On the latest NFL Players: Second Acts podcast, former Pro Bowl wide receiver Terance Mathis joins Peanut and Roman. Terance shares how he went from an undersized receiver to setting records at New Mexico University, playing in a Super Bowl with the Atlanta Falcons, and eventually becoming the head coach at Morehouse College. He discusses what it’s like to recruit players in a post-NIL world, how his time as a player informs his coaching, and what it meant to get his first win during a difficult inaugural season.
The NFL Players: Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Radio.
This is Terrence mathis former NFL player of thirteen years now the new head coach at more House College b Moore House College. This is the NFL Player's Second Acts Podcast. Mat I want to check it out. It's a good one.
What's up? Everybody was going on?
I'm Peanut Tuman and this is the NFL Player's Second Acts Podcast. And this is my guy, Roman Harper, my co host, my host, co host, my Trip number two, my Batman, my Robin.
No, I'm definitely Batman.
You're definitely so thanks to all of our viewers and listeners out there wherever you're at. And I hate to say, iHeartRadio specifically for letting us have this West Midtown facility right here in the NFL players Second Acts background in the iHeart Radio Student that.
Was a great intro. Let's get to our guests. This gentleman was a six round pick in the nineteen ninety drafts played thirteen seasons in the NFL as a receiver on the hard turf. Yes pro bowler. He's an All Pro and on nineteen ninety four, is a member of the twenty twenty three College Football Hall of Fame. Yes, and he's the head coach at Dee Moorhouse College. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podcast. Terrence Matthews. That's a hell of a title head coach of Morehouse.
I like that. That's nice. Hey man, that's a big brand.
Yes it is.
Morehouse is probably the biggest brand in HBCU rams, bigger than Howard Has Howard Has a Luxury to be number two.
Behind more Luxury and being number two, I know a guy who went through. I'm gonna have to.
I met a guy. I met a guy that went there. Okay, so I had to throw that jeah, throw it in there, and I appreciate you.
That is not a jab a jab.
That was a clear right right right, That was not It's not a job.
I want to know this though.
Talking about more House, what was it like to have ESPN's first take with Shannon Sharp and Steven a come to you Guys's campus, to you guys's game versus Clark Atlanta.
Well, I think when I first got hired, I got the assignment, the president said to me, he says, more House is a brand everybody knows academically around the country and around the globe, and all the distinguished men has come out of more House whatsoever. Then he says, what can you do to help the Morehouse College football brand? And I said, well, I know I know some people who know some people. So this year we played and played on TV six times and then like you said, first take came out and it was something new for the college and the campus is between CEU and everyone and everybody ate it up and it was it was just something that that more House haven't witnessed before. And it'd be more to come, but it was I think it gave the the country and ideal of the energy that that Morehouse College has HBCUs whatsoever. And it's really really good football. If you get a chance to even watch a game whatsoever, will come see a game. It's really really good football.
You know what the crazy thing to me is is just hearing you talk about that, because when you think of HBCU football or just sports really, but specifically football here in the state about Georgia or right around this area. Clark, I'm sorry, but like I always go back to drum line, like that was such an influential half show and the halftime show, and like it's about everything else. The tailgate, Like that's where the mind goes naturally and you're like, yeah, but the ball.
Well, here's the thing. It's all about homecoming, what games, the bands, that's the tailgates, that is you know. And sometimes, as we make a joke, the only reason we have a football team is for til for tail gate, home coming and playing Clark Atlanta. You know. But at the end of the day, we're trying to change that there. We're trying to change the atmosphere and become a prominent football program in the hbcuh realm of things. So, uh, you gotta see it. We we had against Clark Atlanta. We had to sell out. Well, they stopped letting people in. That's never happened before at a moor House College football game. So, like you said, that's progress. And I love where I am. I love what I'm doing man, and the vision is and the future is right for us.
Yeah, so let's talk about the season. How and how do you all end up doing this season?
I said, the vision was.
Right.
No, we ended up one to night. That's three years in a row that the college has been one to nine. You know, I'm finishing up my ninth month on the job. Came in with feet running. You know, you know I was behind and recruiting we were doing. But you know, we we put it together. We laid the foundation. So far, the twenty four class that we recruited is going to be really good. About four or five of them played quite a bit this year.
Yeah, So what are some of the what do you think one of the biggest challenges. I'm sure there are there are a few, but if you could just pick one, what do you think one of the biggest challenges is that that you're facing to get more house to where they need to be.
