SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Life and football — they both have playbooks, but live in a world that defies design.
For Rashard Cook, only one man could see the full vision: his old man.
"I was still more focused on playing than I was coaching," Cook said. "It was something that my father always thought I'd be good at — I don't know why. Dads usually know best."
And now as a dad, Cook knows plenty as well. The former linebacker and star at San Diego's Morse High School, USC and the Philadelphia Eagles is now a coach at powerful Mater Dei Catholic High School. And he's already found success by getting the Crusaders to the D2 title game in November.
Coaching is his game, but he is still putting family first. Two of his kids play on Mater Dei, including the Prep Pigskin report Two-Way Player of the Year winner Isaiah Cook.
"I have a higher standard that I'm set to," Isaiah said. "I have to work harder to make sure I'm setting the score as a leader."
"Even when their friends come over, it's still coach," Cook said. "It's an automatic thing."
Despite his NFL roots, Coach Cook says his kid is a better athlete.
"Learning how to do a spin move, they're all looking at me." Cook said. "[They're] thinking I taught him how to do this stuff."
Rashard moved to San Diego in fifth grade, leaving south central Los Angeles behind. Cook had the luxury of being bussed out to the valley during his L.A. days.
"I think that set a good foundation for what life is like in these two different worlds," Cook said. "You go home to the reality of gangs and drive by shootings. When I was in L.A., I never played organized sports. My neighbor was playing at Skyline Pop Warner. Finally I found something to do."
That's what makes keeping the game alive so important to him now.
"We had great experiences past high school, and I want to recreate that for the guys that want that experience," he said. "But I want to create a good high school experience for those that don't play. I want them to have those memories where they can always look back and say they played for Mater Dei Catholic and Coach Cook and he created an environment for us to go out and do whatever we want in life."