Competitive Dick LeBeau still coaching at age 79
Before Dick LeBeau could be asked about himself, he wanted to first ask about the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The ageless wonder that is LeBeau – he turned 79 years old last month but is still coaching in the NFL – voiced concerned about OSU heading to Wisconsin for a game Saturday.
"Wisconsin is a good team," LeBeau said Thursday at the start of a telephone interview. "It'll be a good game."
Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye, especially for LeBeau, the pride of London, Ohio, and a two-way player on Woody Hayes' 1957 national championship team at OSU.
And once in the NFL, always in the NFL for LeBeau, who began a 14-season playing career for the Detroit Lions in 1959 and is now in his 44th year as a coach in the league.
That's 58 consecutive NFL seasons for LeBeau, in his second year as assistant head coach/defense with the Tennessee Titans.
LeBeau began his professional career when Dwight Eisenhower was President and it has been six years since he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
On Sunday, LeBeau will be trying to beat the Cleveland Browns, the team that drafted him out of OSU only to have Paul Brown cut him in training camp, leading to a stellar career as a cornerback for the Detroit Lions.
The energy will crackle through him during the game the same as it did in 1959.
"I've always been a competitor," LeBeau said. "I like to compete. There's no higher level of competition than there is in the National Football League. It keeps me motivated, I know that. I still get very excited to coach.
"I like trying to help our guys play well. I enjoy very much what I'm doing. I'm not saying it's not a stressful job because there are times when it's not a whole lot of fun. But in the overall picture, the pluses by far outweigh the minuses. It's a great way to make a living."
LeBeau played 185 games for the Lions, including 171 in a row, which still stands as a consecutive streak record for a cornerback. His 62 career interceptions were third-most in the NFL when he retired after the '72 season, and they still rank 10th in league history.
Upon retirement, LeBeau immediately began a coaching career that eventually took him to Cincinnati – where he created the "Zone Blitz" defense that led the Bengals to Super Bowl XXIII – and onto fame as defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A failed stint as head coach of the Bengals (a 12-33 record from 2000-2002) doesn't overshadow the success he's enjoyed in his career as an assistant, particularly in his two stints with Pittsburgh. From 2004 through '14, the Steelers had a top-five defense – with five No. 1 rankings – under him.
"In the latter end of my career I've gotten to coach some tremendous players on great teams," said LeBeau, who won two Super Bowls with Pittsburgh. "The game doesn't chew you up so much when you're winning most of the games. I've been bless from that standpoint."
The Steelers let LeBeau go in January 2015, but then-Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt added him to his staff to be paired with defensive coordinator Ray Horton.
Tennessee ended up firing Whisenhunt in November of last season, but it wasn't due to defensive problems. The Titans improved in nearly every category in LeBeau's first season: total defense (12th from 27th), rush defense (18th from 31st) and pass defense (7th from 15th).
Still, despite Tennessee recording its best ranking in total defense since 2008, LeBeau wasn't sure if he was going to have a job when last season ended.
"Nobody knew what the situation was going to be down here," LeBeau said. "We just waited until the head coaching situation was resolved."
The Titans promoted Mike Mularkey from interim coach to permanent head coach last January. Horton wanted the job, reportedly felt insulted to not be considered, and left for Cleveland a day later to become defensive coordinator of the Browns.
Mularkey promptly asked LeBeau to stay and take over the defense.
"For several years now I've just kind of taken it one year at a time, one play at a time," LeBeau said. "If it had turned out that I wasn't going to be coaching here, I probably wouldn't have gone looking for a job. Obviously I wanted to keep working because I'm working."
Employment has kept LeBeau feeling spry at 79, as well as exercise, an avid golf game, and a gene pool that saw his mother live to age 96 and his father to age 88.
"Working will help you," LeBeau said. "We're on the practice field two hours and 45 minutes a day, so you're outside, you're moving. You're not in a sedentary life. You're out and about, and you're interactive with young people every day. I think it helps to keep you young, I really do."
Don't think for an instant that LeBeau is some type of figurehead with the Titans. Cleveland knows better.
"Dick LeBeau is as good as there is (a defensive coordinator) and he has those guys playing well," Browns coach Hue Jackson said. "We have a big challenge again this weekend."
Last week, Tennessee held Miami to 200 yards of total offense (only 51 on the ground), eight first downs, and one offensive touchdown a 30-17 victory over the Dolphins. The Titans had six sacks and two interceptions.
LeBeau, as is his soft-spoken nature, gave credit to his players.
"They played very well in the Dolphins game," he said. "They've played hard, and they've practiced hard. That's the main thing a coach is looking for guys to do. These guys work hard. They're a good bunch of men."
Before ending the interview and getting back to work, LeBeau had time for a memory of his career at OSU – he's a member of the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame – when the Buckeyes played at Wisconsin in the late '50s.
"When we'd get up on Saturday morning of the game," LeBeau said, "Coach Hayes would always meet the team in the hotel lobby wherever we were, and we'd always go take a walk.
"There's a big lake up there on Wisconsin's campus. Well, we took this walk all the way around that lake, and it was freezing cold. I remember saying 'Well, I'll be glad when the game gets here because it'll be more comfortable than Coach Hayes' walk.' "
And then LeBeau chuckled, the memory washing over him.
There isn't a lot of time to look back when you're in your 44th season coaching in the NFL.
But there is time to look ahead when you've played for Ohio State.
"Get those Buckeyes through Saturday night, man," LeBeau said before hanging up the phone.
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