Trent Dilfer, the retired NFL veteran quarterback and former ESPN analyst, was named the head coach at Lipscomb Academy (TN) back in January of 2019 and has an impressive track record of giving back to the game with things like the Elite 11 quarterback camp and a number of other ventures.
Known as a top notch football mind, motivator, and advocate of all things football, Dilfer was a guest on the Pat McAfee Show where those traits were on full display. What transpired is a unique pitch for why we need football now more than ever.
Following some points about what challenges the college level has to face as opposed to those that face the high school level, Dilfer shared some personal thoughts on why football is so important in today's climate.
After admitting that he doesn't want to pretend to know what gets discussed in those meetings among college presidents and athletic directors, Dilfer shared the following logic on if kids continue to lose opportunities to play football.
"I do know this - if they lose it, there is going to be a massive fallout with the mental health capacity. There's going to be a major fallout with home issues. There will be a lot of 'shrapnel' that happens if there is not football."
"The goodness of football is the topic that I think is being lost here," he adds. "Unfortunately a lot of the decision makers don't get that."
"That's why ex-football players go and dominate the world, because they go and learn these lessons, the hard things like being uncomfortable, overcoming adversity, learning to love and be part of something bigger than yourself, learn to integrate with people who grew up different than you."
"What a thought! That there is a sport that can bring people together from different social, economic, ethnic, whatever other backgrounds," Dilfer goes on to explain. "I really think that our world needs a dose of a week of football. Like the whole world just needs a dose of Bill Belichick coaching you for a week. What if Bill got to coach the world for one week? I bet you the world would be a better place."
"That's the part that hurts me. It's that conversation that the goodness of football hasn't been at the forefront and we are trying to keep it at the forefront here."
See the rest of the interview on the Pat McAfee show in the clip.