Rex Ryan with a mullet? It was the ‘greatest times,’ former player says

May 21, 2016

It has been almost 30 years since Mark Mitchell and his Eastern Kentucky teammates laughed their way through two seasons with then-graduate assistant Rex Ryan, who was helping coach the offensive line in his first job out of college.

Mitchell is now an assistant women’s basketball coach at Ohio State after coaching current Bills defensive lineman Adolphus Washington in high school basketball, and Ryan is entering his second season as the Buffalo Bills head coach. Mitchell looks different these days, and Ryan, thankfully, is no longer rocking the same mullet and mustache he sported back in 1987 and 1988.

But as much as both men have progressed into their professional careers and evolved, some things haven’t changed. When Mitchell flips on his television and watches Ryan, it’s as if they’re both back in the EKU meeting rooms in the heart of the Bluegrass State.

“He had that old, gruff, gravely voice,” Mitchell recalled earlier this month of Ryan. “And then had that smile. He’s still got that smile. You know that smile. He’s getting ready to say something. He’s still got that. It’s funny to watch him on interviews. When he’s got that chuckle and he’s seen them pearly whites, you know something’s getting ready to come.

“That was the good thing about him, though. Because he was so funny, man. Guys could just relate to him.”

Rex Ryan’s enthusiasm for the game and his players hasn’t waned in his long coaching career. AP Photo/Gary Wiepert

How well Ryan has struck the balance between being a football coach and an entertainer to his players in his six seasons …

continue reading in source espn.go.com