Football and fatherhood: Jimmy and Joe Burrow living the ultimate sports movie

This is a story about a father giving up his dream job so he could watch his son chase his.

Joe Burrow made a few million new fans this year as LSU’s breakout star quarterback. The Heisman winner led the Tigers to an undefeated season, culminating with the national championship against the reigning national champion Clemson Tigers. He’ll soon have millions of more new fans when the Cincinnati Bengals take him with the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL Draft.

But no one will replace his No. 1 fan, his dad, Jimmy Burrow.

The elder Burrow retired this year as the defensive coordinator at Ohio University where he held that job since 2005 and was also Frank Solich‘s associate head coach since 2017. He walked away from the job where he was one of the longest-tenured assistants so he could watch his youngest son play his last season of college football. A former player and lifer in the game, Joe was only able to see three LSU games in 2018, none at Tiger Stadium.

“The opportunity to watch Joe play his senior year, Jimmy Burrow told Tom Rinaldi for a College GameDay feature. I loved coaching but to be a part of this at LSU with Joe is why I retired. … It’s brought our family more together.”

Little did Jimmy know that Joe would turn in the single greatest season in college football history.

Who knows if it would have been possible without his dad watching, supporting and cheering him on so closely.

“It means a lot now that he’s at every single game, Joe said in the same Rinaldi feature. “We can talk about what happened on the field. he always makes sure to ask me about my bad plays not the good. That’s the old coach in him.”

Every son just wants to make their dad proud. Joe did that.

A Heisman Trophy, national championship, the record for touchdown passes and touchdowns responsible for and a plethora of other accolades and accomplishments will be listed under Joe’s resume, including future No. 1 overall pick.

Football teams are often called a “family” and it’s true to an extent considering how much time is spent together, the close proximity they’re working together and the extraordinary effort required to play in the NFL. It’s a family environment to be sure, at least, in organizations that aren’t toxic.

But this is different. The Burrow family is football. Football is the Burrow family.

“First time in 51 years he wasn’t a player of a coach and him retiring has been a dream come true for me and my family,” Joe Burrow said during his Heisman acceptance speech.

Put yourself in Joe’s shoes and your dad just walked away from his career so he could travel the Southeast to watch you play your last season of college football. Joe wasn’t viewed as a future NFL starter, let alone franchise changer when Joe made his decision. He didn’t know if there would be games to watch in 2020 and beyond. He knew what was important and made the decision his son was more important than his job.

Forget about dad’s dream. This was about a father watching his son chase his.

For all the sons and daughters who are unable to have their dads watch and support them in their dreams, watching the Burrow family story is enough to make you cry. For the sons and daughters who lost their dad or never had their dad in the picture, witnessing one dad give up everything to see his son’s pursuit of history will make the hair on your neck stand up and a lump develop in your throat.

Joe’s story is one of the best in sports. He walked away from his dream school, Ohio State, the only school the Athens, OH, native wanted to attend. He lost it all and got it back through hard work and a tenacious effort. Wanna bet he learned that from his mom, dad and older brothers?

“The whole transition of Jimmy retiring has helped Joe to understand how important he is to us, he’s everything to us,” Jimmy’s wife and Joe’s mother, Robin Burrow said.

He’s also everything to the LSU football family who has adopted Joe Burreaux as one of their own.

“You’d like to say you dreamed about it, but I don’t think dreams are that out there, Jimmy Burrow said after Joe’s Senior Day. “We had a lot of things that had to align and they did. Couldn’t be happier.”

The travel should be a lot lighter with the Burrows only needing to travel to nearby Cincinnati to watch him play now.

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