By Mark Eckel | Engagement Insider
For as long as he can remember it’s always been about starting over for Kyle Eckel.
When he was an 8th grade football standout and recruited out of South Philadelphia by prestigious Episcopal Academy; when he prepped a year at a Navy Prep School; when he attended the Naval Academy; and when his NFL career took him to five different teams from 2005-2010.
It was always a new start.
Now going on four years away from the game, Eckel is starting over again in two different fields, hoping to find his niche in his second career.
This fall, the former Navy star running back will be the color analyst for the West Chester University football team, a school a few miles south of his native Philadelphia, and will also be an assistant football coach for powerful Malvern Prep, the arch-rival of his old Episcopal.
“It seems I’ve always been about starting over,’’ Eckel, who lives in South Jersey with his wife Tatiana and their son Leonardo, said. “Now, here I am again.’’
Eckel has some experience in both of the fields he’s trying. He did some radio for both Philadelphia’s WIP sports-talk station; and a smaller station WBCB in the Philadelphia suburb of Bucks County – that’s the same station where Fox’s Brian Baldinger got his start.
As far as coaching, he spent the year after he graduated from Navy as an assistant coach and assistant athletic director at a Navy Prep School in Rhode Island.
“After my last year (with Denver) when I went on injured reserve, I talked to people in radio back in Philadelphia about going on the air,’’ Eckel said. “I moved back to Philly from Boston to do that, but it never really panned out.
“I moved back to Philly, my wife got a job here, so we’re here to stay.’’
When one of his contacts offered him the chance to do the West Chester games, he jumped at it.
“I’m saying yes to everything,’’ Eckel, who also works on the zoning board in Marlton, N.J., said with a chuckle. “Now, I just have to balance it all out.’’
Whatever he does, he would like it to be in sports, and this coaching might just work out.
“I’d prefer to stay in sports, it’s what I know. It’s what I like,’’ he said. “I was fortunate to play in the NFL for five years-plus. But your career in the NFL is short, at least it was for me.’’
Eckel almost doubled the average of a NFL career, but still at just 32 years old is finished and looking to continue his passion for the game.
“I loved coaching,’’ he said of his experience in Newport, R.I. “I got a chance to help the kids, which was even better. At the high school level, you get to do more than just coach. And at military school it was really different.
“It’s a shock for a lot of kids going from public high school to a military school. I mean a lot of kids get home sick from high school just going away to college, now you add on top of that you’re at a school where you can’t have cell phones, you can only go out on Saturdays, if you’re not in trouble and being in trouble could be your shoes weren’t tied correctly. Well, maybe not that bad, but it was tough.
“So you’re far from home, there’s no computer access. There was a computer, but the only sites you could get were military sites and you only got a half hour a day to check your e mail. And that was also your only free time. So you had a choice to make.’’
Now he’s at another private school, but one that puts an emphasis on football to where it is striving to be a national power. If he stays with it, and the expected success comes, it could lead to a head coaching job somewhere, which is something he could see in his future.
“I sure could,’’ Eckel said. “I really think I know the game. And that’s what excited me about being a coach. You can make a case for any sport being more than a game, but football is really the ultimate team sport. You can’t win with one player. That’s never going to happen.’’
In his NFL career, Eckel played for the following head coaches: Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, Andy Reid and Sean Payton. That’s not a bad list. He’s learned from each.
“Bill Belichick was just so involved in every aspect of the team. He was invested in coaching the fullback, which they don’t even use very much, to the linebackers. He just has a handle on every position. It’s amazing seeing a guy watching the offense practice and later watching the defense practice and pick apart the smallest things on both sides of the ball. He’s the figure head of the organization, but at the same time he knows his players.
“Saban was focused on the defense, followed the offense, but was invested in the defense and his defense played well. He was tough. He was always looking to see who would go the extra mile. That’s what stood out to me. He was no nonsense, and tough. He recruits better than anyone, but you have to coach, too, and he can coach. His teams are always so fundamentally sound.
“Andy Reid was different. He didn’t control the offensive meetings. He didn’t control the defensive meetings. Andy was the head coach. He played the role of the guy on top delegating authority, but he never shied off of correcting mistakes or making adjustments. He commanded respect by his presence. And he always protected his players.
“If you watch Drew Brees on the field, that’s Sean Payton. They are so much alike, which is why they have been so successful. Brees is the kind of quarterback who gets so excited before a game, he’s chanting down the team. And you look at the sideline and you see coach Payton jumping around the same way. They just mesh so well together. In the meeting rooms, he was like having a 12th player on offense. He was so energetic. The best way to describe Payton is to look at Brees.’’