By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
At the conclusion of his coaching career, Steve Spagnuolo’s “Case for Canton” and induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be a divisive candidacy.
No coordinator has ever been inducted into the Hall of Fame, yet, “Spags” as he is known in NFL circles, is not your ordinary coordinator. He has ascended to become one of the greatest defensive coordinators of all time, coaching in six Super Bowls as a DC and winning four – one with the New York Giants, where he knocked off the seemingly unstoppable 18-0 New England Patriots, with peak-of-his-powers Tom Brady calling the signals. He’s also won three titles with the Kansas City Chiefs, the most illustrious stop of his career, and making him the only coordinator to win a Super Bowl with two different teams, and the only one to ever win four rings.
While he is seemingly facing an uphill battle, he was inducted into a different Hall of Fame in April – at his alma mater, Springfield College’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Spagnuolo was the last person to speak at the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony. Near the end of his speech, he recalled conversations he has had with John Harbaugh, the now-head coach of the New York Giants, and someone Spagnuolo worked with for two years while both were with the Baltimore Ravens. Harbaugh is from Miami University (Ohio), a school known for producing legendary coaches, and self-branded as the “cradle of coaches.”
Spagnuolo, as a true Springfield man, had to one-up him to put his own spin on the phrase, one that put his school on top, and drew great applause from the crowd full of alumni.
“I said, ‘You can have the cradle of coaches, we got the Mecca of coaches here in Springfield.’”
This dedication and grind-it-out mentality is something Spagnuolo developed during his time at Springfield, and really reflects in his career, as it was a long journey for him to rise up the coaching ladder.
From 1981-2001, the year he broke through and got a position coach job in the NFL, he had worked at six different colleges, and spent two years overseas in the now-extinct NFL Europe league in Barcelona and Frankfurt, Germany. This extensive journey undoubtedly made it so Spagnuolo had heard from myriad coaching mentors, yet there is one coach in particular he spotlights as an influential figure in his coaching journey, and it was from his time as a wide receiver for Springfield College – former Springfield head coach Howard Vandersea.
“ In my realm of coaching, organization is really, really important,” Spagnuolo said. “And I thought [Vandersea] was the most organized coach I’d ever been around. Even after coaching 45 years, he was doing things way ahead of his time in terms of how efficient he was on the practice field, the way he handled meetings and the way he ran a football program. I think his influence in the way he did things way back in the late 70s helped all of us go on and become pretty good coaches because of what he instilled in us. And there were players ahead of me, like Jack Quinn, Hank Hughes, Rusty Burns. These are all guys that played here that went on to coach, that I had a lot of respect for.”
Since his breakthrough as a position coach with the Eagles in 2001, Spagnuolo has become a mainstay on the sidelines over the past two-and-a-half decades, assuming his trademark hunched over, hands-on-the-knees, death stare pose.
Spagnuolo’s blitz-happy coaching philosophy has guided him to a Hall of Fame-caliber career, and the overall mission of Springfield College is something that Spagnuolo incorporates into his teachings, and was something that brought him to Alden Street in the first place.
“ I knew coming here, that it was noted for phys ed coaching and that after being here four years, you learn that it’s more than that. It’s more about leadership qualities, servicing people. And I think that has helped me in the 45 years since then in my coaching.”
Despite not being recruited to Springfield as a quarterback, the school’s culture and a strong desire to get into the physical education program led him to Springfield. Yet, coaching in college and the NFL was not on Spagnuolo’s radar when he arrived on Alden Street in 1978, instead having his sights set on the PE teacher/high school coach pipeline, hoping to return to his old high school, Grafton High School.
“ The dream changed when I first came here,” Spagnuolo said. “It was to leave Springfield College, go back to my old high school, teach phys ed and coach high school football. And then, when I was here, discovered how important college football was, and all the guys that used to come back here that played at Springfield were at some pretty big colleges. So that became the dream.”
While at Springfield, Spagnuolo was no slouch on the football field, as a two-year starter at wide receiver, while winning the school’s male scholar-athlete of the year award in his final year at Springfield.
