Bullitt looks to go from lingerie league coach to CFL player
CFL hopeful coached in the Lingerie Football League last season
Terrance Bullitt noticed some obvious differences when he arrived for training camp with the Edmonton Eskimos, compared to the last football team he was with down south.
Bigger field.
Fewer downs.
Oh, and the players happen to be fully clothed.
That wasn’t the case last year, when Bullitt was coaching in the Lingerie Football League alongside his brother, Melvin, a former Indianapolis Colts defensive back.
So, it goes without saying the six-foot-three, 236-pound Texas Tech product didn’t follow the most direct route to the Canadian Football League.
After going undrafted in the National Football League in 2014, he signed on for a brief stint with the Baltimore Ravens before attending mini-camp with the B.C. Lions. He returned down south to spend 2015 with the Hudson Valley Fort of the Fall Experimental Football League.
“It’s been quite a journey, yes,” said Bullitt, who hails from Garland, Texas, 30 km outside of Dallas ...
Wait a minute. Back up. What was that part about coaching in the Lingerie League?
“Yeah, I did,” Bullitt said of the seven-on-seven indoor tackle league that was rebranded as the Legends Football League in 2013. “It was the Dallas Desire. We won our division. We were in first place with the highest scoring offence”
And if the experience taught him anything, it’s that there is certainly more than meets the eye when it comes to the female football players.
“They’re athletes,” he said. “They get it, all of them.”
What they don’t get, unfortunately, is the respect their male counterparts get thanks to the LFL’s gimmicky approach of putting as much prominence on the Victoria’s Secret side of things as on athleticism and skill.
“They’re all smart, they have full-time jobs and they’re great athletes,” Bullitt said. “I had one girl play middle-school football, one play high-school football. So, yeah, they’re awesome. They don’t get enough credit because I don’t think people are aware of what they do. But I do and I have much more respect for them after coaching them.”
At 25 years old and looking to launch a pro career as a player, it’s not like Bullitt was actively looking to become a coach or anything.
“One of the girls that works out at the gym my brother and I own, they asked if we wanted to coach,” Bullitt said of the family run sports complex in Rowlett, Texas, called The Bullitt Experience. “So we submitted our resumes and got the job.
“It’s real football, they really tackle. The only thing I wish they would change is how they dress, because the women don’t agree with it but the owner makes them wear that. These women are by all means professionals on and off the field. They’ve got great careers, they’re mothers, everything. They just love the sport of football.
“They don’t get paid, they go unappreciated. I have a lot of respect for all of them.”
The Desire have since folded, but not before Bullitt realized he still has his own football dreams to turn into reality.
“That’s what really got me back into the game,” said Bullitt. “Last year, I actually had a chance to go with Calgary to their mini-camp, but I wanted to do the coaching. As a coach, I loved it but I still had that burning fire (to play), so when Edmonton came back to Dallas, I did a tryout and I did really well.
“They signed me and I went to rookie mini-camp in Vegas and I did well, now I’m here in training camp trying to make a name for myself.”
As his last name implies, Bullitt knows how to hit. Just ask fellow Eskimos linebacker Cory Greenwood, who was lost for the season after suffering a torn ACL after being on the receiving end of one during one-on-one drills on Day 2 of training camp.
“We were doing a regular tackling drill, something we’ve been doing since we were kids,” Bullitt said. “Literally, I just wrapped him up and then I just heard a grunt so I tried to hold him, keep him from falling down, and he fell down.
“I came to him afterwards and was like, 'Man, by no means am I ever a dirty player.' He’s been real encouraging, he’s a true leader. He still helps us out with everything we need and is somebody I look up to and respect.”
NEXT UP: The Eskimos will hold a walk-through session at Commonwealth Stadium from 10:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s preseason game against the visiting Calgary Stampeders (5 p.m., TSN, 630 CHED).