Like any good coach can do, Winston DeLattiboudere III predicted what was coming in his direction. Before a question was asked, the Cardinals new defensive line coach began his initial press conference on Thursday answering the question in everyone's mind.
"Just call me Coach DeBo," he said, sharing the nickname started when as a graduate assistant at UNC Charlotte due to the difficulty of pronouncing his last name. "When I came back up here (defensive coordinator Nick Rallis) was like 'Who the heck is DeBo?' I was like, 'Just roll with it.'"
Rallis knew exactly who he brought into the facility. DeLattiboudere and Rallis were college teammates at Minnesota. Rallis was the veteran in the room, leading the Golden Gophers defense. DeLattiboudere was the impressionable freshman, eager to learn. "I'm sure he thought I was a little bit crazy coming in," he said.
Since then, DeLattiboudere followed and observed the Cardinals defensive coordinator from a distance. Now, they're both teachers.
DeLattiboudere is a coach that leads by example. While some coaches might instruct the players in their position room, he will run through the drills with the players.
"In order to be able to jump to where you want to be able to go, you got to set a standard and I set a standard by telling my guys, 'match me,'" he said. "As a player, I've done it, I felt what it's supposed to feel like. I understand what defensive line play is supposed to look like, smell like, feel like, and sound like. I think those things are important."
DeLattiboudere is 27, around the age of most of the players in the defensive line room. In fact, Roy Lopez, Khyiris Tonga, L.J. Collier, Justin Jones, and Bilal Nichols are older than him. It's not to say DeLattiboudere doesn't have experience coaching older players. He spent time with the Jaguars and Packers as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship and was taught how to learn and teach "in the correct fashion."
Still, his recent experience also serves as a benefit for a unit that features a lot of young players. Having just coached in the college ranks, he has a unique understanding on how to work with players like Darius Robinson and Dante Stills.
"I can directly relate to those guys because I was coaching guys, if not a year than two years younger than them, so I understand everything about those guys all the way down to the music that they listen to," DeLattiboudere said. "I want to be able to relate but still be able to leave with a confident nature, so they understand where they are and where they need to be able to go.
"I can't wait to meet and get around and cultivate a relationship with them because the sky is the limit."
With the players out of the building, those conversations have taken place over the phone. At the facility, the camaraderie with the fellow coaches has begun. He's grown close with Rallis and coach Jonathan Gannon through working out at 5 a.m. "Coach JG, he pushes me to make sure I bring my juice every day," DeLattiboudere said.
The journey to Arizona for DeLattiboudere has come full circle. Once again, he's the newest individual in the room, eager to learn from those around him, including his former teammate. He'll just go by "Coach DeBo" instead.
"I'm a little bit of an energizer bunny and (Rallis) has juice, but he's stoic, so that's where we're kind of different," DeLattiboudere said. "I think the way that he thinks and the way that I think are on the same alignment. Being able to watch him methodically go through this process and then become a defensive coordinator, it honestly inspired me."
