The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1343401
MARCH/APRIL 2021 ■ 27 who told the story of Rivers interrupting his signals to tell a Texan linebacker that he was lined up in the wrong spot to run the blitz that the Texans had called. "And he was right, too," Watt said. "He's one of the smartest I've ever played against and a hell of a competitor." Rivers said good-bye in a classic prepared statement, then disappeared from the public eye with his family to prepare for its third lengthy move in the last four years. "Thank you to all my coaches that helped me grow as a player and a person," Rivers said. "Thanks to the support staff. I ap- preciate the opposing defenses making it challenging physically and mentally every week. … I also enjoyed the banter. "I appreciate the referees for putting up with all my fussing. I think I was right most of the time, dadgummit." Now, Rivers enters a completely different level of football competition, one that has its own rewards and one that Rivers has longed to join since before he was allowed to play midget-league football. Coaching. "If he stays on the high school level where he can influence people, he will be ter- rific," said Norm Chow, the first of his four NC State offensive coordinators. "Coaching has always been about developing people and helping them to grow into good young men. "That's where Philip will make his big- gest mark." Joining A Deep Pool Of Successful Coaches Rivers is getting into coaching much later than most of his peers, because he's been pretty busy for the last 17 years. It's a job, however, in which other former NC State players have excelled, both in victories and in producing star players. Former Wolfpack teammates Jim Oddo and Bob Paroli, key fixtures in State's 1957 ACC championship, are North Carolina high school coaching legends. Between them, they won nearly 800 games in ca- reers that spanned a combined 100 seasons. Oddo, who retired in 2014, won three state 3A titles at Charlotte Catholic and Paroli, who retired in 2012, won one at Fayette- ville's Seventy-First High School, after tak- ing Douglas Byrd High to five title games. Longtime NC State head coach Earle Ed- wards recruited most of his players from Pennsylvania and sent many of them back up north to coach. Ron Skosnik, who was quarterback Roman Gabriel's backup, be- came a high school coach in New Jersey. His star pupil was Joe Theismann, who once signed a letter of intent to play for the Wolf- pack but ended up at Notre Dame before becoming a Super Bowl winner with the Washington Redskins. Jack Klebe, the Wolfpack's first left- handed quarterback, was a longtime high school coach in Pennsylvania before be- coming an assistant at Youngstown State in Ohio. His star pupil was quarterback Ron Jaworski, who replaced Gabriel as the starter for the Eagles and took the team to its first Super Bowl appearance in 1981. Klebe's college teammates, All-Amer- ican defensive linemen Dennis Byrd and Mark Capuano, were all successful high school coaches, Byrd in North Carolina and Capuano in Pennsylvania. Former Lou Holtz-era lineman Allen Sit- terle, taken in the seventh round of the NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1974, won four South Carolina 5A championships at Daniel High School in Central, S.C. Many of Rivers' former teammates are already deep into their coaching and teach- ing careers, such as former Rivers' center Jed Paulsen and quarterback successor Jay Davis, as well as current NC State staff members Dantonio Burnette and Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay. Others like Roger Pol- lard, Troy Graham and Dovonte Edwards, to name just a few, are progressing through the ranks as coaches and administrators. Rivers was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, and retired ranked fifth all time in NFL history for passing yards (63,440) and touchdown throws (421). PHOTO COURTESY LOS ANGELES CHARGERS