I think the student athlete, student athlete and the student athlete recruiting is the biggest challenge. But I have a four term to recruit. Now. I didn't last February. I would just but you know, here's the thing I tell them. I said, I don't care if you a five star or whatever, all American, I'm gonna recruit you. All they can do is say no. Right. So, but if that one or two guys say hey, I'm gonna take a chance, it turns the program around instantly. It gives us instant credibility whatsoever. And then what you have to do we put you know, a great staff around that have been there, done that, great teachers, great motivators, whatsoever, you know, and that can change the mindset of the student athlete. The term we use now we want. We don't want any more players that happen to play football. We want football players. You know. It's it's it's the culture has to change. Where of course we're in academic school, and we're academic school, and that's fine. We have young men out there. There are three point five or four point oheros that are really good football players, but they're they're power five type or power four type kids. But there's the high school athlete right now are the ones that are getting an injustice because of the portal and whatsoever. And then then the junior college kids are the ones sitting out there waiting. So we got a pool of kids or young men that we're going after that we know can give us immediate success, right And they're they're receptive to what I'm saying, because I always I said, I got the answer to all the questions.
Well, I think it's beautiful, and you know, with the chances here, and I just think you're just so correct when you're like, it only takes the one recruit that changes the narrative for the whole thing. You know, you look at like a player like Travis Hunter who comes from this area right here, and him decided to go to Jackson State to go follow Dion change everything, change everything. And I was like, oh, you can do that. As a matter of fact, I can go there and be successful as well. And so for the proof is in the putting type deal. Players got to see it more than just words and morehouse being an academic school does make it a little bit more challenging for you, but you don't seem like you're running from anything. And so with that being said, how much running did you feel like you need to do? After you got your first win as a coach versus Kentucky State and the way we won.
It was beautiful. In the last seconds of the game, we were up and we were behind, and it was amazing how we marched down eighty yards to win that football game. And you know, I thought then was gonna be the turning point of our season, not knowing that after that game, my starting All Star Superstar wide receiver was going to be out for the next three weeks. Not knowing you know, my slot receiver was going to have a concussion and be out, not knowing that we were going to lose an offensive lineman whatsoever. And then it's just everything just started and you scratching your head trying to figure it out. But the beauty of it all is they kept showing up every week, and then that's when you know you're doing something right when they keep showing up to meetings and workouts to practice and they keep trying. They don't go into games. They didn't go into one game thinking they were going to lose a football game. And as we know, in football, there's two or three plays a game that determines the outcome. I don't care what the score is. It's two or three plays in the game. Five at the match, yeah, five at the Mets. We played, we played Clark Atlanta, last game of the year. We had a block punt four touchdown, a punt return four touchdown right, and then we threw an interception going in late in the game. That's three plays. You take the two off and you count that one, the touchdown and the interception and the end zone. We win a football game. Three plays. Three plays determine the outcome of that football game.
So we're from the I think we're all from the old school as far as recruiting goes, right, you're I think you're at a disadvantage in the sense of this whole new nil situation. Right, How competitive is it with or how difficult is it when you're trying to recruit a kid and they want the nil deal.
It's funny. I had that situation happen and young man kept pressing me about this, and you know, hey, you got sponsorship to any nil money blah blah blah blah blah blah, and he kept going on on, and I says, hey, man, I said, if you're choosing to come to my college for a nil deal, I'm the wrong coach to play for. I am the absolutely wrong coach to play for. You have to prove to me that you just deserve this before I give it to you. Okay, Yeah, I brought you in because I think you can play. But at the end of the day, if that's what you're planning for, I think that's not going to serve us an it ain't a service any purpose at all. Are we going to eventually get in io deals? Probably so, But at the moment, right now, we're been talking about it, we're working on it, but we don't have one in place right now.
Number one, I think in il's fine. The transfer port is the real thing. When you handle that part. I think the NIO will set it so, oh yeah, eventually, but we're too far away, too far away, it's just not there right now. The biggest knock on NIL in my opinion, and coach you could attest to this or not, is that it has made everything transactional. Yeah, and that is not what coused football is supposed to be, especially at the early stages of it. It's supposed to be how can I go there and become a better holistic, be transformal, yes, transformal person, not a transaction. And so that is what this thing is turned into. And it's really muddy the waters for a lot of people. And so the hot button word is hell. But I think the transfer port is the same thing you seem to be agreeing with.
