Good luck to SpeilsSpielman primed for Arena gig
Posted: Wednesday January 26, 2005 8:46PM; Updated: Wednesday January 26, 2005 8:46PM
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Chris Spielman is back in Columbus, this time as coach of the Columbus Destroyers.
AP
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<SCRIPT>if(cnnEnableCL){if(!(location.hostname.indexOf('cnn.com')>-1)) {cnnAddCSI('contextualLinks','/.element/ssi/misc/2.0/contextual/story.html','');}else{ cnnAddCSI('contextualLinks','http://cl.cnn.com/ctxtlink/jsp/si/cl/2.0/si-story.jsp','category=sinfl&url=http:/\/robots.cnnsi.com/2005/football/nfl/01/26/bc.fba.coachspielman.ap/index.html&desccharcnt=80&site=cnn_sinfl_dyn_ctxt&origin=si');}}</SCRIPT><IFRAME id=iframecontextualLinks style=\"VISIBILITY: hidden; POSITION: absolute\" name=iframecontextualLinks align=right src="http://cl.cnn.com/ctxtlink/jsp/si/cl/2.0/si-story.jsp?domId=contextualLinks&time=1106847445380&category=sinfl&url=http://robots.cnnsi.com/2005/football/nfl/01/26/bc.fba.coachspielman.ap/index.html&desccharcnt=80&site=cnn_sinfl_dyn_ctxt&origin=si" width=0 height=0></IFRAME></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- During an 11-year pro career, Chris Spielman was known for his intensity and his ferocity. As an All-American at Ohio State, he once said he knew he'd done his job when he would see a ball-carrier's eyes roll back in his head.
Things have changed for Spielman as he approaches his first game as head coach of the Arena Football League's Columbus Destroyers on Friday night.
He's still intense. But Spielman no longer is the same fire-breathing linebacker who led the Detroit Lions in tackles seven years in a row.
Spielman, who turns 40 in October, has been mellowed by the years, by his four kids, by his time away from the game, and particularly by his wife Stefanie's ongoing battle with breast cancer.
"I've been a humbled man. I've been humbled so much, and I probably needed humbling," Spielman said, surrounded by the grunts and groans of football players at work. "This is fun and this is challenging, but I will not let it define me anymore, like it used to."
Spielman grew up in Massillon, a rust-belt city that used to be shrouded in the smoke and steam of its factories. Nurses used to place a miniature football next to a baby right after the newborn was first put in its crib.
Welcome to the world, welcome to Tigers football.
The son of a coach, Spielman was weaned on the game. When he and his friends couldn't get on a field, they played on tennis courts, leading to skinned knees and elbows. In the winter, they laced on ice skates and played football on frozen ponds. Spielman learned early that you wanted to avoid falling down or you might catch a skate in the back.
He was the epitome of a football hero in a football-crazy town, even appearing on a Wheaties box in his Massillon uniform.
From there he moved on to Ohio State where it didn't take long for coach Earle Bruce to get a glimpse of how tightly wound Spielman was. Bruce was on the sidelines during a game and could sense someone behind him pacing back and forth. He turned to see Spielman, fighting an injury, almost shouting to himself: "Why doesn't he let me go in? I can play! I'm not hurt!"
Despite a glittering college career, Spielman's name wasn't called until the second round of the 1988 draft. He had an impact almost immediately on the Lions -- bouncing around the field like a pinball to make tackles. He was adored by the fans for all the offensive players he decked and for his toughness. He never missed a game, playing in 114 in a row before his streak ended in 1997. A neck injury eventually ended his career after two years with the Buffalo Bills and another with the Cleveland Browns.
In 1999, Stefanie Spielman discovered she had breast cancer. When she lost her hair because of chemotherapy treatments, her husband shaved his head so she wouldn't stand alone.
Eventually, the cancer went into remission. It has returned twice, and Stefanie is currently going through treatments again.
"She's a warrior," her husband said softly. "She's really a warrior."
The Spielmans have raised $2.6 million for cancer research and prevention. They appear at fund-raisers, in print ads and on television seeking donations from corporations and individuals. Their fight has been embraced by many who recognize Stefanie's toughness almost as much as her husband's.
"It's been on his mind since the day they found out, and it'll probably be on his mind until eternity," said Jim Lachey, a former teammate at Ohio State who also went on to a solid NFL career. "It's a terrible disease and unfortunately there's too many families in the world that have to deal with this and the Spielmans are one of them, I commend him. He and Stefanie continue to fight through it and continue to support and to love and to raise their family in the right way. You've seen other human beings back down from that kind of pressure. But they stand firm."
Chris took the Destroyers job because he felt he had something to give. It's no longer just about winning -- although he doesn't apologize for hating to lose -- but rather about making a difference. He wants others to see the journey he has taken.
"He's definitely a players' coach," said Destroyers offensive specialist Bobby Olive, a former Ohio State receiver. "He's intense, but he's definitely a guy that the players want to play for."
Never having coached anything beyond his kids' soccer teams, he slipped seamlessly into the role with the Destroyers.
"My priorities are God and family and work," Spielman said. "Even though it's time-consuming it's not like the NFL or college. That's why it was an easy decision for me.
