speaker 5: we miss, we're gonna be right there.
Speaker 1: It's because it's coming. It's gonna happen.
Speaker 3: I want to read some names to you. Deonne Sanders,
Speaker 3: Jackson State here co former Jackson State head coach, Adie
Speaker 3: George Tennessee State, Terrence matthis Morehouse, Deshaun Jackson, Delaware State. Uh,
Speaker 3: Charyl Buckley in Missipi Missippi Valley State.
Speaker 5: To real Buckley cornerback to real b Yeah, t buck
Speaker 5: no doubt.
Speaker 1: It's a big fan.
Speaker 5: I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, I didn't know that.
Speaker 5: They'll probably add them to the group chat. We got
Speaker 5: a group chat with all those coaches that put together
Speaker 5: and a really cool chat that let everybody know what's
Speaker 5: going on. Players out there, who got because you know
Speaker 5: a lot of these players you can't keep. You want everybody.
Speaker 5: You want everybody to land on their feet. Plus it's
Speaker 5: good for the program. Yeah, when guys transfer out that
Speaker 5: they find a home as well. It really helps. So yeah,
Speaker 5: but but no, I just wanted thoughts.
Speaker 3: You know, you got former players and head coaches HBCUs
Speaker 3: like it's dope.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 5: Like I ran into Eddie the other night and Eddie
Speaker 5: and I had a conversation, good conversation, and I'm telling
Speaker 5: them I was trying to find a coordinator and he
Speaker 5: was like, man, I don't been through a couple. And
Speaker 5: I'm like, don't tell me that is that the process
Speaker 5: just got to find one good one. And then you know,
Speaker 5: like Terrence and d Shaun and these you know, these
Speaker 5: guys he buck as you just mentioned, really getting the
Speaker 5: opportunities to come in and be head football coaches. And
Speaker 5: it wasn't that way a couple of years ago, I
Speaker 5: think five years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So you look, you look at a guy like.
Speaker 5: Deon Sanders, who, since the Deon Seners era started in Atlanta,
Speaker 5: has been transcending the game of football in so many ways.
Speaker 1: And here it is.
Speaker 5: Here he is later on in life, enjoying the fruits
Speaker 5: of labor, enjoying his profession and occupation, and still giving
Speaker 5: back and helping guys like us. He was one of
Speaker 5: the first people to reach out. I reached out to
Speaker 5: him first. But spent some time with him a couple
Speaker 5: of years ago and told him this is what I
Speaker 5: wanted to do down the road. And he was just
Speaker 5: always like, why wait, you know, it's not gonna take
Speaker 5: long for you.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 5: He always looked on the bright side when I'm thinking
Speaker 5: in my mind, Oh, it's gonna be different. I gotta work,
Speaker 5: And he just he spoke everything into existence, he really did.
Speaker 1: I was just so excited for you guys.
Speaker 4: I saw Djack he coaching the high school four year
Speaker 4: back home. Yeah, in Southern cal back at home, and
Speaker 4: just when you see all these young guys that are
Speaker 4: now just becoming head coaches. Yeah, it can only encourage you,
Speaker 4: right that you know, you guys are continue to do
Speaker 4: these things. But do you ever worry about like man,
Speaker 4: because as most black coaches, you don't get to fail twice?
Speaker 4: Is that ever, like in the back of your mind,
Speaker 4: like it's just understood.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm so afraid to fail. Like I know one.
Speaker 5: Football is a collective effort, you know, And I'm not
Speaker 5: going to shy away from this.
Speaker 1: It's gonna start with the coaches.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And Jimmy Johnson told me, like it starts with
Speaker 5: the players. Then the coach, I'm gonna kind of look
Speaker 5: at it all in the sense of, look, it's got
Speaker 5: to happen in your INNI since you gotta have good
Speaker 5: coaches and good players, and then we'll work from there.
Speaker 5: But always being afraid to fail. I think it's gonna
Speaker 5: keep me up at night and keep us working hard.