I agree with you if you fix the transfer port or everything's fine if you're at the end of the day, if you just do it the correct way, where even if a guy goes into transfer port, like for instance, if I have a young man that says coach I think I want to go into transferport or whatsoever. First thing I say to him, give me the schools you want to go to. Go in there with a plan, and I said, give yourself a deadline, and I'm gonna give you a deadline to it. If it's not working out for you, I'll let you come back. But you got to give yourself a debtline. But the ego and the pride sets in it says, you know what, I'm a stick in here. Stick in here. Now you're in there for two or three years whatsoever. Now you're not getting your education because Mama and Daddy can't pay for school. So now you're working a job, working out thinking you're going to get picked up after being out of school for two years whatsoever. And guess who the ones that are I struggle by it. It's us black men, black students. Now you've got a bunch of black students out there without an education because they were looking for a green of pastors and it never happened. And that's the ugliness of the transfer port. It bothers the mess out of me because you had you was on the right track to graduate, get your degree, all that, but then you looked at money, money, money, and fame, fame, fames that I want to do something different. I want to be bigger than life whatsoever. I want to play on TV. I want to playing bowl games. And it never happened for you. Now you're working, and now you might go to you might pay for college mostly not so now you're working on getting your AA. I'm not saying that's nothing wrong with getting your AA from community college or junior college. But your future was bright if you had just stuck with it's just stick with it, It's gonna be.
Okay, coach, tell me is how much of your playing days has influenced your coaching philosophy? Now, for those that don't know you're playing days, all right, the dude was a flat out baller. Okay, All American at New Mexico nineteen eighty nine, he became. He was also the first player, first All American player in New Mexico's history.
Is that correct? Yes?
And then you also were the first player in college football to have two hundred and fifty receptions, four thousand receiving yards, and over six thousand yards in total yards.
First person, yes, ever in college history.
Everte this guy right here some respect. I just want to say that.
What I want to say, I was like.
I had to get that in somewhere because that is a special Yeah, just stat line. Ain't nobody else did that? Well some may be somebody now, but you were the first. And so how does that doing all that it contribute to your coaching philosophy right now?
Well, you know, people don't understand the reason that happened is because I've played with on my shoulder. You know, I was too small. You wasn't getting recruited by the big schools whatsoever. Yeah, I was the last one. I signed the last scholarship they had whatsoever. In June of that year, and I leave Georgia to go all the way to New Mexico to play football. And I had something to prove to everybody, especially here in the Southeast, that I can play football at a high level. And then as you go on whatsoever, it's draft time, they say you're not fast enough, you're not big enough. I get drafted in the sixth round, and after becoming a free agent, you know, people were like, oh, he's not an every down receiver whatsoever. And then I come back home to Atlanta and break franchise records my first year here, and like you said, go to the Pro Bowl and All Pro and all these things. So I think overcoming adversity and being told you can't, and the work ethic and never giving up. Because every game that I've coached in this year, you'll see me coaching to the last that's zero on the clock. I don't care what the score is. I'm telling let's go, let's get it, let's finish. We had a game where it was twelve seconds left in the game and I heard the coach and say, hey, let's just get out of here. Whatsoever. And we had an injury time out and the quarterback came to me and I gave him a play. If I'd have just said kneel down, I'm being a hypocrite. I've been telling them, hey man, we're gonna play to the last whistle. Coach, you just you said it was gonna play the last whistle. They remember little things like that. So you got to always be about what you what you say.
So I know you had mentioned you would have left koshin if you wouldn't have got the Morehouse shop.
Mmmm, why I was saying, I was doing it for looking forward for twelve years head coaching job at the collegiate level. I thought I was ready. Obviously I wasn't because I wasn't getting the opportunity needs to do it. And I didn't want to go to the NFL and be a be a long time journey sideline wide receiver coach. I didn't think I had an upward trajectory of going to the NFL. So the story is, we were watching the FC NFC championship game that night being my wife, and let's go back the day before. My children was over and was having a good time. And you know my kids, my older kids, we over. The four of us were together. I'm loving it, this and that, and I'm going, oh, I like this. And I set up and I was about to tell my wife. I said, if I don't get a job this next coaching cycle, I'm done. I set up and couldn't talk, and I sat back and I couldn't speak for three minutes. I don't know why that was. I think it was pretty much God said shut up, right. So the next night we're watching the games whatsoever, and I sit up on the edge of the couch and I'm shaking my head and my wife said, what's wrong. I said, baby, I don't want to go back to high school coaching, don't want to be uh NFL sideline coach. I want my own gig. She said, it's gonna come, she said. She said the first will be last and the last will be first. She says, remember that. So that night I went, I went to my went to the room, got on my knees, and I just threw my hands up with tears of my eyes. I says, Lord, wherever you send me, I go and honor your name every day. That next morning, I sit on the couch. I opened up my phone and there's a text message from the ad at Morehouse College and he says, hey, can we meet I says, what is this another zoom meeting for an interview. He says, no, I need to meet you off campus so we can have a conversation. So I met him. He says, look, we're gonna offer you to be ahead football coach at morning House College. And I was like, oh cool, And there I'm trying to play it cool. Yeah, I'm trying. Well, here's you know, I know long enough, a deal ain't done until you sign a contract.
