Wannstedt enjoying new role with NFL's Bills
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Approaching a group of reporters gathered at one end of the field, Dave Wannstedt already knows the drill.
“Turn toward the sun, right?” Wannstedt says as the late morning sun exposes a graying yet still familiarly full head of hair. Entering his 37th year of coaching, Wannstedt is an old pro in knowing TV cameramen and women prefer their subjects facing the light.
“Ready?” Wannstedt asks, because it’s evident he sure was during his first meeting with reporters five days into the Buffalo Bills’ training camp last week.
Last winter’s frustrations of being forced out of his dream job at Pittsburgh, his alma mater, now behind him, Wannstedt is relishing the opportunity of being back in the NFL after a six-year absence.
“It’s been great,” he said. “I’m happy and appreciative to be here. And excited.”
And in Buffalo of all places. The small-market Bills might not be a magnet for high-profile coaches such as Wannstedt, a two-time NFL head coach (Chicago and Miami). And yet Wannstedt made Buffalo his first choice — a “no-brainer,” as he put it — in January for two specific reasons.
The Bills’ young and patchwork defense could certainly use someone like Wannstedt’s vast experience. He’s serving as the team’s assistant head coach and also overseeing the inside linebackers.
More important, there was the opportunity to be reunited with close friend and former colleague, Bills head coach Chan Gailey.
The two first hit it off in 2000-01, when Gailey served as Wannstedt’s offensive coordinator in Miami. Wannstedt liked Gailey’s no-nonsense approach and game-planning ability, and the two have kept in regular contact since going their separate ways.
“I’m a football coach, and I’m not ready to retire. But I didn’t need to take a job unless it was with the right person,” Wannstedt explained. “I’m doing this because I feel like the situation is good ... and the guy who’s the head coach here, I know what he’s all about.”
The feeling’s mutual.
“He brings an awful lot of knowledge and an awful lot of experience,” Gailey said.
