Philip Rivers has begun a new chapter of his NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts, but the Pro Bowl quarterback already knows what he is going to do with his retirement.
St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Ala., held a press conference on Friday morning to announce that Rivers will take over as the school’s head football coach when he retires from the NFL. Rivers played for his father, Steve Rivers, when he was in high school, and he says his two dreams have always been to play in the NFL and coach a high school team.
“It’s a special day for me and my family really,” Rivers said, via Ben Thomas of AL.com. “I will probably get a little emotional. I had two childhood dreams. One was to play in the NFL, and I’m now going into my 17th season. The other was to be a high school football coach as my dad was. How blessed am I to be able to live both of those out!”
Rivers said St. Michael’s “really aligns with what I believe in spiritually and academically,” but he assured fans he has not lost his desire to play.
“I think really where we settled in was: I still love to play. Certainly not coming off my best year, but in a year where I still know I can play at a high level,” Rivers said. “I did it in spurts. I just didn’t do it consistently enough. And I love it, and, shoot, it was one of those deals where we said, ‘Well, if there’s nothing else out there, then that’ll be our answer.’ We kind of said, ‘Whatever God wants, so if there’s nothing out there, I don’t want to just try to hang on to play. If nothing’s out there, shoot, we’ll start coaching.’”
Rivers and his wife Tiffany have nine children together. The 38-year-old signed a one-year, $25 million deal with the Colts this offseason. His commitment to coaching in high school would seemingly indicate that he is only going to play one more season, though he has not placed an official timeline on when he will begin his next career. The Colts made a move in the draft to prepare for life after Rivers, so it’s possible they understand he could only be in Indy for one year.
