I'm really pleased to see Kevin Mack rejoin the Browns organization as Assistant Director of Player Programs. Like most fans, I have very fond memories of Kevin as a player. Such an outcome was not always likely....
Mack of course went through some bad times off the field. I was much younger than and admittedly don't know the "whole story," but I recall his name being associated with the police blotter and involved in drugs. I remember people referring to a certain apartment complex off West 25th as the "Kevin Mack Memorial Apartments." Maybe that wasn't exactly what went down, but the perception was definitely a prevalent one. After 1993 and Mack retired, I often wondered what became of him and how his life turned out.
It occurs to me that football is a little unlike other sports in that we fans really root for our favorite football players to succeed in life of the field. A football player lives life in the trenches and spills his guts on the field. In the process he also is likely to sacrifice a good deal of his physical well-being later in life; there's a lot of limping ex-players. Plus plenty of players have their share of off-the-field issues. I think the fact that these guys have to lay it all on the line each Sunday earns them a lot of respect with fans like myself. We want them to win when their playing career is over too.
I think two years ago I was down at the Flying Pig before a home game and was really surprised and happy to see Kevin Mack on-site with a radio crew doing a broadcast. He looked rather content, well-adjusted and generally happy. It was cool. I didn't get a chance to talk to him but plenty of fans did, and he appeared to be pleasant and even gracious. Perhaps he was even a bit surprised by how many fans came up to him. But that's the way it works with football players, particularly in Cleveland: if you leave it on the field and retire a Brown, we'll love you the rest of your life.
And it's great that a guy like Mack got the opportunity to work in an NFL front office and was able to take advantage of it. We're still rooting for you Kevin.
According to the Browns, his duties will include, "off-field personal development programs with life skills training, continuing education, financial education, career internships and family assistance." In other words, he'll be helping the next generation of Browns players in matters off the football field. I'm sure he has a lot he can teach them.
It's a crazy world in the NFL anymore, and it's rare for players to play a career with a team. Even long-time one-team players are liable to eventually wrap of their career elsewhere. I'd like to think more current players would hope to emulate Kevin Mack's career path, that they would see the value in staying with the Browns and how that will be rewarding for many decades after retiring from the game. We fans can't do much to influence teams' or players' career decisions, particularly when it comes to the free agent Monopoly-money offseason. But our long-term respect and support of Kevin Mack does matter, and it's one of the best attributes of the Cleveland Browns fan community.