Absolutely, you know, a handshake.
Donna beat anything. And so we left the restaurant and I called the wife and she was like, ah, I said, baby, don't get excited until we signed. This was a Tuesday, until we signed a contract. So he caused me later and said, you're gonna meet with the president whatsoever. You're not gonna believe this. So we get there. I get there and I'm talking to him and we're talking about it. He gives me the contract. So in the first paragraph there's my salary, right, he says, look it over, make sure everything is right. And the last paragraph there's another salary that's more than them. Went uptime. I said, there's a discrepancy here. I said, we can just cross this out and we'll put our inshoes in whatever you offer me. We'll stay with. He comes though, we look at it. He says, no, we'll cross all the least and we go with the one at the bottom. Remember now, the first of the last, last of me first, so it moves up right. So then we look at the whole process. And I'm sitting at home and I'm talking to my wife about this thing, and I'm going through it. From power five fbs fcs to division II Football. More House was the last job on the circuit that was available then to take a job where a team was last in the conference was one and nine. The first will be last, the last will be first. And I'm holding on to that. We didn't finish last. We were probably number eleventh in the conference this year with even with our one to nine record. So it's gonna happen. And that's how I got the job. And that's why I know my assignment. And even through all the naysayers and this and that, that and this, you know you hear it. You're not a more You're not an HBCU guy. You're not a more House guide this. We do this, this way, this way, this way, blah blah blah blah blah blah. By I'm not here to change your culture. I mean I'm here to change the atmosphere. That's why I'm here. You can have your culture, but we're gonna change the atmosphere over here. We're gonna do things different over here, uncommon things over here to be great. That says, now it may look you know, I may have disturbed the ordinary which made you man, but give it the process time to work. I said, you got to give it time to work. I got a full winner and spring to make this thing work. So when we come back in August for training camp, gonna we're gonna enjoy the fruits of our labor September when we kick it off. But you gotta you can't look at it. You can't say oh one and nine again. But you can't talk about my record until you talk about scholarships and facilities.
That don't matter.
We don't give full scholarships and we don't have the best facilities. Now, if you've given me everything I needed to be successful, now we can have a decent conversations of why are you one to nine?
Yeah, you know we'll be right back after a quick break.
So do you ever regret not taking a coaching job back in the day with Dan.
Reeves and Bill Colvin?
Huh, y'all know those things?
Because if you didn't, if you didn't quote, I was going to quote it because I read an article. You said you told your wife you was gonna throw in the towel of the coaching business if you didn't get that job.
So you explain that. So you explained this. So yeah, in hindsight, you know you should have listened. You just your knuckle ahead. You should listen. Uh. My exit meeting after year twelve with the Falcons and Dan Reese walk in the office and I said, coach, I know my salary cap numbers.
I hide.
Here's the plan. I give him the whole plan. Whole plan. He says, well, he sit back. He says, well, you know I was thinking for your future, you join me and be my receiver coach. I said, no, Coach, I want to play some more. He said, you'd be a great coach. You've been doing it already as a player coach. The kids, the young men respect you, the players respect you. Whatsoever. It'll be an easy transit. I said, no, I want to So then I says, well, if you're gonna release me, release me early so I can get picked up. So he did. So signed with the Steelers, and I went through all that. Uh so everybody said the reason why they signed me is to make sure to take care of Flexico. First. That was that wasn't his babysitter. I was his big brother during that time. So then after my my exit meeting, there Bill Cowb before I even said a word, he says, there's what's your future players. I'm thinking, he's bring I want to play another year, you know, I want to play some more football. I says, why, Yeah, he said, I think you'd be a great addition to us, said, I said, coach, I think I want to play another year, another year that that, another year that never came. And I was like, dude, dude, you right there. You was on the fast track of being a head football coach at the highest level, but you wanted to play more football.
