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Paup named coach at Green Bay high school
By Steve Lawrence
Posted Mar 20, 2007
Former LB, who ranks sixth in team history in sacks, named head coach at Green Bay Southwest
Former Green Bay Packers linebacker Bryce Paup, who signed with the Buffalo Bills in 1995 and promptly won the NFL’s defensive player of the year award, was named the head football coach at Green Bay Southwest High School on Monday.
"This is a great opportunity to give back to the community and train kids to be good people as well as good football players," Paup said in a press release issued by the school.
Paup, whose NFL career ended in 2000 in Minnesota, has been giving back to the Green Bay community for years.
He works at the Bellin Fitness Center in Green Bay, developing training programs for high school athletes. He founded Good Samaritan Charity, which provides money for homeless shelters and food pantries. He also serves on the boards of directors of the Packers, the Green Bay Packers Foundation Committee and the Players Chapel program.
Paup spent the last three years as a volunteer assistant coach at De Pere High School, near Green Bay.
“Bryce brings the football knowledge, strength and conditioning expertise, work ethic and strong character that will benefit the football student-athletes at Southwest High School,†school activities director Kurt Gundlach said.
Paup, a sixth-round draft choice by the Packers in 1990, played for Green Bay through the 1994 season, when he made his first Pro Bowl. He ranks sixth in team history with 32.5 sacks, including 11 in 1993.
The Packers didn’t offer Paup a contract, something then-general manager Ron Wolf would regret.
“I learned a very valuable lesson,†Wolf said after Paup won defensive MVP honors for Buffalo. “I made a miscalculation about Bryce Paup, and I'll own up to it. He's a heck of a football player, and we were sorry we lost him."
Paup played for Buffalo from 1995 to 1997, recording a league-high 17.5 sacks in 1995 and earning Pro Bowl honors all three years. He concluded his career with Jacksonville from 1998 to 1999, and Minnesota in 2000, winding up with 75 career sacks.
When he wasn’t offered a contract by the Packers after the 1994 season, Paup called it a "slap in the face." That didn’t stop him from returning to — and making his mark in — Green Bay. In fact, Paup lived in Buffalo for only one year, and continued making Green Bay his off-season home. Former coach Mike Sherman signed Paup for a day in 2002 so he could retire as a Packer.
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