I have been blogging on and off for about 6 years, and I truly believe that this will be my favorite entry.
It’s not uncommon for a successful coach to have his staff move on to head coaching and front office jobs. There has been some very famous “coaching trees” in the NFL past. Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, and Bill Belichik are the ones we all think of. I am not sure if being named “Bill” is a prerequisite to establishing your own coaching tree. In these cases, they all had a high number of staffers go on to prestigious positions.
In the history of the NFL, there has never been another PLAYER responsible for his own coaching tree, other than Ray Lewis. Since drafted in 1996, he has been making defensive coordinators look like head-coaching material. There are currently five coaches who stepped in head-coaching jobs after coaching Ray Lewis and his staple defense. Jack Del Rio was a linebacker coach that jumped to a head gig with Jacksonville. Marvin Lewis won a Super Bowl with the Ravens and later took a head job with division rival Cincinnati Bengals. It is worth noting that Ray was the MVP of that Super Bowl and that defense still regarded as one of the best defenses ever assembled. Proof of that is that this Super Bowl winning team went 6 straight weeks in the regular season without an offensive touchdown. Mike Nolan coached Ray for three seasons and went on to be coach of the San Francisco 49ers. San Fran ended up hiring Mike Singletary who is the “Ray Lewis before Ray Lewis”. He too coached Ray for a few seasons as a line backer coach.
Most recently and probably the most famous will be Rex Ryan. Rex had been targeted for head coaching for years. His dad, Buddy, was the defensive coordinator of the other defense that is mentioned as the “best ever”. 1986 Chicago Bears. Rex took the New York Jets job last year and has been in the spot light ever since. He is making his name for himself for his off field antics, unconventional coaching methods, and his unique relationship with the media.
Ray’s influence even spills over to some players that have come and gone. Adalius Thomas signed a huge deal to quarterback the Patriots’ defense. Things never worked out the way it was planned. AD was cut recently and is talking to teams about where he will resurface. Bart Scott followed Rex to the Jets to be their “Ray Lewis”, and last year their defense was #1, but Bart was not Ray. I will always love Bart for his toughness and of course that head on hit on Big Ben that left Pittsburgh fans with their jaws on the floor hoping that their sexual predator would get back up. Bart and AD were both low draft picks or undrafted. They saw Ray’s work ethic, he taught them how to succeed.
