When 2010 Washington graduate Sharrif Floyd was selected in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, Cohen was by his side. The two remain close to this day, with Floyd referring to Cohen as the “father figure” he never had. TIMES FILE PHOTO
After 30 years as the head coach of George Washington’s football team, Ron Cohen is going to Disney World.
Citing a desire to travel and spend more time with his family, the 71-year-old coaching legend is stepping down next month after 261 career victories and 12 Public League championships. Cohen leaves behind a legacy that words simply won’t do justice to; whether it was the four players he helped get to the NFL or the thousands of others who used football as a tool to get to college or find a job to better their lives, this much remains steadfast: the old coach was simply one of a kind.
But the time to step away had arrived, and Cohen knew it. His last day will be Feb. 17.
“Everybody told me that I’d know when I was ready, and it’s so true,” he said during a lengthy conversation at his office last Thursday. “I wasn’t ready going into this past season, but a good friend and business partner of mine recently passed away, and it made me start thinking. I’m 71; I feel good and I’ve got no ailments, knock on wood, but it could happen to anyone at any time. My wife is retired, and my kids booked a Disney trip, a cruise in February, and I started thinking to myself, how often will I have this opportunity?”
Cohen said he wants to spend more time while he’s still got it with his wife of nearly 40 years, Mimi, as well as his two daughters and four grandchildren (with another on the way). And while he decided to call it quits just 17 wins shy of the all-time city record — former Malvern Prep coach Gamp Pellegrini has 278 — Cohen made it clear that it was never about the wins or championships he racked up while establishing Washington as a dominant football program in the Public League.
“The key thing to remember is that it was never about wins and losses,” Cohen said. “I took a bunch of troubled kids and was able to save them. To me that meant more than any championship. That’s what it’s all about: being able to help the kids. I’ll miss that. Football is a tremendous game, and the game’s been good to me. And as much as I’ve given to the kids, that’s how much I’ve gotten back from them. I’ve been very fortunate.”
Ask anybody about Cohen’s legacy, and they’ll tell you stories about a genuinely selfless man who plucked kids from troubled backgrounds and made sure they didn’t slip through the cracks. He got countless kids to college who had previously never dreamed of it, and he made them realize that whatever goals they had were attainable.
Two of his most celebrated success stories, Jameel McClain and Sharrif Floyd, came from less than nothing and were both able to reach the pinnacle of their profession in large part due to Cohen believing in them. McClain, a 2003 graduate, went on to play at Syracuse; an undrafted free agent, McClain has played seven seasons with the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens, winning a Super Bowl with the latter in 2013. Floyd, perhaps the best player to ever put on a Washington jersey, graduated in 2010, went on to star at the University of Florida and was a first-round draft pick for the Minnesota Vikings in 2013.
Both players came from difficult family situations. Neither had a father, and Floyd was homeless by the time he was 16. When they had nobody to turn to, Cohen was there.
“I remember the first day I went into his office and he told me, ‘Sharrif, if you listen to me, I’m going to get you to college and you’ll take it from there,’ ” Floyd said in a phone interview. “Nobody had ever said anything like that to me before. I don’t trust anyone unless we’ve been through some life-changing things, but I put my trust in him without questioning his intentions. By doing that, I gained so much more than just a football coach. I gained a father figure.”
“It’s a rare quality in today’s world to have people be truly selfless with only the betterment of others in mind, but that’s who he is,” McClain added. “As a kid, he brought structure to my life when I had dreams but had no idea how to go about chasing them. He gave me someone I didn’t want to disappoint, because he has such a big heart and genuinely cares about and loves his kids. It’s a blessing for me to be associated with Coach Cohen, because he’s one of the biggest reasons why I became the man I am.”
As a result, McClain and Floyd have remained grounded and humble, despite the millions of dollars they now earn to play the game Cohen taught them. It’s the exact reason why they’re still a fixture at Washington and why they continue to give back, offering guidance to current student-athletes who feel they can’t achieve their ambitions because where they come from makes it seem like the world is against them.