Speaker 5: And that's the way it should be. You know, we
Speaker 5: want that type of pressure. We've been through that type
Speaker 5: of pressure. And how many nights were the night before
Speaker 5: the game you worried about a receiver, you worried about
Speaker 5: you know, some type of you know, double move they
Speaker 5: might try, you know, and it's gonna keep you up,
Speaker 5: but you're prepare for it, and you know when it happens,
Speaker 5: you know, you just got to be ready for it.
Speaker 5: And fortunately and unfortunately that's as coaches and players gonna
Speaker 5: deal with those moments.
Speaker 1: And that's that's perseverance, is how we come out.
Speaker 5: When you come out on top and on the other side,
Speaker 5: y'all know how good that feels. Both of y'all haven't
Speaker 5: played on big stage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I want to know your thoughts on having
Speaker 3: two black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Again, it's amazing, It's amazing.
Speaker 5: You're looking at two guys who got a whole generation
Speaker 5: of players watching them. Yeah, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 5: like what they represent, And it's the second time in
Speaker 5: what three.
Speaker 1: Years the same.
Speaker 5: Same, yeah, same to the best of the best in
Speaker 5: the National Football League and set high bars and high precedent.
Speaker 5: And you're looking at two guys who just really believe
Speaker 5: in themselves and got the right structure around him, got
Speaker 5: like minded people around him, and I think that goes
Speaker 5: a long way. So, man, these these guys are so
Speaker 5: good nowadays. Man like Jalen, he didn't he just had
Speaker 5: to do his part. He didn't even have to do
Speaker 5: a lot and just be smart with the football not
Speaker 5: turn it over. And Patrick probably had to do a
Speaker 5: little bit more because it didn't feel like, uh he
Speaker 5: had the type of running game that that Jalen had.
Speaker 5: The games wasn't as close at times, so he probably
Speaker 5: had more responsibility. But you know, they dominated all the
Speaker 5: way through, and I say the two best teams made it.
Speaker 1: I agree.
Speaker 3: Recently, you came out with the Evolution of the Black
Speaker 3: Quarterback documentary, both of those guys in it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: and I've watched it. It's it's amazing. If you haven't
Speaker 3: seen it, you got to watch what was one of
Speaker 3: the most rewarding things by doing that, that documentary to.
Speaker 5: Be able to gather all these quarterbacks, and really it
Speaker 5: was the older guys that you know, the Warren Moons
Speaker 5: and the Doug Williams and Shaq Harris, like their stories.
Speaker 1: You know, it just made me.
Speaker 5: It made me sad one, but it also made me
Speaker 5: feel good about taking the game serious as a black
Speaker 5: quarterback and going to Atlanta and you know, high expectations
Speaker 5: without even knowing the background of what they really went through,
Speaker 5: and in the early two thousands saying, you know, I'm
Speaker 5: going to try to represent this position the best way
Speaker 5: I can. I know I'm representing the National Football League,
Speaker 5: but I also know I'm represented for a generation of
Speaker 5: quarterbacks is gonna come after me. Without even knowing that
Speaker 5: I was going to have success, Like I know that
Speaker 5: this is a major moment. But I looked at the
Speaker 5: National Football League and I'm making the decision the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 5: I would say to draft me number one, and Dan
Speaker 5: Reeves drafted me number one. It showed a change in time,
Speaker 5: and it showed a shift you know in society. I
Speaker 5: felt like. And then ten years later, man, you got
Speaker 5: Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, cap G three, you know what
Speaker 5: I'm saying, breaking in and then you know, it's just
Speaker 5: how you got Lamar Patrick and jay Lee. It's like, oh,
Speaker 5: we can do this, man, we can do this. So yeah,
Speaker 5: that's what going back to those old stories and I
Speaker 5: wanted to go back to that and then work forward
Speaker 5: to where we are today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you did a great job. Yeah, man, And you
Speaker 4: talk about the evolution. I got the numbers for you
Speaker 4: right here. This year it was the fifteen black quarterbacks
Speaker 4: started in Week one.
Speaker 1: It was the most in the NFL history.
Speaker 4: And in two thousand and one when you were drafted,
Speaker 4: ten teams still hadn't even had a black quarterback.
Speaker 1: But really, yeah, okay, I didn't know that that should
Speaker 1: have been. That's the crazy part. It's not.
