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Success hasn't changed Bears' head coach

Posted August 15, 2007 11:00 pm

Reed Schreck

In an all-too-rare moment, Lovie Smith took a bicycle ride by himself around a nearby neighborhood Wednesday morning.

To get away from football for a little while. There were almost two hours until his team's noon training camp practice at Olivet Nazarene University. The Chicago Bears head coach pedaled at a leisurely pace, more to see the scenery than to get the heart rate up.

Then he makes a turn down a random road and hears noise. He notices Bradley-Bourbonnais High School is holding a morning football practice.

So much for getting away from the game.

Smith rides in, parks his bike. He sits in the bleachers, alone, for 10 minutes. No one notices.

"I'd never been there," said Smith, even though this is his fourth training camp in the city and the school is only a little more than a Rex Grossman bomb away. He spent the time "reminiscing about my high school days" in Big Sandy, Texas, where he helped his team win three consecutive state championships. He was a three-time all-stater as an end and linebacker.

Finally, it was time to leave the memories and the premises.

"Some of the guys noticed a little bit as I was getting ready to go," he said. "But then I was out of there. I didn't want to bother anybody. I just like hanging out and blending in."

So much for the fame of being a Super Bowl coach changing Lovie Smith. He says he hasn't changed as a person as a result, and you get the impression if he were elected President that wouldn't alter his ego one bit either.

He is who he is and always will be. He's low profile and likes it that way. The more success he might obtain, the more his resolve will be to remain true to his character.

"I wouldn't say the offseason was any different at all," he said in a one-on-one interview. "I have more security for my family (a four-year contract extension at $23.45 million). Beyond that, nothing has changed."

We can say with certainty he won't be the NFL's next Peyton Manning when it comes to TV time. "I'm not a big actor or anything like that," he said.

The only commercial Smith has done lately is for Comcast - and that's because of a relationship where the company helps with his Lovie Smith and MaryAnne Smith Foundation.

"I had a great life before this past season and it's even better right now," he said. "I can't complain about anything. God has blessed me again. Not that much has changed."

Well, one thing is different - demands for his time.

"There's been a lot more requests," he said. "A lot. You name it, it was asked.

"Again, I never complain about opportunities that come my way based on us having success and based on my being the head coach of the Chicago Bears. You want to be in that situation where you have to turn down things like that based on what your team is doing."

He's not saying he says no to everyone. It's just that he can't say yes all the time.

Impromptu gatherings appeal to him as much as anything.

"I like to talk with groups of fans, if you see a group by themselves and it isn't a big group," he said. "I love talking, just hanging out, things like that."

He mentions that he's a fan of high school football. He simply couldn't not stop at the Bourbonnais practice. He said he will spend every second he can watching his youngest son Miles practice and play the sport at Lake Forest High School in this his senior season.

Family. That, he said, always is his top priority.

"Football is my life," he said. "But I have another life - family. And I'm going to say everything is based on my family."

That leaves little time for personal pleasures, which really aren't that numerous. Consider how many habits he admits to - one.

"I don't golf. I love to fish," he said, taking time this summer to fish in Alaska. "It's fishing and football for me."

It's football season, so Smith puts his rods and reels aside for now. Most of the season will involve coaching, trying to get his team on the winning side of the next Super Bowl. There also will be all those times when he shows up to watch his son, where fans certainly will notice his presence eventually.

In his opinion, they'll recognize him because of what he does, and not who he is. The difference seems to be important to him.

"In my role, more people know the Chicago Bears and I'm the head coach. So a few more people know about me," he says with his usual modesty.

He says you never get away from football completely, his attempt to do so briefly Wednesday serving as proof of how hard that can be. Despite the pressures associated with being an NFL head coach, he said he sleeps good at night.

"That's not my life," he said of worrying about aspects of his team when his head hits the pillow. "I can go to sleep on command. I look forward to sleeping because I get to wake up the next day and be able to take care of the challenges that come up on a daily basis."

No doubt he'll look forward to his next chance to take a bike ride, too. And now that he knows where the high school is ...

Reed Schreck is the NFL Writer for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at 815-987-1381 or rschreck@rrstar.com.

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