For the first week in May, Matt Walters kept saying to himself, standing there in NFL coaching offices, walking through the halls of an NFL team’s training facility, out there coaching promising NFL players on a practice field, “I’m in the NFL right now,” because he was.
Seldom does one’s dreams turn into living realities. From May 5 to May 11, the East Stroudsburg South head coach lived a fantasy, as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaching staff.
Walters saw an ad on social media for the Bucs’ National Coaching Academy, an intensive, week-long program for aspiring NFL coaches, created by the team’s owners, the Glazer family. The academy offers participants an opportunity to learn from Bucs’ coaches, staff, and experienced NFL figures. The program involves a global search to identify 25 finalists, who are then awarded full scholarships to cover the costs of the week-long academy in Tampa.
Walters decided to apply. He was interviewed by Tampa personnel via video. He then received an acceptance letter a month later and jumped at the chance.
“It was an incredible experience,” said Walters, who just finished his sixth season as head coach of the Cavaliers. “We were coaching. They allowed us to have access to everything. It was unbelievable. When I first went down, I was so unsure what it would be like, would I be in the coach’s way, maybe just be there and walk around.
“It was the exact opposite. Everything was first class. They threw us right in. You truly felt like you belonged there, from the coaches to the players, they had you working. There was no off time. By the time I got back to the hotel 7:30 every night, I was asleep by eight o’clock. You felt like you were a part of the NFL.”
The National Coaching Academy program includes masterclass sessions with Super Bowl champions and current Buccaneers coaches, as well as sessions focused on film review, media training, and business insights. This was the second year the Bucs ran it, which covered their Phase II in rookie minicamp of Bucs’ Offseason Workout Program at their Advent Health Training Center from Monday, May 5 to Sunday, May 11.
The 25 invited coaches were involved with every meeting all week. They were there for the installs and with their respective position groups, and were able to work intimately with the respective coaches.
Walters, 32, was one of three special teams coaches who worked with Bucs’ special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey and Bucs’ defensive/special teams assistant Keith Tandy.
They went from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.
Walters and the group arrived Monday, May 5 at the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel, the host hotel, a mile away from the Bucs’ Raymond James Stadium. They were given bags full of Bucs’ coaching gear. Their stay started with a team barbecue meet-and-greet with everyone from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, from the owners Avram Glazer, Joel Glazer, Edward Glazer, Bryan Glazer and Darcie Darcie Glazer Kassewitz to general manager Jason Licht.
That was their pleasant calm before the tsunami of activity that would come their way.
“It was just like being on the coaching staff with them,” said Walters, an East Stroudsburg University graduate. “We didn’t know what the week would look like until we got back to the hotel. That is when we first learned what we would do every day. They gave us our schedule when we left and we first officially met our coaches that we would work with on Tuesday (May 6).
“We were in coach T-Mac’s office and were able to ask him questions. He’s been in the NFL for a very long time. He’s seen it all. To pick his brain about stuff for about two hours, from around 8:30 to 10:30, speaking about balancing home life with coaching. Coaching is a lifestyle. When you are at the top, like these guys, the first thing that struck me was how business like everyone was.
“You can see how much they love football and how much passion they have for it. They share that love to their co-workers. I kept telling myself, ‘I’m in the NFL, I’m in the NFL’ and I was trying to soak in everything. There were thousands of applicants and I wanted to show them why I was there. That was my mindset.”
Walters interacted with long snapper Evan Deckers, punters Jake Julien and Riley Dixon, and kickers Ryan Coe (Pine-Richland graduate) and Chase McLaughlin.
On Wednesday, May 7, Walters introduced himself to Bucs’ head coach Todd Bowles, a former Temple star who was a Super Bowl champion with Washington.
“What you see on TV from coach Bowles is what you get in real life, he’s so composed,” Walters said. “Coach Bowles shares his philosophy on what he wants done and puts tremendous trust in his assistant coaches to get it done. He handles himself very well. He’s very even keeled. His players want to play for him. He may joke around with his players, but they know where the line is drawn. You could tell, his players love playing for him.”
Day three Bruce Arians was brought in for a one-hour moderated discussion, then Hall of Famers Tony Dungy and Ronde Barber, and former Bucs’ Super Bowl champion head coach Jon Gruden.
“Gruden was probably my favorite speaker, because he had us go out to the turf field and run through plays,” Walters said. “To have all those guys, you’re learning from the best. You could feel the love Gruden has for football. He had us smiling and laughing the whole entire time. He gave me his cell number, because his son played at Lafayette. When I introduced myself, I told him I was from Stroudsburg, which is close to Easton (where Lafayette) is located.
“When I first texted him to thank him, he texted me right back. It was coach’s dream come true. No, it was beyond that. We not only sat in on meetings, we were allowed to do the installs. Rookie mini-camp started Thursday when we were there. Every rookie was there, including Shilo Sanders (Deion Sanders’ son who the Bucs signed as an undrafted free agent).”
Walters did the walkthrough with the rookies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with their position coaches.
“The one player who stuck out to me was Shilo Sanders, who I coached on the special teams. He was the hardest worker I saw there,” Walters said. “He asked great questions, and you can tell he is a coach’s son. He wanted to learn. He hustled every play. He was the hardest worker out there. That shined with Shilo. The same thing with (Tampa draft picks) Emeka Egbuka (Ohio State), and Tez Johnson (Oregon).
“We were doing gunner drills on punts, and seeing their speed up close is incredible. I didn’t know if the rookies knew if I was on staff or not, but they allowed us to coach them. The biggest takeaway to my program was how efficient coach Bowles was on the practice field. They put the timer up there and they get after it. There is no sitting around, and if I can pour that into my program, we can be way more efficient during our practices. Those rookies were fighting for their lives. Everyone had a chip on their shoulder, fighting for what they do.
“The best piece of advice I got was from coach Bowles on the last day, when he told me to be myself. When things get hard, some coaches tend to trust their game sheet and not their eyes, they tend to panic. He told me to go with your gut and be yourself. When the going gets rough, you have to be the one that gets everyone out of that funk.”
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.
