Given the gritty and physical nature of gridiron football, it takes a lot for any one individual to stand out as a particularly salty character, yet the former NFL linebacker and head coach, Mike Singletary, was able to do just that. Having earned monikers such as “Samurai Mike” and the “Minister of Defense,” the former Chicago Bear had a reputation for being just as brutal as he was technical.
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During his most recent discussion with Kay Adams, the host of The Athletic Football Show, Rob Mays, suggested that he was more than familiar with Singletary’s “tough love” after having been personally coached by the NFL Hall of Famer. “What are you talking about?” Adams Questioned.
“He was my football coach for two years, Mike Singletary, for two years,” Mays explained. Adams promptly proceeded to ask “Was he the toughest boss you’ve ever had in your life?” to which Mays admitted, “He was certainly one of them,” before recalling one of his favorite stories that helps to illustrate just how intense Singletary was as a coach.
“He was certainly one of them… When I was in eighth grade, we were practicing, and he came to practice in full pads. He was going through bag drills in full pads. At this point, he was probably 45-50 years old and he still looked like he could still play in the NFL. It was remarkable… He was a very fun coach to have even though he definitely was hard on us.”
While Singletary is mostly remembered nowadays for his three-year stint as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, the retired play caller last made headlines by resigning from his head coaching position at Trinity Christian Academy in December of 2019. Unfortunately, his experience as both a play caller and as a defensive coordinator in the National Football League wasn’t enough to jumpstart the local Texas program.
Throughout the 2018 and 2019 season, Singletary’s Trojans produced an overall record of 1-21, with their lone win coming in the midst of the 2018 season. After the winless campaign in 2019, Singletary would submit his letter of resignation, stating that he would be stepping down in order to pursue careers in motivational speaking and consulting.
To his credit, that appears to have been the right choice, as Singletary has since gone on to publish motivational materials and launch his own production company. Visualize Your Greatness: The Playbook for the Seven C’s of Success first hit shelves as recently as this week, and his MKLS Productions debuted his first-ever spoken word project titled “Mama’s Prayer” on June 15th.
Suffice it to say, Singletary seems to be doing well for himself as he continues to inspire others to achieve the same level of greatness that he was once able to throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
