North Carolina State University Athletics
Portee Happy To Be Home
6/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Tony Haynes
In many ways, it's almost as if Dick Portee never left NC State. He still lives in the same house, works in the same office building and coaches the same position he coached at State between 1990 through 1998.
But while the Wolfpack was struggling through an up and down 6-6 campaign in the fall of 1999, Portee was getting a taste of football NFL style. For one year, he coached running backs for the Cleveland Browns.
"It was a great experience for me," Portee said of his one season in the NFL. "I spent 34 years coaching in college and I felt I would have been remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to coach at that level. It's just like the players; they want to go to the highest level they can go. I think as a coach, it was an opportunity for me to go to that next level. We didn't win many football games, but the important thing was I had an opportunity to be there."
The expansion franchise in Cleveland, as expected, had a difficult time winning games. The only reward the Browns got out of their 2-14 campaign was a chance to pick first in April's National Football League Draft.
For Portee, the experience was rewarding while losing was difficult. And while that was going on, his wife, Dottie, continued to maintain a permanent residence at the couple's home in Raleigh.
Soon after new Wolfpack head coach Chuck Amato arrived on the scene in January, Portee was back--back in the same house, same office and same job.
"When the coaching change was made, I felt like it would be a good opportunity to come back to NC State," Portee said. "I came back to be with my family; both my personal family and my NC State family. We made a major decision to stay in Raleigh even if I did get the job in Cleveland. We made that commitment to slide through that period, whether it was going to be one year, two years or three years. Fortunately I was able to come back after one year."
During his first tenure with the Pack, Portee coached the likes of Rod Brown, Gary Downs, Carlos King, and Tremayne Stephens. He was also the running backs coach at NC State when Ray Robinson was named ACC Rookie of the Year two years ago.
Obviously, Portee understands that special something that separates the great running backs from all the others.
"I think it's a combination of speed, acceleration, burst and vision," said Portee, who also coached at Maryland from 1982-86. "The young men who go to the next level have a great ability to make people miss and break tackles. Once they see the hole, they have great ability to accelerate into the hole."
Teaching the finer aspects of the running back position is only a small part of what Portee hopes to accomplish as a coach. Sure, watching someone like Ray Robinson rip-off a long run on an off-tackle play is rewarding, but unlike in the pros, college coaches take pride in preparing young men for life after football.
"Sometimes people have a misconception about college coaches," Portee said. "They think that all we want to do is win football games. The great thing about being a college coach is that it gives you a chance to see these young men succeed, mature, get college degrees and become productive members of our society."
From 1990-98, Portee worked under head coaches Dick Sheridan and Mike O'Cain, who shared many of the same philosophies after working together for so long at NC State. Amato's arrival will no doubt bring about some changes.
"Chuck brings a degree of enthusiasm that everybody seems to gravitate towards," Portee said. "We have a very mature coaching staff and he feels that he's going to let us coach. Because we have so much experience, he just lets us go do what we know we can do as coaches. It allows us to be very creative."