Speaker 3: It's not that like I was born when Warren Moon
Speaker 3: had to deal with all this, Like, it wasn't like
Speaker 3: I was alive.
Speaker 1: It wasn't. It wasn't that long ago. So just imagine that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, two thousand and one, when you got drafted and
Speaker 4: when we came the starting quarterback, still teams that still
Speaker 4: hadn't even had one yet, so that as far the
Speaker 4: evolution has come.
Speaker 1: And who is your favorite quarterback in the NFL right now? Man?
Speaker 1: I like, I like so many of them. Man, I'm
Speaker 1: only giving you one, give me one. I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: it harder. I'm not gonna let this.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, give us the politically correct ones.
Speaker 5: No this, No, I'm gonna give you my like, my
Speaker 5: my favorite quarterback to.
Speaker 4: Watch when the TV come on, Yeah, I want to watch.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying ability.
Speaker 5: I can name a lot of them, but man, when
Speaker 5: pasttick mahomes come on, it's like, because I grew up
Speaker 5: Steve Young, yeah, and then John Alway and so you know,
Speaker 5: I love Steve.
Speaker 1: Steve was left handed and Steve was a scrambler.
Speaker 5: But I loved John because John was just scrappy and
Speaker 5: he was right you know, he threw with his right hand.
Speaker 5: But he wore number seven and I loved the number seven.
Speaker 5: And he was just like he was amazed.
Speaker 1: He'll run it a.
Speaker 5: Little bit at the cannon for Super Bowls never and
Speaker 5: I'm like he was. John was more exciting than Steve,
Speaker 5: and he played them on games so instantly. When I
Speaker 5: was in camp with the Kansas City Chiefs in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 5: I was like doing the internship for coaching actually, and
Speaker 5: I was just like, man, this dude before he even
Speaker 5: touch the field, he's a rookie, and I'm like, he's
Speaker 5: John Alway all over again. I told any that John
Speaker 5: Elway all this movement and strong arm, and and then
Speaker 5: he just took the league by storm. So it's like
Speaker 5: when fifteen come on, like I stop everything to watch fifteen.
Speaker 1: For sure, you know what I mean. It's a good,
Speaker 1: no doubt, it's a great man. He couldn't go. I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone.
Speaker 4: I don't think anyone sayidiversity, Yeah, fourth quarter, fourth quarter,
Speaker 4: down by every time, every time I want to know,
Speaker 4: what was your welcome to the NFL moment?
Speaker 1: It's actually paying against the best.
Speaker 5: I think it was maybe Week two or three and
Speaker 5: the best came to Atlanta and I was a rookie.
Speaker 5: I'll still learning the offense and Big Tied Washington was
Speaker 5: in the middle, yeh, Mike Brown was at safety. Uh
Speaker 5: Couplacer was in the middle, and I just remember like
Speaker 5: going into the game, Chris Chandler went down and I'm like, yo, okay,
Speaker 5: I'm about to go in and I'm gonna get my
Speaker 5: feet wet. And Number I was coming out of preseason too.
Speaker 5: I had a really good preseason, but that game was
Speaker 5: so hard. And I was making throws and I was
Speaker 5: making plays, but it's like I'll take ten steps forward
Speaker 5: and I take twenty steps back. First down, down, nice past,
Speaker 5: then the sack first down, first down, and then the
Speaker 5: strip sack fumble man, and I just never forget how
Speaker 5: intense it was to make matters worse. Scrimming out to
Speaker 5: the left side, rent on their sideline, and it was
Speaker 5: just I just heard somebody like take out his legs,
Speaker 5: take out his legs. I'm like, hold on, you're already
Speaker 5: beating the living life out of it. Y'all want to
Speaker 5: y'all still? And that's when I realized, like, it ain't
Speaker 5: no friends when you step on that were just joking
Speaker 5: before the game, like talking, you're not being right, talkt
Speaker 5: your family, you know, how has your transition.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, it's gonna be man. We got in
Speaker 1: the game. It was boys was flying around in us. Yo.
Speaker 1: This this is the league. This ain't college football.
Speaker 5: This ain't Virginia Tech versus Syracuse or Virginia Tech versus
Speaker 5: Boston College.
