Welcome to “Making a Difference!” Step into the inspiring world of business owners who are making a tangible difference in their communities. Join us as we spotlight passionate entrepreneurs who go beyond profit, dedicating their time, resources, and innovative ideas to create positive social impact. Today our hosts, Greg Chapman and James Fenimore, spoke with Tyler shatley.
Tyler Shatley
What is a tip for success that you would provide someone in your same industry?
Consistency.
What volunteer experience has impacted you the most?
Youth group.
What’s one cause you’re passionate about?
Youth development.
Transcript:
James:
Hi, and welcome to Making a Difference, where we spotlight somebody in the community making a real difference. I’m James Fenimore, and joining me as always is my co-host Greg Chapman.
Greg:
James, glad to be here again. Friends, it’s my honor and privilege to introduce to you someone who’s been around Jacksonville for a little over ten years now, Tyler. Tyler, before we jump into some questions, tell us about yourself and about this new hobby that you’ve discovered the past couple of years.
Tyler:
Yeah. So, I’m a husband and father of four. We have nine, six, three, and a three-month-old, so we’re staying very busy right now. But recently I’ve gotten into surfing, which has kind of kept me busy with the kids too, obviously. But I make sure it’s after school drop-off and before school pick-up, so yeah, it’s keeping me busy right now.
Greg:
That’s cool. Just real quick, people know the name Tyler Shatley. For those who may not be a Jaguar fan or Clemson fan, just real brief, tell us about your NFL experience.
Tyler:
Yeah. So I came here to Jacksonville in 2014. I was undrafted and played 11 years with the Jags, and very blessed to be here. I got to stay in Jacksonville the whole time. My wife and I love this city. All of our kids have been born here and raised here. It’s just a great place with the family. We love the fan base and the community.
Greg:
It’s all tied in together, right? So as you know, you’ve done some stuff with us and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We’re all about some coaches. We believe that the greatest words that our students and young athletes hear are from their coach. You know, I can tell my kids to do something until I’m blue in the face, but as soon as a coach says the same thing, man, they jump and they do it.
Having been around sports, specifically football and wrestling—people may not know that about you—you’ve been around some coaches. So you’ve probably seen the good and the bad at every level. And it’s not just whether they get paid a lot of money or coach school ball. They’re all over the place.
So tell us about a coach who impacted your life.
Tyler:
I think a lot of the impact—I mean, I had great coaches throughout my whole career. My dad coached for so long growing up and was probably the hardest coach job for sure.
But in high school I had a great coach. I would say the one who was most unapologetic with his faith was my college coach at Clemson—Dabo Swinney, the head coach. He really put it on display what it means to live out your faith in your job. Like I said, he was unapologetically himself. He was not going to shy away from a conversation in front of the whole team or anybody.
You saw that filter down to all the position coaches. When I was on the defensive line, our coach Dan Brooks was an incredible man. I just loved being around him. Same thing, a strong Christian. And when I moved over to the offensive line, same thing with Robbie Caldwell—just another great guy to be around and learn from.
Not just football, but life skills. And as you guys know, college is such an important time because you’re kind of out from under your parents’ wing and figuring things out. You’re realizing things like, “Oh, I have to pay bills every month.” There’s a lot of learning going on. And I was very blessed to be around that group of men at that time.
Greg:
That’s cool. Having been around a coach like Dabo, was there anything specifically you saw him model that had nothing to do with football? Maybe something in how he interacted with his wife and kids?
Tyler:
Yeah, he was always great with his family. His faith included his family. He always loved to include the families of all the coaches, which I think is huge. As I’ve seen, and I think a lot of coaches do it, including the family matters because that’s what coaches go home to every night.
If things aren’t good at home, that coach isn’t coming back the next day with a full tank or a clear mind. I thought he did a really good job incorporating families. And like I said, he was going to live out his faith no matter what—whether you liked it or not, or believed the same thing or not.
I think people respected that. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized people respect you when you show up as who you truly are, not when you wear a mask. That might work for a little bit, but liking someone and respecting someone are two different things.
That’s why he has so much respect, and why I have so much respect for him. He did the same thing over and over, and he was who he was.
Greg:
So transitioning from Clemson to the Jaguars—going from college where it is business but still highly relational, to the Jaguars where it is business—I’m sure there’s a difference.
Tyler:
Yes.
Greg:
What’s the difference?
Tyler:
I think the relational aspect changes. In college they’re pouring into you because you’re going to be there three or four years. You were also at a very moldable and impressionable time.
When you get to the NFL it’s more like, “You’ve got a month to figure it out during camp, and if you don’t have it figured out by the end of that, we have to move on.”
Everyone has their own job and their own family outside of football that they’re going home to take care of. Coaches don’t have time to hang around and get to know you in the afternoons. You don’t see as much of the families hanging around the facility.
There’s less time because it’s constant game planning. And there’s more turnover. In college I had the same coaches the whole time. In the NFL, every year there’s turnover. Even with the team, after four or five years only one or two guys I came in with were still there.
That’s a big change.
Greg:
That’s crazy. So now that you’re on this side and coaching your kids, things look a little different than what you’ve experienced most recently.
A lot of times we think coaching means high school, college, or NFL. But really the most influential time for coaches is right where you are now. So just briefly tell us about that.
Tyler:
We’ll see. I’m very optimistic just to get to coach anything. I enjoy it so much. Right now I’m coaching flag football.
My friend Josh Wells and I recently started putting together workouts. It started with our sons during Christmas break because we needed to get these kids out of the house. Some neighborhood kids started showing up and now we’ve got a pretty good group of kids.
I love it. It’s so fun to coach.
One of the things I’ve learned—when I first started coaching flag football I thought, “I’m just going to be the fun coach.” But what you accept becomes the standard you set.
I’ve learned the best thing is setting a high standard but also giving high praise and loving on the kids. They’ll meet the standard you set, but they need encouragement too.
You can’t just crush their spirit. For some of them this is the first time they’ve heard terms like skip pull or down block. You have to help them learn to love the sport or just love moving their body.
Ninety-nine percent of them won’t make it to the professional level, so just enjoy it. Even if you do make it, there will be plenty of time when the sport becomes a job. So enjoy it now.
Set a high standard, but also show empathy and love. Be relational with them. Get down on their level. Understand them.
Facilities can have mottos on the wall about working hard or knowing each other, but are you actually living it? Do you sit down with someone at lunch? Do you know their story? Do you know what’s going on in their life?
That’s the biggest thing—the relational piece. When you have that relational equity, they’ll willingly work to meet the standard you set.
Greg:
That’s cool. Good stuff. I appreciate it.
James:
Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us. The authenticity of that relationship, like you said—you can’t just point at it, you have to live it and lead by example.
That’s really beautiful for young coaches and really anyone trying to raise kids or be a leader in any capacity.
So thank you so much for joining us today. It’s been a real pleasure. This has been Making a Difference. I’m James Fenimore, this is Greg Chapman, and we can’t wait to see you next time.
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