Mike Elston's Impact Goes Beyond The Gridiron

The biggest advice I have given to young men who have asked me about whether or not they should get into coaching football is that if you make this choice know that what you do goes way, way, way beyond winning and losing games. As a coach, your number one priority should always be about making an impact in the lives of young people beyond the football field.

Coaching at any level is an incredibly time consuming job, and I learned first hand not long ago how not handling the rigors of the job can consume you to the point where you begin to struggle with your duties as a husband, which should always trump your job.

More than anything he did with the defensive line at Notre Dame, that is one reason I have always held former Irish line coach Mike Elston in such high regard.

Every time I speak with a current or former defensive lineman at Notre Dame, or to one of their parents, the story was the same. Yes, Elston was a demanding coach, but they always felt he had their backs, even when they didn't like what he was saying.

Elston had players over to his home, his football family blended with his wife and daughters into one group, whether it was pool parties at his home, his wife and daughters baking cookies for the defensive linemen, or when Elston's football responsibilities took him away from school functions, one of his own players stepped up to fill that void. That's family.

What do you do when you can’t make the daddy daughter dance because JR Day? Call Kurt Hinish to step in!! Thank you @Truk_sauce pic.twitter.com/tJDH7WRbHY
— Mike Elston (@CoachMikeElston) January 28, 2018

Elston gave his players a bright, shining example of what it means to be successful as a husband and a father all while being a successful and hard working man at his chosen profession. Any student-athlete that played at Notre Dame got to see first hand how important family is, and should be.

Of course his players learned lessons about stance and starts, hand play along the defensive line, counter pass rush moves, proper edge setting technique, how to strip the football, and on and on and on. But the reality is for most of those players those lessons aren't overly useful beyond their college years, and or the select few fortunate enough to play professional football, those lessons aren't overly useful by the time they get into their late 20s or early 30s.

The lessons about about being responsible, being accountable, being a loving husband, being a supportive father and sacrifice are things that players hopefully carry with them the rest of their lives.

When you look back at the end of your career, it is those victories that change lives and truly impact communities long after people stop caring about what happened on the scoreboard.

It's a trait I've picked up on from first-year head coach Marcus Freeman during his one year in South Bend. So when I was told that Elston and Freeman clicked well as soon as the latter was hired a year ago, you start to get a sense as to why. Football is incredibly important to both, but family will always sit on the throne, a strong impression that Mike Elston has left on Irish players for over a decade.

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