Teddy Bridgewater named head football coach at Miami Northwestern High School
When the Detroit Lions’ season officially concluded on Sunday night, after a 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game, head coach Dan Campbell and quarterback Teddy Bridgewater shared a moment.
Bridgewater announced back in the fall that he would be retiring after the season, whenever it ended, and he planned to pursue a career in the coaching world.
Many believed that would be down in South Florida, where he first established himself as a future NFL star. Now, those beliefs have turned into reality as Bridgewater has been reportedly named the new head football coach at Miami Northwestern High School, his alma mater, per The Portal 305.
The Bulls had held their head coaching vacancy open after parting ways with Michaelee Harris after just one season. Rumors have persisted for months that Bridgewater was always the choice for the job, but the school had been quiet on the subject, presumably waiting for the Lions’ season to conclude.
Bridgewater, 31, was a first-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 2014 and had a strong start to his career until it got derailed by a torn ACL/dislocated knee suffered in training camp prior to the 2016 season.
The former Northwestern quarterback has also played for the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins and Carolina Panthers. Bridgewater has thrown for 15,120 yards and 75 touchdowns in his NFL career.
In Bridgewater’s high school career with the Bulls, the quarterback, over the course of three seasons, threw for 6,712 yards and 70 touchdown passes.
Bridgewater has been seen at high school games in the past, sometimes riding up on a bicycle, showing his support for South Florida high school athletes. His contributions to the area have not gone unnoticed.
The City of Miami Gardens honored Bridgewater by naming the football field at Bunche Park Teddy Bridgewater Field for all of his accomplishments and giving back to the community.
"Outside of that, I'm Theodore Bridgewater, so it just put everything into perspective, and it really helped me not even have to think about not being a starter [anymore],” Bridgewater said back in December. “It's like, 'Man, I still got purpose.' And my purpose is bigger than the game of football. Football is just a platform that I have."
-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl
