Former Geneva standout David Girardi was elevated to QB coach for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Throughout his football career, David Girardi has heard the question “Where did THAT guy come from” a lot.
e last time he heard it was when he was hired quarterback coach of the Kansas City Chiefs—the team that won the Super Bowl—where Patrick Mahomes will be his main emphasis. Nevertheless, he has heard the question before.
When he transferred from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Geneva College in 2008 to play quarterback, he heard it a lot. It is quite likely that he also heard about it when he initially arrived in St. Petersburg.
He explained much of the early changes in a story in The Times during the 2009 season.
“I grew up in western Pennsylvania,” Girardi told this reporter then. “My brothers all went to Valley High School. My family was only in Florida for three years.”
While that explains where THAT guy came from in St. Petersburg, it doesn’t tell the whole story how he ended up at Geneva – that wasn’t a completely direct route, either.
He explained much of the early changes in a story in The Times during the 2009 season.
“I grew up in western Pennsylvania,” Girardi told this reporter then. “My brothers all went to Valley High School. My family was only in Florida for three years.”
While that explains where THAT guy came from in St. Petersburg, it doesn’t tell the whole story how he ended up at Geneva – that wasn’t a completely direct route, either.
He had two of the eight highest season completion percentages (.623 in 2009 and .588 in 2010) in Geneva history – a history that dates back to 1890. His numbers don’t really relate well to the numbers in the league he now coaches because it was definitely a balanced attack. In the backfield with him was Gerard Muschette, who was a senior the same year as Girardi and graduated as the school’s leading rusher.
“David always wanted every play to be perfect,” said DeMarco. “Those guys played in a tough period of transition for the school from NAIA to NCAA and they made the best of it. We were just so balanced – if the game was played the way everyone plays it now, his numbers would have been outrageous.”
Girardi was so in charge of the offense while he was at Geneva that he recorded the third-highest single season punting average in 2009 despite not being the punter.
“When we faced long yardage, he always knew he had the option to get off the quick kick and let it bounce to improve field position,” DeMarco said. “He wasn’t our punter but he could punt. He knew what he was doing out there and he took football seriously.
“We knew he could coach but, make no mistake, he’s achieved what he has because of David Girardi. You could see he was a great leader when he was here and we’re just fortunate he stopped here on his way through.”
While finding his way to Kansas City, Girardi also found his way to get to master’s degrees and coach at Seton Hill, Lafayette, and Northwestern.
“Kansas City limits access to assistants during the year and this is one of those times but he still keeps in touch when he can.”
As Girardi continues to learn under the Andy Reid system, it can be noted that he was already on that learning curve while a player at Geneva. In that same 2009 interview, he talked more about his three-year sojourn to Florida.
Girardi remarked, “I’d come back here for Christmas break because I missed the snow when I was there.” “Then I would question why winter escaped me.”
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