COACHING GREATS REFLECT ON CAREERS
Coaching greats including LeBeau, Render reflect on life after football
No more standing on the sidelines on Sunday afternoons for Dick LeBeau. A longtime coach and legendary former Steelers defensive coordinator, LeBeau is now retired, living in Cincinnati, “and golfing every day that ends in ‘ Y,’” LeBeau said.
Although he no longer coaches, LeBeau has started doing some football consulting work.
“Every Saturday and Sunday,” LeBeau said. “I consult my TV. I watch all the coaches and second guess what they do, like everybody did for me for 60 years.”
LeBeau laughed as he uttered those words recently to a gathering of some of the greatest high school football coaches in WPIAL history.
A group of 12 coaches who have 58 WPIAL titles, 14 PIAA championships and 3,132 wins among them got together in the restaurant area at the Grand View Golf Club in North Braddock July 24. This has become an annual event, put together by 87- year- old Bill Priatko, who played a season for the Steelers, was a longtime athletic director in the WPIAL and could be described simply as “a friend of WPIAL sports.” He has put on this extremely informal lunch for four years — just because.
Six of the top 10 winningest coaches in WPIAL history were there. The four that weren’t are deceased. Every year the group of greats at this luncheon includes one or two more coaches who have gone into retirement. Former Upper St. Clair coach Jim Render, the winningest coach in WPIAL history, attended again this year, but this time as a retiree.
This was the first time LeBeau attended the lunch of champions. He is a good friend of Priatko. The two were roommates at LeBeau’s first NFL training champ with the Cleveland Browns back in 1959. Priatko got cut, but coach Paul Brown also cut LeBeau. All that did was propel LeBeau to a long career with the Detroit Lions that eventually put him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But on this summer afternoon, LeBeau wasn’t there to talk pro football. He knew of many of the high school coaches who were in attendance ( he’s a big high school sports fan) and wanted to meet with them, share some stories, listen and laugh.
LeBeau had something in common with many of these men. A number have gone into retirement just the past few years. Some had coached for nearly five decades. LeBeau last coached in the 2018 season as the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator.
But what is it like for coaches who were extremely successful to just go “cold turkey” from something that they loved so much. Something that took up so much of their lives?
“I wouldn’t call it hard,” LeBeau said of retirement. “You’re so busy all the time. I probably miss the preparation and games the most, and the guys. You’re so used to being on the go, it takes a while to say, ‘ Hey, wait a minute, there’s no meeting to go to and no game to play.’ Once you get to the realization that the pace has slowed down a little bit, then you can start to enjoy it. But there’s definitely a transition period.”
LeBeau still keeps up with the Steelers, but he won’t even touch the subject of what has gone on with the Steelers the past year or so, with the likes of Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell.
“I’ve been out of town long enough that I don’t think I’m