In his first season as head coach at Poly High in Baltimore, former NFL lineman and Super Bowl champion Larry Webster is leading teens not only onto the field but in the battlefield of life.
Photo by Jim Stout
Larry Webster is someone in front of them, someone tangible and real that they can hear, speak with, someone who changed his path, as opposed to a head shot propped up on "SportsCenter" as the latest failed pro athlete.
Webster fell into more than a few swallowing potholes in a 11-year NFL career. During that span, he was suspended three times for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.
After three years as a volunteer
assistant, Larry Webster took over
head coaching duties this season.
Photo by Jim Stout
Each time, Webster crawled out of the chasm. Each time, he humbly dusted himself off. Each time, he felt stronger from the previous transgression.
Webster never succumbed. He never relented that he could beat his demons and pass his message along to those that haven't been bitten yet, get to those budding teenaged stars before they tripped into the same abyss he did.
Today, look at him, a larger-than-life figure to a group of starry eyed young men as a first-year head football coach of the
Poly (Baltimore, Md.). His commanding presence deserves their attention. His powerful message demands it.
Webster was a key cog on the ferocious Baltimore Ravens' defensive front that won the 2000 Super Bowl. But in 1999, he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the league's alcohol and substance abuse policy.
After a successful college career
at Maryland, Larry Webster was a
third-round pick of the Miami
Dolphins in 1992.
Photo by Jim Stout
In 1992, when he was with the Miami Dolphins, Webster twice reportedly tested positive for marijuana. In 1995, while with Cleveland, he was suspended six games after testing positive for marijuana.
The beauty about Webster is that he doesn't hide from his past. He bravely stares it down and coveys to his players a different type of schooling that involves the lures of the real world.
"The best thing to tell kids is you have to tell them your story; you can't hide from your past and kids will see right through you if you tell them lies," Webster says. "When I took the job, I told the kids I would give them all of me. I've been there and done that. I've been down some roads in my past that aren't good for you. I will let them know I won't lie. It's why I don't keep anything from them. You can't. Because if you hide something from them, they might be in that same situation you were in at one time and you didn't give them the proper tools to get out of the situation and make a proper decision.
"I think I would have been coach someone like me. I would have listened more to [former Miami all-Pro linebacker] Brian Cox when I was playing, because Brian was like an older brother to me. I wasn't really listening to Brian at the time. Brian gave me advice on how to be a professional in the NFL and how to do things as a young man. The things you should do and not do. My first three years, I just looked at the game, but I wasn't a professional. I wasn't looking at it as a job until I got suspended. If I listened, I would have stayed and retired in Miami. I was young and dumb and having fun. I didn't realize how I was hurting myself. I just hurt myself with the things I was doing at the time. God led me in another path."
Larry Webster took part in the NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship for three years before catching on at Poly. He worked closely with Jets' coach Rex Ryan in the fellowship.
Photo by Jim Stout
Webster found direction. He went back and received his degree in criminal justice from Maryland. He did a few internships with some NFL teams, including the Ravens and New York Jets, before becoming a volunteer assistant the previous three years under Poly's Roger Wrenn, who opted to retire after 43 seasons last year.
When Wrenn's position became open, Webster, 43, a native of Elkton, Maryland, jumped at the chance. He was a graduate of
Elkton (Md.) High School and lettered in three sports - football, basketball and track and field. He was a running back in high school, so he can teach multiple positions. He was the University of Maryland's MVP as a defensive lineman his senior year.
Every step, Webster was all in and now he's stepped into the lives of players like Poly senior linemen
Cory Robertson and
Nickolas Bigelow.
Larry Webster had 10 sacks with the Ravens in 1998 and won a Super Bowl title with them two years later in Super Bowl XXXV with a 34-7 win over the New York Giants.
Photo by Jim Stout
"Coach Web is a great head coach; he likes to focus on individual goals and assignments, he teaches self-sacrifice where you don't always have to make the play, but doing your assignment is going to help someone else do their job," said Robertson, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound left offensive tackle. "Coach Web teaches aggressiveness and to never give up to the whistle. He is very old-school. He teaches accountability. Coach Web has a no-zero tolerance level when it comes to alcohol or drugs. He makes these team references that make us care for one another."
Bigelow, a 5-10, 290-pound senior nose tackle, may have a few things in common with a former interior D-lineman like Webster. Bigelow takes in everything Webster says—he knows the path his coach has taken.
"Coach is always telling us about the lessons he learned in life, what the next level is like and what you have to do to get there," Bigelow said. "He's really connected with us the last few years. We have a saying that if you don't want to play for your brothers on the team, make sure you do it for Coach Web and the other coaches."
Larry Webster was a three-sport star at nearby Elkton High in Maryland, lettering in football, basketball and track and field. He was actually a running back in high school.
Photo by Jim Stout
During the day, Webster works security at Poly, a high-academic, inner-city school. In the afternoon, he runs football practice, and at night, runs home to be with his family and 8-old twin sons.
Webster is in a peaceful place. His gentle voice could carry a higher octave when he sees a player make a mistake, as all attentive coaches will do. But he's become a very good teacher, lessons he's passing down from playing for Brian Billick, Marvin Lewis and Rex Ryan. Lessons he's learned from being a Super Bowl champion. Lessons learned from mistakes he once made that have forged him into the shining example he's become. Losing a football game like Poly did to open the season last week - 36-14 to
DuVal (Lanham, Md.) - isn't nearly the end of the world.
"When you're 18, 19, 20, you think you know it all," Webster said. "It's what I thought, and I took my ability and everything that happened to me in the NFL for granted. When you're young, you never think it's going to end. My message to the kids is to learn from the experiences of others. The one thing I say, and I tell them all of time, is I'm going to lead you to the street and make sure you get across safely and see them the next day. I can't ask for anything better. I have great kids at a great school. The path I took meant for me to be here. It's been both a blessing and a dream."
For Webster, and the players he coaches who have someone tangible to grasp.
When Larry Webster talks, kids listen. Like Cory Robertson: "He is very old-school. He teaches accountability. ... He makes these team references that make us care for one another."
Photo by Jim Stout
