Path to Super Bowl 57 for Eagles coaches started at SCSU
When Tywan Jenkins arrived on campus at Southern Connecticut State University as a freshman offensive lineman for the football team, he learned something important early on.
“(The offensive line) was our identity,” said Jenkins, now the Bunnell football coach. “The tradition of the offensive line is something we take very personal.”
The tradition of the offensive line is strong at Southern. Former coach George DeLeone was an offensive line guru coaching the big men up front at eight different colleges and two NFL teams. Before he won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots Joe Andruzzi starred for the Owls on the line.
On Sunday, another Super Bowl trophy has a chance to be brought back to the Division II school in New Haven when the Philadelphia Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.
Jeff Stoutland and Roy Istvan are both former Owls players and coaches. Both coach the Eagles offensive line — including Jack Driscoll from Hand.
“The amazing part is, if it was one name that’s quite a story itself, but when you put both of them and all the different paths and ways they ended up coaching together again, it makes you feel good,” Southern football coach Tom Godek said. “It makes our players feel good, I think it makes the University feel good.”
Stoutland has been the offensive line coach for the Eagles for the past 10 seasons, including their Super Bowl LII win over the Patriots. He is regarded as one of the best offensive line minds in football and has coached for 39 years. He started at Southern after his playing career and has coached at five colleges, including winning two BCS National Championships at Alabama, before heading to the NFL.
Four seasons ago, Istvan — a former star at Bunnell who played for Stoutland at Southern — reunited with his former coach as the assistant offensive line coach after coaching across college and prep school levels for the last 33 seasons.
“They might not know how proud the University is of them, I think they know that Southern was the beginning of it all,” said Godek, who was a teammate of Istavan’s at SCSU. “It always has to start somewhere and when it did, this college is where it started.”
The Eagles rushed for an NFL best 32 touchdowns in the regular season, and scored the second most touchdowns overall. A big reason why was the team’s offensive line. Pro Football Focus ranked the Eagles’ line as the top unit in the league this year.
Philadelphia center Jason Kelce and tackle Lane Johnson were both named to the All-Pro team.
“He has a way of getting his point across, but knows he is dealing with high-level athletes, highly-paid athletes and that might be a different mindset,” Godek said of Stoutland. “I think those players have a lot of respect for him, that he has their best interest and the team’s best interest.”
While it’s safe to assume many people in the New Haven area won’t be rooting for the Eagles on Sunday, especially after their dominate 38-7 win over the New York Giants in the Divisional Round, Godek, a New England Patriots fan, knows that Southern alumni will be pointing proudly at the TV when they see Stoutland or Istvan in the background, saying “Hey that guy went to Southern.”
“Doesn’t get any better than that, does it?” Godek said. “Just another chapter to be written and be put into the records.”
Jenkins though will be rooting for the Eagles. The New London native is a massive Eagles fan, he has draped his classroom at Bunnell with Eagles signs, and he will be rooting for the team, as well as Stoutland and Istvan.
“When we win, it’s going the quite the story for Connecticut,” he said. “And it’s going to be quite the story for Southern Connecticut.”