How Michael Vick, Matt Rhule and Luke Kuechly are giving Charlotte 49ers a leg up on life
Ever hear of a university’s “speaker series?” Charlotte 49ers football coach Will Healy has set up his own during the coronavirus pandemic.
Most Fridays, Healy brings in a well-known figure to speak to the 49ers on Zoom. Healy’s thinking: Find people who can deliver a message that the team will find valuable beyond the football field.
“They’re culture pieces for us,” Healy said. “I feel like one of the biggest priorities for us during this time is to make sure we grow the culture aspect. I think we’ve been getting good, different voices from different arenas. None of them have to do with Xs and Os, but about experiences that we can translate into things we’re going through.”
Among the people who have spoken to the 49ers: Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule, former Panthers Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen (together), Charlotte Hornets forward Cody Zeller and assistant coach Ronald Nored (together); former 49ers stars Larry Ogunjobi, Cameron Clark and Alex Highsmith; former NFL star Michael Vick; and motivational speakers Inky Johnson, Brian Kight, Chris Shepherd and Heath Eslinger.
The messages have varied. Healy said Rhule spoke about the importance of players “defending their culture,” holding each other accountable and understanding the standards set within a program are only a minimum of what should be expected.
Kuechly and Olsen talked about game preparation and described what they thought were the five best plays of their careers.
“What they were thinking in how they made the play, what went into that and how they were so excited for one another,” Healy said.
Healy said the Hornets’ Zeller and Nored told stories about team owner Michael Jordan, but also about their experiences at their sport’s highest level. Zeller as a pro and the No. 4 overall draft pick in the 2013 NBA draft out of Indiana; Nored as a key player in Butler’s back-to-back national championship game appearances in 2010 and ’11.
“It’s been a really good selection of influential speakers,” said 49ers defensive end Tyriq Harris. “It’s not just football players or former football players, things like that. They’re from all walks of life and they give us interesting, different perspectives.”
Harris said he most enjoyed hearing from Vick, who, like Harris, grew up in Virginia. Vick was a star for the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles, but also spent 21 months in prison after being convicted of his involvement in a dog-fighting ring.
“It was very motivational for me,” Harris said. “He didn’t go into detail about his incarceration, but he talked about what he learned from it. The value of knowledge and that knowledge is power. If anything, he would have taken his studies (at Virginia Tech) more seriously. You always think football is the big picture thing, but the reality is football is not forever. Education is forever.”
Many, if not most, college teams are staying in communication through Zoom meetings. Harris said it’s been an important way for the 49ers to keep in contact with each other until they can get back together on campus, whenever that might be. The meetings begin with the team noisily “clapping it up” before Healy takes over (there’s also a scheduled meeting each Monday that is focused on football-related matters).
“It’s fun to be connected with my teammates this way, we crack jokes, that kind of thing,” Harris said. “But it makes me miss them that much more.”
Healy continues to think big with the speaker series. He’s working with 49ers basketball coach Ron Sanchez, a former Virginia assistant, on getting Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett. He also hopes to land Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (whose family he knew in Richmond, Va., when Healy was in college at Richmond in the early 2000s), as well as former Ohio State football player Maurice Clarett and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
Healy said he usually doesn’t get a given week’s Friday speaker lined up until Thursday.
“Coach is on a roll,” Harris said. “He’s got the hookups. Every week we’re wondering who it’s going to be next. Every week he amps it up.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 12:17 PM.