These experiences as a player, with his teammates who Spagnuolo remains close with even over four decades since they graduated, are some of his favorite memories.
“What I do remember is the early morning spring practices,” Spagnuolo said. “We used to practice during the week. I think we used to have Saturday night practice, but, but the morning practices before classes were 6 AM to 8 AM and I remember those. I think all the guys enjoyed doing that. In the springtime when the weather got nice, you didn’t wanna be out here in the afternoon practice, you wanted to be with your friends.”
Being at a small school, Springfield gave Spagnuolo a chance to get personalized learning from many of the successful coaches the school had while he was a student, something that differs from some of the top coaches that Spagnuolo worked with in the NFL.
Andy Reid and Tom Coughlin, who Spagnuolo won Super Bowls with as a coordinator for the Chiefs and Giants, respectively, both graduated from prominent Division I schools (BYU for Reid and Syracuse for Coughlin). Spagnuolo reflects fondly on this close style of learning that helped him gain both interpersonal and coaching skills in his journey, while also giving him the chance to learn and make mistakes.
“ I think you get a little bit more personalized training,” Spagnuolo said. “I do think the bonds that you develop at a smaller school setting, I think last a little bit longer. Sometimes you get lost at those big colleges, right? And that doesn’t really happen here with the enrollment the way it is and the way they do things.”
Although perhaps the most accomplished, Spagnuolo is one of a number of highly-successful coaches to come from Springfield, in many different professions, helping earn his “Mecca of coaches” mantra. From strength and conditioning, personal training, and any sport imaginable, the school stakes its claim to a plethora of accomplished coaches. Spagnuolo credited this to not only the coaching culture at the school, but its original roots as a YMCA training school.
“Springfield College began as a YMCA school, so it was for people and for kids and developing young men and women, and I don’t think that’s ever changed. So I think because the emphasis here is on that, I think when people leave here, they’ve developed those skills to be leaders and to be mentors and to be of service.”
After his time on Alden Street, Spagnuolo spent 15 years coaching college football, two in NFL Europe, and now 29 years coaching in the NFL. After finally breaking through and knocking off the undefeated Patriots to win his first Super Bowl, it seemed Spagnuolo was destined for all-time greatness.
But after unsuccessful stints as the head coach of the St. Louis Rams and defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints, both of which resulted in Spagnuolo’s firing, he seemed to have hit a snag in his career trajectory.
However, he did what he did best, and kept grinding. He got another chance as a coordinator with the Giants, guiding them back to the playoffs, and eventually landed with the Chiefs, where his success has been well documented. This mentality was crucial to continuing his career, especially in a field as volatile as coaching.
“ It’s all about perseverance and listen, you can’t be in the business that I get in and think it’s gonna happen overnight,” Spagnuolo said. “There is a grind, there is a lot of work. You just gotta stick with it. And I always tell our team to chase perfection and rely on relentless. And that doesn’t just go for on the field, it goes for in life too, or any profession. And mine happens to be coaching. So even though I was trying to be the best I could be, I never was gonna reach perfection, but I kept on grinding.”
After a 45-year coaching career, Spagnuolo was chosen for the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame, and during his speech he joked that it took him a lot longer than the four years it took the other five inductees, who earned it with their performance as student-athletes.
Due to the demands of an NFL coaching schedule, returns to Alden Street after his graduation in 1982 have been rare for Spagnuolo. But due to the timing, and that he was going into the Hall of Fame, Spagnuolo hung around campus on April 11, the day of the ceremony.
During his visit, he got a chance to stop by the early Saturday morning Spring football practices he reminisced on, after which he gave the team a pep talk. He also got a look around some of the new athletic facilities on campus, and although there is a lot that is aesthetically different from when he left in the early 1980s, he found that the school still stood for the same things it did 40 years ago.
“This is pretty cool. Things have changed a little bit,” Spagnuolo said. “But for the most part, my guess is that the inner makings of Springfield College and what it’s all about hasn’t changed. I mean, I know enough people still, that they are still passionate about athletics and developing leaders. But it really is neat to come back.”