Brothers Tim and Matt Hasselbeck have been high-school teammates, college teammates and ESPN teammates over the years.
Starting this year, they’ll take on a new challenge together at Nashville’s Ensworth High.
Tim Hasselbeck has named Matt Hasselbeck, a 17-year NFL veteran who spent two seasons as the Titans’ quarterback, as the Ensworth football program's offensive coordinator. Tim had been named the school’s head coach in December, taking over from Roc Batten, who spent five years coaching the Tigers.
“Things like this don’t typically happen in life,” Tim told the Post on Monday. “He’s a guy who played quarterback for a lot of years in the NFL. And he’s an amazing guy, with an amazing personality, and an amazing way of connecting with everybody in building. That’s who he is. He’s great like that. It’s an incredible thing.”
Matt will soon be moving back to Nashville from Massachusetts, where he had served as quarterbacks coach for Xaverian Brothers High for the last two years. Matt’s son, Henry, was the starting quarterback there last year, and the school won a state championship. Henry Hasselbeck is headed to UCLA on scholarship this year.
Matt spent two years with the Titans, guiding Tennessee to a 9-7 record and throwing for more than 3,500 yards in 2012. He lost the starting job to Jake Locker in 2013, but still wound up playing in eight games — going 2-3 as a starter.
Overall in his NFL career, Matt played for four teams, throwing for 36,638 yards and 212 touchdowns. He had an 85-75 record as a starter, with an 82.4 quarterback rating.
Matt, 48, will serve as Ensworth’s play-caller, but he said he will have no problem taking orders from the head coach, even if it happens to be his little brother.
“Listen, here’s why I’m okay with it,” Matt said. “I’ve always felt that Tim would be an amazing coach. When I was playing, I would get on the bus after a game, and Tim was usually my first phone call. I’d send my wife a text saying what my health status was. But Tim was always my first break-it-down phone call, someone I’ve always trusted.
“When we’ve been talking offense, defense, quarterback play, I think he’s done an amazing job for many, many years at ESPN. It’s really given him a behind-the-curtain look at what some of the top coaches in college football have been doing for a long time. So in this case, I’m looking forward to it. I think he’s going to do a great job. I’m on board and I’m excited and I’m very, very proud to be working for the new head coach.”
Tim, 45, joked that he doesn’t expect any brotherly sideline squabbles with Matt, but knew how to solve any issues that might arise between the two.
“He and I work so well together that that type of thing will never be an issue between us,” Tim said. “If it is, I’m sure my mom will come downstairs, grab one of us by the ear and tell us to knock it off.”
Matt, who will start working with Ensworth’s players in the spring and summer, said he was already looking at offensive diagrams on his whiteboard while talking on the phone Monday. He said he and Tim have been in frequent contact, piecing together the plan for Ensworth’s offense.
“I want everything to be as simple as possible so the kids can have fun and play fast,” Matt said. “That’s what I always wanted as a player. I obviously wanted great coaching, but I wanted it to be simple and I don’t need to prove how smart I am. What I need to do is let these kids play free and have fun. We’re trying to do all the hard work now, so they can do that.”