Former Buckeye Mike Vrabel retires, joins OSU coaching staff

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Former All-Pro outside linebacker Mike Vrabel believes his 14 years in the NFL will help him as an assistant coach at his alma mater.

After several days of speculation, Vrabel officially retired from the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday and also announced he was returning to Ohio State as a linebackers coach. He’ll take the spot vacated by his former roommate and teammate, Luke Fickell, who was elevated to head coach after Jim Tressel was forced to resign on May 30.

Vrabel believes his playing days relate and translate to his new job. But that doesn’t mean he’ll often be sporting the three Super Bowl rings he won with the New England Patriots.

“I haven’t worn them since the day I got them,” he said. “Once you win them, you don’t really have to wear them. People know that you won the Super Bowl and you helped contribute to a championship team. I don’t anticipate, you know, putting three rings on and going out on a recruiting trip.”

The 35-year-old Vrabel played four years for the Pittsburgh Steelers, eight seasons with the Patriots and, for the past two years, the Kansas City Chiefs. He said working with so many young players on the Chiefs roster was good preparation for a coaching career.

“I got plenty of practice,” he said of coaching. “That’s a young football team. It was a great role to go out there and play. And not only help them on the field but help guys in the locker room and film room. I was blessed to have a lot of great coaches. But these last two years, when you’re coaching 20- and 21-year-old guys that are fresh out of college, that’s probably helped me the most.”

Vrabel lettered from 1993-96 at Ohio State when John Cooper was the head coach. He was a two-time Big Ten defensive player of the year. As a senior in high school in Akron, his host on his official recruiting visit to Ohio State was Fickell.

“Mike is something that our kids obviously emulate,” Fickell said. “They want to be like him and what he’s done here at Ohio State, what he’s done in the NFL and obviously what he’s done later in life as a father and husband. It’s a great role model.”

Active in the NFL Players Association’s executive committee and its negotiations with the league, Vrabel said he was unsure if he would have retired if there were no lockout going on in the pros.

He also conceded that he had grown tired of gearing up for another new season.

“I just came to the point where I couldn’t train to prepare for an NFL season. I’m not going to pretend I can do it anymore,” he said. “This is where I want to be.”