From the Sidelines: Fontel Mines Q&A

ODUSports.com recently sat down with ODU's newest football assistant coach, Fontel Mines. Mines talked about his transition to ODU, his time in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, and much more.

Fontel Mines Q&A
Q: You got hired, maybe a day or two before spring ball started. What has the last few weeks been like for you?
A: The last few weeks of my life have been organized chaos. But I love it. I really do. And you know, you have to love this. I got hired on my birthday, which was an awesome birthday present. I came up on Friday and met the staff and kind of got back to my office and I got my first install packet. And over the weekend, I started studying on my own and came back on Sunday and met with a couple of coaches on Sunday. I had my first meeting with my kids on Monday morning. So, since I've gotten here, it's been chaos. But it's been awesome. The staff is awesome, the kids are awesome. Being back in Virginia is a great feeling. And you know, jumping right into spring ball, that's why we do this. This is the most important time as far as development for my guys.

Q: You have a family, including a young son. Where are they right now?
FM: Yeah, my family is still in North Carolina. They'll probably come up once we find a place to live. The housing market is pretty crazy right now to add on to it. We found a house on Sunday, I drove late Sunday evening when I got back in town, and by Monday there was an offer on the house, and it was off the market. I try to go to Greenville after practice on Saturday, it's about a two-hour drive, just to get a chance to see my wife and son. He's 10 months old, so he's doing something new every day. That's the best gift that God has been able to bless me with. Having my son has been amazing. This is his first experience in the coaching profession as far as the moving aspect, being away from him for an extended period of time. This is a time when we lean on family and my mom and her close friends have spent a lot of time with my wife. I try to just make sure that I'm the best dad and best husband I can be while I'm away.

Q: Why did this position at Old Dominion intrigue you?
FM: I think the biggest thing that stood out to me is just so much room for growth here. Being from Virginia, playing my college ball at Virginia. I've coached at two different schools in Virginia, Richmond and James Madison, and I've always followed Old Dominion from afar. I think this place is a goldmine. I think the recruiting ties and I know what football means for this area and the 757, I have a lot of close friends coaching who are from this area, me being from Richmond, just the 804 and 757, breeds football players. That and Coach Rahne, his vision for the program is top notch, his staff that he's put together is amazing.  Young, energetic, go getters is kind of the best way I can describe them since I've been here, and very smart and intelligent. I'm just super excited, it's kind of one of those things, where it gives me an opportunity to get back in the state of Virginia. 

Q: You were at East Carolina this year. What was it like playing during the pandemic?
FM: I think you entered this uncharted territory. It was a first for everybody, and we as football coaches, we're so used to structure and our daily routine, when it gets to your in-season schedule. I think the pandemic completely threw that structure all the way off. It forces you to operate completely different than you have in the past, and forces guys to do a lot of things virtually, when we're so used to those relationships, and that in-person communication, and, having an opportunity to shake a kid's hand in person. To evaluate a kid in person, and those things were kind of stripped away from you. So, you got to work, you've got to respond, and have to adapt, and figure out how to operate completely different. You deal with injuries during the season, so now you're compiling injuries on top of positive COVID tests on top of contact tracing, and just making sure the kids are being safe. It's a lot on the staff, there's a lot on the kids and more importantly, just their mental state of mind. So, you just have to make sure, holistically that the student-athletes are okay. 

Q: You were at Richmond, Delaware and James Madison. What experience did you gain from those places?
FM: I was very fortunate to be under some really good leadership. Coach Danny Rocco, a super big mentor of mine. It taught me as a younger coach, one, professionally, how to handle yourself. And just time management, I compare it a lot to when you go from high school to college. One of the biggest adjustments that kids make off the field is how to manage their time, so when I first became a full-time coach at the University of Richmond, I was a year removed from playing in the National Football League. It was new to me, but it was something that I love, and I was super passionate about. I learned organization and recruiting, I learned organization for my meetings, all those things. Behind the scenes, there's a lot that goes into those meetings. There's a lot that goes into the travel when you get down to recruiting and I was super fortunate to be around somebody who was experienced and organized and very detailed. He taught me a lot. And in this profession, I think that is very critical for young coaches to learn the right way. 

Q: You've coached FBS, FCS and Division II, what are some of the similarities and differences between those levels that that you've recognized, and that have helped you?
FM: I think the biggest thing is it's all football, if you love it, and you're in it for the right reasons, it won't matter what level you coach at, I got into this profession to develop relationships. I like players more than I like plays. That's one thing I want my kids to always understand that on and off the field I'll always be there for them. I still have relationships with my guys from Richmond, Delaware, James Madison and East Carolina. Those relationships don't die. So that's one thing I want, for everybody to understand. It was a super humbling experience from where I started at Chowan. I think we had six full time coaches at the time. We were responsible for a lot of things that people don't see. We cut the grass, lined the field, we ran study hall, we painted the locker room, we organized the travel. Obviously, you have more people to help you with those things, but just being able to start there really opened my eyes to a lot, just from an operational standpoint, how much it takes to run a successful program, and how much work is being put in. 

