IS GETTING ITS DRAFT BOARD READY
BETHLEHEM - Sean McDermott's dad, Rich, grew up watching the Norm Van Brocklin-era Eagles on TV in black-and-white, first in Haverford, then in Lansdale, the town Rich eventually returned to as an adult. He would have loved to have seen them in person, but his family couldn't afford tickets, Rich said over the weekend.
Sean's mom, Avis, says that sometimes now, even though they can attend Eagles games for free, they stay at home and watch on TV, because at Lincoln Financial Field they sit with the coaches' families and Rich, well, he's a loud, passionate, Philly-fan kind of guy.
"We've been afraid to go to the games sometimes, for fear he might say something wrong," Avis McDermott said yesterday.
The point here, of course, is not to make fun of Rich McDermott, a former assistant football coach at West Chester and Ursinus who spent 30 years teaching special-needs kids at the Elwyn Institute in Media. It's to point out that Sean McDermott, the Eagles' new defensive coordinator, understands Eagles fans.
Sean was born in Omaha, Neb., where Rich was teaching and coaching, and where Rich met and married Avis, but Sean grew up in West Chester, Paoli and Lansdale, went to high school at North Penn and then La Salle. Opinions expressed pungently aren't going to bother him.
"That type of spirit is just embedded in him," Rich said. "I think he works hard; he's just like that Vince Papale-type thing, the overacheiver."
Avis, who hails from Iowa, said: "I think Sean is a fan's coach, because he has always had passion. We have a very intense household anyway. We were very passionate about everything our kids got involved with. That means academics and sports."
Neither parent necessarily saw coaching in young Sean's future, but they saw passion, dedication, discipline, the things coaches try to embody.
"Sean loved having goals . . . As he grew up we spent a lot of time talking about what his priorities in life are and where he really wanted to be," Avis said. "He's always put time into his future. He doesn't live for the present."
Her husband recalls him as "the kid who was always outside playing, and always the kid who would want to play with the older kids.
"The first sport he ever took part in was wrestling, at age 5. He liked that aggressive kind of sport. He loved baseball, and he played it, but there just wasn't enough action. It was football and wrestling [that Sean preferred]. I've never seen anybody enjoy going to practice like he did . . . When other kids were fooling with the Atari or whatever, he might be running sprints in the backyard or lifting weights or something like that."
After playing safety at William & Mary, he had a job lined up at Price-Waterhouse, said Avis, who works in marketing at ING. Older brother Tim is a marketing executive with the Washington Capitals, and formerly worked in the same capacity for the Eagles.
But Sean's parents didn't agonize too much when he said he wanted to put off going to work in business to try coaching, first at William & Mary, then as a scouting administrative coordinator with the Eagles, in the fall of 1998.
The Eagles' door was opened by an NFL acquaintance of Tim McDermott, who said he wasn't surprised that his brother went into coaching.
"Our backyard backed up to North Penn, and as an 8-year-old Sean would ride his bike over and watch practice," Tim said. "All the time. He just loved football. I don't think you'll find anyone with more drive, more discipline. Sean is an unbelievably fierce competitor."
Since 1998, Sean has held several coaching positions, all with the Birds, including presiding over the linebackers and then the secondary for Jim Johnson.
Sean's mom acknowledges she isn't comfortable with the crazy hours coaches work, the lack of sleep, which she said has been a particular issue lately as Sean has dealt with the increased workload.
Rich McDermott said Jim Johnson has been "like a father" to his son.
"As a parent and a coach, I always wanted my sons, if they decided to go into this line, to be with someone who would help them and mentor them," he said. "I think he ended up with the best, with Jim Johnson . . . I couldn't ask for a better role model than what he's been associated with the last decade. I just hope at the end of the year, Jim's standing there with him. That would mean so much."
Of course, Sean also worked with the other coaches Johnson has mentored who have gone on to succeed elsewhere, such as Steve Spagnuolo, now the Rams' head coach, and Ron Rivera, the Chargers' defensive coordinator. Rich said Sean also talks frequently with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who was a senior defensive back at William & Mary when Sean was a freshman.
Fans undoubtedly are interested in how their team's defense will be different under McDermott. Though he'll be running the system he learned from Johnson, McDermott made it clear Saturday he knows he has to "walk in my own shoes."
"Definitely, they're going to work hard," his mother said. "Sean has heart and passion . . . People will be shocked. He really cares about his players, he cares about his coaches, and about people in general. When I say he has heart, he has heart for the game, but he also has heart for people."
Sean's brother had a shorter answer.
"Nasty," Tim McDermott said. "His defense will be nasty." *
For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.
