Imagine being tasked with teaching Daniel Day-Lewis's son how to act, Taylor Swift's niece how to write songs, or JK Rowling's grandkid how to write. That's the life Isidore Newman School head coach Nelson Stewart lived while Arch Manning was in school... and then some.
ESPN NFL writer Seth Wickersham has a book coming out called American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, and ESPN.com on Friday published a chapter about Manning's recruitment. And in reading about Arch, all I could think about was Stewart.
As the story goes, Arch's talent was evident while he was in fifth grade when Stewart briefly considered moving him up to the middle school team, but it showed up for real during a spring scrimmage before Arch's freshman year, when Arch checked from a slant to a go and then hit his receiver in stride down the field.
In the stands, Cooper and his longtime friend Richard Montgomery turned to each other. "S---!" Montgomery said.
Cooper replied with a look that said here we go.
During Arch's sophomore year, Cooper Manning and Stewart met, and Cooper laid out his expectations for what he called "a 1975 recruitment."
"I want you to run point," Cooper told Stewart. "Very old-school."
"No offers," Cooper said.
"What does that mean?" Stewart asked.
"No offers. No talking to the media if we can."
Now, fast forward to Lane Kiffin tweeting out an unauthorized selfie from Stewart's desk. Lane's way of marking his territory for the entire recruiting world to see.
Stewart didn't just hear from Cooper, though. Archie and Peyton were also involved.
Grandpa Archie seemed more engaged with his grandson's recruitment than he had been with his own kids', often leaving Stewart long voice memos.
Uncle Peyton texted Stewart videos of drills to run with Arch and, Wickersham writes, sometimes hop on the phone with Stewart after games "going through play-calling." Imagine those conversations:
Peyton Manning: "What happened on that 3rd-and-8?"
Stewart: "Thought we'd get man so I called Four Verts, but they bailed to Cover 4 late."
Peyton: (pause) "Ok."
I mean, I'm clearly inventing that conversation, but imagine reviewing your play-calling with Peyton Freaking Manning. The slightest hint of a second-guess and my sleep would vanish for the entire week.
And as much as Cooper demanded that the circus remain at bay, it eventually found inside Newman's walls. More specifically, into Stewart's office.
The Who's Who of SEC coaches regularly FaceTime'd Stewart, hoping Arch would be in the vicinity. Coaches regularly came to visit Stewart, just hoping Arch would see them visiting Stewart. How about this scene:
Visiting coaches learned his schedule. Tuesdays at 10 a.m., Stewart's job was to watch Newman's pre-K kids on the playground where Arch had once played. College coaches, with nothing better to do, pitched in. Pete Golding, then Alabama's defensive coordinator, pushed kids on the swings. So did Bill O'Brien, then the Tide's offensive coordinator. Nobody minded; they were with Stewart. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian showed Arch the play sheet from Alabama's national championship over Ohio State when he was a Crimson Tide assistant. Golding would FaceTime Sarkisian from Stewart's office, just to tweak him.
One day Golding took a photo of his dip cup on Nelson's desk and texted it to Sarkisian, his buddy: "Guess where I am?" Sark started to freak out and he rapid-texted Stewart. On another day, Sarkisian pranked Kiffin by saying that he'd spoken with Arch at least one hundred times. Sure enough, Kiffin exploded on the other end of the phone.
And to be clear, Stewart never complains in Wickersham's text, and the Mannings were never anything but gracious. Before he committed, out of the blue, to Texas in June 2022, Arch called Stewart. "Coach," Arch said, "I just want to thank you for everything you've done for me and how you've handled it."
Still, it all just... it sounds like a lot. Especially considering Stewart also taught five classes, was the head coach of a football team, and had his own life and family outside of his second job as Arch Manning's unofficial, unpaid manager, publicist, advisor and bouncer. Talk about "other duties as assigned."