Events Calendar
In This Section
Browns terminate Stallworth's contract
Colts kicker Matt Stover, 42, is oldest player in Super Bowl history
Browns, Dolphins make unusual trade
Holmgren dislikes quarterback battles
Cavs' hoops throw Bryant for a loop
Winfield won't let pain intercept playoff chance
NFL title games include several players with local ties
Most Read Stories
Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Complaints against officer keep coming
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Cuyahoga Falls residents come home to find burning couch on balcony
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
Track HR Research
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
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/.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
