TE Coach Mike Pope

by NYG85yrs on Jun 16, 2010 6:32 PM EDT

Longevity and loyalty seem to sell for so little in the NFL these days, Jerry Seinfeld once jokingly reduced football to a match-up of "our city's jersey against another city's jersey." He was right to a point: players often stayed with one team for a long time, if not their entire career. Coaches were no different: Giants coach Steve Owen was on board for 22 years, same with George Halas, Bill Walsh, and a host of others.

This all didn't change much until free agency was implemented and now the turn-over rate of players moving from team to team is an every season occurrence.

Which is why I believe New York Giants tightends coach Mike Pope deserves a special mention here. Flipping through all my Giants Yearbooks, I realized his picture was a constant. I never thought to read much into his bio, but Mike Pope has been with the Giants for nearly 20 years, on two separate occasions. In fact, he is the only coach to have been with the Giants for all 4 of their Super Bowl trips. Along the way, his coached and mentored 4 great Giants tightends:Zeke Mowatt, Mark Bavaro, Howard Cross, and Jeremy Shockey. Kevin Boss, his current pupil, may be himself on the way to greatness as he has improved his contributions since joining the G-Men in 07. (Incidentally, all 5 of the tightends that Pope has coached have been part of the Giants Super Bowl seasons, with each TE contributing in all of them).

There is a nice bio about Pope in the Giants 2009 Yearbook. He came with the Giants when Parcells was named coach in 1983 and stayed until 1991. In 2000, Pope was asked to come back by Jim Fassel and was then the only coached retained in 2004 when Tom Coughlin became HC.

So here's to you, Mike Pope. As Coughlin said in 04, "He's the best tightends coach in the league."

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I wonder

who is coaching Beckum. It sounds like Pope is into the old school tight end mold, with big, physical dudes that can catch and play with intensity.

Beckum isn’t an end of the line blocker, and seems more like a WR than a TE. Just curious who teaches him..

Props to Pope though, did not realize the longevity factor. He’s shaped some great Giants players in his time

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."

by RealLT on Jun 16, 2010 7:32 PM EDT reply actions

I'll always remember him for walking Boss through the catch in the SB....

right before the play he made damn sure Boss go seperation from Vrabel….

oddly enough he didn’t get that much separation but his size, body position, and great hands allowed him to catch that ball and scamper for a long run.

sometimes I just shake my head when i keep hear how these bigger guys can’t get separation….Bavaro (for being smaller than Boss) never got great space, but he caught the ball and could take one helluva a hit and hold on (sound familiar???).

Throw the damn ball to Kevin Boss!

"Throw the damn ball to Kevin Boss" - Andiamo708

by andiamo708 on Jun 16, 2010 7:59 PM EDT reply actions

good call NYG85, I never would have known this

You play to win the game!

by Simms-McConkey on Jun 17, 2010 10:54 AM EDT reply actions

Congrats Mike Pope for being awesome

I remember hearing somewhere that during the superbowl, him, gilbride, and boss were together and made a play out of thin air.

That play was boss’ 30+ yard reception.

Amazing, sandlot plays in the superbowl.

Against all odds, against all circumstance were you don't have a shot, you succeed
-Michael Strahan
All you hear about is the past, the past... the past is the !@#$ing past, this is the present.
THIS IS TEMPORARY! A CHAMPIONSHIP IS PERMANENT
-Same as above

by Willgfass on Jun 17, 2010 8:21 PM EDT reply actions