Former Cowboys CB to help relaunch high school football team

Orlando Scandrick was an NFL cornerback for 11 years. After playing collegiate ball at Boise State, the defensive back was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2008 NFL Draft. He would spend the next nine years with the Cowboys. In 125 games with Dallas, the cornerback had eight interceptions, seven forced fumbles, 11.5 sacks, 27 tackles for loss, and 15 QB hits.

He may not have made a Pro Bowl or been the greatest defender to wear the Star, but he was certainly a big piece of the Cowboys’ defense from 2008-2017. After that, the Los Angeles native spent one year with the Chiefs and one year with the Cowboys’ NFC East rival Eagles. His time with the Eagles was interesting, to say the least. In fact, you may know Scandrick better for his commentary about the Eagles rather than his time with the Cowboys.

After the Eagles lost a game to the Cowboys in October of 2019, the Eagles decided to part ways with the cornerback. Scandrick was not happy with the Eagles organization. He went on FOX’s “Undisputed” and called Philly out for bad culture and leadership. It seemed the cornerback missed the Cowboys. This is what he had to say after being cut by the Eagles:

"“If I could take back one thing or one regret that I have in my whole entire sports career, it would have been to stay with that Dallas Cowboys organization through thick and thin. I had a long, long conversation with Sean Lee before the game on the phone… It wasn’t even about football, it was just about his loyalty to Dallas and how I was happy for him for grinding through and being healthy and continuing to fight despite what everyone said about him. He was just telling me that he loves it. He loves being in Dallas. The work he has put in with those guys. He loves coming to work every day. I can’t say my last two years of football have been like that.”"

Maybe his loud opinions were why he wouldn’t go on to play another game in the NFL after October 2019. The trolling continued after his career, too. In the Buccaneers’ dominant playoff victory over the Eagles this past January, the former player took to Twitter to troll Philly. He didn’t give the Cowboys the same criticism when they brutally lost to the 49ers hours later.

However, he isn’t done with the game. Scandrick is taking a shot at the other side of football. This week, it was announced that the former Cowboy would be taking a head coaching position at a Los Angeles high school. Scandrick will get to create his own culture for a team that has struggled to put together a team for a few years.

Former Cowboys cornerback and famed Eagles troller, Orlando Scandrick, is looking to help relaunch a high school football program

The NFL veteran was recently named the new head football coach of St. Bernard High School in Los Angeles. The school is about 15 miles from where the 35-year-old grew up. But, it won’t be an easy task. The football program hasn’t participated in any games since the spring of 2021.

The team’s former coach, Manuel Douglas, was part of the reason for that. Douglas was under investigation by his previous high school, yet St. Bernard still hired him. A year later at St. Bernard, the coach resigned for “personal reasons” with one game left to go in the season. Many players quit the team and the rest of the 2021 season was canceled because they didn’t have enough players for a full roster. Now, Scandrick is being brought in to relaunch the program.

Many former NFL players find joy in helping breed the next generation of football players. Maybe this is Scandrick’s way of doing that rather than sitting on Twitter trolling the Eagles. The school likely hopes that the former NFL player’s presence will help resurge interest in the team. The former Cowboy told the LA Times that he was excited for the chance to restart the program:

“It’s a very unique challenge and very intriguing opportunity I couldn’t pass up. We can start to rebuild a program from the ground up.”