And they I mean, and that that pension and that the health care good too. Boy, tell you the NFL. Boy, I forget how it was. You just go to the doctor.
You just walk out, your card is on file, and see you next time. Mister matthis, I'm like, I don't know, co pay no nothing.
That was good.
The wife calls it, Uh does our insurance cover everything? Does he have to pay anything? Oh?
He is good.
I'm like, oh, thank you.
Uh, I know, man, I just I think that's Uh. Timing is everything. And I know how much you meant because we talked. We spoke to Reggie Kelly and he bragged about you immediately, talking about the VET that you were the leadership leadership calls that you talked about showing him all these other things, and then you're going out there and being the first one hundred catches for that Atlanta Falcon and just doing all these things and just you know what it was like to be a pro. You were the first real example that he sawt and so I don't know if he was able to give you those flowers, but I want to give them to you now.
So it was noticed, and it wasn't.
Just other coaches recognizing that that the players around you did too.
So just know that and you've always been watched.
Yeah, it's huge. You know. My My thing is is I can be a vocal person when I want to, but I want to show you. You know, I'm a demonstrator, visual, you know more. I have to communicate more being ahead football coach, but also I have to show them as well. You know. It's you know, with Reggie, our first conversation was details. Brother, It's the little thing mentioned that. It's the details. I says, you got to understand. You know a lot of guys can go out there and run fast and myth ways and this and that, but can he stop? Can he do this? Can it's the details. I would go to practice, and we have one on ones, you know those one on one and I tell a quarterback every time I come up, I'm running the same route, So don't ask me what I'm running. I'm running off slants today. No matter what that defense did that one on one coverage, bump off, whatever he did inside outside, I was running a slant. And then the next day I do that. Said why you do that? I said, I'm working on my craft. I said, if I don't see it five different ways, I won't know how to beat it on Sunday. Think about that, because next time this guy might have you bump inside outside, he may bail, he may whatever he may do. So now when I'm playing the game, oh I've seen this. I've seen it in practice. You know. So I was really detailed in a route running. It was always how can I beat you? You know, if I was playing against him, I would dissect him right away. Okay, three weeks ago, he limped off the field and they worked on his hip. Let me see if he what he's doing on that hip. Now I'm going to the offensive coordinating the quarterback coach saying, hey, he can't open up as fast as this way. This is what route we need to run against him today. That's how detailed I was. And when I ran across, when I had deep in routes whatsoever, I looked at the safeties and I would say, Okay, this safety he's gonna come and he's not gonna stop his feet, so he gonna plun it to me. This safety he's gonna gather his feet and tackle. So when I run a deep in route against that safety that I know once knocked my helmet off, when I catch it, I'm planking my feet right now, take the blow and keep going. The other one that's gonna technically sound want to wrap up, I'm gonna catch it and keep going because he's gonna miss he he's not ready to tackle, and I'm just gonna run through that arm tackle. So I was that detailed in everything that I did.
Yeah, So I think that ninety four season you're extremely detailed. It was probably the first time in NFL history, well at the time, it was the first time in NFL history that three receivers a hundred plus receptions.
It was do you know where they are?
Jerry Rice and Chris Carr.
Yes, sir, Jerry Rice had one hundred and twelve. You were one hundred and eleven and Chris Carter had one hundred and twenty two, and.
That broke the thing because you know, the big story was Chris Carter only caught touch down.
Yeah, I'm going to tell you about that day. That was a funny day because we all was right there at the same numbers for going into the last week. And then when I got to one hundred and eleven, I got hurt. I had an ac joint spring and I couldn't play the second half of the game, and I'm trying to coach. I'm okay, I'm okay. I want to get this record. The record was once twelve at the time, I was like, I want to get the record, so you know, so you know, forty nine ers played. I think the forty nine ers played that afternoon. We played the first game, and I think they played the three thirty four o'clock game, and then the Vikings played the night game. So this knew exactly what I did, exactly what he needed. They fed. Oh, they sated him like he was a fat cat. That night. I think they might have thrown through the ball thirty something times and probably twenty five of them went to him. They made sure they fed him that night. So but it was it was a beautiful weekend. That's good.
What is your fondest memory of playing in the Super Bowl thirty three?
