Former NY Jets C Kevin Mawae
Q: Can you talk about your general thoughts of Coach Marrone as a person and a coach?
A: As a person, I think he is a great guy. Obviously having played for him as my o-line coach in New York we became friends. He was the first coach that I ever had that was close to my age in my career. We developed a personal relationship with our families together and things like that. I think he is a great guy. I think he is a good person and he is a great friend.
As far as a coach, I had four great offensive line coaches when I played and he was my third one. He was a coach that brought a lot of insight to the game both from a player's perspective, because he did play in the NFL and got a couple of years in.
I thought what was really cool about him was that not only did he know how to coach the game, but he knew the history of the game. He would teach us about the history of the 4-3 and 3-4 defenses and what coach developed this scheme or that scheme. That was pretty cool from a player's standpoint because who was someone who appreciates the game itself. He was a coach that knew what he was talking about and all of the players respected him highly for his coaching ability.
Q: Coach Marrone has a reputation of being upfront and honest. Can you recall a situation of anything like that? A: No specific examples because that is just the way he was from the Bronx (N.Y.). For anybody from the New York area, they know what I am saying. There is no sugar coating, there is no fluff it is just 'Hey, it is what it is.' I do not share my milk products with people, I am not going to share my ice cream with you and I do not care what you think. It is just one of those kinds of deals and that is just the kind of person that he is. Everybody accepted it and I think people appreciated that because players just wanted to be treated like men and part of it is just being honest with the guys that you are coaching. That is just the way Doug was.
