I don't want to be fired after two seasons and risk never getting another opportunity to coach.
I wasn't happier for anyone more than Vic Fangio. He deserved to be a head coach, in my opinion. I was really pulling for him and pushing him whenever I got a chance.
The further I get away from coaching, the more I know I made the right decision. You almost forget how wonderful family life is.
I knew I wanted to coach at an early age.
I have been very fortunate to coach a lot of very good secondary players through the years.
We're not Seattle East. We're our own Atlanta, and there are definitely things I learned from Coach Carroll. He had probably the single biggest influence on my coaching career.
Talk about full circle, I never saw this coming. It wasn't like I said, 'Someday, I want to be the head coach at the University of Memphis.'
I want to be a coach one day. This is important to me. I think I have a pretty good foundation of football schemes and X's and O's.
I thought 2013 was the end of my coaching career.
When I was a kid growing up, my dad being a football coach, he asked the same question of all the assistants that he ever hired: 'Is your goal to be a head football coach?'
I want to make it clear, I'm not whining, and the Celtics owe me nothing. But having said that, you would think at least I would have a conversation about a coaching job, since that's what I want to do.
I think that everyone expects Xavi to be a coach, and he has the profile to be at Barcelona or wherever he is.
My father was a coach, so there was a lot of moving around, not having a base.
Thank God he wasn't the St. Louis Rams' coach. I have a lot of respect for Coach Dungy and like everyone in America, everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
I don't think about becoming a head coach. I really don't. I'm not oblivious of people who mention it. When you are in any business, people expect to aspire to the top. I guess everyone is supposed to aspire to being the man at the top of the heap. But I never have.
I never have been in Bernie Fine's hotel room in my life.
My main influence was my father. He was a great high school coach. I thought one day, if I got lucky, I could be a head high school coach.
I don't know if I could have made it as an NBA player. But I knew I could make it as a coach.
Just thinking about the Pittsburgh franchise and Dan Rooney when he hired me, my first goal was just not to get fired before my 20th high school reunion.
To be taught to coach by Marty Schottenheimer, to be able to go to an organization like the Steelers. I came there at 34, probably brash, ready to set my niche.
Everybody asks me, 'Lee when did you know it was time to retire?' I said, 'when they quit asking me to coach.' After the Orlando Renegades, not many people were busting down my doors to coach, so why not do something else.
After 50 years as a player and a coach, I will not become a functionary. That's not my world.
I wound up through a wild set of circumstances getting into coaching. I went in and volunteered with Don Coryell, who was a big part of my past, great coach. A lot of people say he was one of the greatest coaches ever. He was very good in high school, college and pro. Another guy on that staff was named John Madden.
I do get away maybe a little bit more than most coaches do, but that seems to have worked for me in my coaching career. I recommended the way not to get burned out from your job is to have some hobbies and get away from it when you can.
I never thought I'd end up coaching. It wasn't the plan.
