Champagne Problems: LaFleur Facing Brother, Best Friend

On Sunday at Lambeau Field, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur will be going against his close friend, Jets coach Robert Saleh, and brother, offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Oct 12, 2022 9:31 PM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur was the best man at New York Jets coach Robert Saleh’s wedding. LaFleur’s brother, Mike, is the Jets’ offensive coordinator.

On Sunday, they’ll be manning the sidelines at Lambeau Field, leading their 3-2 teams into a key October matchup.

“To tell you the truth, I really don’t think about it for 2 seconds. I really don’t,” LaFleur said on Wednesday of preparing against such familiar faces. “It’s about trying to prepare our team. Everybody is just the next opponent. Certainly, it’s great to see those guys.

“I always joke with Sean [McVay, coach of the Rams], we call it, ‘Champagne problems.’ Right? I mean, we’re in these positions, it’s a great honor and privilege to be in this spot. Ultimately, you hate beating up on your buddy in this league, but it is what it is. It’s about our football team and it’s never about just myself and another head coach going against their buddy.”

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers called BS on that.

“Look, he’s going against his brother and his best friend. This game, for sure, means more to him,” Rodgers said. “He does a good job of not bringing that in but Matt operates at an anxiety base level of about 7. So, honestly, you can’t really tell the difference between a week going against Rob and Mike compared to a week going against guys he doesn’t know as well.”

Either way, LaFleur said he talks to his brother just about every day and Saleh regularly, too. They’ll talk less this week, though, as a big game approaches.

“I know we’re going to have a lot of distractions in my house this weekend, I’m sure, in terms of the number of people coming into town,” LaFleur said. “But I usually camp out in Lambeau, though, and don’t go home until I have to – until everybody clears out of there.”

Before the game, LaFleur will make a point to come onto the field a little earlier to strike up some conversations and exchange pleasantries between his brother and one of his closest friends.

LaFleur’s father, Denny, was a longtime assistant coach at Central Michigan. That’s where Matt found his love for football. Long before becoming a standout quarterback at Division II Saginaw Valley State, Matt LaFleur was a regular on the practice field and on the sideline at CMU.

His first coaching job was at his alma mater in 2003. In 2004 and 2005, he was an offensive assistant on the Central Michigan staff. Also part of that staff: Saleh.

“That’s a great story,” LaFleur said during his introductory news conference in 2019. “When I was a grad assistant at Central Michigan, there was a guy named Robert Saleh who was there. Robert was my roommate for a year. Robert was a quality control for the Houston Texans [in 2008]. I’ll never forget. He kept encouraging me to go to the (Scouting) Combine. They played in Cleveland that year and he’s like, ‘Hey, come up, I’ll introduce you to some of the guys.’

“I did that. I went to the Combine, met some guys and went up to Cleveland and met them again. So, I started to become somewhat of a familiar face. When Mike Sherman took the job from Houston to Texas A&M, he took one of the quality control guys with him. So, it opened up the door. It’s very rare that a quality control coach is going to get another guy in the building. It’s really a credit to the work that Robert was able to accomplish there in Houston. He kept pounding the table for me. They knew at least what I looked like; they didn’t necessarily know my work. I’ll never forget he kept telling me and I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever. That’s not going to happen.’ All of a sudden, I got a phone call from (Texans coach) Gary Kubiak.”

On Sunday, the LaFleur kids will be at Lambeau Field. Their parents have moved to Green Bay. It’s something they couldn’t have envisioned a couple decades ago.

“I think I’ve said it before, I always thought the pinnacle of coaching would be coaching at Central Michigan University,” LaFleur said. “A lot of us are products of our environment. And with my dad being there, that’s just what you’re accustomed to. I just think that the bottom line, wherever you’re working in his profession, you just always try to do the best job you can and wherever it takes you, it takes you.”