TAMPA, Fla. — This preseason, the Buccaneers held their annual National Coaches Academy during rookie minicamp. More than 1,000 coaches from across the country and the world applied for 25 spots on the coaching roster.
"If I look at my iPad, it always says 'I’m here for a reason,'" said Henry Banks II, an assistant coach at Webster Groves High School in St. Louis, MO. Maybe that reason was because the first NFL game he attended as a child was a Bucs win over the Bengals in Cincinnati.
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"You know it didn’t work out well," he laughed when asked how the game went for Bengals fans.
Banks got an all-access pass to the Bucs' facility. He was on the sidelines for the rookie minicamp and worked mostly with special teams. Banks said he learned valuable lessons from everyone he spoke with, including a lesson on calmness from Bucs head coach Todd Bowles.
"He’s so calm in the face of adversity," Banks remarked. "I’m a middle school physical education teacher. You can only imagine the organized chaos that I see on the daily. I’m gonna take that from him. Being able to come back and be even more composed," he said.
Lukkes Gilgan is the associate head coach at George Fox University in Oregon. He shadowed the linebackers and their staff, which gave him a flashback moment of his own.
"I’m working with coach [Larry Foote] and the outside linebackers. It’s great. I grew up a Steelers fan, so I love watching that guy run around on Sundays," he joked. Gilgan said he and the other finalists were all sponges for any information they could get from Bucs coaches and guest speakers that included former head coach Jon Gruden and Pro Football Hall of Famer Ronde Barber.
"It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you and who trusts you to do what you’re expected to do at an elite level," he added. "Having those opportunities, to not just meet somebody, but work with them. And show your skill set and be able to develop with them throughout the week is an awesome way to show that you’re worthy of trust."
No matter where their careers lead them, the finalists said this experience will only boost their respective journeys.
"Hopefully all 25 of us are able to make some type of imprint or great impression on the people we’re around," Banks added. "It’s not just for Tampa Bay, it’s the entire world—whatever we would like to choose to do."
