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Try as Gibbs might, he couldn't sit idly by

By Lynn DeBruin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 9, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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The trappings of retirement weren't enough to satisfy Alex Gibbs, a former Broncos coach who is working with the Houston Texans this season.

Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images

The trappings of retirement weren't enough to satisfy Alex Gibbs, a former Broncos coach who is working with the Houston Texans this season.

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He went to a buffalo roundup in South Dakota, took in a few Broadway plays, toured the Smithsonian and London and Chicago and visited what used to be a leper colony in Hawaii.

But none of it matched the excitement and fulfillment of the NFL.

So at 66, Alex Gibbs will be back on the field this week, barking at the Houston Texans' offensive linemen the way he used to bark at guys up and down the trenches in Denver.

"I traveled, did a lot of things and I worked out every day. But I still missed it. I just felt at the end of the day, 'What did I do today?' " Gibbs said.

After a year away from football, he had to jump back in.

"I promised my wife I would try, and I tried, (but) there is no way I could do that," he said of retirement.

Gibbs will work with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan the same way he worked with Gary Kubiak in Denver under Mike Shanahan.

"I think it will be the best thing that ever happened to my son," Mike Shanahan said. "He'll make him a better coach and (Kyle) will get a chance to work with a guy who's been (in the NFL) a long time."

When Shanahan took over the Broncos' top job in 1995, he brought Kubiak, his quarterbacks coach at San Francisco, with him to be offensive coordinator. Kubiak was 32 at the time and had only one NFL season of coaching experience, and Shanahan thought Gibbs would aid in his development.

Though there was plenty of "tough love," Kubiak remains grateful for the experience and is entering his third season as coach of the Texans.

He's hoping Gibbs' zone-blocking schemes that powered the Broncos run game during the Super Bowl years and beyond will bolster a Texans rushing offense that averaged only 99.1 yards last season.

In November 2004, Shanahan fired Gibbs' son, David, as Broncos secondary coach.

Mike Shanahan hopes it is water under the bridge.

"He's one of the best coaches I've ever been around," he said of Alex. "He's got no holes. He demands a lot. I think he's a great hire for Gary."

As for firing David Gibbs, who now is Kansas City's secondary coach, Shanahan added, "It's always tough any time you have the type of decisions that I would have to make. It's not easy. But Alex and I go way back. So there's a very strong respect level that I have for him and, hopefully, he has for me."

Alex Gibbs was hesitant to talk about the situation but said there's absolutely no animosity between him and Kyle.

"It wasn't anything he did, wasn't anything I did," Gibbs said a few months ago.

But he said he and Mike Shanahan felt so differently about what had taken place, "there wasn't any way to kiss and make up."

He admitted then the strained relationship hurts but held out hope that maybe someday something could be worked out.

"I've kind of lost a good friend, I mean a really good friend, and in our business, you don't make many of those. You make a whole bunch more enemies," Gibbs said.

Gibbs has retired and unretired before, several times.

He left the Broncos after the 2000 season, saying the pressure and long hours had him on the brink of a nervous breakdown. He ended up coming back to work part time for three years.

Then, in 2004, Jim Mora lured him back as a full-time coach to help with Atlanta's sagging run game, but he stepped back to part time again after one season.

Last year, although Gibbs had his hand on the remote most Sundays, he took off from work entirely, traveling the world instead and scaling Camelback Mountain near his home in Scottsdale, Ariz.

It'd take him about 21/2 hours followed by an hourlong bike ride.

"I got ridiculously healthy," Gibbs said. "I just had to get to work. I missed it bad."

As for his promise to his wife, he at least tried.

"She knew it. She could feel it coming," Gibbs said.

Comments

  • May 9, 2008

    2:38 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    boblarryj writes:

    Davis Gibbs was fired shortly after the heavily favored Broncos got creamed by an Alex Gibbs coached Falcons. Mike Shanahan has never fired a coach mid-season. Does anybody know what was behind the firing??? Was there fowl play involved? Did Dave help dad out a bid in that game??

  • May 9, 2008

    7:04 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    incognitoboy writes:

    you're suggesting david got himself fired for spilling game plans to alex?

    one would hope that family ties would be strong, but not enough to derail one's career by actually HELPING the competition just because 'dad' is on the other sideline. mike shanahan knows better than to talk football with kyle the week before the two teams meet. maybe david didn't keep the cards close enough to his vest. we'll probably never know....

  • May 9, 2008

    8:55 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    DougH writes:

    As Shanahan would say "It's always tough any time you have the type of decisions that I would have to make”. (to cover your ass by firing someone) It's not easy to…..always find someone as the next fall guy to cover up my screwups, that’s why they call me The Mastermind

  • May 9, 2008

    9:37 a.m.

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    JohnnyBallgame writes:

    David Gibbs was not a good DB coach, plus he was the main guy in promoting Willie Middlebrooks. D. Gibbs should have been let go and good for him he is in KC now, but their secondary is aweful, get my point!

  • May 9, 2008

    11:51 a.m.

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    den2mke writes:

    Alex Gibbs will always be one of the main reasons Broncs went back-to-back. True genius of the game.

    Tried as I might, there have never been any public details about the firing of David Gibbs--but the insinuation, timing and reluctance of anyone to address it all suggest the same thing: Whether true or not, Shanahan believed something had been compromised and that he couldn't trust him. Obviously, the Gibbs would have a different side.

    Just too bad that this water has to be under the bridge as the Broncos running game has been on the decline ever since Gibbs left--only a little at first but a lot of late...

  • May 9, 2008

    12:21 p.m.

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    Spider writes:

    I sure wish there was some way to get Alex back with the Broncos.

  • May 9, 2008

    2:19 p.m.

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    BroncoRick69 writes:

    I think they do football in the fall, and then go on tour as the Bee Gees in the off-season.

  • May 10, 2008

    12:30 a.m.

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    wwelwayd writes:

    If you listen closely during most games, you can actually hear that unique Bee-Gee falsetto floating up from the sidelines... "If I can't block you, I can't block nobody baby..."

  • May 10, 2008

    10:34 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    MarcoPolo writes:

    denveroldtimer:
    I thought the lyrics "If I can't have you..." pertained to the NFL draft. ?

  • May 10, 2008

    11:10 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Brain writes:

    Alex Gibbs is probably the best offensive line coach there is but the Broncos are still doing fine at running the ball they were tied (Jaguars and Giants) for 3rd in average per carry last year and 9th in rushing overall and again used a couple of nobodys (Selvin Young and Andre Hall)for much of season; with a banged-up line.

  • May 13, 2008

    12:03 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    GJrodburner writes:

    Brain, you are right about the stats, but the person behind those stats was not the offensive line coach! Our current running backs coach is to be congratulated for all that we accomplished in the running game for the last 4-1/2 to 5 seasons.

    From my point of view, and it is limited to reading between the lines (or reading tea-leaves would be just as good), I'd say that there was some type of discussion between father and son before that '04 home game against Atlanta that started this spin on the whole David Gibbs firing fiasco. Should Mike ever be able to go above himself and find it within to hire Alex back, great. But I really do think this problem does cut both ways, and quite possibly Alex still has some raw and exposed feelings over the whole mess that may not allow him to ever work for Mike S. again as well. Still, it would be fantastic to see Alex Gibbs pacing the sidelines again for Denver, and giving Cutler the kind of ground game early in his career that Elway had late in his career thanks to Alex Gibbs. Don't know if that would equate into SB wins, but hey...you never know.