Dan Orlovsky could’ve been the offensive coordinator of your favorite football team.
The NFL on ESPN analyst was openly entertaining a career in coaching as recently as January. The idea held “a lot of appeal,” as he put it back then. But now that pull seems to be fading, even as his own future at ESPN remains up in the air.
Orlovsky’s three-year deal with the network is up this summer, and while he continues to appear on programming across the network, it’s unclear whether he’ll re-up with the Worldwide Leader. He had other options, as CBS showed interest in having him follow in Gary Danielson’s footsteps, but he passed. And it doesn’t sound like it was for a coaching job, either.
Orlovsky admitted to Dan Patrick that the coaching dream still lingers in the background, but the fire isn’t burning quite like it used to.
“As always, I’m very honest and transparent,” Orlovsky said during a spot on The Dan Patrick Show earlier this week. “I felt in the last two years the closest that calling had come for me, as far as the desire and the pull. And probably after this past four to six, it’s subsided. And it’s probably the furthest I’ve been from that in a couple of years, just because of the reality of our life as a family. I’ve got three seventh-grade boys. I’ve got a fourth-grade girl. My wife likes living where we live. We’ve made really great friends in town. I don’t have the desire to uproot that with a want, rather than a need. Unfortunately, some people have to do that because it’s their only choice.”
Orlovsky doesn’t have to.
“I really love what I’m doing right now. I think this process of going through being nominated [for a Sports Emmy] and being a part of last night, it kind of — I don’t want to say re-energizes because energy is not what I need — it makes me want to continue to climb things,” Orlovsky continued. “I’m going to be honest with you, I was up for [best] analyst last night, as well. I was furious for not winning. Furious.
“Everyone’s like, ‘It’s an honor to be nominated.’ I get that. But I wanted to win that. And when [Charles] Barkley won, I texted him, like, ‘What the heck, dude?’ And I was bummed. I was bummed. My wife, I was like, ‘I want to go.’ I was being a sore loser, a baby. I want to win that one day. I really do. It’s been really cool to be a part of the team that won. And I love what I’m doing right now.”
That sure doesn’t sound like someone on the verge of leaving TV behind.
