Nothing new on Joey Aguilar, need a day off from basketball, next Super Bowl halftime show is a year away …
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Mike Bajakian
Some of you may not remember Mike Bajakian (pronounced the way it looks, bah-JAKE-ee-an).
He has long been my favorite example of a man who really, really wanted to be a football coach.
Obscure, you say? He was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach on Butch Jones’ staff in 2013 and 2014. He was first to recognize Josh Dobbs as a winner at that position.
Bajakian escaped the Butch bunch to be an NFL quarterback coach, for Tampa Bay. Head coach of the Buccaneers was Lovie Smith. In previous times, Lovie was on Phillip Fulmer’s Tennessee staff.
After many miles and several stops, Bajakian, 51, is again a pro QB coach, this time for the Cleveland Browns. Be reminded that team owners are the prominent Knoxville couple, Dee and Jimmy Haslam.
Dee and Jimmy Haslam
That is not to say it’s all in the family but the coaching carousel does run in a circle.
You probably won’t believe where all Bajakian has been but I’ll try to convince you. As a youngster, he went from River Vale, New Jersey, to prestigious Williams College in Massachusetts (James A. Garfield and George M. Steinbrenner III are other memorable alums).
Mike said: “I think they accidently let me in.”
He mentioned diversity, a lot of smart guys and him. He was an athlete, 5-10 and 165. It was Division III. He became an all-conference QB and led a 22-game undefeated streak.
“Since the day I realized that I wasn’t going to play for a living, I knew that I wanted to stay involved in the game and always thought that I would be a teacher and a coach. Late in my college career, I got the itch to get into college coaching.
“People often ask me why I coach and I tell them that I’m not qualified to do anything else. But the reality of it is, I love the relationships. There are so many emotional highs and lows that you go through as a coach that you develop really close relationships. It’s not something that you can get in the everyday workforce.
“In college, we get the opportunity to mentor young men who are still very impressionable and who are still developing their character and world view. I try to talk to them about quite a bit more than football and academics.”
In the beginning, to get to be quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J., Mike became a math teacher and bowling coach. He never forgot the math part.
There was an afternoon when he used some on a group of Volunteers: F=mv2, force equals mass times velocity squared.
“When calculating how to run over an opponent, these basic math and physics principles prove speed can overcome size. No opponent is too big to be pancaked.
“I always joked about vector analysis, forces and results.”
Mike’s coaching career was no joke. He was a graduate assistant at Rutgers. He coached quarterbacks at Sacred Heart. He moved to Michigan as a grad assistant.
Bajakian linked up with Butch Jones at Central Michigan in 2002. Two years later Mike went to the Chicago Bears as offensive quality control specialist. In 2007, he returned to Central Michigan. He went with Jones to Cincinnati and on to Tennessee.
In an old notebook I have what Butch said: “Mike is a very detailed and highly organized individual. He is a tremendous teacher of the fine details that it takes to play the quarterback position at a championship level.”
Bajakian said he left Tennessee because he couldn’t turn down the opportunity in Tampa. After that staff got fired, he was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boston College, Northwestern, Utah and UMass. He had been at Michigan State for maybe a month when the Browns called.
Mike says coaching is the ultimate job, a dream job.
“It’s that much better when you enjoy the people you work with.”
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
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Poor Bajakian; he now goes to the Browns, preserved by Pilot (money) as the door mat of the AFC North. He deserves better.
Bajakian to the Browns? He certainly deserves better. The Browns, preserved by Pilot (money), have been preserved the last few years as the door mat of the AFC North. Maybe a new quarterback whisperer is what they need. It can’t get worse. Interesting back story.
I have always thought that if Butch had been able to redshirt Dobbs, (as he wanted) and Mike had stayed another year, the Butch Jones story would have been different. Alas, such is life. Filled with Ifs. Thanks for this insightful column, Marvin West.
Haslam’s Cleveland Browns may have finally gotten their Men.