Under the Headset: Mike Munchak

[Miles]

When it comes to coaches in the NFL, there’s no one who can boast the kind of experience that Mike Munchak has. After all, how many can say they’ve been coaching in the NFL for more than 20 years and were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for their playing career? That kind of experience is invaluable to any team, and for the Broncos’ offensive line, it will hopefully pay dividends as the group looks to become one of the league’s best. Just before the season, we caught up with the legendary former lineman to learn about his perspective on this season and a little bit about his playing career, too.


In this business, we hear a lot about how players transition to new teams, but for a coach, what’s that process been like?


“Coming here was the same for me. I’ve been very blessed. I’ve been in the league a long time — 35-plus years as a player and coach — and I haven’t had to move much. This is my third organization in all those years: Pittsburgh for the last five, and really Tennessee/Houston for [32] years. So I’ve been very lucky to stay in one spot. It’s been great for my family. We haven’t had to move as much as most coaches do or most players do.


“Coming here and starting over, it’s a great challenge. I look at it as a great opportunity to come here and meet a new group of guys that I get to work with in the meeting room and see what we can develop together, how we can work together and get to know each other, how to motivate each other. That’s a great challenge for me as a coach, because all I am is a teacher. Can I make these guys better? Can I make us play well together? Find a group? That type of thing.


“And the coaching staff I have an opportunity to work with, there’s a lot of fresh ideas. It’s very interesting. I’ve learned a ton already since being here from [Offensive Coordinator] Rich [Scangarello] and from [RB coach] Curtis [Modkins] and some of the coaching staff, their wealth of knowledge that they have that maybe I haven’t been exposed to. And I’m hoping I can do the same for them. I think you become stronger when you bring a lot of different minds together, coaches together, different experiences together.


“And running Rich’s offense, but hopefully it’s all our offense, blended. I think that’s kind of exciting. I enjoy that part, putting it together, pieces of a puzzle. And then you take that message to the players in a unified way. And we’ll find out as we go through the season. It’s going to be our first game playing all together and then hopefully we’ll continue to grow and each week we just get better and better.”


When you became a head coach, what was the most difficult adjustment for you?


“I just think that it’s like anything; at first it’s a feeling-out process. It’s just different for everybody, obviously. But it’s figuring out how to manage your time. It’s a different role that you’re not used to being in. You're used to — for me — being O-line coach and being a big part of the offense and having great relationships with maybe just 12-15 guys. All of sudden, now you’ve got the whole team.


So I think it’s just a lot of getting a feel for using your time best, how to motivate the whole group rather than just a small group, scheduling. It’s a lot more business to the game. You’re kind of taken out of the game a little bit, because it’s a lot of logistics: practicing schedules, travel. You don’t realize how much of that time that takes away from, because you have to decide how to run your team, how to have them ready, how to have them fresh. There’s a lot of firsts going through that. You may have some ideas of how you’d do that when you’re the guy, but when you’re the guy, you realize there’s a little more to it than you thought. It’s just interesting going through all of that.


“Like anything, once you get a year or two behind you, you get really good and get better and better at it, just like you do as a coach or as a player. So the longer you can do it, obviously the better you can be at it. Unfortunately in this profession, sometimes you don’t get a lot of time. It kind of gets hurried around, so I’m hoping Vic gets an opportunity to be here a long, long time and he’ll be one of the best coaches they’ll ever have here in Denver, I think, and he’s doing a great job so far. I’m enjoying watching him, how well he’s handled it. … Heck, I wasn’t even sure where to stand on the sideline or what exactly I was going to do on the sidelines, what was going to be the best way to do it. So it’s just process of going through it. It all comes naturally after that.”