Speaker 1: This good, great, on great every day.
Speaker 3: See, I thought you would have said the hit with
Speaker 3: Brian Dawkins four.
Speaker 5: Years later now they if you go back and watch
Speaker 5: that game against Man, they was bro I took some
Speaker 5: shots that day.
Speaker 1: It was so bad. It was so bad. My grandmother
Speaker 1: rested in peace. Kalitha.
Speaker 5: My grandmother called up to the Atlanta Falcons facility and
Speaker 5: was like, y'all gotta protect him better. And he was
Speaker 5: taking a lot of his because my grandma see him
Speaker 5: coming out to college where it was flawless, and she
Speaker 5: just seen me get whipped by thirty and and not
Speaker 5: even like do anything. Yeah, and then you know, being
Speaker 5: a backup Chris Chandler went down.
Speaker 1: I'm a rookie.
Speaker 5: It was just it was just really really hard and
Speaker 5: complicated out there.
Speaker 1: I just love the fact that Grandma called the facility,
Speaker 1: not to Grandma called here. He pulled me into the office,
Speaker 1: was like your grandma called to day.
Speaker 5: I was like, grand my grandma call. I called him Grandma,
Speaker 5: I'm grown, I'm gonna figure it out, Grandma, please don't
Speaker 5: embarrass me like that. He was coaches, like your grandma
Speaker 5: called up here today. Something I should know. Nah, coach,
Speaker 5: be good.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.
Speaker 3: What is your favorite game you ever played it?
Speaker 5: My favorite game that I played in was the game
Speaker 5: against Green Bay the playoffs. That game right there, not
Speaker 5: just because we was the underdogs a couple of reasons.
Speaker 1: Brent Father was on the other side. Green Bay had
Speaker 1: never never lost.
Speaker 5: At home, and I remember coaching the beginning of the
Speaker 5: week saying, everybody is against us. They never lost their home,
Speaker 5: and I'm like, that's something to play for right there.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, man, Brent fov over there.
Speaker 5: Though I see him CoV up teams over the years
Speaker 5: as I was a young kid watching it's gonna be
Speaker 5: impossible to beat them. It was snowing, but it was
Speaker 5: like not too cold, and you know, the snow wasn't
Speaker 5: coming down.
Speaker 1: To it was like the perfect night. Yeah. John Madden
Speaker 1: up in the booth like.
Speaker 5: This is this is like what I've ever what I've
Speaker 5: dreamed of, an opportunity to, you know, obviously go one
Speaker 5: one step further to the Division A round the playoffs,
Speaker 5: and I was in his own that night. We came
Speaker 5: out to First Drive and scored and we won twenty
Speaker 5: seven to seven, and it was just like one of
Speaker 5: the easiest games I ever played in.
Speaker 1: I don't know why.
Speaker 5: I don't mean easy, but you know you have some
Speaker 5: games seeom mistakes. Yeah, y'all know you really like really
Speaker 5: no mistakes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we talked about this where you know, I've been
Speaker 4: in games where like, dude, I just I got to
Speaker 4: feel any about the block is gonna be running, and
Speaker 4: I'm already and it every single time, I was just right,
Speaker 4: and you just every anticipated right, this, this, that and
Speaker 4: the other.
Speaker 1: You just literally in this out. You don't know why,
Speaker 1: but everything just you was on that team.
Speaker 5: And in New Orleans twenty twelve, Yes, became Bhilly We came here, yep, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: he was in his zone that night.
Speaker 1: You can't do nothing, bro. That was a tough night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was it. Does Then y'all came to I don't
Speaker 1: know that was the game.
Speaker 5: All these losses, but you know I'm talking about y'all
Speaker 5: being on top of y'all game. Y'all came in twenty
Speaker 5: eleven to Philly Chicago. Yeah, he plays on twenty ten too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, the best ones was all right.
Speaker 4: Two thousand and six, the reopening the dome here, that
Speaker 4: was a tough loss.
Speaker 1: For you. I spoke to you. Was on that team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my rookie year. Wow.
