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By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 07:20 p.m. EST, Feb 19, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS: New Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz feared his NFL career would end before it had barely begun in Cleveland, all because of a turkey sandwich.
Schwartz had been hired for a non-paying job as a Browns gopher under coach Bill Belichick in 1995. The Baltimore native was given an apartment and could eat whatever he found in the stocked kitchen at the office.
''It was literally one of the first days I was there and there was nobody else in the building,'' Schwartz said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine. ''They brought me up for a minicamp, and Bill did the old NFL trick [to the players], 'If you have a good practice on Thursday, I'll give you off on Friday.'
''My plane ticket didn't get me home until Friday. He gave the team off and all the coaches and players were out of there. I'm around the office the entire day, and I don't see another soul. I'm waiting for my flight, so I go in and grab some lunch, and I use the last of the turkey.''
Schwartz had just taken a bite out of his sandwich when Belichick walked in.
''He had been working out and was rooting through the refrigerator,'' Schwartz said. ''He looks over and he said, 'Have you seen the turkey?' And I've got a mouthful and I'm [pointing]. 'I just used the last,' and I got one of these 'Oh, what the . . . ?'
''I called home and said, 'This might be a one-way ticket home.' ''
Schwartz spent three years with the Browns as a college and pro scout and defensive assistant before moving with the franchise to Baltimore. He joined the Tennessee Titans in 1999, working his way up to defensive coordinator.
''I joke around about how low I started, but I also tip my hat to Thomas Dimitroff and Eric Mangini because they were below me,'' Schwartz said.
Dimitroff is now the Atlanta Falcons' general manager and Mangini the Browns' coach.
''Thomas was cutting grass and rolling the tarp outside, and Eric was a P.R. intern. I was making a lot of airport and Cleveland Clinic runs and getting smokes for secretaries and other people in the office.
''All of that was my tuition, so to speak. To be exposed to the happenings there and to be able to learn, it was obviously well worth it.''
Notes
Schwartz said Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who recently said he would test the free-agency market, would have a difficult time playing in a 3-4 defensive scheme. . . . Kent State left tackle Gus Parrish, 6-foot-4 and 302 pounds, hopes to run the 40-yard dash in less than five seconds. He has been training at Perfect Competition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ''I've been timed at 4.9 before and hopefully I can get that here,'' Parrish said. . . . Cleveland.com reported that the Browns are on the verge of hiring Matt Eberflus, defensive coordinator and associate coach at the University of Missouri, as linebackers coach and that they are considering former St. Louis Rams director of football administration Samir Suleiman for salary-cap specialist.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.
INDIANAPOLIS: New Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz feared his NFL career would end before it had barely begun in Cleveland, all because of a turkey sandwich.
Schwartz had been hired for a non-paying job as a Browns gopher under coach Bill Belichick in 1995. The Baltimore native was given an apartment and could eat whatever he found in the stocked kitchen at the office.
''It was literally one of the first days I was there and there was nobody else in the building,'' Schwartz said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine. ''They brought me up for a minicamp, and Bill did the old NFL trick [to the players], 'If you have a good practice on Thursday, I'll give you off on Friday.'
''My plane ticket didn't get me home until Friday. He gave the team off and all the coaches and players were out of there. I'm around the office the entire day, and I don't see another soul. I'm waiting for my flight, so I go in and grab some lunch, and I use the last of the turkey.''
Schwartz had just taken a bite out of his sandwich when Belichick walked in.
''He had been working out and was rooting through the refrigerator,'' Schwartz said. ''He looks over and he said, 'Have you seen the turkey?' And I've got a mouthful and I'm [pointing]. 'I just used the last,' and I got one of these 'Oh, what the . . . ?'
''I called home and said, 'This might be a one-way ticket home.' ''
Schwartz spent three years with the Browns as a college and pro scout and defensive assistant before moving with the franchise to Baltimore. He joined the Tennessee Titans in 1999, working his way up to defensive coordinator.
''I joke around about how low I started, but I also tip my hat to Thomas Dimitroff and Eric Mangini because they were below me,'' Schwartz said.
Dimitroff is now the Atlanta Falcons' general manager and Mangini the Browns' coach.
''Thomas was cutting grass and rolling the tarp outside, and Eric was a P.R. intern. I was making a lot of airport and Cleveland Clinic runs and getting smokes for secretaries and other people in the office.
''All of that was my tuition, so to speak. To be exposed to the happenings there and to be able to learn, it was obviously well worth it.''
Notes
Schwartz said Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who recently said he would test the free-agency market, would have a difficult time playing in a 3-4 defensive scheme. . . . Kent State left tackle Gus Parrish, 6-foot-4 and 302 pounds, hopes to run the 40-yard dash in less than five seconds. He has been training at Perfect Competition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ''I've been timed at 4.9 before and hopefully I can get that here,'' Parrish said. . . . Cleveland.com reported that the Browns are on the verge of hiring Matt Eberflus, defensive coordinator and associate coach at the University of Missouri, as linebackers coach and that they are considering former St. Louis Rams director of football administration Samir Suleiman for salary-cap specialist.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.
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