Westhoff In Times Article

A Jets Coach Who Is Able to Bend but Not Break

By KAREN CROUSE

Published: August 17, 2007
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Aug. 15 ? His voice rises in fury when a special teams player misses a blocking assignment or makes the wrong cut on a return. Same old Mike Westhoff, the Jets players say with a laugh.

An omnipresent metal cane and frequent bouts of sitting during long training camp practices are the only signs that something is different with him.

The 59-year-old Westhoff has no choice but to take it easier ? on himself, if not his players. During the off-season he underwent a five-and-a-half-hour operation, the eighth major surgery on his left leg since an egg-sized tumor was discovered on his femur in 1988.

Westhoff, the Jets? special teams coordinator, was hospitalized for four days and was on crutches for two months. Of course, he has not missed a day of training camp.

?I keep pushing through things, but I?m not stupid,? Westhoff said Wednesday. ?I know there are limitations and I have to be careful with some things.?

Since his first cancer operation, Westhoff has adhered to a daily routine that would test the stamina of a man half his age. In order to stave off questions about his health, Westhoff kept in great shape, scoffed at any suggestion that he use a golf cart to get around at practices and reached for his cane only when absolutely necessary, not unlike the middle-aged person who only takes out his bifocals to read a menu.

But last year Westhoff experienced a serious setback. The titanium plate that holds together the two replacement cadaver bones in his leg splintered, and his femur developed a stress fracture and began to bow.

?It was actually bending to the point where I lost almost two inches of length in my left leg,? Westhoff said.

As the 2006 season wore on, the ache in his left leg became constant. Westhoff reached for his cane more and more and wore a plastic brace beneath his pants. Neither did much to ease his pain or his loved ones? concerns.

Westhoff broke his femur in 1999, and his son John spent the latter half of the 2006 season worried that Westhoff would sustain another fracture during a game while stalking the sideline.

Jets Coach Eric Mangini, said: ?I understand completely the concern. But the one thing about Mike is he?s incredibly thorough, whether it?s game planning or in this situation. I felt comfortable that he was seeking out all the different information he could find and was making intelligent decisions.?

In February, six weeks after a first-round playoff loss at New England, Westhoff underwent an innovative operation. John Healey, an orthopedic surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering who specializes in repairing limbs that have been affected by cancer, removed the broken titanium plate and inserted a 10-inch rod-like plate with 2-inch screws that surrounds the femur. Dr. Healey filled in the gaps in the femur with bone chips that he took from Westhoff?s hip.

?That?s a tough surgery, being on the table that long,? Westhoff said. He woke up afterward, and the first thought that popped into his head, he said, was that he felt fine.

John Westhoff, who had been keeping a vigil at the hospital, knew his father was O.K. when he caught him checking his cell-phone messages and making calls three hours after the anesthesia wore off.

?He pushes it as far as he can,? John Westhoff said Thursday in a telephone interview. He added: ?I wonder if he?s not pushing the limit right now, for him to be out at practice after having a surgery like his. I thought he might not be ready for training camp, but I guess he is because he?s doing it.?

Westhoff is trying to pace himself. He will sit on top of a water cooler during practice to give his leg a rest or sit on the pile of padding in front of the upright stanchion. So far he has steadfastly refused to let anybody bring him a chair.

?I have a lot of pride and we all have a certain ego and I certainly do, too,? he said. ?I admit it. And so I?ve had to deal with that. But the way I look at it, it?s the price I have to pay to be able to do what I want to do. Because I can?t keep breaking it and putting it back together.?

If Westhoff is worried that anybody will see his cane as a symbol of weakness or say that sitting during practice is for sissies, he has misread his players. ?That?s part of what he has to do to get through every day now and everyone respects that,? punter Ben Graham said. ?When his special teams boys are up to bat, he?s there and as intense as ever.?

Westhoff was in midinterview when receiver Laveranues Coles ran up behind him and wrapped Westhoff in a big bear hug.

?He?s the greatest,? Coles said as he let Westhoff go. ?And you can quote me on that.?

Mangini said: ?I think Mike?s a great example of toughness. He goes through the day, I?m sure at different points he probably doesn?t feel very good, but you?d never know it. He never talks about it, never makes excuses.?

Six months after the operation, Westhoff says he feels great. If not for the cane and a left sneaker with a raised heel to make the leg level with his right, nobody would know that his style is any different.

?I am aware that I have to be careful,? Westhoff said. ?If you?re not careful and you do this wrong, I could lose my leg.?