He went from the NFL to high school volunteer. How this TCU ex hopes to revive career
Mention Curtis Fuller, and it doesn’t take long for Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera to start talking.
“He’s very passionate about the game,” Rivera said. “He’s a very smart coach. He understands the game. He understands what it takes to compete at the top level. Very likeable.”
The same can be said when Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Steve Wilks hears Fuller’s name.
“He’s definitely a teacher. That’s No. 1,” Wilks said. “That’s what you look for in coaches, guys who can teach and articulate and get across to all the players. He has a great and unique way of really learning his players and figuring out what they need. Very detailed in the process of going about his day-to-day operation.”
Rivera and Wilks see Fuller as an NFL-caliber coach and his track record speaks for itself. After a four-year playing career in the NFL, Fuller embarked on a professional career starting as a volunteer scout with the Dallas Cowboys under Bill Parcells in 2006.
He coached on Super Bowl staffs with the Green Bay Packers (2010) and Carolina Panthers (2015).
But Fuller is out of the league these days. The Fort Worth native and former TCU player resigned from the Panthers two years ago over alleged workplace misconduct.
Fuller, though,said the time away from the daily grind of professional football has been a positive for his family life. And he’s getting his football fill working as a volunteer assistant at Myers Park High School in Charlotte.
That high school boasts a who’s who of players, including former Carolina WR Muhsin Muhammad’s son (and Texas A&M commit) Muhsin Muhammad III, to Eagles backup QB Josh McCown’s sons, to former NFL cornerback Dre Bly’s son.
“It’s been fun,” Fuller said. “I have missed the game from the standpoint of college and NFL, but this year has been important for me and my family. I’ve learned a lot of things being away from the game.
“I’d call it a learning year. It’s been a good eye-opening of work/life balance and an illustration for me that at any point this sport can be taken away from you for whatever reason. I’ve had hard conversations with my daughter about what’s going on in the world and what happened to dad. It’s made me a better husband, a better father. So it’s been eye-opening.”
Carolina days
When Fuller talks about those hard conversations, he’s referring to how his tenure with the Panthers ended.
Fuller served on Rivera’s staff from 2013-17 as an assistant defensive backs coach and special teams coach.
During that time, the Panthers won the NFC South in 2013 with the league’s second-best defense, and reached the Super Bowl in 2015 with a 15-1 record and sixth-best defense.
But Fuller’s tenure ended May 2018 when the organization — on the heels of owner Jerry Richardson selling the team following multiple sexual misconduct allegations — reportedly discovered Fuller had sent a number of emails and text messages to female employees.
Fuller’s resignation had more to do with the volume, rather than the content, of the communications.
“In the world of what’s going on this day and age, everybody is sensitive to certain issues,” Fuller said. “If I made anybody feel uncomfortable in that situation, I want to apologize for that.
“We’ve moved on from that and I’ve learned from that situation. I take full responsibility if I said something that made someone feel uncomfortable. Again, I do want to apologize.”
Those who worked with Fuller during his Panthers day vouch for his character to this day. And the success the Panthers had on the field speaks for itself.
Fuller didn’t have a first-round draft pick in his secondary during the Super Bowl run in 2015, but cornerback Josh Norman emerged as an All-Pro.
“We were actually going to cut Josh Norman,” Fuller said. “He was really struggling. But we had another guy get hurt and we had to play Josh.”
It worked out just fine, as Norman returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
The Panthers led the NFL with 24 interceptions that season. Safety Kurt Coleman had a team-leading seven and Norman and linebackers Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly had four.
That’s part of the reason Wilks pushed to bring Fuller on his staff when he took over the Arizona Cardinals in 2018.
“There’s a high level of trust there,” Wilks said. “Good coach. Good teacher. He knew the system and trying to make that transition of implementing culture. He was one of the right guys to have around.”
Wilks never had any hesitation bringing in Fuller despite what transpired at the end of his tenure with the Panthers.
“Curtis is solid — good person, good husband, good father,” Wilks said.
Added Rivera: “In this era of being right and being wrong, you have to be careful. Unfortunately it became a very touchy point for people. But Curtis is a smart guy who understands the game and whose arrow will be trending up if he gets the opportunity.”
What’s next?
As Fuller called it, this year has been eye-opening on multiple fronts. But it has provided him with a clear vision of what he would like to do next.
Fuller is focused on reviving his coaching career whether it be in the pro or college ranks. He’s never coached in college, but would welcome that opportunity. Spending a season with high school kids at Myers Park has brought him to that realization.
“In the NFL, I’ve been to two Super Bowls and been to the playoffs in eight of 12 years, so my experience has been tremendous,” Fuller said. “It’s been awesome, and my desire now is to get back to the NFL or college.
“I feel at the college level you can have a big impact on student athletes in a positive way.”
Fuller recalls his college career, playing under Dennis Franchione and then-defensive coordinator Gary Patterson. He got a taste of the college life in 2012 when he volunteered at Vanderbilt under James Franklin.
That’s why he’d be open to going down that path.
“I learned so much football from Gary Patterson and Dennis Franchione,” Fuller said. “What are you looking at? Are you seeing this or that? That’s where I am in my life. I want to impact young athletes in college of the NFL. That is my desire.”
Fuller won’t be lacking endorsements from respected coaches in his pursuit, whether it be a return to the NFL or his first job in the college ranks.
“There’s no question he’d do well in college,” Wilks said. “He’s got an ability to relate to all players at all different levels.”
This is a guy who worked his way up the coaching ladder the old-school way.
Fuller expected to join Corporate America after his playing days. But when he was playing for the Packers, defensive backs coach Lionel Washington told Fuller he’d make a great coach one day.
“He said, ‘Curtis, you need to coach because you understand the game, you’re smart, intelligent, process well,’” Fuller said. “That was the first thing that got in my mind that maybe coaching was the way to go.”
So Fuller pursued that path, and joined the Cowboys as a volunteer scout in 2006 under Parcells. That staff featured future NFL head coaches Sean Payton and Mike Zimmer.
Fuller then interviewed for a job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2007 season. He didn’t get the job, but impressed Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin enough that Monte told his son, Lane, to hire him when he took over the Oakland Raiders.
Fuller spent the 2007 season with the Raiders. He went on to the Green Bay Packers (2009-10), Tennessee Titans (2011), Panthers (2013-17) and Cardinals (2018).
Fuller feels his journey, with all the ups and downs, has readied himself for whatever is next.
“When I played at TCU, Dennis Franchione told us all the time that everything is not going to go your way all the time,” Fuller said. “It’s about how you handle it that shows a lot about you. A lot of these kids at Myers Park want to play college football, but some have to understand that they may have to go to junior college. I went to junior college before going to TCU.
“There’s going to be adversity in every situation. Like I tell my kids, for whatever reason we got fired in Arizona, we had the adversity in Carolina, you can’t fold up the tent. You’ve got to learn from it the best you can.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
