It took him a few decades, but Jim Haslett figured out this offseason there was life outside the NFL.
The former Saints head coach, most recently Washington’s defensive coordinator, had dialed things back this offseason anyway before he took a job as a consultant at Penn State.
According to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, Haslett did things like attend an old Bills reunion, spent time with his family, and even, gasp, took a vacation with his wife to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
“I didn’t even know there was an island called that,” Haslett said.
He’s also going to watch his son, who is a senior quarterback at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania (his alma mater).
But Penn State coach James Franklin was willing to work around all that, to add the veteran defensive coach to his staff, without Haslett having to add a full-time commitment.
“I get the best of both worlds,” Haslett said. “The reason I did it is it’s a school where kids get a great education, and it’s a football program on the rise. . . .
“The good thing about the kids is everything you say, they suck in. They listen to everything you say. It’s not like talking to an eight-year veteran. You can see how much they grow. When you watch tape from their freshman year to their sophomore year, or their sophomore year to their senior year, you see how much better they get.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Haslett fares without having both feet in. He was famous for his work habits, to the extent that former Washington coach Steve Spurrier mocked him — pronouncing it HAZE-let — for sleeping on the couch in his office. Perhaps Spurrier should have spent a bit more time in the office himself, but that’s not the point.
Haslett has learned what it’s like to have a life on the other side of the NFL. We’ll see if he’s able to keep it up.
