Glen Coffee Retires After One Season In The NFL, Citing “God Told Me To Do It”.

Posted by By Sports Session at 19 August, at 15 : 05 PM Print

San Fransciso 49ers Running Back Glen Coffee recently retired from the NFL after only one season in the league.  Many speculated on the reasons for his retirement, failed drug test, his heart wasn’t in it anymore, or he had some undisclosed illness.  Well Coffee broken his silence and commented on the real reasons he decided to leave the NFL after only one season.

“Saturday, Coffee told Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee that he’s headed back to school to complete his undergraduate degree and pursue a master’s degree, a decision rooted in his deep religious beliefs.”

“Actually when I look back I feel I never should have entered the draft in the first place,” said Coffee, who left the University of Alabama after his junior year. “Football was no longer my dream. I found Christ in college. It changed my views on everything. But I still was a football player because it was expected of me, it was something I did all my life. I was basically wasting the [49ers'] time.”

“His will, I felt, wasn’t football. I felt like I forced football because everyone expected me to play football. He told me a long time ago to walk away from the game.”

From Coffee’s comments we are led to believe that “God” told him to leave football a long time ago, so he is just following the will of the lord.  I am not going to ridicule Coffee for his decision behind hanging up his football career; he has to decide what is best for him.  But I will comment on the reasoning behind his decision, regardless of your religious beliefs we all know that people need to witness for their faith and bring more people to “God”.

What better platform for Coffee to bring others to his faith and spread “God’s” message, but instead he has chosen to go back to school and finish out his degrees.  Tony Dungy used the platform of professional sports to push his agenda of religion and set an example for people all over the world, he wrote a book on the subject hoping to reach and help millions.

I don’t think Coffee is being 100% up front and honest as to why he made the decision to leave the NFL, yes he was brainwashed found religion in college which changed his outlook on life.  By saying that who is going to argue?  Who is going to criticize him, he will have so many people talking about how great it is that an athlete left the game for god and to go back to school.  I have already read many comments where people are saying the wish more athletes would do this, blah, blah, blah.

Coffee could have easily played football and still obtained his degree then decided what he wanted to do after getting the piece of paper.  Investing the money he earned from playing football would have put him in a much better situation financially and in life, and Coffee is smart enough to know that.  So the only logical reason for him quitting is he couldn’t hack it anymore, the reports about his retirement all point to the decision was made after Coffee was blown up in a drill by a teammate he was supposed to block.  Current 49ers running back coach an one of the great players in 49ers history Tom Rathman berated Coffee for getting beat during the drill.

That was Coffee’s last practice with the 49ers as he called it quits after that practice, that leads me to believe that he couldn’t cut it anymore.  Coaches are on your ass in the NFL, and there is a lot of pressure to do your job because you are being paid a lot of money.  If you are a person who does not deal well with criticism or have lost the will to deal with it then you walk away, which is what he did.  Don’t be fooled into thinking it was any other reason, he got tired of putting in the work at practice and he was not playing much anyway.  This is a case of a guy who realized he was not cut out for the rigors of the NFL and he walked away, I am sure he is going to go back to school because he has no choice.  He left after his junior year, so he might as well finish his degree.  Don’t be surprised if Coffee attempts a comeback in a few years, and then I am sure he will claim “God” told me that I have to play football.

Front Page Features NFL 49ers, football career, football player, Glen Coffee, NFL, professional sports, religious beliefs, Running Back, tony dungy, university of alabama