After years on sidelines, Joe Avezzano is calling the shots
After years on sidelines, Joe Avezzano is calling the shots
01:27 AM CDT on Friday, July 7, 2006
By TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News
For the first time since 1989, Joe Avezzano is not getting ready for a football season.
And the former Cowboys special teams coach is OK with that, even though he remembers the last time he wasn't in football, he sat around feeling sorry for himself.
The best part of that year was watching his son Tony, 30, play sports. Now he gets to work with his son every day.
"Players, when they retire, have a hard time, if they've played long enough, replacing that excitement, that adrenaline rush that other businesses don't give you," said Avezzano, 62, who coached the last two seasons in Oakland for former Cowboys assistant Norv Turner. "And coaching can be the same way. I'm glad that I have other interests."
At the top of the list is Suede Bar & Grill in Dallas, which he and Tony have owned for a little more than a year. They also run Hat Tricks Sports Bar & Grill in Lewisville.
Then there's the country music show Avezzano is pushing with a local radio station, and the analysis he will do with Brad Sham on the radio for two Cowboys preseason games. He is hoping to land a radio or television gig during the regular season.
But getting ready for training camp? Avezzano will not miss that. He will miss the games but not training camp. He calls training camp "an unnatural act."
"In any profession, there are a lot of things involved that are pleasurable and things that are just part of the deal, like training camp," Avezzano said. "I hated training camp as a player. I hated it as a coach. I know it's the start of the season and all that, but players enjoy playing and coaches enjoy coaching, and most of that revolves around game day."
Avezzano's coaching career began in 1967 in Massillon, Ohio, then he returned to his alma mater, Florida State, in 1968. After coaching stops at Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Oregon State (he was the head coach from 1980 to '84) and Texas A&M, Avezzano joined Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys in 1990.
Avezzano quickly became "Coach Joe." His peers named him the NFL's special teams coach of the year three times (1991, '93, '98), and he wears three Super Bowl rings. He had his own radio show. Because of his animated sideline actions, Avezzano was the opposite of Johnson, and the network cameras loved showing him.
Avezzano, who coached the Dallas Desperados of the Arena Football League for two seasons, is not ready to give up coaching. He hoped to hook on with a team this year after Turner was fired by the Raiders. Instead, he is at Suede almost daily. Tony books musical acts.
Avezzano said the charge he gets from running Suede is similar to the thrill of roaming the sideline.
"I've coached high school, coached in college and coached in the NFL, and at all three places, you're working on someone else's dime," Avezzano said. "When you're writing your own checks for an investment, that makes it a different situation right from the start."
E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com
AVEZZANO'S FAVORITES
From 1990 to 2002, Joe Avezzano was the Cowboys' special teams coach, and three times his coaching peers named him the NFL's special teams coach of the year (1991, '93, '98). His favorite special teamers:
1. Bill Bates
"To me, he was one of the favorite Cowboys, period, because he related to the common man. Everybody thought they could be Bill Bates, but he did it for 15 years and was one of the most loyal and successful players I've been around." He was integral in my success as a person and a coach."
2. Kenny Gant
"The Shark. Just an outstanding special teams player. Funny. He enjoyed that Shark routine."
3. Matt Vanderbeek
"Unusual guy because he was so big, but he was so good. Had that long, blond, flowing hair, so everybody called him Michael Bolton."
4. Billy Davis
"Unusual combination because he was a receiver who was big. Really big and really fast. And he was productive. I enjoyed the heck out of him."
5. Returners
"Kevin Williams was one of my favorites. Very productive. Kelvin Martin might have had the biggest punt return in all my years with the Cowboys when he returned that punt against Philadelphia that put us in the playoffs. Herschel Walker. Loved him as a kickoff returner. And then probably the greatest athlete that I saw in the NFL in person, that was Deion Sanders. He was the most incredible athlete I've been around."
Brodsky a mentor and friend
Joe Avezzano was 14 when his life changed. It's when he met Joe Brodsky, then the football coach at Miami Jackson High School.
Brodsky, the Cowboys' running backs coach from 1989 to '97, died May 25 after a long battle with prostate cancer. The emotion still carries in Avezzano's voice more than a month later.
Brodsky coached Avezzano in football and basketball, becoming a mentor before becoming a close friend.
"One of the most admirable things I realized about Joe was that he was the head coach at Miami Jackson High when it was all white, and he remained the head coach as the school turned probably 90 percent Cuban and then remained when the school turned 90 percent black," Avezzano said. "To see how all those people responded in the same manner as far as their feelings for Joe Brodsky, I realize not a lot of people could do that. I just marvel at it."
The coaching staff that helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls in the 1990s was connected through several coaching stops. Avezzano first met Jimmy Johnson at Iowa State. He coached Dave Wannstedt at Pittsburgh. He hired Robert Ford at Oregon State. He and Bruce Mays worked together at Washington High in Massillon, Ohio.
And then there was Brodsky.
"To spend those nine years together was incredible," Avezzano said. "He was just a very special person."
