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Eagles - Former Roethlisberger mentor Whipple starting over in NFL with Eagles
By LES BOWEN
Philadelphia Daily News
bowenl@phillynews.com
Jul 24, 2008
BETHLEHEM - The ways of the NFL hype machine are strange, and fickle. Two-and-a-half years ago, Mark Whipple was well on his way to becoming a designated genius, but something happened. Now, at 51, he finds himself easing into a fuzzily defined role as an "offensive assistant" for the Eagles.
It's tempting to infer that Whipple was hired to tutor quarterback Kevin Kolb, since Whipple is given a large chunk of credit for the development of Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. But the fact is, the Eagles have a quarterbacks coach (Pat Shurmur), and an offensive coordinator who is an ex-quarterback (Marty Mornhinweg), and a head coach, that Andy Reid fellow, who has been known to take an active role with quarterbacks as well. Hard to see how Whipple fits in there, exactly.
"I think right now Mark is just learning the offense and getting used to the system; this is a new offense for him. He's somebody who is another set of eyes, right now," Reid said yesterday, the final full day of workouts with rookies and select vets before the full squad reports this evening. "Pat does a great job with [developing Kolb], Marty does a great job with that part of it. It's a great opportunity for Mark to learn from those guys and then share ideas with them.
"He'll be another set of eyes. I'll give him some things to look at. Marty gives him certain projects to do. It's a matter of just kind of getting acclimated to what we do here."
Reid initiated talks with Whipple at a point last winter when he thought Shurmur might become ex-Eagles assistant John Harbaugh's offensive coordinator in Baltimore. That didn't happen, but Reid decided to add Whipple anyway, perhaps figuring a Steelers Super Bowl ring and an NCAA Division I-AA national championship built on a high-flying offense as head coach at Massachusetts might make him a guy worth having around.
"I didn't know Mark that well, bringing him here, I just knew the things he'd accomplished," Reid said. "I talked to [ex-Steelers coach] Bill Cowher, and Bill really liked him, said he'd be one of the first guys he'd hire if he came back as a head coach."
Reid also spoke with ESPN announcer Chris Berman, who knew Whipple well from their days as students at Brown, where Whipple was the quarterback (Class of '79) and Berman ('77) announced the games on radio. (Would he have given Whipple a nickname? Would Charmin have been invoked? It seems a safe bet.)
Reid said he wasn't looking for any football insights from Berman, but was favorably impressed that "Chris said he was a heckuva person."
Whipple was eager to get back into the league, after a year spent "being a dad," he said, to sons Spencer and Austin. "You got edgy, you got antsy," he acknowledged.
Whipple got kind of a late NFL start, joining the Steelers as quarterbacks coach in 2004 from UMass, just as Roethlisberger was being drafted. When the QB led Pittsburgh to the Super Bowl in just his second season, becoming the youngest quarterback ever to win the roman-numeraled game, Whipple garnered much acclaim.
But the Steelers fell hard, to 8-8, the next season, and Roethlisberger, who threw 23 interceptions and 18 touchdown passes, might have fallen hardest, even after walking away from that motorcyle crash. Then Cowher decided to exit. New coach Mike Tomlin brought in his own QB coach, ex-Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson. The exceptionally close relationship Whipple had formed with Roethlisberger might not have been viewed as such a positive, by a new coach who had no history with either of them.
"The most important person was the guy you coach, how do they feel," Whipple said. "In this business, you're not great with everybody. But I know I was forthright and honest, that's the way I've always been . . . Ben and I were close, I won't say that we weren't. There were a lot of, I won't say, 'father and son talks,' but they [covered more than football]."
Whipple said he hasn't spent a lot of time analyzing the way he went from secret weapon to out of work, as Roethlisberger soared and then stalled.
"That's the nature of this league," he said. "Sometimes the quarterback gets too much credit, sometimes he gets too much blame."
The same goes, presumably, for the guy giving the quarterback advice.
As the Eagles started camp this week, it reminded Whipple of his first camp with Roethlisberger. In fact, he left a phone message for the QB yesterday, to ask Big Ben if he believed it had been 4 years since those early, uncertain days.
"I remember he wasn't there the first couple days, because he didn't sign. I remember standing out there and as soon as he signed, I walked him up to the meeting room and got him in there for about 3 hours before the [offensive] meeting," Whipple said.
Whipple said injuries to veteran QBs Charlie Batch and Tommy Maddox had as much to do with Roethlisberger getting to start as a rookie as did the youngster's skills. No matter how big, strong and gifted you are, learning to run an NFL offense straight from college is not easy.
Whipple said part of the message he left yesterday was that "at least I don't have to coach a rookie again."
"It's completely different, it's a different level, speed factor and volume of concepts," quarterbacking in the pros, he said. "And there's just more pressure on that position than probably any place in sport."
Whipple said the atmosphere around the Eagles is a lot like what it was like with the Steelers, the expectations and the intensity.
"The players are focused. There's leadership, they're showing the young guys," he said. "The goals are defined for the veterans. Somewhere along the road, you hope you can bring something" that will help achieve them. *
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