Former Buccaneers running back Michael Pittman goes from Super Bowl champion to a proud football father.
In a world where we have someone like Lavar Ball stealing the spotlight thanks to his sons’ talent, it is refreshing to see the father of a student athlete show his pride without trying to be the center of attention. For Michael Pittman, it is simply that – pride in his sons.
When I spoke to Pittman last week about the Buccaneers Super Bowl vicotry, one of the things I wanted to bring up with him was finding that balance between proud father and someone who can coach them while speaking from experience. One of the best things I’ve found about following Pittman on Twitter or Facebook is the “proud papa” posts he has about his sons, Michael Jr. and Mycah. Michael Jr. is currently a wide receiver at USC while Mycah is entering his junior year of high school yet has already received eleven scholarship offers from top football programs across the nation and many more yet to come.
"I’m more of a laid back father. I really don’t push my kids to do things they necessarily don’t want to do. When it comes down to it, I talk to them. It’s about expectations. What I expect from them, and what they should expect if they want to take their game to the level where I went.My kids are self motivated. They’re self motivated to get better. I don’t have to give them pep talks to get ready for a football game because they already know what they gotta do because I taught them that growing up. Y’know, they watched me work when they was younger. They saw how hard I worked to keep my body in shape, how hard I worked to stay on the field and keep my job.They’re both hungry for the game. All I did when they was younger was I put a football in their hand and they did the rest. I didn’t tell them they had to play this game they just fell in love with the game and they both had that mentality that they wanted to be the best player on the football field. That same mentality I had as a kid growing up.Oct 27, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Trojans wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (6) runs against California Golden Bears cornerback Traveon Beck (22) in the fourth quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY SportsI wanted to be the best player on that field. I wanted to play in the NFL. My kids, they’re the same way. Y’know, I’m not that father that tried to be up in the coach’s face and tried to tell him how to coach or anything like that. Only time I really talk to the coaches is when I feel like someone is disrespecting my son in some type of way that I don’t feel is necessary.Other than that, I’m not like – what’s his name – Lavar Ball or whatever his name is. I’m not that type. I’m not that type of dad. I’m more laid back, I’m in their corner. I’m there, but most times you don’t know I’m there because I’m just there to watch, to support my kid. When I feel like he’s not playing up to his potential, I don’t make a big scene about it. We come home, we talk about it, he gets an understanding of where I’m coming from, there ain’t no talking back or nothing like that. They want to soak up all the information they can from their dad, you know, because I’ve been to that highest level.They just got that hunger in ’em. Like my second youngest son, Mycah. He’s only a sophomore. When I was a sophomore, I didn’t have one offer. He’s a sophomore going into his junior year and already has eleven offers. That’s just unheard of. To be a sophomore and have eleven offers off the bat. Michael Jr. is a five-star out here in Calfornia. Mycah is already a five-star. And they both work hard. They work their butts off. And they want to be the best player out there."
My dad is the reason I’m a Buccaneers fan. My Grandad went to the University of Illinois so we’re both die hard Illini fans so I have to ask – what do we need to do to get Mycah to go to Illinois?
"*Laughs* I don’t know. Well, first, Illinois has to offer him. They haven’t offered him yet, but he’s still got two years left. Like my oldest son Michael Jr., when it came down to it, I felt like he deserved to make the decision of where he wanted to go. I didn’t want to influence him in any way. I lived my life already. I went to Fresno State, played in the NFL, did my thing. I told him, ‘Son, this is your thing. You pick whatever school you want to go to. I will travel anywhere you want to go. You want to go to Ohio State, I’ll go there. It’s all up to you.’I left it up to him and he chose USC and I’m gonna leave it up to Mycah. Mycah was saying he wants to go back somewhere to Florida to play. He’s still got a couple years to finalize his decision. I just leave it all up to him. If I have to fly to see him in Illinois then I’ll definitely do that."
It was fun to hear the joy and excitement in Pittman’s voice when we took some time to talk about his sons. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane while he talked about his time with the Buccaneers and the Super Bowl victory (you can read part one here and part two here) but the “proud papa” moments he shares are no joke.
And why shouldn’t he be proud? His sons are forging their own way, making a name for themselves playing the game their father was so successful in. And who knows – maybe one day we’ll see “PITTMAN” on the back of a Buccaneers jersey again.