Speaker 4: I was so excited to play against Mike Vic. I
Speaker 4: was really like, dude, like that's Mike Vick on the side,
Speaker 4: because I mean, I'm Madden guy.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. So, and you know, everybody
Speaker 1: loved playing That wasn't take experience.
Speaker 4: That was you know, even speaking to your wife, she's like,
Speaker 4: that was the only game I've ever been was like,
Speaker 4: we have no chance to It only.
Speaker 5: Came out of being I came out of it like
Speaker 5: questioning my abilities, like I don't know how much long
Speaker 5: I can do this because that right there, I've never
Speaker 5: been shut down. You know, you had those moments where
Speaker 5: you get dominated. It shook my confidence a.
Speaker 1: Little bit and you you still played great.
Speaker 4: We just you just it was that like nobody I
Speaker 4: don't think you could have did anything was locked in
Speaker 4: the beginning. Yeah, by Steve bro that was legendary right
Speaker 4: then and there.
Speaker 5: I was like, we have no chance of winning. It's
Speaker 5: funny because Jim Moore, I love Jim Moore.
Speaker 1: I think it was.
Speaker 5: It might have been a Thursday night maybe so on
Speaker 5: Sunday night, Yeah, it was Monday night, Monday night, and
Speaker 5: was like, yeah, they think they setting us up, and
Speaker 5: you know, we gotta play them coming back.
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, man, we're gonna go in there.
Speaker 1: We're gonna.
Speaker 5: Instantly felt the energy the city was back, you know
Speaker 5: what I'm saying, which I wanted y'all want.
Speaker 3: To ship a couple of years later, Yeah, we did.
Speaker 3: The energy wasthing it on TV. Man' that's how That's how.
Speaker 1: Real it was.
Speaker 4: And you know, that was my first time in that building, so,
Speaker 4: like I because we were you know, Hurricane Katrina, so
Speaker 4: it was literally just my first time in the building.
Speaker 4: I didn't feel any of that emotion. I was like
Speaker 4: looking around and seeing people crying, seeing people the emotions
Speaker 4: in the building, and you could probably see it on
Speaker 4: your sideline too, But to me, I didn't understand why,
Speaker 4: right because I had never been in their previously before.
Speaker 4: But now as I've gotten older and looked back at it,
Speaker 4: I appreciate being in that moment and in that building
Speaker 4: just for what it was.
Speaker 1: You know, it's unfortunate versus.
Speaker 5: Like the only time I come here to New Orleans.
Speaker 5: I think about that and I'm just like proud that
Speaker 5: the city bounce back the way it did, and then
Speaker 5: you know we had the tragedy.
Speaker 1: Bro, you can't catch a break right now.
Speaker 3: I think that was just a bigger than a football
Speaker 3: moment right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was bigger than football. Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 4: I want to talk about you know, we talked about
Speaker 4: some of your losses. Let's talk about something that I
Speaker 4: know you're probably extremely proud of, and that is going
Speaker 4: to the College Football Hall of Fame. You're in the
Speaker 4: class of twenty twenty five with some other big names
Speaker 4: Michael Strahan, Nick Saban's going in, Urvin Meyer, Helodi nod
Speaker 4: is another one. And before you give me your answer,
Speaker 4: I think it's important to know who and where you
Speaker 4: come from as well, because, like I said earlier, you
Speaker 4: always have felt like you had to carry the lot
Speaker 4: for a lot of people around you, your family, your brother,
Speaker 4: your friends, right from your city, like you've always done that.
Speaker 4: And then also your past that's checkered as well. But
Speaker 4: one of the biggest things that it says to be
Speaker 4: induct into the College Football Hall of Fame is that
Speaker 4: it involves this. This is their criteria. While each nominees
Speaker 4: football achievements in college or a prime consideration his past
Speaker 4: football record as a citizen is also weighed. He must
Speaker 4: have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals
Speaker 4: of football forward into the relations with his community. So
Speaker 4: when you hear that you check that box, what does
Speaker 4: that make you feel?
Speaker 5: It is probably one of the biggest, you know, compliments
Speaker 5: that I can obtain right now in my life. Man.