“He always understood that life was not easy for a lot of us,” Floyd said. “He offered us dinner without question when we couldn’t afford to eat, he took us to camps three to four hours away and he showed us the extra effort it took to get to these places. He made us kids want to do better for ourselves. It’s very important for me to understand where I came from, what got me here, who motivated me and who was in my corner. That all starts with family.”
And for every Floyd or McClain, there’s hundreds, if not thousands, of others whom Cohen helped on a much smaller scale. Kids who played Division III football or in junior college, others who turned uncertain futures into careers and a host more who eventually got into coaching themselves to feed the desire to give back the same way Cohen did for them.
“He’s a legendary coach not because of the wins, but because of the time, energy and commitment he made to every player he coached,” said Cliff Stein, a 1985 graduate who now serves as the Vice President of Football Administration and General Counsel for the Chicago Bears. “He helped kids get into college, get noticed for a possible scholarship, select the right school, get a job or give career advice. He’s a father figure, mentor and friend who helped his players deal with real-life problems. He taught everyone to be proactive in life, seize the day and not accept the status quo.
“Ron Cohen is an incredibly successful coach and person, primarily because he is a giver who always puts others’ interests above his own. I was one of the many lucky people to say that I had him in my life.”
Cohen, a former assistant coach at Lincoln, Roxborough, Gratz and then Washington, got the job in 1985 by default when the previous head coach left for a college job. Cohen never left. His final career record stands at a remarkable 261–84–2, and he is the only Public League coach to capture a Class AAAA city title (over La Salle in 2008). He said he can’t go anywhere, whether it’s out to eat or to buy a vacuum at Bed, Bath & Beyond, without somebody recognizing him and thanking him for the impact he had on them or their child. In 2010, the year Floyd graduated, 27 Washington players earned college scholarships that totaled over $1 million, unprecedented in the Public League.
But that’s what Cohen did, and for a long time, nobody did it better. Now, it’ll be up to somebody else to fill his enormous shoes.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done, and I say ‘we’ because I didn’t do it by myself,” said Cohen, who profusely praised his assistants through the years. “I’ll miss the kids, the relationships you build and just knowing that you’re helping somebody. We built a big program here, not your typical Public League one, and the whole point was the idea of seeing the kids enjoying themselves and being happy playing the game we all loved. People know Washington football now … they know about us anywhere. All the phone calls and messages I’ve gotten, it’s nice to know you touched so many people.”
In addition to coaching for 30 seasons, Cohen was a health and physical education teacher for 48½ years. Former quarterback Aaron Wilmer, who graduated in 2010 and set Public League passing records under Cohen, likened his former coach to legendary Florida State football boss Bobby Bowden in that Cohen is more an institution than he is a football coach.
“The Public League and city will miss him, because he brought some swag to the sidelines,” Wilmer said. “He’s the guy who will always help, and that’s one thing this world doesn’t have enough of. I just can’t say enough good things about the man.”
Added McClain: “What defines him is that he sees potential when others don’t. If a kid is talented, he finds a way to make them great, and I don’t mean football-wise, but just as a person. That to me sums up the man.”
And while Floyd has a long, productive NFL career ahead of him, Philadelphia and Washington will always be a home worth coming back to, and much of that is because of Ron Cohen.
“Because of him, I only think of the good, and there’s so much of it,” Floyd said. “He’s such a high-character guy, and I can’t even describe in words what he means to me.
“And I haven’t told anybody else this, but one day I’d like to come back home and be the coach at George Washington. I look forward to that down the line, because he did it, and I want the program to go on the way he made it. I know I want to go back and start my coaching career where I came from, and that’s all because of him.” ••
Cohen’s office at Washington is filled with memories from his 30-year coaching career. ED MORRONE / TIMES PHOTO
One in a million: Ron Cohen won 12 league titles at Washington, including the last of three straight in 2009. Cohen, who is retiring after 30 seasons next month, is second all-time in city history with 261 wins. TIMES FILE PHOTO