Todd Archer
01:27 AM CDT on Friday, July 7, 2006
By TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News
For the first time since 1989, Joe Avezzano is not getting ready for a football season.
And the former Cowboys special teams coach is OK with that, even though he remembers the last time he wasn't in football, he sat around feeling sorry for himself.
The best part of that year was watching his son Tony, 30, play sports. Now he gets to work with his son every day.
"Players, when they retire, have a hard time, if they've played long enough, replacing that excitement, that adrenaline rush that other businesses don't give you," said Avezzano, 62, who coached the last two seasons in Oakland for former Cowboys assistant Norv Turner. "And coaching can be the same way. I'm glad that I have other interests."
At the top of the list is Suede Bar & Grill in Dallas, which he and Tony have owned for a little more than a year. They also run Hat Tricks Sports Bar & Grill in Lewisville.
Then there's the country music show Avezzano is pushing with a local radio station, and the analysis he will do with Brad Sham on the radio for two Cowboys preseason games. He is hoping to land a radio or television gig during the regular season.
But getting ready for training camp? Avezzano will not miss that. He will miss the games but not training camp. He calls training camp "an unnatural act."
"In any profession, there are a lot of things involved that are pleasurable and things that are just part of the deal, like training camp," Avezzano said. "I hated training camp as a player. I hated it as a coach. I know it's the start of the season and all that, but players enjoy playing and coaches enjoy coaching, and most of that revolves around game day."
Avezzano's coaching career began in 1967 in Massillon, Ohio, then he returned to his alma mater, Florida State, in 1968. After coaching stops at Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Oregon State (he was the head coach from 1980 to '84) and Texas A&M, Avezzano joined Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys in 1990.
Avezzano quickly became "Coach Joe." His peers named him the NFL's special teams coach of the year three times (1991, '93, '98), and he wears three Super Bowl rings. He had his own radio show. Because of his animated sideline actions, Avezzano was the opposite of Johnson, and the network cameras loved showing him.
Avezzano, who coached the Dallas Desperados of the Arena Football League for two seasons, is not ready to give up coaching. He hoped to hook on with a team this year after Turner was fired by the Raiders. Instead, he is at Suede almost daily. Tony books musical acts.
Avezzano said the charge he gets from running Suede is similar to the thrill of roaming the sideline.
"I've coached high school, coached in college and coached in the NFL, and at all three places, you're working on someone else's dime," Avezzano said. "When you're writing your own checks for an investment, that makes it a different situation right from the start."
E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com
AVEZZANO'S FAVORITES
From 1990 to 2002, Joe Avezzano was the Cowboys' special teams coach, and three times his coaching peers named him the NFL's special teams coach of the year (1991, '93, '98). His favorite special teamers:
1. Bill Bates
"To me, he was one of the favorite Cowboys, period, because he related to the common man. Everybody thought they could be Bill Bates, but he did it for 15 years and was one of the most loyal and successful players I've been around." He was integral in my success as a person and a coach."
2. Kenny Gant
"The Shark. Just an outstanding special teams player. Funny. He enjoyed that Shark routine."
3. Matt Vanderbeek
"Unusual guy because he was so big, but he was so good. Had that long, blond, flowing hair, so everybody called him Michael Bolton."
4. Billy Davis
"Unusual combination because he was a receiver who was big. Really big and really fast. And he was productive. I enjoyed the heck out of him."
5. Returners
"Kevin Williams was one of my favorites. Very productive. Kelvin Martin might have had the biggest punt return in all my years with the Cowboys when he returned that punt against Philadelphia that put us in the playoffs. Herschel Walker. Loved him as a kickoff returner. And then probably the greatest athlete that I saw in the NFL in person, that was Deion Sanders. He was the most incredible athlete I've been around."
Brodsky a mentor and friend
Joe Avezzano was 14 when his life changed. It's when he met Joe Brodsky, then the football coach at Miami Jackson High School.
Brodsky, the Cowboys' running backs coach from 1989 to '97, died May 25 after a long battle with prostate cancer. The emotion still carries in Avezzano's voice more than a month later.
Brodsky coached Avezzano in football and basketball, becoming a mentor before becoming a close friend.
"One of the most admirable things I realized about Joe was that he was the head coach at Miami Jackson High when it was all white, and he remained the head coach as the school turned probably 90 percent Cuban and then remained when the school turned 90 percent black," Avezzano said. "To see how all those people responded in the same manner as far as their feelings for Joe Brodsky, I realize not a lot of people could do that. I just marvel at it."
The coaching staff that helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls in the 1990s was connected through several coaching stops. Avezzano first met Jimmy Johnson at Iowa State. He coached Dave Wannstedt at Pittsburgh. He hired Robert Ford at Oregon State. He and Bruce Mays worked together at Washington High in Massillon, Ohio.
And then there was Brodsky.
"To spend those nine years together was incredible," Avezzano said. "He was just a very special person."
Todd Archer
posted by The Gryphon at 8:21 AM
<< Home