METRO ATLANTA — By now, if you’ve lived in the Atlanta area for more than a few years, it’s likely you know a little bit of the backstory. Local kid stars at Atlanta high school, plays but doesn’t excel in college, becomes a coach and makes his second appearance in five years at the Super Bowl.
That’s the short version of the Sean McVay story.
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McVay is the coach of the Los Angeles Rams and is now the youngest coach to win the “big game” at the age of 36.
The Marist graduate and son of former Channel 2 General Manager Tim McVay will tell anyone who will listen that his experiences growing up in Atlanta are the biggest life lessons he’s ever learned.
“What’s so great about football is it’s a team sport,” Sean McVay said. “I learned that at a young age growing up around Marist and around my family.”
His family includes not only his father who worked in broadcasting, but his grandfather John. John McVay coached in the NFL during the 1970s and was the general manager for the San Francisco 49ers teams of the 1980s and 90s that won five Super Bowls.
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The incredible run of coaching success McVay has had at a young age did not surprise those who know him the best. His high school coach, Alan Chadwick, told Channel 2 Sports Anchor Alison Mastrangelo that nothing Sean has done surprises him at all.
“If there was one person that we could suspect would have this kind of career, it would have been Sean McVay,” Chadwick said. “He was an exceptional player, very intelligent about the game. He had a great knowledge of the game.”
While he began playing as a defensive back for Marist when he started, before he finished his time there, McVay led the team to the 2003 state championship as their starting quarterback. That year, he was Georgia’s offensive player of the year, finishing ahead of NFL Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson, who played at Sandy Creek.
Chadwick said that while McVay was an outstanding athlete in high school, it was his leadership skills that jumped off the chart.
“His leadership ability is just off the chart. Even at a young age he was very mature about the game,” Chadwick said. “Because of his knowledge of the game and his leadership, anyone would follow him anywhere because the believed in him so much.”
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McVay gives all the credit for his knowledge and leadership abilities to his dad, who helped teach his son that there are no hurdles that can’t be overcome; if you believe and keep moving forward.
That philosophy helped Sean bounce back from his first appearance as a Super Bowl coach when his Rams lost to the New England Patriots in 2019′s title game in Atlanta, 13-3.
“Setbacks are setups for comebacks and any great competitor, any person that’s been successful in life, they’ve had some moments where they’ve had to respond from adversity,” McVay said. “That (the loss) was one for our team, but we have another great challenge ahead, this time vs. the Bengals.”
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