The Detroit Lions had better hope it’s more than a generation gap that drove Bobby Ross into coaching retirement this week. Otherwise it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to replace the 63-year-old Ross with 59-year-old Gary Moeller.
Age is not always kind to teachers, baby-sitters, coaches or anyone needing to connect and communicate with youth. When the young are so talented, so popular, so rich, so important, there is little room left in their lives for no-nonsense, quirky, serious, intense, exacting little men like Bobby Ross.
Only one NFL coach is older, Indianapolis’ Jim Mora, and he looks young enough to lie about his age, 65. But Mora quit the New Orleans Saints midway through the 1996 season to recharge his batteries.
“I feel close to that situation because I did the same thing,” Mora said. “I think [Ross] is a heck of a coach. For him to do something like that, there certainly had to be some real substantial reasons. He’s a tough guy and a good football coach.”
Of that there is little disagreement, even though Ross’ 27-30 record in Detroit exposed a fading reputation. Bears defensive tackle Mike Wells played for the Lions in Ross’ first season, 1997, and said he “liked him a lot.” But then Barry Sanders abruptly quit before the 1999 season. Ross had the temerity to suggest Sanders might prove a better team leader if he showed up at off-season mini-camps, something Sanders did not regularly do under predecessor Wayne Fontes.
“Wayne let Barry do pretty much what he wanted,” Wells said. “Ross treated him like a normal person.”
First mistake. Nobody ever suggested Sanders was a prima donna, though that is no longer an automatically pejorative description on today’s celebrity sports scene. It’s just the way it is.
The demands of X’s and O’s are stressful enough without the demands of MTV and DVD and athlete websites.com, where players can get paid to rip coaches and teammates online.
Maybe it’s only coincidence that the youngest coach in the league, Oakland’s Jon Gruden, 37, and the third-youngest coach in the league, Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher, 42, have the two top teams of the moment.
Maybe it’s only coincidence that Super Bowl coaches Dick Vermeil, 64, Mike Ditka, 61, Bill Parcells, 59, and Jimmy Johnson, 57, all retired or were fired last season.
Said Gruden: “Bobby Ross is a guy I studied and respected for years. Dick Vermeil won the Super Bowl last year and you can’t argue with some of the veteran coaches and what they’ve accomplished. I try not to think too deep or too philosophical about that.”
Vermeil won his Super Bowl only after a near-revolt by St. Louis Rams players forced him to change old ways.
At any age, the profession takes a toll.
“You can’t underestimate the pressure,” said the New York Giants’ Jim Fassel, 51. “It wears on you and grinds on you.”
Two years ago, Fassel was losing weight and couldn’t figure out why.
“I was eating cinnamon rolls, whole breakfasts, lunch, I’d eat a whole dinner, a bowl of ice cream, cookies during the day, and I was 17 pounds lighter than I am today,” he said.
Abe Gibron never had that kind of problem.
They say Gruden hardly sleeps. The sideline scowl he wears shows it. Yet he scoffs at suggestions he will burn out.
“I don’t look at it like that,” he said. “I hope not. I really feel fortunate to have a job I really enjoy. That’s part of the reason I get up early and try to stay late, not trying to make a name for myself or outwork anybody. I just really like the strategy. I really like the competition. I really feel lucky to have a job I really enjoy so much.”
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Likewise, George Seifert, 60, put his record for career winning percentage in jeopardy by unretiring from the 49ers and leaving his fishing boat in San Francisco to coach the Carolina Panthers.
“When the season is over, I’ll get my fair share of fishing in,” Seifert said. “I have to say I honestly enjoy working with these players. They’re good guys. I don’t have bad guys I’m dealing with. I enjoy the coaches, the organization and living in Charlotte. I’ve got a neat house.
“It’s not that big a deal when the season is over to get on a plane and fly non-stop to the Bay Area. I have a pretty enviable life right now, actually.”