Q: What is your recruiting philosophy?
FM: As a true philosophy, I want to recruit kids with game changing talent and program changing character. I think the off the field is just as important as the on the field is. It's super important to understand that these kids have a lot of time to themselves outside of the sport, especially not in season. So, you want to recruit kids with high character, who when you turn your back, you know they're going to do the right thing. And obviously, the talent level has to be there. I'm not big in labeling guys, scholarship versus non-scholarship, because I think you can develop non-scholarship players to be really good players. But, I think they need as much attention as any player in the room. I'm going to coach everybody in the room. I'm going to be demanding, but I'm going to be fair, and when it comes to recruiting, being genuine and being yourself and having a super big work ethic. I think these student-athletes have a really good feel for coaches who may just lead them on and coaches who are going to be honest and transparent and genuine. I don't want to ever recruit a kid and mislead him and for him to come to my program and feel like I wasn't honest. I would never tell a kid he's going to start coming in as a freshman, but I may tell him, you're going to have every opportunity to start and I'll present you with those opportunities and make sure you're prepared. But at the end of the day, it's going to be up to that student-athlete to take advantage of those opportunities to earn his position. 

Q: You've coached at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, you've coached on a fellowship with Washington, what are some one of those experiences you gained from those stops?
FM: They were very helpful schematically. Just being able to learn how to game plan at that level is completely different. But still very similar. So, it plays in the structure on how the game plan may change a little bit more than anything. But, just the consistency and how to be a professional and just everyday matters. Every detail matters. You are evaluated on everything you do the minute you step on that field, and everything is recorded.
 
Q: What was your time like with the Chicago Bears?
FM: It was surreal. Amazing. Lovie Smith was an awesome coach. He took a chance on me and I went to the Bears as an undrafted rookie tryout player for rookie minicamp. I was a receiver all four years at the University of Virginia. I have a really good relationship with my receivers coach at the time John Garrett, who had a lot of NFL experience. His brother Jason Garrett was formerly the head coach of the Cowboys. And I never forget that he sat me down after my last collegiate game. He said, okay, listen, you want to keep playing this game? I said, Yes, sir. He said, here's my piece of advice. I think you should play tight end. And I bought in completely. I was taken aback, but I was completely bought in because I trusted him. I knew he had my best interest at hand. So right then I got to work and I gained 20 pounds. The Bears gave me an opportunity to come there for rookie minicamp. I had a really good three days and they offered me a future contract and I went to camp with them and bounced around from practice squad to active roster. Once I got my feet wet, entering my third year was when I tore my ACL. My time in Chicago was nothing short of amazing. I got an opportunity to be around and be in the locker room with some Hall of Famers, Devin Hester and Brian Urlacher. Just to be there and be able to share those experiences with my players now, prepared me for coaching. Moving from receiver for tight end prepared me for coaching, because in my mind, tight end is one of the most versatile, if not the most versatile position on the field. We ask those guys to pass block and run block like an O-lineman and still be able to run routes like a receiver. They're responsible for every facet of the offense. 

Q: Talk about your time at Virginia.
FM: It was a blessing, it really was. For me just making that decision, a lot went into it. One of the big things was distance. To be within an hour from home was big for me, for my family to be able to come and see me play. My mom is a football mom, she will still be at every single game, she will still go to my high school games. So, it was important for me to put myself in a position to be where my family could still come support me. I was the first person in my immediate family to go to college and graduate. So that was a big deal, especially from an institution with such academic rigors. But the University of Virginia taught me a lot. It taught me a lot about myself. It provided me with some of my best friends, it provided me with a lot of memories. It gave me an opportunity to learn about a lot about myself that I never knew. It kind of pushed me to the limits that I didn't think I can go, whether it was on the field, or off the field academically. My mindset was I'm going to graduate, and they gave me every opportunity in the world to be successful. I played under Al Groh, who is still a really big factor in my life, who I communicate with monthly to get a lot of advice from. I kind of latched on to my coaches as my mentors, my coaches were my father figures growing up.  At Virginia, I was provided with a lot of really good role models and guys who, who mean a lot to me. 

You were raised by a single mom. What does she mean to you?
FM: She's special. When you're growing up, all kids have wants, and it's just a matter of being able to establish the difference between a want and a need. My mom always got me everything that I needed. I might not have got everything that I wanted, but she always provided me with everything I needed. She's just so strong, so resilient, to be able to raise a man by herself was so impressive to me. Because now that I can sit back as a father and see how difficult it is to be a parent at home. To raise a kid, I can't even imagine being a single mom working two jobs, not making a lot of money. We moved four or five times between elementary school and high school. I had a lot of support from my immediate family, my uncles and aunts and my cousins, but you know, my mom is a super strong, independent woman, who is amazing. She made it a point to grind and do all those things for me, and I had no idea of the struggle and how hard it was growing up.