‘This gig ain’t for me’: How Bucs’ Dave Canales found a higher calling in coaching

TAMPA — The sandlot football field near Carson, California, was a place where neighborhood kids, stumbling toward adulthood, would gather without parents to test their might on a makeshift gridiron. No lines were drawn on the field, but the bigger kids would let you know when you crossed one.

Dave Canales not only organized the games, he coached them.

“He’s always been a sports almanac,” said Canales’ brother Josh, the oldest of three boys and the pastor of Carson’s Mission Ebenezer Family Church, which was founded in 1959 by his paternal grandparents. “When we were kids, my dad would buy the guy books on quarterbacking, books on offensive scheme. (Dave) would just eat, sleep and dream football.

“He was the guy at the sandlot that was drawing up plays in the dirt and coaching our little brother. … One time, he organized a sandlot football game at the local park and took a clipboard with him.”

He was 12.

‘I’m supposed to be on the field’

After graduating from Carson High and Azusa Pacific University in California, where he played receiver, Dave tried selling commercial real estate for a year and then went into the leather-boot-making business that he learned from a family friend. Wearing a suit and tie, he traveled from New York to Mexico but told his older brother, “This gig ain’t for me.”

When an opening came up to serve as head coach and offensive coordinator of the freshmen/sophomore team at his high school, Dave knew his calling.

“Tell them I’m their guy! I’m supposed to be on the field,” Dave told Josh. “I can barely sit still. I’m supposed to be running around, coaching up young men and making a difference.”

On Wednesday, Dave Canales accepted the job as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator. His energy, fueled by working for 14 years for Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll dating to his days at USC, is among the many things that Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles believes made Canales the perfect choice to lead his team’s offense.

Though he has never called plays above the high school level, Canales has earned this opportunity.

From coaching special teams/tight ends at El Camino College in California, to serving as assistant strength coach and a grunt drawing practice scripts at USC, to coaching receivers and quarterbacks including Russell Wilson and Geno Smith in Seattle, Canales has displayed an ability to organize, teach and inspire.

His work ethic, described by Josh as “the Mexican-American migrant farm worker mentality,” is reflected in all three brothers.

“My father (Isaac) as a child contracted polio and almost died, so my dad never had full use of his right arm,” Josh said. “He was never, ever able to play sports, but he raised three athletes. His energies took him to the academic world. He grew up in the projects, poorest barrio of Los Angeles in the ‘60s. Went to Harvard. He came back, raised us right in the area he was from. He taught us to not let anyone outwork us. My mom (Ritha) and dad taught us to reach for the stars.”

Change starts at home

At 41, Dave is not only a first-time offensive coordinator but also co-author of a book with his wife, Lizzy, titled “This Marriage? The Question that Changed Everything.” The foreword was written by Tony Dungy, who helped Dave reprioritize his life as a Christian, husband, father and coach.

Dungy met Dave about 12-14 years ago at a Christian retreat, where they fished and talked about fellowship and faith.

“It’s (longtime NFL assistant and head coach) Leslie Frazier and a bunch of guys who feel the same way and have the same Christian values,” Dungy said “We were able to show (Dave), ‘You know what? You don’t have to give that up, and you can be successful.’ And I think that was the big thing, and he’s stayed true to his convictions, and it’s been great to watch him climb the ladder.”

Dave and Lizzy met at Azusa Pacific. She was friends with his younger brother, Coba. Lizzy spent a semester in Bolivia working for a nonprofit for her degree in global studies when they became email buddies, and the relationship blossomed.

Four children later, Dave had just become the Seahawks’ receivers coach. After a long day and a nervous brake repair on the family Suburban, he wanted to go out to celebrate becoming a position coach. Instead, he stayed home, drinking a few beers and smoking cigars. When he went to bed, he told Lizzy how excited he was about his new opportunity.

“How great is it going to be to have the players over (to) our house, to witness our marriage and family and see how we do it here?” he said, according to the book.

Lizzy’s discontent in their marriage, the demands of being a mother and an NFL coach’s wife, had left her angry and resentful about their relationship. “This marriage?” she breathed out.

They loved each other and had fun together, but she didn’t think they were living “the marriage God intended.”

“So they made a big change,” Josh said, “and he reconfigured this whole formula of what it took to be a high-level coach.”

Coaching as ministry

Former USF quarterback BJ Daniels knows firsthand how much Dave pours into his players. When Daniels was claimed off waivers by the Seahawks in 2013, Dave’s “pet project” was to teach him the offensive playbook.

“We spent many hours and long nights trying to get the playbook down,” Daniels said. “From that point on, when I made the transition my last year from quarterback to receiver, he was promoted to wide receiver coach and our relationship expanded from that to where he taught me the playbook from a different perspective.”

Their bond strengthened through church fellowship, painting Dave’s back yard and moving around furniture together.

“We build a pretty good relationship,” Daniels said.

Dave is the middle of three brothers, “the meat in the sandwich,” Josh says. All were successful athletes.

Drafted out of high school, Josh played baseball at Florida and UCLA. He eventually signed with the Dodgers and played one game in Triple A but mostly kicked around as an infielder for two seasons at Vero Beach in the Florida State League before he heard a higher calling.

“God called me out of baseball,” Josh said. “I think David, too, at some point in his early 20s was trying to figure out, ‘Am I’m supposed to be doing this ministry full time or am I supposed to do coaching as ministry?’ "

Coba played football and baseball. After one season at Penn, he finished his career at Azusa Pacific and now works as associate pastor at Mission Ebenezer Family Church.

From Dave’s early days in college, former Azusa Pacific coach Pete Shinnick knew he would be successful.

“I felt he was going to be great at something people-related,” said Shinnick, now the head coach at Towson. “He really could instruct well; he talked well. He was one of those guys other players could talk to, and he could explain it and break it down. … Love that he chose coaching.”

What the Bucs are getting

Bowles wanted a new offense that puts more emphasis on running the ball.

Dave’s work with Wilson and Geno Smith, the NFL’s 2022 Comeback Player of the Year, also was huge.

The other thing Bowles wanted to change was the culture, or at least add to it. Quarterback Tom Brady has retired. Dave is a teacher and a ball of energy and enthusiasm.

“I’ve got to believe if you spend that much time with Pete Carroll, I mean, the energy person of all energy people, some of that has got to rub off on you a little bit,” Shinnick said.

Dungy believes Dave and Bowles will be a perfect match.

“When you just look at (Dave’s) accomplishments, it’s exceptional,” Dungy said. “(The Seahawks) were kind of always known as a defensive team, so he probably didn’t get all the acclaim that some other people might get, but he’s very, very good. I think just his style and philosophy is going to mesh very well with Todd, and I think they’re going to do great.

“He’s a good man, and I think it’s going to be good for the Bucs.”

Contact Rick Stroud at rstroud@tampabay.com. Follow @NFLSTROUD.

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