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	The Ypsilanti Courier A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

The big show

Lincoln alumnus in NFL coaching program

By Dave Merchant, Staff Writer

PUBLISHED: June 14, 2007

Answering your cell phone when you get a call from a number you don't recognize can be a good thing.

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Just ask Adrian College defensive line coach and Lincoln High School alumnus Carl Embry and he will agree.

Embry got a call a couple weeks ago from the Detroit Lions asking if he would be interested in participating in the NFL's Minority Coaching Fellowship Program.

"At first I had hesitation about signing up for it because I heard like 500 people apply for it," Embry said. "Then I thought it would be exciting so I decided to try for it."

He said his head coach (Jim Lyall) told him he should try for it and see what happens.

"He said it would be nice to see what things he could bring back to the program," he said. "Things we could use or things we can't use. It would open another door."

Embry played both defensive and offensive line for the Railsplitters during his high school days. He played one year of football at Defiance College before taking a year off and playing for Adrian.

After graduating with a degree in business he decided to take up coaching at the college level.

"Getting a chance to coach, network and learn from NFL coached is not something everyone gets a chance to do," Embry commented. "I just want to work hard to make myself a better coach, help out the Lions organization in any way I can, and come back to Adrian with the things I have learned to help us win a MIAA (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association) championship."

Embry is entering his second season as the Bulldogs' defensive line coach this fall after previously serving as the head junior varsity coach in 2004. He spent the 2005 season as the wide receivers coach at Tiffin University.

One of his favorite football memories in college was being down 14 points to Hope College in a Homecoming game and coming back to win 26-24. Athletes at Adrian get to play schools from Wisconsin, Kentucky and Indiana.

"The kids like to stay overnight," he said. "Every three years the team has been taking trips to play oversees."

Embry said that the team has gone to Ireland and Spain in the past and plans to go to Italy next.

"We are usually gone for about 12 days and every year we do that our football team usually does well that season," he commented. "It gives us a big advantage and it helps us huge with recruiting."

Embry's specific role with the Lions has yet to be determined. As part of the training camp coaching staffs, the fellowship coaches perform duties that mirror those of full-time NFL assistant coaches. They are responsible for specific assignments, including planning and directing workouts, formulating scrimmage and preseason game strategies, breaking down videotape and evaluating players.

Established by the NFL in 1987, the Minority Coaching Fellowship Program provides NFL training camp positions to minority coaches every year. Many current NFL coaches have participated in the program. Some of the past graduates of the program have gone on to be appointed NFL coordinator or head-coaching positions including current head coaches Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears), Herman Edwards (Kansas City Chiefs) and Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals).

According to Embry it is important for athletes who are being recruited to play a sport to keep their options open. He said he was a prime example of that because he went to Defiance and didn't like it but had been heavily recruited by Adrian and kept in touch with the head coach.

This allowed him the opportunity to come to Adrian even after it wasn't his first school college he chose.

His parents Carl and Althea still live in Ypsilanti. Embry moved from Detroit to Ypsilanti when he was 14 and he admits it took some getting use to live outside the city but it turned out to be a good experience in the long run.

He will begin his internship with the Lions in mid-July and will be back on the Adrian College campus for the pre-season camp in mid-August.