Columbia SC native Jack Easterby playing big role with New England Patriots
Jack Easterby won’t be breaking down schemes or have a chance to make a game-winning play in Sunday’s Super Bowl, but his impact on the New England Patriots isn’t taken lightly.
Easterby, a 2001 A.C. Flora grad, plays an integral part behind the scenes for the Patriots, who go for their sixth Super Bowl title against Philadelphia.
“Jack Easterby, when you think about him, you smile. He brings so much positivity within our locker room and our building,” Patriots receiver Brandin Cooks told reporters this week. “He is a guy who is on fire for the Lord and all you do is respect that and follow that lead.”
“Jack has been huge in my life,” New England offensive tackle Nate Solder told USA Today Sports. “He’s one of my close friends. I call him about everything. I really, really appreciate his friendship.”
Building friendships and relationships is the main priority for Easterby, who is listed as New England’s character coach in charge of team development. While many NFL teams have chaplains who lead weekly Bible studies and talk to the team on game days, Easterby’s job goes way beyond that.
New England is the only team in the NFL with a paid position devoted to a character coach. Easterby has a spot in the team’s media guide and an office by Bill Belichick, who he talks with on a daily basis and considers a good friend. He sits in on meetings and is on the practice field catching passes in practices.
During a game this season against the Buffalo Bills, Easterby was shown on TV trying to calm quarterback Tom Brady during a disagreement with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel. At Super Bowl Media Day this week, Easterby held court, discussing a variety of topics from character to social issues plaguing the league.
Easterby will be on the sideline for Sunday’s game, doing a variety of duties, with his main goal of encouraging Patriots’ players and staff members.
“My role is to serve the players mentally, physically and help them as people,” Easterby said in a phone interview with The State newspaper this week. “Whatever way that might be. You want to pour yourself into people and what they do and what person they want to be.”
Easterby said he didn’t have any special motivational speech this week but was consistent with the team’s theme this season of being “authentic.” He tried to keep things as routine as possible, holding weekly Bible studies for players and families and sending encouraging words or posters to whoever might need it.
Easterby also maintains his open-door policy when a player might need someone to talk with throughout the year.
“The goal is to create consistency and the kind of men not for just this week but to be able to sustain year round,” Easterby said. “As we tell them, the kind of man you are matters. These guys are viewed as heroes of our culture. And the reality is, if they are looked up to, they need to be worth looking up to.”
Easterby never saw himself as a football guy, but was involved in church and athletics growing up. He played basketball and golf at A.C. Flora and then at Newberry College, where he held the single-round scoring record for golf when he graduated.
After college, Easterby spent one season with the Jacksonville Jaguars’ front office before taking a job at South Carolina. He had a variety of roles at USC, from academic adviser to the South Carolina campus director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
At USC, Easterby worked with Dave Odom and Dawn Staley for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. He credits his time at USC with helping develop him as a person and cherishes the relationships he made with Odom, Staley and others.
Easterby and Staley will be on opposite sides as far as rooting interest in today’s game. Staley is a Philadelphia native and avid Philadelphia Eagles fan.
“I can’t put into one message how much I love her and the human being she is,” Easterby said. “Sports might put us on opposite sidelines, but she always will be a great friend.”
While he was at USC, former Gamecock kicker Ryan Succop invited Easterby to speak to the Kansas City Chiefs, where Succop was playing at the time. Easterby made such an impression on coach Andy Reid and general manager Scott Pioli, who is now back with the Patriots, that they hired him to be the team’s chaplain in 2011.
Easterby helped the Chiefs’ players during one of the most difficult time in team history. In December of 2012, the Columbia native was in the building preparing a message when KC linebacker Javon Belcher, who earlier killed his girlfriend, took his own life at the team facility.
Easterby arrived with the Patriots in 2013 soon after tight end Aaron Hernandez was charged with killing Odin Lloyd. He also was with the team while they went through the “deflategate” scandal, which ended with the Patriots winning the Super Bowl in 2015.
Brady credits Easterby with helping the Patriots get through the difficult times.
“He’s just a great person and friend,” Brady told ESPN. “You feel a special connection with him and with his genuine caring for all the people in his life.”
Easterby said he is proud of the way Brady has grown as a person through the years as well as other guys on the team.
This season, Easterby was reunited with former Gamecock Stephon Gilmore, who was the Patriots’ big free-agent signing in the offseason. Gilmore and his future wife Gabrielle, who ran track at USC, attended Easterby’s “Gamecocks for Christ” Bible studies at USC.
“I have known Stephon since high school. Incredibly blessed to see him grow up,” Easterby said. “He has grown so much, great husband and father. Spent ton of time together and all that at South Carolina. That is fun to see it come full circle.
It is those kinds of memories Easterby takes from his job more than the Patriots’ wins or the Super Bowls he has been a part of during his time with the team.
“I know it might sound cheesy, but my favorite memories have nothing to do with football,” Easterby said. “My favorite memories are when a player gives me a call when they just had a baby or he is marrying the love of his life.
“The goal is to grow people. You love them, you serve them, you push them, you grow them and you do whatever it takes for them to see Christ in you. That’s the call for all Christians.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2018 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Columbia SC native Jack Easterby playing big role with New England Patriots."