Sam Wyche's silent count

Sporting News, The, August 2, 2004 by Shawn Krest

Sam Wyche is a football player's dream: a coach who can't yell.

"That's all right," Wyche says, grinning. "I've got a very loud whistle."

Wyche is the new quarterbacks coach of the Bills, a team with its share of rehab cases. Running back Willis McGahee and wide receiver Lee Evans, Buffalo's top picks in the last two drafts, both will test rebuilt knees in training camp, and quarterback Drew Bledsoe is looking to bounce back from his worst season. But the Bills' most remarkable comeback story is Wyche, 59, who spends practice weaving between players to catch up to his quarterbacks after plays.

Wyche underwent exploratory surgery for a heart ailment in March 2000. Later diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a rare condition that can be treated but not cured, Wyche initially feared he would need a heart transplant. He was so weak he could stay awake for barely an hour a day. The condition eventually was brought under control with a pacemaker and medication, but a mishap in the first operation left him with a paralyzed vocal cord. His broadcastine career and, it seemed, his coaching career were over.

"I'd tell people, 'I have heart disease and can't talk very well. Do you have anything for me?' It was hard to find jobs," says Wyche, a head coach for the Bucs and Bengals for 12 seasons--he led the 1988 Bengals to Super Bowl 23--after seven years as a quarterback with the Bengals, Redskins, Lions and Cardinals and four years as an assistant coach with the 49ers.

Wyche's road back to the NFL began in 2002 at the local high school near his home in Pickens, S.C. He started out as a substitute teacher, then as a volunteer assistant on the football team. He coached two seasons at Pickens.

"Talk about looking at the big picture," says Wyche. "It gave me a totally different perspective on teaching. I'm anxious to get back and see how much better of a coach I am going to be now than I was the last time around."

The job also tested Wyche's physical ability to coach. But when new Bills coach Mike Mularkey talked to Wyche about a return to the NFL, he had to be sure. Wyche, who gave Mularkey his start as an NFL assistant (with the Buccaneers), went through a week of marathon staff meetings before being introduced as quarterbacks coach in February.

"I have too much respect for Sam as a coach and a friend to put him at a health risk," says Mularkey. "I wanted to make sure for myself and for himself. I have all the confidence in the world that he can do his job at its highest level."

Wyche cannot raise his voice above normal speaking level. He can't shout instructions to a quarterback on the practice field or even yell, "Hey, come here," on the sideline. He could use a microphone and speaker during practice, but he won't do it because the battery pack makes him look fat.

To compensate, Wyche spent the offseason learning his quarterbacks' tendencies--not just which option Bledsoe will choose on a blitz, but which path he'll choose when leaving the field. It is common to see Wyche cutting through a group of linemen to get an angle on a quarterback in need of instruction.

Occasionally, he misses his man. "I would have liked to have made a point then," he says of a minicamp mistake by rookie J.P. Losman. "Now, I'll have to wait until the meeting."

Wyche creates his own meeting, pulling Losman aside after practice. When Bledsoe begins speaking to a group of reporters, Wyche takes Losman by the arm and leads him farther away--not for privacy, but to reduce the background noise. Losman nods and listens wide-eyed as Wyche shares some of the experience gathered in 23 seasons as an NFL player and coach.

As for the other big comeback story in the quarterback scenario, Wyche isn't ready to give up on Bledsoe. "I looked at a lot of film on Drew and he has not hit the wall," Wyche says. "He's not done yet."

The same can be said about Wyche.