Speaker 5: And you know, everybody make mistakes, and some of them
Speaker 5: are just more detrimental than others. And obviously I made
Speaker 5: a mistake that was like detrimental in like the middle
Speaker 5: of my career, in my prime, and had plenty of
Speaker 5: nights to think about making it right. And so you know,
Speaker 5: my promise to myself, my family and the people who
Speaker 5: poured into me was I'm gonna do everything I can
Speaker 5: because it can't be just to try to make amends
Speaker 5: for the public. So it looks a certain way. You
Speaker 5: gotta you know, when when you fall that far, you
Speaker 5: gotta you know, your heart got to be into you know,
Speaker 5: your passion got to be into you know, I'm gonna
Speaker 5: do things the right way and taking on that martu
Speaker 5: which coach Bemer always said in team meetings, gonna in life.
Speaker 5: You gotta do things the right way, and I came
Speaker 5: back with that mindset, man, and ever since two thousand
Speaker 5: and nine, I've been trying to.
Speaker 1: Do things the right way.
Speaker 5: And for you to read that and for me to
Speaker 5: just hear that as far as the criteria, you know,
Speaker 5: it makes.
Speaker 1: Me really proud. It makes me really proud.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: It's bigger than football. You know.
Speaker 5: It's about your belief and yourself and your perseverance. And man,
Speaker 5: that those are the same principles and values that I
Speaker 5: can pass down on my kids and you know, if
Speaker 5: they ever get out of line. Hey, I want you
Speaker 5: to read this quote right here, the one you just read,
Speaker 5: because I had to.
Speaker 1: I had to battle.
Speaker 5: I had to fight, and it was a it was
Speaker 5: a good fight, and it made me the person that
Speaker 5: I am today. And you know, obviously, you don't get
Speaker 5: an opportunity to do certain things like work on Fox
Speaker 5: or be a head coach if you don't meet those criterias.
Speaker 5: And that was before you know, this even happened. So
Speaker 5: you know, people paid attention and you know, check those boxes.
Speaker 5: And you know what, I'm gonna keep checking them. You
Speaker 5: know what I'm saying that right there gonna keep me.
Speaker 5: You know, I want to continue to try to be
Speaker 5: a better person and continue to set high standards.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 3: How does your past, you know, how does your past
Speaker 3: fuel you just to motivate you to be better today?
Speaker 5: Yeah, just for really one day at a time approach,
Speaker 5: you know, knowing that you can go twenty three hours
Speaker 5: in the day, you know, doing the right thing, and
Speaker 5: you slip up in that final hour and then that's
Speaker 5: that's what That's what they're gonna remember, that's what they're
Speaker 5: gonna talk about. So it can be the most minute things.
Speaker 5: And so to think every situation through and now being
Speaker 5: a coach, like the standards that I'm setting for myself
Speaker 5: or setting for the young men, I got to set
Speaker 5: for myself as well. And so you know, just being
Speaker 5: conscious in the moment always and you know, knowing that
Speaker 5: you know, not just for the players, but even my kids,
Speaker 5: and you know, and that's probably shit. You know, reference
Speaker 5: them first, you being the best example that I can
Speaker 5: be for them because I'm always monitor them. I'm always
Speaker 5: trying to be the quarterback in the house and you know,
Speaker 5: send them off and let him run to play man
Speaker 5: and the hopefully they execute it.
Speaker 1: Hold are your kids.
Speaker 5: My oldest son is twenty two, he's inspiring to be
Speaker 5: an actor. My oldest daughter's twenty she was playing flag football.
Speaker 5: Mike said, my seventeen year old daughter just got a
Speaker 5: license today.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a little scary.
Speaker 5: And then I got a seven year old son who
Speaker 5: just finished his first year of flag football, you know,
Speaker 5: just recognizing what was going on. He really wasn't locked in,
Speaker 5: but it was a good experience to watch him out there.
Speaker 5: He like, Daddy, I want to play tackle. Bro, you
Speaker 5: got to learn to pull a flag first.
Speaker 4: That's he's like that black's born. I'm like, bro, Bro, like, Bro,
Speaker 4: you you're all right, man. Learn how to play in.
Speaker 1: One period of time. That's it. Yes, And football is
Speaker 1: a one sport that you can play later yeah and
Speaker 1: still be great. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean I know guys who started playing that junior
Speaker 5: year made it to the league and been some of
Speaker 5: the best.
