The Super Bowl-winning coach and his family have fallen in love with Wrexham

Where does a former NFL coach with a Super Bowl title to his name go on vacation for the New Year? Wrexham of course.

Paul McCord and his family swapped Florida for North Wales to take part in the League Two match against Barrow after becoming passionate fans of the club through the documentary Welcome to Wrexham.

It meant leaving behind the Tampa sunshine and daytime temperatures of 70 degrees Fahrenheit for highs of 9 degrees Fahrenheit, but Paul, wife Mindy – a successful coach in women’s lacrosse – and nine-year-old son LJ couldn’t have been happier.

“Being here in Wrexham to celebrate the New Year meant so much,” said Paul, a member of the coaching team that took the Baltimore Ravens to Super Bowl glory in 2001. He wears the memorial ring he received after the 34-7 victory over the New York Giants.

“This is our second visit to Wrexham. We first visited in March 2023, for the Southend United match. Then last summer we toured the US and watched the games in Chapel Hill, Los Angeles, San Diego and Philadelphia.

“That was great because we met people like Wayne again (Jones, landlord of The Turf and breakout star of the documentary), who we met on that first visit to Wrexham.

“We fell in love with the place and the people. In a world that can be very cynical, having a place that is authentic and full of gratitude makes you want to be here. That’s what drew us back.

“What brought us here in March was the documentary, but it’s the people that brought us back.”

Paul and Mindy’s respective careers in elite coaching were what initially led the pair to watch series one of a show charting the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

“As coaches, we both enjoy watching sports documentaries, like (ESPN’s) 30 for 30 series,” said Mindy, head coach of the women’s lacrosse program at the University of South Florida.

“Paul was the one who said, ‘Let’s watch this documentary.’ He’s writing a book about underdog stories and the show had that element. We both immediately identified with the story.

“I loved the ‘blue collar city’ element. My father was an electrician and my grandfather a miner, who came from Yugoslavia. I also loved the community aspect, and especially how authentic the fan involvement at Wrexham is.

“There is a real personal element to it, with the players walking through the fans before each match, posing for photos and signing autographs.”

The McCords spent New Year’s Eve at The Turf pub, next to the club’s SToK Cae Ras house, but both Paul and Mindy seem noticeably more cheerful.

LJ is also excited as he has brought a present for Paul Mullin, with whom the youngster enjoyed an impromptu kick-over after the summer tour match against Chelsea in Chapel Hill.

“The gift is for Albi,” Mindy explains, as Albi is Mullin’s young autistic son. “We wanted to thank Paul for his great collaboration with LJ. That’s what we love about Wrexham: the authenticity and the welcome everyone has.”

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The McCord family will always remember their first visit to Wrexham.

The match against Southend did not go ahead until the eleventh hour after volunteers and club staff worked all night to ensure the pitch was playable. Snow had covered the area.

But there was another problem: the tickets Paul had bought online turned out to be in the area reserved for away team supporters.

“We didn’t realize it until we arrived at the turnstiles in all our newly bought Wrexham gear,” laughs Paul, 198cm tall and still as powerfully built as you’d expect from someone who once signed for Dallas Cowboys.

“The gentleman explained that we had accidentally bought tickets in the Southend section and then looked at me before saying, ‘Everything will be fine as they won’t give you too much trouble, but I can’t say the same about the other two’.

“It was completely my fault. I had no idea it was the away section. I just saw ‘Wrexham’ and clicked on three tickets. The club was brilliant. They escorted us to another part of the stands, where all the reserve team players were sitting.”

Mindy quickly interjects: “The funny thing is that it got us started on season two of the documentary. We were sitting at home watching when suddenly there we were on the screen, like total tourists in our Wrexham hats and scarves, sitting with all these players!

This time there were no such accidents. As international members, the family purchased tickets through the club in the Main Stand for the 4-1 win over Barrow.

A particular highlight came via the second goal of Steven Fletcher’s hat-trick, a far-post header from James McClean’s inswinging corner. “The stacking game on the corner was comparable to a set piece that we use in lacrosse,” Paul reported after the game.

Crossovers between Phil Parkinson’s methods and the couple’s own coaching experiences are more common than many would think. Certainly the Wrexham manager’s famous ‘test of character’ when assessing future signings – he will think nothing of driving to London and back to assess a player’s suitability over a cup of tea – is similar with how Mindy runs things at lacrosse.

Together with Paul, she famously implemented the fast-paced basketball doctrine “The System,” as developed by Paul Westhead with Loyola Marymount University in the late 1980s and featured on the TV show Winning Time. This had a big effect when she was at the helm of the Jacksonville University lacrosse lineup. Building the right culture was crucial.

“We needed a good locker room,” said Mindy, who was named Conference Coach of the Year eight times during her time at Jacksonville. “We got that because those ladies believed in our core values ​​and our mission.

“Where you say Phil interviews the players here, we interviewed the parents. You are dealing with 17 to 23 year olds, so educating them is important. Do parents find coaching and mentoring important? That makes such a big difference in how you can move the needle in a young adult.

“It is an art to find the right people. We were also very transparent and honest about who we were as people and coaches, our styles, our personalities and what they would get from us. You have to build trust.”

One coaching aspect that Mindy does not share with the Wrexham manager is what the documentary makers call ‘Phil’s enthusiasm level’: the sheer number of times he swears during team conversations.

She adds: “We crack up every time he swears on the show. But then one day LJ said to me, “Mom, they drop the F-bomb so much – can I say it?” I’m like, ‘No way, it’s just part of the language there.’

Dad agrees. “I’ve been in locker rooms like that,” he says. “Maybe not that much profanity, but there were definitely a few things said. It’s when the adrenaline and testosterone start pumping. It comes from the heart.”

Paul certainly speaks from experience when it comes to coaching at a high level. After joining Brian Billick’s Ravens coaching team for the Super Bowl XXXV victory over the Giants, he later joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in a similar capacity.

“I worked with the kickers, punters, snappers, holders and return specialists,” he explains. “The Super Bowl was surreal. I was the guy below on the coaching staff, the assistant special teams coach. But just to be a part of it was incredible. You’re on this journey and you know something great is happening.

“You’re so micro-focused on every game. And every moment. We didn’t really think about the Super Bowl until we got there. And once we got there, we felt like we were going to win this game easily.

“No one would score against our defense, that was the best. Our offense also knew what to do, with our field position play also being great. That’s exactly how it played out.

“It was a great experience, with Mindy and the whole family there.”

Along with the book he is writing about sporting underdogs, helping to advance Mindy’s coaching career, Paul’s 2024 goal involves helping to spread the Wrexham gospel even further.

“Family and friends all know about Wrexham,” he says. “We bought Wrexham shirts for our daughter Taylor and son-in-law Spencer (Zapper) for Christmas. The plan now is to educate people in Tampa about this great club.

“It’s funny that I didn’t like Always Sunny (in Philadelphia) when I started this. Or even a Ryan Reynolds fan. It was the sports element that attracted me – and especially the underdog story.

“But then I suddenly became a super fan, never missing a match on iFollow (kick-off is usually at 10am on a Saturday in Florida) and shouting so loudly that all the neighbors know when we’ve scored a goal.”

(Photos: Richard Sutcliffe/McCord Family)