GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A couple of years ago, on a sweltering summer afternoon, Phil Trautwein took his family to a place that never drifted far from his mind despite the years away.
Trautwein and his wife, Lindsey, had some great times there, and they wanted to show their kids around. The Trautweins have a daughter and two sons.
They had no idea, on that sweaty day touring campus and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, that they would, not-too-far-in-the-distant-future, be calling it home. A lot had changed at UF since Trautwein was a team captain and two-time national champion, but his passion for the place never left.
“It’s everything to me,” said Trautwein, Florida’s new offensive line coach. “This is why I started college coaching, to one day get back to Florida.”
Phil Trautwein during his six seasons at Penn State. (Photo: Dan Rainville/USA Today Network)
Trautwein’s journey home was a long and twisting road, including multiple stops in the NFL as a player and, early in his coaching career, a return to the part of the country he grew up in. A native of the Northeast and raised in Voorhees, N.J., Trautwein reunited with his former Florida offensive line coach, Steve Addazio, at Boston College in 2013 when Addazio took over the Eagles. He served as a graduate assistant for Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, who at the time was Boston College’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
That first season, Trautwein went all-in on a coaching career even as NFL teams called to gauge his interest in returning as a player.
“I did a workout for the Lions, and after that, I told my agent, ‘I’m done,’ ” Trautwein said. “It was probably the best decision I ever made, of course, other than going to Florida coming out of high school.”
A hulking 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive lineman by his senior season at Florida, Trautwein can pinpoint the moment the Jersey kid made up his mind that he was going to play for the Gators. It was at the first college football game he ever attended.
Trautwein had an uncle who was a huge Gators fan and cousins who attended UF. He went with them to Florida’s 2001 season opener against Marshall, the final opener for Steve Spurrier as UF’s head coach. The Gators easily dispatched Marshall and star quarterback Byron Leftwich, leaving a deep impression on Trautwein, who was about to start his sophomore season at Eastern High.
Trautwein returned home on a mission, and after the Gators showed little interest through Trautwein’s prep career, then-Gators head coach Ron Zook finally called in December 2003 to offer Trautwein a scholarship.
He visited the UF campus a few days later and committed.
“He’s always been someone who has put the time and effort in,” former Eastern High teammate Anthony Orio, who played quarterback at Northeastern, told the Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post as Trautwein and the Gators prepared to face Oklahoma in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game. “I think after his freshman year of high school, he really decided he wanted to be a big-time athlete and play college football at a big institution. He did all the things necessary.”
Phil Trautwein on Senior Day in 2008 with, from left to right, his wife, uncle and mother. (File photo: Jay Metz/UAA Communications)
Trautwein played sparingly as a freshman in 2004, made his first career start as a sophomore, and as a junior in 2006, was the starting left tackle in Urban Meyer’s second season, capped by a victory over the Buckeyes for the national championship and a souvenir game ball from the final snap that Trautwein had the mindfulness to snag. Trautwein missed the 2007 season after breaking his foot in preseason camp, but when he returned in 2008, the Gators won their second national championship in three seasons.
Those memories stirred a desire to return to Florida as a coach, should he ever get the chance. Despite regular turnover in the 17 seasons since Trautwein played his final game – and message board campaigners lobbying for his return – Trautwein waited and waited, spending the past six seasons at Penn State.
“I didn’t know how long it was going to take,” Trautwein said. “I always tried to reach out and never really got a call back. I kind of just knew it wasn’t my time. I had other opportunities at some really good places … and decided I just couldn’t leave Penn State. I told guys that in recruiting, ‘honestly, the only place I would go to is Florida.’
“This is the one time it happened. I’m going to give it everything I’ve got to get it right. I don’t want to fail. I want to give everything I’ve got to the university, and I want to make this O-Line U.”
New Gators head coach Jon Sumrall, whom Trautwein had never met until last month during a six-hour stop in Gainesville for an interview, was the one to extend an offer to come home finally.
Trautwein considers it a twist of fate.
After spending his entire coaching career without an agent, Trautwein connected with Clint Dowdle of WIN Sports Group, Sumrall’s agent, five months ago. When the Gators closed in on Sumrall, Dowdle let Sumrall know that if he didn’t have an offensive line coach in mind, he had someone interested – and he happens to be a Gator.
“I think all this happened for a reason, I truly believe that,” Trautwein said. “I just decided I needed [an agent] because I got a bunch of calls in the last two years, and I never used it for leverage. I’m not trying to be the highest-paid offensive line coach. That’s not who I am. I just want to be the best, and I don’t want to focus on the things that don’t matter.
“I finally got the call and the opportunity, and I was like, ‘yeah, let’s go.’ “
LINE ON TRAUTWEIN
A Q&A with Gators offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, a former Gators standout who was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection during his college career:
Q: What does this opportunity mean to you?
A: I’ve been at other universities trying to help them win national championships. I gave everything I’ve got. I worked super hard and tried to be the best O-line coach in the country. Now, to be able to do it at Florida, is just different. It means more. I’m excited to get that opportunity. If I didn’t get that this year, I probably would have gone to the NFL. I was either going to go to Florida or start my NFL coaching career and try to do that.
Q: What made Florida so special as a player that you always wanted to come back?
A: The hard days. For me, it’s just through the grind and through my experiences at Florida that helped make me love it. Those were probably some of the hardest days, workouts and moments of my life, but I just love Florida. I just could never let it down. I’ve got two tattoos on my arm of gators. You only tattoo something on your arm that you love.
Phil Trautwein in action during the 2008 BCS National Championship Game victory over Oklahoma. (File photo: Jim Burgess/UAA Communications)
Q: How much impact did Addazio have on you as a coach?
A: I was kind of in limbo. Coach Addazio called me. I still wanted to play, but I was like, I need to start my coaching career because I’m getting older. I learned a lot. I tell guys in recruiting what kind of coach I am. My dad left me when I was young, and I call two people on Father’s Day: my high school O-line coach and my college O-line coach. That’s kind of why I coach. I do it because of how they impacted my life.
Q: What’s the extra motivation for you to get the program back to where you remember it?
A: That’s why I’m here. I’m here to turn it around, win, and make sure we never get on the hot seat. And I’m here, until hopefully, I say I don’t want to coach anymore. That’s how long I want to stay. That’s the goal. We just have to get better every single day and give everything we’ve got into the program and into the players.
Q: How did the time at Penn State help prepare you for Florida?
A: Recruiting was always really hard to get guys to Penn State. So, I feel like I can get guys to Florida. Recruiting definitely helped: figuring out what I wanted, how it works, and what I can mold. And then, just learning how to deal with your players, evolving your knowledge of the game, and understanding all the different run-zone schemes. I had three offensive coordinators while I was at Penn State, and they all had different systems. I have the growth mindset. I always want to learn. I always want to get better. I’ve adapted. I’ve learned that as the game changes, I have to change. I make sure that I do that.
Q: What’s a perfect meal for you?
A: I don’t know how to say this, because I’m all about nutrition. I calculate my own meals. My perfect meal is probably some type of chicken, sweet potato and veggies.
Q: What’s your favorite hobby?
A: I love to golf, and I love to fish.
Q: What do you consider your best day as an athlete?
A: I would say beating Ohio State in the 2006 national championship.
Q: If you weren’t coaching football, what would you be doing?
A: I’d probably be a trainer. I would definitely be some kind of strength coach or strength trainer, or an O-line coach/trainer, probably both.
Q: Most interesting place you’ve been?
A: I’ve been to Santorini, Greece. It was beautiful, and an island that is actually an active volcano. It’s unbelievable.
