EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — Glen Coffee was an explosive running back for the Alabama Crimson Tide during a period in the team’s history when exciting moments were just becoming the norm again.
After redshirting his Freshman season in 2006, Coffee returned to the field in 2007 under newly-hired coach Nick Saban. For the next two years he was a starting running back, improving his performance in every game, and putting up multiple 100+ yard games, including in the 36-0 shutout of the Auburn Tigers—the first time the Tide had beaten the Tigers in six years.
Coffee surprised his teammates by declaring to forgo his Senior season and entering the 2009 NFL draft. After only a year playing for the San Fransisco 49ers, he shocked fans once again by deciding to quit football all together and join the Army.
He explained his decisions in a recent interview with the Washington Post.
“I got to high school, and I played because my friends played, and then when I realized that I was good enough for college, at that point it was to get school paid for,” Coffee said. “And I still had a year left to play at ’Bama, but I didn’t come back because I didn’t want to play football anymore. So I figured if I got paid to play football, I would tolerate it. So I got to the NFL and I got the money, and it was mo’ money, mo’ problems, pretty much. And I found out it wasn’t for me.”
Now, Coffee is a paratrooper working for the 6th Ranger Training Battalion in Fort Walton, Florida, training the nation’s elite soldiers.
Coffee told the Post he had “no clue” what he wanted to do upon leaving the NFL, but yearned for something higher after he realized playing football was no longer his dream.
“I just felt like the league and that path wasn’t for me,” he explained. “I just knew that I didn’t want to waste, for me, my younger years doing something that I didn’t want to do. That was kind of my viewpoint on the situation.”
“Not everyone can serve in combat arms, and not everyone can serve in a Special Operations capacity,” Coffee continued. “So that’s why I joined. I felt like I was able to do it. Physically and mentally, because there is a mental aspect to it, too.”
Though Coffee isn’t a member of Special Operations yet, he said he is considering joining the elite Army Rangers, but much like the other life-changing decisions he’s made in recent years, he wants to do it for the right reasons.
“Am I thinking about that because I want to do it out of pride,” he said, “or because it would actually better me as a person? So, I’m debating that right now. I have to ask myself, why would I want to go?”
Coffee’s section leader, Sgt. 1st. Class Joshua Sullivan, says the athlete is “humble,” “quiet,” and “squared away.”
“The first long-distance run I ever took him on, he stayed with me the whole time,” Sullivan said. “I have guys who have been doing that run for a full year, and some of them fell out.”
Coffee said the type of athleticism necessary for military life is completely different than his experience as a football player.
“My cardio and endurance is definitely a lot better right now,” Coffee said. “Because in football, you’re not really in shape. People think you’re in shape, but you’re really not. Not like that.”
As for the future, Coffee said he doesn’t yet know if he wants to make military service his career.
“I would never say never, but as of right now I have so much I want to do,” he said. “So my first option is not to make this a career. But, you get to a certain age in life, and you realize that life doesn’t always happen as you plan, so we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.”
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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