Joseph, Lynn awaiting neighborly reunion
Vance Joseph and Anthony Lynn will stand on opposite sidelines Monday night to take their place in history as the first two African-american head coaches to debut with their NFL team in the same game.
But 20 years ago, they were neighbors, in the Aurora neighborhood of Piney Creek.
“In 1997, our houses were back-to-back,” Joseph said. “I could see his backyard from my backyard. It was pretty cool. Good man.”
Joseph was a camp body at the time, vying for a spot on the Broncos’ roster as a quarterback turned cornerback. The former Colorado backup to Kordell Stewart and Darian Hagan signed with the Jets as a college free agent in 1995 after moving to the defensive side of the ball and hoped to make a career out of it.
Lynn, of course, was already on the roster and in his second stint with the Broncos, with whom he would pick up a pair of Super Bowl title rings as a running back and special-teamer before moving to the coaching side as a special-teams assistant.
Monday, their paths will cross again when the Broncos host the Chargers in a moment that seems long overdue.
“It’s obviously a special thing on a big picture,” Joseph said. “Hopefully in four and five years, it won’t even be an issue. It would just be two coaches going at it and may the best team win. But it is special at the moment.”
Since Joseph arrived in January, he’s insisted the focus be football. Not him. Not his moment.
He’s created a wave of change based on familiarity, common in the NFL and especially so with the Broncos, whose hires and personnel changes are often based on past connections.
Among Joseph’s first moves as a head coach was welcoming back Mike Mccoy as offensive coordinator and former Bronco Bill Musgrave as quarterbacks coach. He was instrumental in keeping a spot for former coach Gary Kubiak, now a senior personnel adviser. He elevated Joe Woods, a longtime friend in the business, to defensive coordinator and has quickly made his mark in the locker room and the playbook.
Mottos collected over his 18 years of coaching are pasted throughout the team’s Dove Valley training facility. “Championship Habits,” the Broncos’ unofficial slogan for the season, hangs outside the locker room. And “Truth,” in big, bold lettering, decorates the entire back way of the team’s main meeting room.
“Most jobs that are taken by a first-time head coach or most jobs that are open, it’s a rebuild,” Joseph said on his first day as head coach. “This job is not broken. It’s a reboot. It’s my job to find the small tweaks to make this team a winning team again.”
General manager John Elway introduced Joseph last January as a coach who “fit the culture” of the Broncos. Code for “He wants to win, and he wants to win now.”
“Vance checks that box. He has that,” Elway said.
In Joseph, the Broncos have gained a
coach insistent on being transparent and honest. They’ve gained a leader unafraid to make the tough choices only eight months into his tenure. And they’ve added a former quarterback who has a love for the defense.
In many ways, Joseph is quite similar to Elway. He’s brought change and a bit of history to a team founded on familiarity.
And despite being the new guy and the first-year head coach, he has a locker room of vocal players to buy in.
“Oh, I love him. Great coach,” wide receiver Demaryius Thomas said. “A players’ coach. It’s something he’s new to, but he’s doing a great job so far.”