“Son, in order to help you, I have to access your mind. But first, I have to access your heart. I can’t help you as a quarterback unless I help you as a man.”
Boy oh boy, those words just touch something in my soul, as a father, a coach and a former player. They fire me up. Who said them? Can they say them to me?
Over the past 2 ½ years I have had a front row seat for the greatest teaching and mentoring class of my life. It has been a straight up blessing to be part of Coach Steve Wilson’s one on one sessions with my son Shawn in the art of quarterbacking at an elite level. Steve Wilson is THE QB MENTOR.
Let me tell you a little bit about my friend, confidant and colleague. Steve was an All Star football player in North Carolina in the 1970’s and was inducted into the Northern Durham High School Hall of Fame with his #44 jersey retired. His father was “Touchdown Tommy” Wilson, who as a rookie in 1956, broke the NFL Single Game rushing record and became an All-Pro and Pro Bowl Running Back. I met Steve while I was a member of the NFL Denver Broncos from 1984-86. Steve was a defensive back with several of the Broncos Superbowl teams and I was a 3rd team quarterback behind John Elway and Gary Kubiak. Steve took me under his wing and worked with me after practices and in the off season on the nuances and techniques that had helped him make the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent Wide Receiver and Cornerback after his All-American college career at Howard University. I guess he saw the similarities in our situations and had a heart to help other hard working free agent type players like me trying to chase their dream.
I was cut by the Broncos in 1986 and after tryouts with the Philadelphia Eagles and a stint during the 1987 strike season with the Miami Dolphins, I retired. I like to say that, but the fact of the matter was I had been cut 8 times and I had no contract offers from other teams so my career was therefore over. Retired just sounds like I had more control than I did. I wasn’t good enough is the reality.
Anyway, Steve played 4 more years before he retired. In an unlikely twist, he was hired immediately as the Head Coach at his alma mater, Howard University, a HBCU (Historically Black College and University) where he proceeded (without any coaching experience at all) to turn Howard into a perennial power at the 1AA level, being named National Coach of the Year twice and putting over 2 dozen players into the pros during his 20 year college coaching career. Steve retired from coaching and moved back to his hometown of Durham, North Carolina. He keeps a low profile, helping out the local high schools who are smart enough to solicit his vast knowledge of the game. His Ultimate Football University allows him to consult players and coaches worldwide on both sides of the ball. Steve manages a facebook page, Ultimate Football University, that is the culmination of his 35 year football career and every playbook, interview, offensive or defensive concept he has ever run across. It is football’s equivalent to the Library of Congress. It was born out of what one of Coach Wilson’s former Quarterbacks and Colts Offensive Coordinator, Pep Hamilton calls the “Big Bag Theory”. Back in the day, Coach used carry around a huge team bag filled with VHS tapes of games and films that he would use in class room sessions with his teams. Today, that big bag is now Ultimate Football University and has up to 20,000 visitors a week from around the world.
Three years ago, my son Shawn was a rising star as a quarterback at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Coach Wilson saw Shawn's highlights on local Friday night sports casts and it caught his attention. Then, as God would arrange it, Steve and I ran into each other a CHAMPS Sports Bar at the mall at lunch one day and we laughed and hugged, not seeing each other for 25 years, but that didn’t matter, teammates are always teammates. Coach said “your boy needs an agent, not a coach. What a talent, he has a great future. Let me know if I can ever help him.” It was nice to hear of Coach’s flattering remarks about Shawn’s future.
Shawn's junior season he led his team to 11-0 and into the state playoffs. But in the first playoff game, on a QB draw, he cut, fell to the ground and didn’t get up...having torn his ACL in his left knee. Shawn was devastated. The injury ended his football season, his basketball season and worse denied him the chance to compete and get exposure from the combines and college camps that could set him up for college scholarships as a quarterback. It was a tough time for Shawn and for me and his family. It seemed his dream had been shattered.
Coach called me and offered his help in the form of a Quarterback Class to help Shawn continue to develop as an Elite QB even while he was physically rehabbing his knee and unable to throw. Shawn and his mom agreed, and so we started Coach Wilson’s Quarterback Class. And it changed all of our lives. I have had the privilege of being coached by some of the greatest coaches of all time, including Don Shula, Dan Reeves, Mike Shanahan and Chan Gailey in the NFL as well as Randy Walker at UNC and Mike Pettine Sr. in high school, but my experience with Coach Steve Wilson has been the most remarkable of all. Our time together was about much more than football, it was far more important than that. We dealt with Shawn's ACL recovery, and recruiting disappointments, and then my leukemia diagnosis and even Coach Wilson’s health issues. Football was our reason to come together, but life is what bound us together.
One day, as a gift to Coach Wilson, I printed out my transcription of almost 40 sessions of the QB class he had done with Shawn during that spring and summer preparing for Shawn's senior season. I had them bound and when the man from Kinkos handed me the document, I realized I had a manuscript.
The QB Mentor is the book that resulted from our time together these past 3 years. It is scheduled to be released in January of 2016, and I can’t wait to share it with my friends and family and with the rest of the world. Some have described it as a cross between Tuesdays with Morrie and Season of Life, which are two of my favorite books.
Here is a teaser of what Coach Wilson, The QB Mentor, is all about.
I was on a phone call with Coach and an elite nationally ranked high school quarterback who was committed to a prominent college in 2016. His father was on the phone and the two of them were asking questions about the process and the class that coach was offering. Coach asked me to be on the call to offer my perspective as the father of a son who had just went through the class and how valuable it was to his success.
At one point on the call coach cut to the chase and said this:
“Son, in order to help you, I have to access your mind. But first, I have to access your heart. I can’t help you as a quarterback unless I help you as a man.”
That is exactly what Coach Steve Wilson did for this old quarterback and his son. And as you will read when the book comes out, he has been using the same formula for the past 20 years in relationships with his quarterbacks. Coach Wilson impact ranges from Maryland State Delegate and ESPN analyst Jay Walker to Florida Mayor Terrill Hill, and also coaches like the Colts Offensive Coordinator Pep Hamilton and Roy Anderson Colts Safety Coach. His influence also extends to Howard University where Offensive Coordinator Ted White produced a record breaking QB Greg McGhee who himself is now a Pro QB.
I can’t wait for you to enjoy The QB Mentor and gain a glimpse of Coach Wilson’s effect on not only Shawn's head and heart, but also mine. My hope is that his book encourages you and inspires you to chase your dreams despite any challenges you may face.
Amen and AMEN