Paul Pasqualoni walked away, but he couldn’t stay away. His retirement from coaching football, following his resignation as the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator in January 2020, lasted less than a year. When University of Florida head coach Dan Mullen asked him to join his staff this season as a special assistant, Pasqualoni couldn’t get to the Sunshine State fast enough. At age 72, he was back at it, breaking down film and teaching young men the finer points of the game.

For anyone who remembers Pasqualoni’s days as Syracuse University’s head coach in the 1990s and early 2000s — an era when bowl games and Top 25 rankings were the norm — this news about him still coaching is about as surprising as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Coaching has always been his calling. It’s who he is, what he was born to do.