As uh, you know, as part of the Dirty Bird two things. We're sitting in the tunnel and you know, they have the canopy that goes out to the end zone whatsoever, so you can't see anybody. So you know you're you're standing there and you know you're you're hearing everybody get the names called. And then it was your turn, and they said that wide receiver from the University of New Mexico, number eighty one, Terrence. And you here, you don't hear nothing else, and you jogging out and then when you come from one of that canopy, and it was flickers everywhere. And I turned around and I'm going backwards and I see myself on the big screen, and I said, this is what I dreamed about ever since I was nine years old playing football in the yard, saying, oh, terrece mathis winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. It was phenomenal. And then not only that was the beginning the end, the last touchdown of the Super Bowl.
I scored seven catches eighty five yards.
I was and I scored, and I was like, I got come on, man, and it's the Super Bowl, bro, Yeah, the only game on television that day, millions of people watching the game, and you were playing in that game. Ain't nothing like it? Nothing like it, Man, Ain't nothing like it.
I'm curious, what uh for your career? Throughout your bro, what's been your raist accomplishment? So if you were the Man of the Year for the Falcons and ninety eight, you you had one hundred cats season when it was extremely rare, You got into the College Football Hall of Fame in twenty twenty three, you set a college receiving record at New Mexico.
Multiple yeah, and you bought out in the Super Bowl. Let's spend your greatest accomplishment.
I promised myself when I walked through them doors, y'all was going to ask me tough questions, and I knew. I said, hey, damn, you're not gonna be in emotion over the day. And I said, emotion two of them. My greatest accomplishment is not even about football. When I left New Mexico, I had another semester of school to go, and I promised my mom, I would get my degree, and I eventually got my degree, but she didn't see it. She passed away before I got it. My second pushment is my wife. She knows by me telling her, but a lot of people don't know. She probably saved my life because I was spinning, spinning out there, out of control, and she came when she came into my life at a time where I could have went either way, and she stabilized me, and she helped me to get through some of the things that I was dealing with, from finance to whatever I was going through, the demons that I was fighting every day. And here we are twenty seven years later. Oh my god, that queen is something special. Whenever I'm doing this, pulls me up. Whenever I stumbled, she comes to running and standing there. You won't even know if I'm weak because she's always by me holding me up. My head goes down because hurt, she puts her arm around me and pushes my chin up. She makes sure I'm never looked defeated, ever looked defeated. She never let people see me at my worst when I'm hurting. She never let people do that. She come on, baby, it's Okay at the games, come on, baby, it's okay, come on, you're fine. Even when I was playing, I come out that come out that locker room, in the family room, she was right there. Okay, she look at me, look at me in a face. You good, You're good. That's been my two greatest accomplishment.
Love that I do.
Our guests, we try and we're trying to ask them all who's on their personal amount rushmore of influence? Of influence, Yeah, that's God, that's influenced in the far as, Like who's who's made you who you are? And so who's gotten tear terence mathis too where you are right now? Who's been those four people that have been the biggest influential people in your life? Doesn't have to be just football, but in life, because it's all the same. I got start with Mom, of course, you know, single parent.
Mom raised four of us, three sisters and myself. She was she was that dad in my life. How I know that because she was to beat me like she was a man. Sometimes. Oh lord, she always told me I could, I can, I can, I can't. She's always said, hey, set your goal so high. If you fall short and still be amongst oars. She taught me all those things she's taught me. I'm so much, you know. And then my grandmother, my grandmother loved me so hard. Oh my god. She had other grand kids, but she loved me so hard. It was I come home, and you know, she lived in Detroit. I come to Detroit and she cook this big old spread and wouldn't let nobody come over to be My grandmother and grandfather's eating all this food. She's like, no, no, no, you can't come over because this is what they call me Terry. This is for Terry being Griffith. He was my offensive coordinator at the University of New Mexico. He recruited me out there. I was an eighteen year old one hundred and forty five pound freshman and he told me, you're gonna play on Sundays. You can play in the NFL.
Ain't nobody else is telling you.
