Legendary Saints QB Talks Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year, Peyton and Saints

Archie Manning is certainly one of the most famous men to ever call New Orleans home. Of course his fame began in college when he turned Ole Miss into a noticeable program while he quarterbacked there.

Archie is the rare breed who starred in college near his home, and then got to star for the hometown (home region) professional team immediately after his college career ended. Very few athletes can say they got to do such a thing.

Even rarer is that he not only starred in both spots, but was the most famous player that team had, until the last 10 years or so. Manning is a College Football Hall of Fame inductee and a member of the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame.

With those facts in mind, Bleacher Report organized an interview between myself and Archie to discuss his involvement with the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, his take on the mess that has become of college football, his son Peyton, and a little about the Saints and the NFC South.

Archie is on the board for the National Football Foundation which has partnered with Liberty Mutual Insurance to create the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. As Chairman of the Board, Manning naturally became the spokesman for the coach of the year award.

As Manning stated, the wonderful thing about this coach of the year award is really two-fold. One, it includes coaches from four levels of football—Division I-FBS, Division I-FCS, Division II and Division III. Second, it desires to award coaches not only for success on the field, but also for making a positive contribution off the field.

The winners in 2010 all embodied these qualities. Division I-FBS winner Gene Chizik (Auburn) won the BCS national championship and on his behalf had $50,000 contributed to the local Boys & Girls Club in the Auburn area. Division I-FCS winner K.C. Keeler of Delaware led his team to the national championship for that level and also donated the $50,000 to autism research in Delaware. Bob Nielson of Minnesota-Duluth contributed to a community-based mentoring program, while Glenn Caruso of the University of St. Thomas had his share go to the Newhaven Hospital to help find a cure for leukemia.

In addition, each respective university was granted $20,000 in honor of their award-winning head coach which went to the general scholarship fund. In all, since 2006, Liberty Mutual has contributed more than $1.2 million to 80 charities and schools as a result of this award.

Archie believes in this program because he knows that good coaches like this are more the norm in college football than the ones who have been getting in trouble in the past couple years. He says the main problem is that the media and fans put so much pressure on coaches to win not just a bowl game but the national championship. But again he knows for each unfortunate tale such as The U, "there are 50 programs and head coaches doing things the right way, building up men."

And that is the exact reason he so strongly believes in this award, and encourages fans to vote every day starting September 1st through December 3rd for their favorite coach and school to win these awards. In fact, he is careful to note that college football has had such a profound impact on him and his family.

In that vain, he is careful to make any bold predictions about his son Peyton, who is questionable to start the 2011 season on time. In fact, he admitted that he was not confident of a positive answer on that front, but simply said "Peyton is taking it slow and wants to give it a week from when he first got on the field, and then go from there." 

As for an opponent of Peyton's this season—the Saints—Archie stated that he is extremely impressed with the job Mickey Loomis and Sean Payton have done, not just this season, but all along, in putting together a team that can compete with league's elite.

Archie believes the Saints did a wonderful job in free agency this offseason, which has helped make them a very talented team, with great leadership and coaching.

On the subject of the man who has broke most of his Saints records, he could sing nothing but praise for current Saints QB Drew Brees. In fact, though I asked him to give me one quality that makes the Super Bowl MVP so special, he could not.

He thought "he's such a complete quarterback. Physically what makes him so good is his accuracy, but he's also such a great leader, he's cerebral, with great poise. He does so many things well." Those of course are all attributes Drew began to display in college at Purdue. College football had a great impact on Drew.

And last year's FCS winning coach Gene Chizik of course sent his QB to the NFL after collecting a national title. That young man, Cam Newton, is going to be playing-—ikely starting in Archie's estimation—for the Carolina Panthers. Manning likes Newton's size, arm, and the fact he's a great athlete.

He does believe his transition will be even more difficult than most rookie quarterbacks due to the lack of work he could have with his new coaches after the draft, and the simple fact that the whole team is learning a new system at the same time he is. But when all is said and done, he expects Cam Newton to be a good NFL QB. In other words, the NFC South could at one time possess four great quarterbacks.

Now that would be fun. Almost as much as fun as having the opportunity to speak with a Saints legend.