Ex-Ram Comes Full Circle : Dennard Returns to Football as a Titan Coach

Years pass, and Preston Dennard is a rookie again.

He broke into the National Football League in 1978 as a free-agent receiver from the University of New Mexico, making his way onto the Rams roster, then into the lineup and finally into the Super Bowl in 1980.

But now, after an eight-year NFL career that ended in 1986, he is starting over, roaming the sidelines as a rookie coach for Cal State Fullerton.

When Dennard, 33, retired from football after catching 232 passes for 3,665 yards, he believed that that was enough of the game for a while. There were other things he wanted to do with his life.

Then again, there are always other things Dennard wants to do with his life. During his days in the NFL and since, Dennard has been a part-time poet, model, singer, television broadcaster and radio talk-show host.

But sure enough, he has returned to football, like a receiver making the jog back to the huddle after running his route. And now he’s coaching college players in practices on the same field where the Rams hold their preseason camp. Two games into the Titans’ season, Dennard says this is work he likes.

“It’s fun because they’re young men,” Dennard said. “They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. They’re still young pups. I can teach them every trick I know.”

Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy first saw Dennard working with young players when Dennard was with the Rams.

“Listening to him talk to these kids and teach, I thought he’d make a good coach,” Murphy said.

Murphy approached Dennard in 1986 about coaching, but Dennard wanted to pursue other interests, including broadcasting. Last season, he found himself working as a color commentator on cable broadcasts of Fullerton games.

Murphy had another opening after last season, and approached Dennard again. This time, he got him.

Working for Murphy appealed to Dennard, as did working close to his home in Fountain Valley, where he lives with his wife, Jackie, and young sons Ryan, Evan and Aran. After moving to Buffalo and Green Bay during the past years of his career, Dennard was ready to stay home.

“If I ever wanted to find out if I’d be good at coaching, this was the opportunity,” he said. “And there’s no program I’d like to start in more than under Gene Murphy at Cal State Fullerton.”

It is a considerably down the glamour scale from the pros. As a player, Dennard saw all but two NFL stadiums, Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium and the Astrodome in Houston. As a coach, Santa Ana Stadium has replaced Anaheim Stadium, and the crowds average between 2,000 and 3,000.

At Fullerton, an assistant coach’s duties extend beyond football. There is recruiting, of course, but also fund raising. And this summer, there was some painting to be done on the team’s weight-training facility. So Dennard chipped in and helped out. Others did too, but they kid Dennard because he was the only one whose picture ended up in a newspaper.

Dennard was eager to try coaching, but he wasn’t certain whether he would be that good at it.

“Sometimes people are good at certain areas of a profession, and other areas they’re not,” he said.

As it turned out, the on-the-field teaching and motivating has come easily.

“The coaching aspect on the field is second nature,” he said.

The more difficult part has been in coaches’ meetings.

For years, his scope of the game was limited largely to the interplay among quarterback, receiver and defensive backs. Now he is working with the offensive staff to analyze opponents’ defenses and come up with a game plan.

“I have to a lot to learn,” Dennard said. “I probably say very little in meetings. I just sit back and listen. . . . The offensive staff has brought me along. I’m real aware of that.”

Murphy knows a coach’s first year can be trying, even for someone who had success as a player.

“I know it’s not easy,” Murphy said. “It’s trial and error and you’ve got to not be afraid to make a mistake. And you need to be surrounded by people who give you support.

“The average-Joe fan thinks because a guy plays pro football his knowledge of the whole game is excellent. But you have wide receivers who only know how to run a pattern, or an offensive lineman who knows nothing about secondary coverage.”

Dennard, of course, made his living as a receiver. In six seasons with the Rams, he caught 21 touchdown passes. In 1981, his best season, he caught 49 passes for 821 yards. But he is beginning his career as a coach by working with the running backs, a move he suspects Murphy made to help him broaden his understanding of the game.

Still, Dennard’s strength is his ability to relate to the players.

“The No. 1 reason he was hired is because of his teaching ability, and No. 2 his ability to communicate,” Murphy said. “He’s a big-time role model and not necessarily because he was a pro football player.”

The players enjoy being coached by someone they have watched play.

“You hear this and that from a lot of coaches and you wonder if they actually ever played,” said Tim Byrnes, a senior running back. “With Preston, you know.

“It’s not like he’s a rookie out there because he’s been around the game so long,” Byrnes said. “And he knows how to deal with players. That’s a big thing. A lot of coaches have a hard time with that . . . (Dennard) is really relaxed in his personality. He’s a real laid-back guy who deals with players really well and makes you want to work hard for him.”

Dennard isn’t sure what is ahead for him.

“I’m still a first-year coach,” he said. “I know I’m still learning a whole heck of a lot. I have made a couple of errors here and there.”

And as ever, there are always the other possibilities, other opportunities. If he were to get a break in broadcasting--Dennard’s eyes light up--who knows?

“If everything stays the same and it’s up to me, I definitely want to be here next year,” Dennard said. “I have no plans to change what I’m doing at this point.”

Dennard is enjoying the game, and neither the size of the crowd nor the paycheck has made much difference.

“I get so pumped, I want to grab a helmet and put it on myself,” Dennard said. “I’m under control, but I want to portray to my kids that I’m just as pumped up about my job as they are about theirs.”