Three months after his exit in Buffalo \u2014 where McDermott helped spearhead a franchise revival, ended a 17-year playoff drought in Year 1, reached the postseason in eight of nine seasons and compiled a 98-50 record \u2014 the 52-year-old has settled into a new life.<\/p>\n
He remains highly regimented and process-oriented. But no longer is McDermott a prisoner of the NFL calendar, which churns on endlessly even when games cease. Now the coach sets his own pace.<\/p>\n
Having moved his family to south Charlotte, where he coached for six seasons before taking the Buffalo job, McDermott maintains a carefully tailored, yet far more balanced, routine.<\/p>\n
His weekdays begin with the school drop-offs of his two youngest children, 15-year-old Gavin and 10-year-old Kelly. From there, McDermott makes his way to a local gym, where he gets in an hour-long workout, then swings by the area smoothie shop (his go-to: the green smoothie with whey protein).<\/p>\n
By 9 a.m., the coach \u2014 joined by his shadow, a 5-year-old Bernedoodle named Champ \u2014 settles into the first-floor front room that now serves as his office. There\u2019s no football memorabilia. Just a desk, computer and an extensive collection of binders filled with copious notes on an expansive range of football topics he has compiled over the years. Aside from a couple pieces of abstract artwork, the off-white walls remain bare. These are temporary digs.<\/p>\n
As unassuming neighbors stroll past for their morning walks, McDermott dives into his work: six to eight hours of film study and research projects assigned to himself. Some afternoons he cuts out early if his wife of nearly 19 years, Jamie, can\u2019t pick up the kids, or to attend a softball game for 17-year-old Maddie, a junior middle infielder and Notre Dame commit. McDermott prefers to watch the games in solitude from the outfield. From there, no one can hear his remarks, and he doesn\u2019t have to hear anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Later, McDermott may throw some meat on the grill, or perhaps he\u2019ll enjoy Jamie\u2019s cooking with the family.<\/p>\n
This certainly isn\u2019t the life McDermott envisioned when the Bills entered the postseason ranked among the favorites to reach the Super Bowl. But McDermott prefers not to waste time gazing in the rearview mirror. He deems his time away from the game as a blessing in disguise. He\u2019s making up for lost time with his family, but also using this time in exile to prepare for his next challenge.<\/p>\n
McDermott has plotted a course that has him on an 11- to 12-month-long growth mission, taking self-inventory and dissecting the game in ways his schedule hasn\u2019t previously allowed. He has also begun learning from the leaders of other programs, other sports and corporate America. When teams come calling next winter \u2014 because what struggling franchise wouldn\u2019t want a coach who specializes in culture change and perennial contention \u2014 McDermott envisions them sitting down with a wiser, more understanding, more effective and more well-rounded leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you stop asking questions, that\u2019s when you get yourself into trouble,\u201d McDermott told The Athletic in a recent interview \u2014 his first since departing Buffalo. \u201cPeople who are leaders, who think they have all the answers and aren\u2019t asking questions, are the ones, I feel like, that run into trouble sooner or later, just in terms of not being the best versions of themselves. \u2026 So, I\u2019m passionate about that; passionate about growing and evolving, and I think the NFL is so competitive, and you\u2019ve got to be continually asking yourself, \u2018What, why, how?\u2019 If you want to continue to be successful, it\u2019s in the margins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Football is often described as a game of inches, and McDermott and the Bills\u2019 season came down to an even more minuscule gap. (Was that actually a Ja\u2019Quan McMillian overtime interception<\/a>, or a Brandin Cooks catch?) However, McDermott neither devotes energy to the questionable call nor whether he got a fair shake from Pegula, who raised eyebrows around the league with his \u2014 um, colorful \u2014 news conference to explain the thought process behind the coach\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know,\u201d McDermott opined, \u201csometimes when one door closes, another one opens, also, right? \u2026 How many head coaches are able to do it for nine years and really take something, get it turned around, build a culture, break a 17-year playoff drought in the first season, and then go to the playoffs eight out of nine years? I mean, we \u2014 and I say we because it wasn\u2019t just me; collectively, we as a team \u2014 accomplished a lot. So when you kind of take a step back and go, \u2018Hang on here,\u2019 I think perspective is healthy and important, right and powerful, and just be like, \u2018Hey, I can\u2019t control the decision.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of people want the type of relationship we had for a better part of nine years, myself, (general manager) Brandon (Beane), Terry, and I\u2019m extremely grateful to both of them; to Terry for the opportunity he gave me, and then working together with Brandon, and I think that organization is in a great spot. \u2026 The piece that we control what we can control, that\u2019s really where my focus is.\u201d<\/p>\n Ask anyone close to McDermott and they\u2019ll tell you he has approached much of his life with that \u201ccontrol what you can control\u201d mentality. As a two-time national prep school wrestling champion in the 171-pound weight class, McDermott was wired to understand that no one but himself could deliver an escape from difficult situations. He has applied the same mindset and a strong natural curiosity to preparing for the next chapter of his coaching career.<\/p>\n \u201cSean has always had just this competitive fire and he has it now, but it\u2019s kind of the way he\u2019s always been since he was 5, 6 years old,\u201d explained Tim McDermott, the coach\u2019s older brother by 18 months and the president of MLS\u2019 Philadelphia Union. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s something that he could necessarily coach\/teach. It\u2019s just something that\u2019s in him. \u2026 He\u2019s got this remarkable ability to push himself to outwork people. The concept of hard work is near and dear to his heart. But when I say this, like, no one will outwork him, I mean \u2014 I literally mean \u2014 that no one will outwork him, that that sort of fire inside of him has always been what makes him different, what makes him special. Then, I think he couples that hard-work mentality with a learning mentality, and so he\u2019s not close-minded. He\u2019s always trying to look for ways to make himself better.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time the Bills fired him in mid-January, most head coaching searches were in the advanced stages, leaving McDermott with limited options. He could have sought to shoehorn his way onto another coach\u2019s staff as an assistant. But after meeting with his family \u2014 wife, kids, parents, brother (\u201cRarely is it a conversation in the McDermott household that\u2019s just with one person,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s usually collectively as a family.\u201d), and picking the brains of successful NFL head coaches who had found themselves in his position, McDermott decided a reset and a year of learning and evolving would best serve him and his family.<\/p>\n McDermott also got advice from Steve Spagnuolo, who helped develop him while they were coaching together with the Philadelphia Eagles. Spagnuolo, now the Kansas City Chiefs\u2019 defensive coordinator, took a similar gap year between his time as defensive coordinator and later interim head coach of the New York Giants (2015 to 2017) before he joined the Chiefs.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s real beneficial when you go through something like that, to refresh and spend some time with family,\u201d Spagnuolo said. \u201cI thought he should reflect and refresh so that when he gets this next opportunity, he\u2019d be ready for that. The things I suggested to him were to try to concentrate this offseason on things that he felt like we need to improve on \u2014 weaknesses, whether it was X\u2019s and O\u2019s or some head-coaching (responsibilities) \u2014 and kind of strengthen those.\u201d<\/p>\n
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