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Thursday, March 27
Updated: March 31, 12:26 PM ET
 
Del Rio sacrificed time, money for opportunities

By John Clayton
ESPN.com

From 1995 to 1997, Jack Del Rio tried working up the ladder of business success as a financial consultant at Merrill Lynch but something was missing.

The job was competitive, but it was hard to be obsessive. Nine-to-five doesn't work as well for a twenty-four-seven competitor. "I'm kind of a worker bee naturally," Del Rio said. He passed his "Series Seven" and was heading toward being a top financial advisor, but the sidelines still beckoned.

Mike Ditka asked Del Rio to be assistant strength coach with a handshake agreement and about $18,000 in salary. Del Rio accepted this 1997 gig. Six years later, he's head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It's a trend that is unlikely to go away.

Jack Del Rio
Del Rio spent just one year as defensive coordinator in the league before becoming a head coach.
Mike Tice of the Vikings tried to save the horse racing industry by running a bus service for Seattle area bettors to the nearest track after Boeing bought the land of the area's top racing facility. A few of the head coaches of the 2009 or 2010 seasons may be retired 33-year-old players who wake up one day and do "a Del Rio." Pro football may have let them financially independent. However, wives may see their husbands itchy for the chance to return to their sport they love.

Doing "a Del Rio" requires sacrifice and luck. It also requires talent. Del Rio rose the coaching ladder so fast because he succeeded at every step and that ex-players can rise quicker because they understand the mentality of the modern day player. Why? They were modern day players.

Many ex-players don't give coaching a chance. It's hard to go from a million-dollar salary to a minimum wage position. It's hard for the ego to accept going from being a star to a grunt. Del Rio was an 11-year linebacker who hung with the best. He was a finalist for the Lombardi Trophy at Southern Cal for his linebacking skills. His baseball skills were good enough to bat .340 as a catcher on a Trojan team that had Randy Johnson and Mark McGwire.

He made all-rookie in the pros with the Saints in 1985 and earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl 10 years later with the Vikings. Ditka could only offer him a chance to get back in the game in 1997.

"The one thing you have to do as an ex-player getting into coaching is work at least double the hours and have a zero fall off your paycheck," Del Rio said. "I was able to work for $18,000 or maybe $20,000."

Instantly, Del Rio showed potential off the field. His work ethic equaled his reputation on the field. As a player, he studied tape endlessly, worked hard on the practice field and gave all that his athletic talents would allow on the field. As a coach, he had to learn.

"The time involved with coaching doesn't bother me," Del Rio. "I worked the four offseasons prior to the end of my career. I could have been lying on the beach during those offseasons, but I didn't mind the work. It became apparent that it wasn't where my heart was. I wanted to do something I have a love for."

Del Rio's first obstacle in coaching is making the separation from being a player to being a manager. The experience in the business world helped him, and he scored an instant victory.

"You have to show that you are not trying to be hanging with the players," Del Rio said. "You have to draw that line. When you are a coach, that's what you do. That's your profession. Mike Ditka gave me a job on a handshake. Apparently, the Saints saw me make that kind of commitment. All those concerns were put the rest and I loved every minute of it."

In 1998, Ditka let Del Rio coach the linebackers. When Brian Billick assembled his first staff in Baltimore a year later, he brought in Del Rio to coach linebackers such as Ray Lewis and Peter Boulware. Suddenly, he was a rising star in the profession.

Jack's a student of the game, he's bright and he commands instant respect in the lockerroom. I played with four guys who I thought would end up being great coaches and probably head coaches. Del Rio was one.
Mike Tice, Vikings head coach and former teammate of Del Rio's

"I guess people felt that I had a comfort level with my knowledge of defense," Del Rio said. "The fact that I could teach, my commitment and my work ethic must have shown something."

Billick noticed it when he was in Minnesota as offensive coordinator at the end of Del Rio's playing career. So did Tice, who was a teammate of Del Rio's in Minnesota and wanted to hire him as a defensive coordinator in 2002.

"Jack's a student of the game, he's bright and he commands instant respect in the lockerroom," Tice said. "I played with four guys who I thought would end up being great coaches and probably head coaches. Del Rio was one. Jeff Christy was another. Pete Bercich and Chris Walsh are two others."

Del Rio coached the linebackers for three seasons with the Ravens. It helped his career that he was part of the greatest defensive success story in the past five years. The Ravens dominated teams. It put coordinator Marvin Lewis at the top of the head coaching list, and it made Del Rio the Ravens next coordinator once he left.

Suddenly, Del Rio was on the map in his late 30s as a bright coaching prospect.

"I always prepared in the event I would be given the opportunity to take the next step," Del Rio said. "When I was a linebacker coach, I prepared in the event I would be given a chance to be coordinator. When I was a coordinator, I prepared in the hope I would be given the chance to interview for a head-coaching job. It happened."

Del Rio's first gamble was taking the defensive coordinator job last season with the Panthers, a team lacking in cornerback talent and having a less than average offense. Del Rio took the schemes he learned from all his playing stops and his coaching stops and turned the Panthers into the league's second-ranked defense last year.

Insiders around the league knew he would be one of the next head coaches. What they couldn't anticipate it would happen as early as this year with the Jaguars.

Critics say it all came too fast to Del Rio. Of course, critics of him as a player said he lacked speed. Each year, he played 16 games and averaged 100 tackles a season.

"I try not to get caught up in other people's perceptions," Del Rio said. "I know that I have a great feel for what the guys are going through. I know what they need to accomplish to be successful and I focus more on that and less on what people think or don't think. I know who I am. I know what my background is. I go out and try to do as good a job as I can. My full focus and attention is on building a winner."

To motivate his defenders, Del Rio has an aggressive scheme that allows players to move fast. He demands players swarming to the ball. He tried to put them in position to make big plays.

"It's a good, sound defense, but it starts with the premise to allow our people to play fast and be in an attacking mode," Del Rio said. "I think the players enjoy it. They like to disrupt receivers. There are no magic formulas. There is good solid coaching."

On April 4, he turns 40. It's been a fast ride up the head coaching ladder.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.







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