Mack rejoins BrownsSteve King, Staff Writer
03.20.2007
Even before they began playing together with the Browns two decades ago -- really, even before they knew each other -- running backs Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner were joined at the hip.
They both grew up in the Southeast, played college football in the Carolinas and came to the Browns -- just a year apart -- as virtual unknowns. But they etched their name in not only Browns but also NFL history when, in 1985, they became just the third pair of players from the same team to each rush for 1,000 yards in the same season.
It was not an aberration but rather the start of something big, for Mack and Byner stand fifth and sixth, respectively, on the Browns' career rushing list.
For that and, even more importantly, the kind of people they were off the field, they were among the most popular players on the club at that time.
Kevin Mack, Earnest Byner.
Earnest Byner, Kevin Mack.
Indeed, looking back now, you can't think of one without also thinking of the other.
With all that having been said, then, it only makes sense that Mack is now following the same post-football career path that Byner took.
Byner was director of player development and oversaw player programs for the former Browns, the Baltimore Ravens, from 1998-2003 before taking his current position as running backs coach with the Washington Redskins. And Mack began Monday as assistant director of player programs for the Browns, where he will assist players with off-the-field personal development such as life skills training, continuing education and financial counseling.
"When my buddy, Earnest, was doing this same type of thing in Baltimore, I could tell every time I talked to him that he was really enjoying himself in being able to influence young players," Mack said from his office just across the hall from the weight room in the same Browns training facility that he helped christen as a player in August 1991. "It got me to thinking that that was something I might want to do someday."
But at that time, Mack was living with his family in Houston, where he moved after retiring from the Browns following the 1993 season, ending a nine-year career. It was comfortable. Houston was the hometown of his wife of now nearly 21 years, Ava, and he was involved in various businesses there.
Most recently, he and a friend were partners in moving company.
"It was OK, but it just wasn't me," Mack said.
However, he had a family to support, so he had to do it. It was his profession.
But not for long.
About a year ago, the Browns called Mack with an invitation and, if thing worked out, possibly an opportunity. With, as Browns director of player programs Jerry Butler, puts it "an idea fostered by (team owner) Randy Lerner and then expanded upon by (general manager) Phil Savage," the club asked Mack to be part of an apprenticeship program it was starting that summer.
The two-week program, which began with the opening of training camp in late July, also included several of Mack's former Browns teammates such as quarterback Mike Pagel, safety Stevon Moore, offensive guard Herman Arvie and defensive tackle Ernie Logan, along with two ex-players from the expansion era in center Dave Wohlabaugh and wide receiver Andre King.
Butler said the former Browns were exposed to most of the departments in the organization, such as player programs, marketing, scouting and stadium operations, among others. Coaching was not part of it.
"It's just way too busy of a time for coaches," explained Butler, who coached wide receivers for the Browns in 1999 and 2000 before moving into his current role.
Mack didn't need to be asked twice if he was interested. He jumped at the chance. This is what he had been looking for.
"I really had a great time with it," Mack said. "I learned a great deal."
With the departure of former Browns cornerback Ray Jackson to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the club told the apprentices that they would be looking to fill Jackson's old position as assistant director of player programs after the season. That whetted Mack's appetite even more. This is what he had been waiting for, so it made the apprenticeship program just that much more important.
"When I left, I told Phil how much I appreciated the opportunity and how interested I was in being considered for the position," Mack said. "I then kept in contact with Phil from time to time to let him know of my continued interest. Football, that's what I know. It's what I wanted to get back into."
Lerner is almost exactly the same age as the 44-year-old Mack and remembers watching him run over people during those great days with the Browns in the last half of the 1980s.
Savage knew Mack from his first tour of duty with the Browns, as he joined Bill Belichick's staff as an assistant coach in 1991 and was with the club for the last three seasons of the back's career. Plus Savage was with the Ravens when Byner was there as both a player and then in the front office, so he knew all about the transition from on the field to off it.
Butler, a former star wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills, goes even farther back with Mack. Though they both played at Clemson several years apart, they were directly connected in that Butler's younger brother, Richard, a wide receiver, and Mack were teammates at the school in the early 1980s.
Because of those relationships, but more importantly, as Butler pointed out, because Mack "had the real-world experience of having run his own businesses, and I know from having run businesses myself that that counts for a lot," and because Mack "has a nice personality and is a good guy to be around," the former running back was chosen for the position.
"Kevin will be a perfect fit for this role under Jerry Butler," Savage said.
Added Butler, "Not that the other people we had in the apprenticeship program wouldn't have also done well, because I think they would have, but we just thought Kevin was the best candidate for us and for this position at this time," Butler said. "I think he'll be a great asset to the Browns."
Just like Mack and Earnest Byner were back in the day.
"I never dreamed when I left here that I'd be back," said Mack, the father of two grown daughters who live in the Charlotte area, Roxanne, 25, and Tasha, 23. "When you're a player, that's all you think about, being a player. It takes up all of your time. You don't have time to think about anything else.
"Plus, as a player, you just think you'll be playing forever. You never think about anything beyond football.
"But now that I'm done playing, I'm glad to be back and have my foot in the door and to have this opportunity."
Funny, but the last part of that is the same thing Mack was saying in 1985. He and the Browns can only hope things turn out as well this time as it did then.
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