Speaker 1: So have you got time? Yes? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So my last question is, you know, we've asked this
Speaker 3: question to a lot of people that came on the pod,
Speaker 3: Mount Rushmore. If you had your personal Mount Rushmore of
Speaker 3: people that have helped you, shaped you, molded you, mentoreds
Speaker 3: you coached you. Just to get you from when you
Speaker 3: was a little pup to where you are right now
Speaker 3: a head coach of Norfolk State. Who would those four
Speaker 3: people be?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 5: Man, it's all coaches, man, ironically, because I felt like
Speaker 5: they was always the ones who was like there when
Speaker 5: I needed them the most.
Speaker 1: My high school coach, Timmy Raymond.
Speaker 5: College coach Frank Beamer, Dan Reeves, and Jim Moore and
Speaker 5: then Andy Andy Reid, and.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of people in between.
Speaker 5: But it it's like, you know, part of the reasons
Speaker 5: I wanted to become a head coach is because I
Speaker 5: know what it means to a young man who just
Speaker 5: needs some guidance. And sometimes we might might not have
Speaker 5: both parents in the household. It's something something might be lacking.
Speaker 5: A lot of kids are different, Some are outgoing, some
Speaker 5: of them are introverted. You know, I was one of
Speaker 5: the introverted kids, and they had to pull a lot
Speaker 5: out of me.
Speaker 1: I got it.
Speaker 5: It's a strength to your coach. You know, I need
Speaker 5: some help with this coach and what you think about this,
Speaker 5: And I just wanted to. I want to be that
Speaker 5: for them, you know, for my my players, you know,
Speaker 5: for my kids. And so when I think about all
Speaker 5: the great the greatest mentors in my life. Man, I
Speaker 5: just think about the guys who coached me.
Speaker 3: Well, Mike, Man, you're awesome as always.
Speaker 1: No doubt, man, you no doubt.
Speaker 4: Really proud of you, man, honestly, man, you know what
Speaker 4: I do want to ask one more quick The Michael
Speaker 4: Vick Experience probably one of the greatest, most underrated commercials.
Speaker 1: Of all time. If you could have a roller coaster, like,
Speaker 1: what would it? Just like that?
Speaker 5: It was just like guys like y'all coming at me,
Speaker 5: you coming down in the box, pean up, punching at
Speaker 5: the ball to us, Me trying to get away.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 5: That was like a commercial that I didn't approve of
Speaker 5: because I'm like, man, I need something more urban.
Speaker 1: I need to be running through the neighborhood.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, sweatsuit on sweating and you know something that's
Speaker 5: more dramatic. And now that I look at that commercial,
Speaker 5: I'm like, Yo, they knocked that one out the park.
Speaker 5: They knocked that one out the park because you know,
Speaker 5: it's about longevity. And we got generations who still talk
Speaker 5: about that commercial and the Michael Vick Experience. You know,
Speaker 5: somebody was way ahead of their time. So yeah, no,
Speaker 5: It's a cool moment, man, definitely cool.
Speaker 3: You were trends that are at the position on shoes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you can get that if you're not doing something right,
Speaker 5: So you are you gonna bring it back?
Speaker 1: Like like I'm trying to work on the retro with Nike.
Speaker 5: Hopefully they'll see that it is worth it and it
Speaker 5: makes sense to them and so it you know, part
Speaker 5: of the reason I took the job and found out
Speaker 5: there was a Nike school and like, man, we can
Speaker 5: do something with this. Yeah yeah, so hopefully man praying and.
Speaker 1: Then get them in the golf version too, so I can.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yeah, we definitely make it a golf shoot
Speaker 5: for sure. Okay, but man, different brand. But we appreciate
Speaker 5: you coming out great. Man, this is awesome. Bro, this
Speaker 5: was so dope.
Speaker 3: I've always been a fan of yours. Just yeah, just
Speaker 3: I'm a Michael Vave fan.
Speaker 1: Man, appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 3: Wishing you another success.
Speaker 1: Thank you, man, appreciate it, Yes, sir, h