White Fang and the Golden Bear by Joe Wessel

White Fang and the Golden Bear by Joe Wessel

Author:Joe Wessel
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510740174
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2019-04-09T16:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER 14

Coaching Decision

DURING MY FINAL SEASON AT FSU, I began to entertain the idea of becoming a football coach. Heck, my teammates had already been calling me “Coach.”

I’d gained so much knowledge over the years, the prospect seemed like part of a natural progression. I’d defended Mark Duper and Mark Clayton. I’d backpedaled with Tim Foley. I’d intercepted Dan Marino’s and David Woodley’s passes. Earl Morrall had been my first quarterback coach. I’d been around Don Shula, Howard Schnellenberger, and Bill Arnsparger. I also had experiences from playing high school, prep school, and college football.

Looking outside of sports also occurred to me. My degree from Florida State opened doors, and I had a nice offer from Proctor and Gamble to sell Citrus Hills Orange Juice and Folgers Coffee in Fort Lauderdale for $17,500 a year. A company car came in the deal, along with a $500 expense account.

Despite the nice offer, I continued to think, I have this football experience, why wouldn’t I want to stay in it and try to make career out of it? I’d been in that arena for a decade. Dad told me I should pursue what I wanted to do. He had a staunch belief in people fulfilling their dreams. He also offered feedback while I weighed my decision.

Since Dad didn’t have a coaching or football background, I think he could look at my situation more objectively. I knew the football side, but he asked questions about the business side of the job and the life I’d lead. What would the job do to me? What were the upsides and the downsides? Dad’s feedback proved instrumental to making my decision. I decided that I absolutely wanted to go into coaching, a profession I felt I’d be passionate about. I just needed a job. I kept an open mind about where I wanted to go.

Mickey Andrews liked the idea of me going into coaching, too.

“I thought [Joe] would be a good coach,” Mickey said recently. “He understood football. He had a good football mind. He was a smart guy. You just felt like he could be a teacher. He could teach. He could motivate.”

Following our 17–17 tie with Georgia in the Citrus Bowl, Vince Dooley walked alongside me when I left the stadium after the game. The famed Georgia coach, who knew I had just graduated, asked, “What are you going to do?”

FSU linebackers coach Gene McDowell had just become the head coach at the University of Central Florida, and Arnsparger held the head coach position at LSU. Both offered me opportunities. I told Coach Dooley about those opportunities, prompting him to yell to Ray Goff, one of his assistants and the man who succeed him as Georgia’s head coach following the 1988 season, “You make sure Joe comes back by to see us because I want him to be one of our GA’s.”

“Great,” I said. “I’ll come by.”

I stopped in Athens, Georgia, on my way to Baton Rouge. They interviewed me for one of their



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