Football is a game that you can’t play forever, it’s just the cruel nature of the sport… unless you’re Tom Brady of course.
But even the great Brady will at some point have the face the bitter reality of hanging up the cleats and moving on from playing the game we all love.
However, for many, as their playing career comes to an end, their career as a coach is just about to begin.
Such is the case for many former University of Calgary Dinos players, who are new members of the Calgary Colts coaching staff under head coach Dennis Holowaychuk.
Boston Rowe, Jimmy Underdahl and Tyler Ledwos are just three of the former players who are in their first full season with the junior squad. Other former Dinos on the staff include Connor Robinson, Matt Lamoureux and Connor McGough.
For Rowe – the co-defensive coordinator – part of the reason he joined the staff was because he had so many coaches that helped him succeed, he felt as though he had a duty to do the same.
“I realized that throughout my football career I got some pretty good coaching,” explained the former Dinos linebacker. “Not everyone gets that opportunity, so I feel more of a responsibility to pass that on to the next guys coming up.”
And although he has that wealth of knowledge, Rowe admits there have been some challenges in his first full year as a man on the sidelines.
“As a player you kind of take for granted how much prep work the coaches actually do,” said Rowe. “You just show up and everything is already made and you just follow in line, but as a coach, there is so much more to it.”
Luckily for Rowe, he has a tremendous coaching staff supporting him. Ledwos, who coaches the receivers, thinks that the fact that many of the coaches have experience with the University of Calgary, whether it be as a player or a coach, helps the coaching staff stay on the same wavelength when it comes to their overall vision for the team.
“We have a great combination of experienced coaches such as Dennis and a few other veterans, mixed with myself and the other U of C guys,” said Ledwos. “It always feels like we are on the same page in terms of what our expectations should be with our players.”
Unfortunately, the beginning of the 2021 season has not gone the way that the coaching staff would’ve hoped, as the Colts have dropped their first five games of the season. It’s not what a lot of them are used to, but Underdahl knows that creating a winning atmosphere takes time, especially with such an inexperienced roster.
“Dennis’ whole message when he brought us on board was that he wanted to create this winning culture and change the culture of the Colts team he was taking over,” said the quarterbacks coach. “But at the end of the day, we are just so young and only have a handful of guys who have ever played a snap of post-secondary football.”
Underdahl went on to explain that despite the shaky start, the message to the team moving forward remains fairly simple.
“Execute and compete,” he said. “We really just have to try and be patient and worry about doing your job every single play. Like I said, we are so young, it will come.”
And with so many Dinos on the staff, it probably won’t take long.