00:00Coach, this is the 10th anniversary, if I'm not mistaken, of you being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of
00:06Fame.
00:06You were in 2016's class, and now here we are, 2026.
00:12Any reflections and any changes that have gone on with you in having that great title of being a Hall
00:18of Famer?
00:20Tell me a little bit where you were when you got the knock on the door and what you thought,
00:24and how's it changed you?
00:26Or maybe it hasn't changed you, Coach.
00:28It's been pretty amazing.
00:31It was just one of those special things.
00:342000, I think, 14 was my first year to be eligible, and I was on the ballot a couple times,
00:42didn't make it, didn't get close.
00:43But back in those days, they brought all the finalists to the Super Bowl, and you were in a hotel,
00:49and they said, hey, we'll call you between whatever the hours are.
00:54If you get a phone call, that means you didn't make it.
00:57If you get a knock on the door, we're telling you that, you know, you're in.
01:01So this particular year, my son, who was about eight or nine at the time, said, I want to go
01:07with you, Dad.
01:08I think this is going to be your year.
01:09And I didn't really want to take Justin because I didn't want him to be disappointed with all the people
01:14on the ballot.
01:14I didn't see how I was going to make it.
01:16But he just begged and begged, so I took him, and we're sitting in the hotel room in San Francisco.
01:21It's Peyton Manning and the Broncos against Cam Newton and the Panthers, and I was going to get to see
01:28Peyton's last game no matter what.
01:30So I was fired up about that.
01:32And about five minutes before the deadline they gave us, they knocked on the door.
01:38And it was just one of those unbelievable moments where you can't believe it.
01:43I mean, I dreamed when I was young about playing in the National Football League.
01:47I even dreamed about winning the Super Bowl.
01:49Never dreamed about being in the Hall of Fame.
01:51It just didn't cross my mind.
01:53And then kind of the biggest thrill for me that evening when they announced it on the honors show, they
02:01have a different Hall of Famer introduce each person.
02:04Well, the first pro game I ever went to, my dad took me to see the Lions against the Browns
02:10because he wanted me to see Jim Brown and this guy who he thought was the greatest player ever in
02:15the NFL.
02:15I was eight years old when I saw that game, and now I'm 60, standing backstage, and who introduces me?
02:23This voice bellows out, Tony Dungey, and it's Jim Brown introducing me, and one of the biggest thrills of my
02:29life.
02:30Coach, outside of your family and your father and your mother, when you were inducted, how much did you reflect
02:37back with Chuck Knoll and how much of an impact that he had on your life?
02:41And really, you know, it all started, Coach, you played, I'm going to say it, you played on the greatest
02:46football team of all time in NFL history, four titles in six years, all those legendary players that were on
02:53that franchise, all the coaching legendary people that were in the front office.
02:58How much of an impact did that have on you?
03:01It changed me, Dan, and really made me into the person that I became not only as a player, but
03:07as a coach.
03:08All of my fundamentals, everything I believe really came from that.
03:11It's amazing.
03:12I just got a note from one of my former teammates.
03:16Joe Green's 80th birthday is coming up, and they want guys to send a birthday message to Joe Green.
03:22And that, I think back to just meeting him in training camp and the impact that he had on me
03:29and how to do that.
03:30I still don't wear my Super Bowl rings today.
03:34I was on that third team, and we got our rings, and Joe Green said, okay, young man, wear that
03:41ring for a week, show it to everybody you need to show it to, and then I don't want to
03:44see it again because we've got more to win.
03:46Well, I took it off.
03:48I haven't worn it since, really, because I think Joe Green might be behind me.
03:52But it was an amazing group.
03:55I got there.
03:57The very first meeting we had, Coach Knoll, they've won two Super Bowls already.
04:04I'm a college quarterback that's going to switch positions and go to defense.
04:08I'm getting ready to write down all the things that he's going to say in this first meeting.
04:13He says, men, you're professionals.
04:15You get paid to play football, but don't make football your whole life.
04:18You've got to learn how to do things off the field.
04:21You've got to find some satisfaction off the field.
04:23I'm here to help you find that.
04:25He didn't say anything about winning and whatever.
04:27He got to that later on.
04:29Hey, fundamentals, and we'll do things the right way.
04:31But you've got to learn how to be a man.
04:34And that stuck with me, Dan.
04:36That's what he taught all of us.
04:37And then four years later, I'm a 25-year-old with no coaching experience, and he calls me and says,
04:45I'll create a position on my staff if you want to do it because I believe in you.
04:51And I said, well, coach, what do you want me to do?
04:55And he said, you only have one job as a coach, and that's to help your players.
04:59And those two things stuck with me, Dan, my entire career.
05:03Football is important.
05:04The game is important.
05:05We win as a team, but don't make football your whole life.
05:08And then as you're coaching, front office, any position you have with the team, you're there to help the players
05:15be the best they can be.
05:16And that was Chuck Knoll to a T.
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