Kevin Mawae’s ‘serendipitous’ path to coaching at Arizona State
Kevin Mawae paused, questioning his use of the word “serendipitous” to describes the steps that led to his recent hiring as Arizona State’s quality control coach.
“That’s the right word, isn’t it?” he asked.
It’s not just the right word. It’s the perfect word.
“It just happened perfectly,” he later added.
Mawae played offensive the National Football League for 15 seasons — four with the Seattle Seahawks, eight with the New York Jets and four with the Tennessee Titans — and went to Pro Bowls in half of them.
For the latter portion of his tenure in New York, Mawae’s head coach was none other than Herm Edwards. The two spent five seasons together there, before both heading to new digs after the 2005 season — Mawae became a Titan, while Edwards took what would be his last NFL coaching job with the Kansas City Chiefs.
During that time, Mawae developed the respect he still holds for Edwards. In his eyes, Edwards is, in many respects, the same man he was 15 years ago.
“I tell people all the time, what they see Herm like here, whether it be in front of the camera or on the field, is exactly the same guy he was that I played for,” Mawae said. “He hasn’t changed a bit, his mentality is what it is and has been that way, he’s the kind of coach that honors the game and believes that players and coaches alike should respect the game, and that’s a mentality that I’ve always felt the same about.”
With that in mind, the line of communication didn’t shut off. Seemingly, in a way, fate wouldn’t let it.
Over the years, Edwards and Mawae crossed paths on a handful of chance occasions. In the few seasons that followed their time with the Jets, the two faced off twice, with Mawae and the Titans winning both meetings.
Mawae remained in Tennessee briefly following his retirement, working with the Vanderbilt football program in the 2010 season. In his second game with the Commodores, they faced LSU, Mawae’s alma mater, to open up SEC play.
By then, Edwards had been working at ESPN for about a year. He was on the call of what ended up being a 27-3 LSU victory, doing color commentary.
“We just kind of stayed in touch throughout the years,” Mawae said. “Whether be it text messages, or I’d see something he did on TV and I’d shoot him a text, those kinds of things.”
Shortly after his season working with the Chicago Bears in 2016, Mawae took a trip with his daughter, Abigail, to tour Arizona State University, a school that was quickly becoming a top choice for the highly-touted high school swimming prospect.
Not only did the Mawae family fall in love with the university, they fell in love with the Phoenix metro area. As a result, Abigail wrapped up her junior year of high school with a commitment to coach Bob Bowman’s program, which was just the beginning for the Mawaes in the desert.
“My daughter applied, she got accepted, she’s accepted by W.P. Carey (Business School) for the fall,” Mawae said. “It just all worked out. We fell in love with the campus, and Tempe, and the Scottsdale area as a family before we even knew what was going on in the football program.”
At that time, nearing the end of Abigail’s junior year of high school, she and her mother were living in Baton Rouge, while Mawae remained in Chicago with the Bears’ organization.
“We had three choices,” he said. “Go back to Baton Rouge where we’re from, where swimming is not at the level it is here in Arizona. Or we could go back to Chicago, where we hate the weather, couldn’t stand being there. Or we stay in Scottsdale, where we loved it and the weather was great and the swimming is bar none.”
Option three won out. The Mawaes found a home in Scottsdale, Abigail began training with the Pitchfork Aquatics swim club, and, for the time being — after a brief stint working at the Minnesota Vikings’ training camp — Kevin Mawae was fully satisfied with his life as a stay-at-home father in Arizona.
But it didn’t take long for whispers of Herm Edwards’ name to begin floating around Tempe, as the search for a new head football coach picked up steam. Mawae’s interest was immediately piqued.
“Initially, he was on the consulting committee to find the next coach,” Mawae said. “I texted him right away and said, ‘I don’t know what the situation is but I’d love to have the opportunity to be on the staff with whoever it is.’”
A day later, Edwards was hired. He quickly got another text from his old friend. The timing wasn’t right just yet.
“I reiterated to him that I would love to coach on his staff,” he said. “But he had to put some things in place, and the former staff was still retained, so we had to just kind of wait and play the game.”
Right before Christmas, though, Mawae was interviewed for the quality control position. He took one last look around NFL coaching opportunities before deciding, in March, that the open ASU job was the top choice.
“I’m just happy to be here, be a part of the program and help where I can,” he added. “And I get to stay on campus, be around my daughter.”
For Mawae, a job at Arizona State is a fitting capitulation to the twisting and turning road he’s followed since leaving the professional ranks behind. In a way, Edwards’ path has been similarly complex — even if not nearly to the same degree — but it’s met up with Mawae’s at a few brief intersections along the way.
“It was ironic,” Edwards said. “When I took the (head coaching) job he was living here and it just kind of worked out. It just kind of worked out. He wanted to get back into football. It was an easy get for me. He is a fabulous guy. Great player. His daughter goes to school here.
“All the dots connect.”
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