"Also, I like having winning and losing on the line. I like taking a group of men and seeing if they can come together as one. That's the enjoyment I get out of life. I'm still a competitor."
ARENA FOOTBALL
Destined to coach
Destroyers are finding out that Chris Spielman is a natural
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Bill Rabinowitz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>‘‘I’m just saying your teammates are expecting you to make a play. I don’t care whether it’s a meaningless wind sprint at the end of practice or a fourth-and-10 and you need to convert."
— CHRIS SPIELMAN </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>
</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>NEAL C. LAURON | DISPATCH PHOTOS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Chris Spielman will make his debut as Destroyers coach Friday against the Nashville Kats in Nationwide Arena. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Chris Spielman arrived home after his first practice as Columbus Destroyers coach. His wife, Stefanie, was ready with a simple question: How did it feel?
Until then, Spielman had been so busy coaching that he hadn’t taken a moment to reflect on his new role. Hearing the question, it hit him.
‘‘It felt completely natural," Spielman said. ‘‘I didn’t think, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is my first day.’ It was just like, ‘This is what you do.’ "
So, finally, he is coaching. Now it seems inevitable. Spielman is a coach’s son who always acted like a coach’s son during his long playing career as a linebacker for Ohio State and in the NFL. But other than expressing interest in the Ohio State coaching job that went to Jim Tressel, Spielman resisted offers to become a coach.
He had no desire to jump on the NFL coaching carousel and face the likelihood of uprooting his family every few years. Last year, he was offered the Destroyers’ coaching job when the Arena Football League team moved here from Buffalo. But he didn’t believe he knew the arena game well enough. So he spent last season as the team’s director of football operations.
‘‘It was huge to sit back and kind of be like a sponge and absorb things," Spielman said.
He took over for Earle Bruce in the summer and has been immersed ever since. At the stroke of midnight on the day free agency began, Spielman and his assistants were on the phones courting players. While watching the Ohio State-Purdue game in November, Spielman saw a Boilermakers play he believed could be incorporated into the arena game and jotted it into a notepad.
Surround yourself with talent
Spielman knows one season in the AFL does not make him an expert. That’s why he has surrounded himself with an experienced coaching staff. Returning offensive coordinator Pete Costanza and new defensive coordinator Ron Selesky have been head coaches in the arena game.
‘‘You don’t want to set yourself up for failure," Spielman said. ‘‘You want to set yourself up for success. Both of those guys, plus (assistant coaches) Vinnie (Clark) and Jeff (Hoffman), are guys I trust and believe in.
"It’s a perfect scenario because I tell them, ‘This is what’s expected and this is what needs to be done.’ I let them do their job and they do a great job at that."
But Spielman’s imprint on the players is unmistakable. At one recent practice, he chastised a defensive back for playing it safe.
"You’re here to intercept passes," he barked. "Don’t be passive. Take your shots. What’s the worst that happens? They score a touchdown in arena football?"
At the end of practice, players ran conditioning sprints. When quarterback Chad Salisbury failed to beat the mandated time, Spielman made the whole offensive unit repeat the sprint. The second time, Salisbury willed his way across the line in time.
"That was hard for him, but just because he’s a big, lanky quarterback with a gun for an arm doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to meet the requirements everyone else does," Spielman said.
"I’m not trying to call him out. I’m just saying your teammates are expecting you to make a play. I don’t care whether it’s a meaningless wind sprint at the end of practice or a fourth-and-10 and you need to convert. That plants a seed for them to trust him because they saw him give everything he had. Not a thing I do out there is without meaning."
The players seem to appreciate Spielman’s directness.
"He’s a straight shooter," quarterback Matt D’Orazio said. "If he says it, he means it. If he doesn’t say it, he’s probably not thinking it."
Football isn’t No . 1
Life experiences, particularly Stefanie’s battle with cancer, have changed him.
"I’m a totally different person," he said. "I don’t want that to be misread, that I’m not passionate about football or don’t enjoy it (as much). I think I’m a totally different person because I no longer use football to define myself.
""I define myself as a Christian and a husband and a father."
On the board in his office, Spielman has written his coaching principles: God, family, values and principles, and honesty.
Coaches often describe their team as a family. Usually, it’s a cliche with not much truth. But Spielman took the team on a bowling outing Saturday. He and Stefanie plan to have a movie night with the team and bring in dinner.
When Spielman releases players, he takes it hard. He said he didn’t sleep the night before he cut Ryan Vena, the starting quarterback last year.
"It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do in sports," he said.
Old school appreciates new school
Some might wonder how Spielman, to some the embodiment of the old-school player, can adapt to such a new-school game, where blaring music fills every break and flamboyant end-zone celebrations are encouraged.
Spielman could do without the look-at-me showboating, but he has immense respect for players who are willing to punish their bodies for modest pay because they love the sport.
"I treat them all with the respect they deserve and they’ve earned over the years," Spielman said.
"They’re good football players. They’re talented guys. I don’t know why they’re not at the next level. Everybody’s got a reason why. Maybe they’re an inch short or whatever."
As someone who overcame perceived physical limitations, Spielman can relate.
"Once the respect is given to them, which players want more than anything else, then every other wall is knocked down," he said. [email protected]
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