The Darrell Green Story

Athletics 11/1/2016 2:56:00 PM

The Darrell Green Story

This is Associate Director of Athletics Darrell Green. It is an honor to be working back in Virginia, 33 years after first arriving here after the Washington Redskins selected me in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft. As a scared, homesick kid from a small Division II program, I quickly realized that my mom and dad were right when they constantly told my siblings and me to "always keep the first things first and in this order: God first, family second and the Golden Rule third."

However, I was faced with several questions. How could a young man faced with more responsibility than ever, living more than 1,500 miles away from his hometown successfully make it without the security and guiding arms of close family? How was I supposed to break into a league and a team that always expects the very best from its players? How was I supposed to be ready to perform against the best each day at practice? Lastly, how was I supposed to perform against the world's best each weekend in front of millions of people – those in the stadium and those watching on live television – as they closely watched and judged my every move both on and off the field?

The guiding words of my parents were working overtime in my heart and mind to help keep my head on straight and my feet on the ground. Also, the fathering spirit of my new head coach Joe Gibbs was an extra daily reinforcement of positivity. Joe not only presented himself as an excellent football coach, but, as I would quickly find out, he also proved to be a very caring and responsible man that was always willing to share his wisdom with young men like me that were filled with enough fears, doubt and insecurities to last a lifetime.

As a young man, coming out of the comfortable and secure environment of college athletics, I quickly learned numerous lessons from Coach Gibbs. Right from the start, he showed me that the most fundamental difference between college and professional football was time management and the responsibility of being where you're supposed to be and doing what you're supposed to do – at all times. One of Coach Gibbs' favorite rules that all players had to be aware of was any time there was a scheduled team meeting, as head coach, he reserved the right to start his meeting as early as 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time. If you were not in the room when he was starting to talk, you would be declared late and be subject to a fine – or worse.

From the beginning, this unique rule produced important qualities in my mind that have helped me throughout my professional career even to this day: value, purpose and personal responsibility. I am not ashamed to admit that it didn't start this way, but over time it became more of a challenge to me than a rule (value) that soon became more of a motivator than a challenge (purpose). This resulted in a new way of life for me on and off the field (personal responsibility).

Another great lesson the three-time Super Bowl champion coach taught me as a young player was that every member of a winning team must be able to handle the pressures that accompany great success. For example, there could be a time where the team may be enjoying a 10-game winning streak and sitting in clear view of a possible conference championship, but some players could still feel unhappy. They can struggle with not getting the amount of playing time they were accustomed to receiving. Coach Gibbs taught me that regardless of your feelings you have to make a decision to trust the coaching staff and continue to work hard and give it your best both at practice and during the game for the sake of the team. Developing the ability within yourself to trust your superiors, or, in my case, your coaching staff is one of the greatest attributes a player or person can have.

Little did I know how valuable embracing this philosophy would play in both my mind and my actions years later. In my 18th season, I was asked by the team owner to give my starting position to a man that was not only in my mind not a better player than I was, but to make matters worse, he was coming from our greatest rival, the Dallas Cowboys. If that wasn't enough, he was coming off of an injury he seemed not to have healed from yet.

You can only imagine what that felt like for me but as Coach Gibbs said on many occasions, over my 11 years under his leadership, the privilege to play at the highest level, is just that – a privilege and not a right. A year later, this player had moved on. As for me? Well, I played two more years and retired as the greatest Redskin of all-time with a record-setting NFL career that spanned 20 seasons.

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The Darrell Green Story