Charlotte Observer: Super Spotlight for Lenoir-Rhyne Vets

INDIANAPOLIS -- A win by the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday could be a boon for the Lenoir-Rhyne athletics department.

The Giants have two assistant coaches who are members of the Lenoir-Rhyne Sports Hall of Fame: defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and tight ends coach Michael Pope, who graduated in 1964 - 21 years before Fewell.

"I contribute a lot more to the alumni fund than he does," Pope said Wednesday. "But he makes a lot more money than I do, so there's no equity there."

The two coaches are Charlotte-area natives who began their coaching careers in North Carolina - Fewell as a graduate assistant at UNC and Pope at Lenoir High.

Fewell, who is from Cramerton, maintains stronger ties to the region. He gave tickets to Sunday's game to Jim Biggerstaff, his coach at South Point High in Belmont, and Biggerstaff's wife, Joyce.

Pope, coaching in his sixth Super Bowl in a 29-year NFL career, has fielded calls from a lot of friends and acquaintances from his hometown of Monroe this week.

"Only when we go to the Super Bowl," Pope said. "I hear from guys I sat beside in the second grade - 'Do you have any tickets?' "

Though the two coach on different sides of the ball, Fewell and Pope both are familiar with New England coach Bill Belichick.

Pope worked with Belichick for 12 years under Bill Parcells in New England and New York, and remains friends with Belichick. Fewell faced Belichick twice a year when he was in Buffalo, where he was the Bills' defensive coordinator for four seasons before going 3-4 as the interim head coach over the final seven games in 2009.

Fewell rejoined Giants coach Tom Coughlin, whom he coached for in Jacksonville, before the 2010 season. After the Giants finished in the top 10 in total defense, run defense and pass defense, Fewell interviewed for several head-coaching vacancies, including the Panthers'.

"That is home for me. It's still a place I call home," Fewell said this week. "I was thrilled with the opportunity that they even called. I was like a little kid in the candy store. I was honored and just excited to talk to them."

Fewell said he wasn't contacted for any head-coaching jobs this year. There was speculation he might not keep the one he has after the Giants' injury-riddled defense struggled through much of the season.

But the Giants have won five games in a row - including their final two regular-season games - to reach the Super Bowl, where a strong defensive performance against Tom Brady and the Patriots could raise Fewell's profile again.

"I think it gives me more marketability in the future," Fewell said. "Now I have the experience of coaching in the Super Bowl, knowing what the preparation is like for a Super Bowl week, because it does change. I think that adds value to what I can do."

Pope, who turns 70 in March, is the third-oldest assistant in the league, behind Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau (74) and Philadelphia offensive line coach Howard Mudd, who is a month older than Pope.

Pope talks with the wisdom of a man who has worked for five head coaches and seen the offensive game evolve from conservative, run-first schemes to wide-open passing attacks with receivers spread all over the field.

"It has just become a schoolyard game in some cases, where you go out to the manhole cover and turn left and the quarterback hits you with the ball," Pope said. "Early on when I first came into the league, maybe a team had eight or nine runs. And then you'd play the next week and the team had the same runs. There wasn't that much variety."

Pope has a good history as a teacher. Jeremy Shockey, now with the Panthers, was the fifth tight end to make the all-rookie team under Pope, joining Zeke Mowatt, Mark Bavaro, Howard Cross and Cincinnati's Tony McGee.

He has spent 21 years in two different stints with the Giants, and is the only coach in team history with three Super Bowl rings. When Coughlin replaced Jim Fassel in 2004, the only position coach he retained was Pope, whom he calls the best tight ends coach in football.

"I think it's disproving Abe Lincoln's statement that you can't fool all the people all the time," Pope said. "Twenty-nine years is a long time. You have to have a passion for doing a particular job. ... I'm virtually worthless if it wasn't for this profession. I don't know how to do anything else. But I never really wanted to do anything else, really."