Sean Payton is cooling his heels at his home in Westlake while he takes an NFL-mandated break from coaching the New Orleans Saints, but as Deadspin notes, he's not banned from all football.
In an interview last week, Payton, suspended for the year for his role in the NFL's latest morality play, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he's keeping sharp by coaching his son's sixth-grade football team at Liberty Christian in Argyle.
T-P: What's your role with Connor's team, offensive assistant? How has it been so far?PAYTON: "I run the offense. The head coach is Brennan Hardy, who does a great job. We had our first game Saturday, and we won 30-0. Obviously it's a completely different element. Yet you get just as excited to see the team you're a part of do well. It was about 110 degrees on the Astroturf, I was just glad no one melted. But it was a good win for us to start the season. We scored a lot of points and created some turnovers. And they get excited about it, which is great to see."
T-P: What's the most exotic play you threw in there?
PAYTON: "We have 12 plays on the wristband. The terminology is the same as we used in New Orleans. The kids said, 'This looks hard.' But I said, 'I've seen your homework. That's a lot harder.' And they've done a great job with it."
They've still got some work to do, however, as he told the University of North Texas football team last month.
"I've got kids looking at dandelions and picking their boogers," Payton said. "I'm trying to put in 50 plays."
