Q: Why has John been successful?
A: Life is about a lot of situations and a lot of different relationships along the way, and a lot of ups and downs, so they grew up seeing all that. And kids take in more when they’re even toddlers than you think they do. But they remember things and they see how things are done and they see how people treat one another. John was almost like a sponge in that respect. He kept absorbing all this along the way, and life is a one-day-at-a-time proposition no matter what comes up in your life, and I think he has shown as an adult that that’s how he has handled his life in a sense. … He and Jim on that journey are different because Jim ends up getting a full scholarship to college [Michigan], and John had a partial at Miami of Ohio, and he worked really hard at that, and Jim worked really hard at his, and Jim ends up playing in the NFL all those years and John was coaching all those years at different levels. … And all the time he was making a plan. Everybody has dreams or they set goals. Sometimes you do reach those, and sometimes you don’t, and sometimes there’s a roadblock or a stumble-block. But he has always handled that by moving on. He had a plan for if he ever became a head coach. By the time he got to the Ravens, he had a plan ready for how to start that whole program. And also I think when it ended after 18 years, he had put his whole heart and soul into the job, and bringing it to fruition. … Also, he’s a very thoughtful person. He thinks things out and through. He’s very nice to people. You always get to know the people in your building when you first come in, from the top to the bottom, from the bottom to the top, whatever they do. Everybody has a role in this organization, and if you’re the leader of the football team, you’re still, in a sense, including the people who work in the media, the people who work in the kitchen, the people who do all those things for the players, and treat them with respect and fairness. And always treat your players fairly. He has grown up with all that kind of thing.