The black and white Reeboks are the only holdover from the past. Every other part of Rich Gunnell is squarely embedded in the future.
The football team's assistant defensive line coach still wears the cleats he donned at Boston College - where he broke the Eagles' all?time receiving record - to practice at Tufts, but they're really the only physical reminder of Gunnell's once?dominant days on the playing field.
Otherwise, he's put aside days of burning ACC defensive backs in favor of pursuing a NESCAC coaching career.
"Once I was released from Kansas City, I still wanted to be around the game, so I figured there's no better way than to coach," said Gunnell, who signed with the Chiefs in 2010 before being released just prior to the regular season. "My whole career, people told me I would probably be a coach some day because of my knowledge of the game. Just being around a team is what I missed most about football, and coaching is definitely the best way to keep that going."
On a tight?knit Jumbos coaching staff, Gunnell has found a home. During his days at Boston College, Gunnell played under current Tufts head coach Jay Civetti and finished with 2,459 career receiving yards, surpassing Pete Mitchell's mark set in 1994.
After Civetti left to become the wide receivers coach at North Carolina State, he and Gunnell stayed in touch until they ran into each other at a summer camp at BC. Gunnell expressed interest in coaching, and Civetti brought his former wideout on as a defensive line coach, a position that's drawn a few laughs from Gunnell's friends but could pave the way for bigger jobs down the road.
"He's always been a part of offense, and for his development as a coach, if you know both sides of the ball it adds more to your credentials," Civetti said. "Rich has the opportunity to be a fantastic coach at any level, whatever he chooses to be right for him. I was giving him an opportunity to learn both sides of the ball, and given his intelligence and everything I knew about, I was confident that he'd succeed."
Gunnell's players have quickly taken to him, frequently asking questions about his days catching passes from Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan or his ephemeral stint in the NFL.
And then there's that ubiquitous video, the 14?second clip with over 87,000 views of Gunnell having a few choice words with former Notre Dame star Jimmy Clausen. It's been brought up more than a few times among fellow Jumbos, but Gunnell has shrugged it off. After playing football for nearly two decades, he's now tasked with learning the other side of the coin.
"I'm getting good experience around these coaches, seeing how much more preparation goes into it, because now you have to put 11 guys in the best position on the field instead of just yourself," Gunnell said. "Coming from programs such as BC, a lot of the guys who have seen me through that, I remember half of them were going home to YouTube me. I'm trying to not put myself in that spot where they look at me as someone who just played at BC."
According to an email sent to the Tufts community on Nov. 30 by Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger?Sweeney, Gunnell was hired as an athletics intern, a position that Civetti said the department helped create to foster diversity within the program.
"My office funded this position for two years out of discretionary funds to help support diversity in athletics," Dean Berger?Sweeney wrote in an email to the Daily. "[Athletics] Director [Bill] Gehling has told me that coaching staffs in the NESCAC do not represent the diversity of the students that play in the league. He wanted to create a position to both support our Tufts athletes (who come from diverse backgrounds) and provide an opportunity for training to increase diversity in coaching staffs in Division III."
Gunnell, a New Jersey native, hasn't created a specific timetable for his coaching career, but he sees parallels between Civetti's path - going from Boston College grad assistant just years ago to Tufts head coach in January - and his own, which is just beginning.
"It's nice for me to see where he came from, how he started off," Gunnell said. "Just being here, I hope that I can gain some experience coaching?wise, enhancing my ability to coach, the best ways I can teach the players how to play. If I'm here for an extended time, hopefully I can help turn the program around."
According to Civetti, Gunnell has already been an integral component in doing just that.
"I think the kids have enjoyed having him around. There's certainly a bit of they look up to him because of where he's been and what he's done," Civetti said. "The guys have respected that and appreciated that. Rich Gunnell is as no?nonsense as it comes, pretty motivated and [a] straight?forward guy, and I think that's something that his players have noticed."
