JaJuan Seider walked off of the Florida practice field. Despite the near 90 degree heat the Florida Gators running backs coach has long sleeves under a windbreaker, but not a bead of sweat.
It’s been a whirlwind month for Seider. He was inducted in the Palm Beach County Hall of Fame for his playing days at Glades Central High School. He also, finally, joined a university he had always dreamed of coaching at, yet, had turned down several times.
“Well I did get picked,” Seider said of the times Florida coaches Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain has come calling when they had coaching vacancies. “You know I had a situation that I just couldn’t come.”
That situation was bigger than football, bigger than any personal dreams or career goals Seider could ever have had for himself. His son, Jaden, was sick.
Jaden was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Cancer.
“When you learn your son is diagnosed with cancer, I’ve never been around it,” Seider said in his opening press conference at Florida. “You hear about it, but when you actually have somebody that’s close to you get affected, it changes.”
McElwain called Seider when he first got the job at Florida. He wanted Seider to join his staff but was turned away immediately. Family was first and the Seider’s were fighting for their son’s life. McElwain, who went through a near tragedy with his own son, understood.
“Obviously, knowing that, it is family first,” McElwain said of the first time he tried to hire Seider. “That’s how we run this program, so I totally understood that first time around more than most people do, having gone through something with my own son. I told him when we got that next opportunity, ‘I’m not going to stop calling you.’”
And he wouldn’t.
Jaden went through chemotherapy and after six months of treatment Seider tweeted his son had beaten cancer.
My son just kick Cancer Butt. Thanks for all the well wishes. Take that lymphoma. #SeiderStrong @JadenSeider pic.twitter.com/wPgeSuzVTc
— JaJuan Seider (@coachseider) July 30, 2015
When Florida had an opening again before this season, McElwain knew he had to take another shot. Shooters, shoot and McElwain wasn’t going to hire a coach without at least taking another shot at Seider.
This time the call went differently. Seider’s family situation was better. His son was healthy and an opportunity to come back to the state that raised him, where all his memories of growing up were tied and the chance to have his family come back with him was too much to pass up.
“The thing that made it OK to come is the way they kept after me,” Seider said. “They kept recruiting me with the guys on the staff and I felt like the time was right to come now and be part of this great university.”
Seider accepted the job offer and came back to Florida. He took over the running backs, the position he’s coached his entire career and inherited a talented group. There was, however, a learning curve for both coach and players. Seider had spent the last four years in West Virginia’s high-powered spread offense. That meant Seider had some studying to do.
“We’re all learning, I’m learning, the players are learning, it’s been a great, I guess the big word is learning experience for all of us,” he said. “Especially for me coming from a spread offense into a pro style offense, you know every day has been something new. It’s been so long since I’ve been in this type of offense so every day I’m constantly challenging myself to get better.”
Seider didn’t ask former running backs coach Tim skipper about the backs he’d now be coaching. He wanted to come in with a clean slate, no preconceived notions or misconceptions.
“You may watch a movie and you may not like it,” he said drawing a comparison to explain why. “I may watch a movie and I may think different.”
After four weeks with his group, he’s formed his own opinion.
“I think we’re very competitive. I think we’ve gotta very unselfish room, which is important especially when you got one ball and I think the guys have been very competitive in everything they do,” said Seider. “Who can score? Who can get the first down? Who can get that block? It’s competitive nature. Nobody is saying I should be getting this, I should be getting that. It’s a room that is pulling for each other.”
Friday night Seider will run out of the tunnel in the South end zone for the first time in Orange and Blue. The players that he’s come to know, a coach that never stopped recruiting him, and — most importantly — his family, healthy and happy, will surround him.
It’s been a long time coming for JaJuan Seider to wear the Gator logo, but the time was right and he’s making the most of the opportunity.