Adam Gase is a football junkie through and through. But for a moment after college, he contemplated a life away from the game.
In a story by ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Gase said that he almost quit his recruiting internship at LSU for a job selling insurance when he was 25. Gase joined former Michigan State head coach Nick Saban when he went to LSU, but Gase’s minuscule $12,000 salary wasn’t nearly enough to pay off his college loans or advance his career. That’s when Gase’s father set him up with an interview for an insurance job that paid $38,000.
Gase considered the job but decided to continue pursuing his dream of becoming a football coach or scout — with a little help from his friends.
“My buddies from college were like, ‘Are you crazy? Do it until you can’t. Do not sell insurance,'” Gase said. “I was like, you know what? They’re right. Screw it, I’m gonna keep grinding on this thing.'”
So Gase moved on to work in the Detroit Lions’ personnel department (a job that paid him only $1,000 a month), where he began working with players more and developing a love for coaching. Gase moved up the ranks in Detroit before leaving to join Mike Martz as an offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers.
Gase, of course, made a name for himself in his next stop with the Denver Broncos. He rose from wide receivers coach to Peyton Manning’s quarterback coach and then offensive coordinator in 2013. A few years later, he became the Miami Dolphins’ head coach before the Jets hired him this January.
Say what you want about Gase, but he stuck with his dream and it’s brought him all the way to the Big Apple coaching a team in one of the biggest markets in the country. His backstory is one of determination and following your heart.
“I just stuck around,” Gase said. “I just kept doing stuff. I said, ‘I’m going to make them kick me out.’ I just never got kicked out.”