I'm like, well, whatever, No, you're that good. And then he started I'm like okay, all right. And I remember he introduced me to a scout from the Vikings. They were watching film. They was watching film. We would go in the film room and turn on He said, hey, you see anybody on this film you like And he said, yeah, I see some seniors. That's pretty good. But who is this little number fifteen? He said, well, that's Terence math is here. He is right here. So the guy turns the film off, turns around, walks up to me, shakes my hand. He says, son, you keep doing what you're doing. You're gonna be playing on Sundays. That's when I took it serious. I said, okay, I can really make it so Ben Griffin. And the fourth one would be a man that showed me how to be a professional at what I do. That was Ronnie Lot. Ronnie Lott and I played together in New York, and I remember on a Sunday night, Monday night, we playing the Cowboys and it's probably less than two minutes left in the game. We get a big stop. They're gonna punt to us. You know, worst case scenario, a fair catcher in midfield. It's a giant stadium, it's raining, and the wind is blowing. The ball went up and then it started coming and going away from me. So I tried to go get it and I muffed it. They recovered it, kneel down three times. We lost. I ran off the field when in locker room, went in the screwded place, threw my helmet down, sat on the floor like a little in a little infant position, and it was like talking a lot. I can't go in that locker room. Can't go in that locker room. So I hear Ronnie Lot calling my knee. Anybody see Terrence? Where's Terrence? Where's team Matt? Where's he Tony? What are you doing? So he grabbed me. This is honest, god true, from the floor, picked me up, put me against the wall, my feet bang. So I don't ever want to see you like this again. You don't lose a game by yourself. You don't win a game by yourself. You better than this. Were gonna need you. I don't ever want to see you like you. Hear me say yes, he says, you get in there. Them guys in there love you. So I went in there. They say, hey man, you good, hey man, you're good. This was my fourth year now, so I became a free agent. I took that to Atlanta, and that's why ninety four happened in Atlanta. I was a professional. I didn't care what the outcome. Come was, get me the ball and I'm gonna make something happen, and if I didn't, it was okay. And that's how I became a professional, and that's how I, you know, treat my players like that. Now, Hey, man, a loss, don't define who you're gonna marry, how much money you're gonna make, how many kids you don't have. It's just a loss. Just go out there and have fun. And now I tell them it's only one person on this team that get wins and losses. That's coach Mathis. I said, they don't put by your name. Hey, Johnny Williams, Oh, by the way, you were one to nine. Hey Terence Mathis, Oh, by the way, you were one and nine. Coach Matthews was one and nine, you know. And I told them, I said, so I take that for you, so you can go out and be the best that you can be. Don't worry about the record, don't worry about making mistakes. It's okay. I've made them before. It's okay. I said, I understand this, And I always tell them. I said, I have dropped balls, punts in front of eighty thousand people and they was paying me millions of dollars and I did it so You shouldn't feel bad if you drop a ball, fumble a ball, it's a tackle or anything else. There's professional men that make me the dollars to do that. So just go out and play free, to know that it's okay. If you make a mistake, it's okay. And that's what we're trying to do. Hey man, go out there and play free. It's fine. So that was my four.
It's a good four. It's a great for man. I appreciate that.
Really, just sharing the stories with us, sharing your journey.
Uh.
Actually, just let me brag on you a little bit. Research you got to do.
For you deserve flowers, Yes, you deserve it.
But then Reggie Kelly and other guys really just poor and talking to about you as well.
So thank you for being your coach.
I appreciate that. Thank you for having me on this. You know. You know the thing is, you know for me, you know, throughout my life I do speaking circuits and I do this and do this, and everybody says, hey man, you need to write a book, you need to tell your stories whatsoever. So for you to give an opportunity to just not talk about football man stats and games, to talk about who I am because I think especially at more House, you know, people like people need to know who he is, I says, you know, have a conversation with me, you know. But you know, out lists like this give people opportunity to go, Okay, I see who he is. Now, he's real, dude, he's amazing. Know figure that, Oh he just played professional football and he thinks that's that's something I did. That's not who I am.
Well, thanks coach Man. Appreciate it man. As always, thanks to our viewers and listeners out there. Wherever you pick up your podcast at, whether it's iHeart Radio or Apple Podcasts, give us a five star rating or review, click follow, leave a couple of comments, ask me questions. We'll fill it back out. Well, at least my man Thomas will peanup where we supposed to check him out at NFL YouTube channel. That's it, Man, Tell a friend to tell a friend to do what Tell a friend. There we go, man, come check us out. Man, We out here, baby, Thanks Terrence, thank you, thank you man.
Hey, if you do the little things right, the big things will follow.
That sounds for me.
That sounds familiar. Yeah, And we gon leave it with that on Peanut the NFL player, Second Next Podcast. That's wrong, that's trans Terance.
Hey, check us out.