Tyrone Prothro Pursues a Coaching Career

by kleph on May 4, 2009 7:16 PM CDT in News Comment 11 comments

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Former Alabama receiver Tyrone Prothro took part in the Jacksonville Jaguar’s three day mini-camp this weekend in an effort to kick-start his coaching career. The former former all-SEC player attended the team’s five mini-camp practices to get insight into coaching at the NFL level.

The opportunity came about courtesy former Alabama head coach Mike Shula, who is now the quarterbacks coach for the Jaguars. Prothro's presence garnered a bit of media attention; Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union made a mention of it over the weekend and today The Associated Press and WTLV-TV in Jacksonville did pieces on it as well.

Few moments stand out as starkly in the minds of Alabama fans as the Florida game in 2005 when Prothro went down with the gruesome injury that shattered his leg and ended his playing career. A career that had been so electrifying up to that point it’s still tough to watch his highlight reel.

The damage from the injury lingers. He still has a limp and the leg was "clearly swollen during drills in Jacksonville" according to the AP. He may need yet another surgery. Still, it was good to hear he showed up to take part in the 7-on-7 alumni flag football game at A-Day.

Prothro picked up his sheepskin to a standing ovation last summer and has been steadily working toward a career in coaching since then. According to the AP story, Prothro had sought a graduate assistant slot with Alabama but they have all been filled.

If you’d like to keep up with his progress entering the coaching ranks, it seems he has a twitter feed that he updates pretty regularly.

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Thanks Kleph

I really wish Prothro the best, and a rewarding career (if it happens). His injury, while nursing a commanding lead (add Brodie to that), forever cemented my enmity towards Shula.

I just won a t-shirt tearing contest against the Tennessee coaching staff

by Stuck in the Plains on May 4, 2009 8:58 PM CDT reply actions

Prothro is a class act,

I met him a year ago and talked to him for a few minutes. Very optimistic guy. I wish him nothing but success at whatever he does. He was an absolute work horse receiver at Bama. To this day, I still wonder what Shula was thinking. Thanks for the great article, Kleph.

by CousinEddie on May 5, 2009 8:43 AM CDT reply actions

Regarding Shula

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. And good on him for giving Prothro an opportunity now.

by Bobby Briggs on May 5, 2009 9:37 AM CDT reply actions

dont forget

that a florida player committed pass interference on him as he jumped to make the catch, by the time he was coming down his legs had been shifted out of position, and that in my mind, was really the causal factor.

welcome to the SEC kiffykins...

by tempebamafan on May 5, 2009 9:48 AM CDT reply actions

proximate, factual, superceding or intervening?

In any event, that seems irrelevant to me b/c, at the end of the day, he shouldn’t have been in there.

I just won a t-shirt tearing contest against the Tennessee coaching staff

by Stuck in the Plains on May 5, 2009 6:03 PM CDT up reply actions

GAs

This is why GA spots should be saved for true grad assistants. It’s criminal really that we couldn’t find a spot for him as a GA on the Bama team. We could find a spot for a former OC, but not Pro? come on.

I'm in no condition to drive...wait! I shouldn't listen to myself, I'm drunk.

by That Other Dave on May 5, 2009 9:51 AM CDT reply actions

i think it’s best to withold judgement on that point until we know the facts. we don’t know when he applied for the slot and we don’t know his qualifications for it either. he’s a dead set legend we all have a ton of admiration for, but it does neither him nor us any good to award him such roles just due to his history. getting some experience like at the mini-camp sounds like a solid move on his part to get the experience he’d need to compete for such a slot, so more power to him.

by kleph on May 5, 2009 10:23 AM CDT up reply actions

Not to flame, but really, Pro does deserve to be awarded such a role as long as he was willing to work. The guy needs to get his foot in the door, if he wants to be a coach, and it frankly looks bad to me that we couldn’t give him that shot, but did have a slot for a man who used to be an Offensive Coordinator.

I admit we don’t know the timeline, all GA slots could have been filled by the time Prothro approached the team about being a GA, but if there was any way possible, we should have found a spot for him.

It looks bad, that’s all i’m saying.
I’m glad Shula was able to help him out with that mini-camp. I hope we have room for him next year, because he gave a lot to this university, and i do think we owe him that much.

I'm in no condition to drive...wait! I shouldn't listen to myself, I'm drunk.

by That Other Dave on May 5, 2009 2:47 PM CDT up reply actions

I hope Prothro has great success as a coach.

I felt bad for him when he went down in the UF game, and yes, I am an Auburn fan. It was one of the most gruesome injuries I have ever seen on the field. The kid would be playing in the NFL right now if not for that injury.

My dad is a big bama fan and is friends with one of Prothro’s uncles. He was nice enough to set up a meeting for us with Prothro before his injury. He was one of the nicest and most humble kids you will ever meet. He was very respectful and very personable. He even brought my dad a football signed by most of the team. He is truely a class act.

Good Luck Tyrone

by Jumpn_JackFlash on May 5, 2009 12:53 PM CDT reply actions