By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Let's face it, January can be a gloomy month. It's cold, the post-holiday blues are upon us, and it's cold. But there's a ray of sunshine: The NFL playoffs are here. And William & Mary is very much involved.
Nine Tribe alums are on a roster or coaching staff of one of the 14 playoff teams. That includes head coaches Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills, whose teams will go head-to-head Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Also, four assistant coaches in the postseason served on Jimmye Laycock's staff at William & Mary. That includes Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, a former head coach with the Atlanta Falcons whose name has been mentioned with some current vacancies.
William & Mary is known worldwide for having educated CEOs, lawyers, scientists and three U.S. presidents. It also has carved a reputation for showing up on NFL rosters and coaching staffs.
"It says a lot about the tradition of William & Mary football," said Jimmye Laycock, who coached and/or employed all 13 of the Tribe playoff representatives. "And it's a reflection of the young men who have come through William & Mary over the years.
"A lot of our former players, wherever they wanted to channel their energy, they've been successful. That's what happened to these guys who went into coaching football. It probably says we did things right here for a long period of time."
Mike London, who became the Tribe's head coach after Laycock's retirement in 2019, seconds that.
"This brings William & Mary on a national stage in terms of the type of student-athletes the program has been able to share," he said. "They've gone out and done really good things."
W&M alums in the playoffs are Mike Tomlin '95 (head coach, Steelers), Sean McDermott '98 (head coach, Bills), Joe Brady '13 (interim offensive coordinator, Bills), DJ Mangas '12 (offensive analyst, Bills), David Corley '02 (assistant quarterbacks coach, Steelers), Kevin Rogers '74 (senior assistant, Cleveland Browns), DeAndre Houston-Carson '16 (safety, Houston Texans), Colby Sorsdal '22 (offensive lineman, Detroit Lions), Owen Wright '21 (running back, Baltimore Ravens) and Zach Orth '14 (senior team operations coordinator, Tampa Bay Buccaneers),
Non-alums who served on Laycock's staff are Ted Monago (assistant director of college scouting, Los Angeles Rams), Danny Smith (special teams coordinator, Steelers) and Quinn.
"I can text them or reach out to them and they respond back as soon as they can," London said. "That's the type of individuals they are because of the relationships they've developed here. I'm just grateful to be a representative of this place now as Coach Laycock was and those before him."
Much of the national attention will be on the Steelers-Bills matchup. This will be the fifth time Tomlin and McDermott have coached against each other with the latter holding a 3-1 advantage. They have never before met in the postseason.
"I'm really excited both of them made it into the playoffs," Laycock said. "I'm not really excited they're facing each other, to be honest with you. It's very, very conflicting for me to be watching that game, I can assure you that."
This will be the first time in the Super Bowl era that two former college teammates have coached against each other in the NFL postseason.
"I've got the utmost respect for Coach Tomlin," McDermott told reporters this week in Orchard Park. "We go way back. … We've played each other before; I'm sure we'll play each other again. Happy for the school and the recognition it's going to get."
McDermott has led Buffalo to four consecutive AFC East championships. The only Bills coach to match that was Marv Levy from 1988-91. And by the way, Levy was William & Mary's head coach from 1964-68.
In his 17th season, Tomlin has the Steelers in the playoffs for the 11th time, including the Super Bowl championship season of 2008. In those 17 seasons, Tomlin has never had a losing record. Only two coaches in NFL history had longer such runs — Tom Landry (21 seasons, Cowboys) and Bill Belichick (19, Patriots).
"He's one of the best coaches in the league, I believe that," McDermott said. "He's been at this for a long time and (has) won a Super Bowl. He's been able to sustain success over a number of years."
McDermott made a major change 10 games into the season by elevating Brady from quarterbacks coach to interim offensive coordinator. The Bills were 5-5 at the time and in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
With Brady as the interim OC, the Bills won six of their final seven regular-season games.
"Joe does a great job listening to the things Josh (Allen, Buffalo's quarterback) wants," tight end Dawson Knox told Ryan O'Halloran of the Buffalo News. "And we have extra meetings on Fridays to quickly go over what we like and what we don't like so that two-way communication with the players has been awesome."
On the field, Houston-Carson is slated to start at safety for the Texans in their home game against the Cleveland Browns. Although he wasn't acquired until Oct. 3, Houston-Carson has 40 tackles, 25 unassisted, and two interceptions.
"Just a really smart player," Texans coach DeMeco Ryans told Houston reporters earlier this season. "He plays with great effort, practices the right way, and it shows up."
Sorsdal, a fifth-round pick in the '23 NFL Draft, is listed second on the Lions' depth chart at right tackle for Sunday night's game against the Rams. He played in 16 of Detroit's 17 regular-season games with three starts.
Wright, an undrafted free agent, played one game with the Ravens this season.
Five of the six games this weekend will have at least one player or coach who either played or served as an assistant at William & Mary.
"We have guys in the league all over," London said. "[William & Mary] is a name brand that is recognizable at any level."
