The medical school graduate left residency behind to become an assistant coach with UTSA Roadrunner Football.
SAN ANTONIO — How many college graduates do you know who walked the stage their degree, but now work in a different career field? I think we all know several, but I’ve since met another and just maybe the most interesting ever. Dr. Pavit Patel, the UTSA Football Roadrunner Football Quarterbacks Coach.
“As a kid I grew up watching more NFL Network than cartoons,” he said.
Dr. Patel (aka Coach Patel) went to four years of medical school and graduated, but never pursued residency, and he had one really important reason for that.
“I’ll be dang. I get the job here and he’s in med school here,” said Head Coach Jeff Traylor.
“I saw on Football Scoop that Coach Traylor was hired here and I went nuts,” said Coach Patel.
“He walked in my office still wanting to coach,” said Traylor.
“I showed up at the facility in my scrubs. I just had just finished my shift at the hospital,” Patel said.
“I’m like Pavit, we are not doing this you need to go be a doctor,” said Traylor.
“Traylor said I have a spot for you if you wanna come be a graduate assistant here and I took it on the spot without even thinking about it,” said Patel.
And it was true! Patel really did show up in hospital scrubs asking Traylor for any spot on the staff.
“I came straight to the facility and just showed up.”
And now, two years later, he’s been leading the Roadrunner QB room after working his way up from G.A. to full time assistant coach. And the similarities of working in the ER or OR to the football redzone is more similar than one might think.
“In med school we learned so much information you find a way to basically make all these complicated concepts simple,” he said. “Same thing with football. It is a complicated game and at quarterback you’ve got to know everything.”
“He doesn’t leave out any one detail,” said starting quarterback Owen McCown. “Those small details that we may not think that matter really do matter on gamedays.”
“I think to find ways to make all that stuff as simple and as concise as possible,” Patel said.
So any regrets about the life and career decision made?
“There’s not been one day go by where I’ve thought about going back to medicine,” he said. “I love the situation I’m in and I love coaching ball.”
And it turns out with Coach Patel having what they red hot “GREY MATTER”, he’s got an amazing football mental skill that most of us wish we could have!
“He’s a football savant,” said Coach Traylor. “Like seriously, if you ask him who was the MVP of Super Bowl IV he could tell you. If you asked him who won or lost the game he would be able to tell you.
McCown told us the same thing.
“You can ask him about any Super Bowl and he can tell you the winner and MVP from the first to the most recent one,” McCown said.
So I mean come on, I wasn’t gonna miss this opportunity! So let’s see how the good doctor, the coach, really is! I asked him about the 1998-99 season.
“That was the Broncos winning back to back with John Elway as the MVP,” he said.
Correct! I then asked him about the 2011-12 season.
“That was the Giants and they beat the Patriots for the second time,” he answered.
Correct again! I asked about one more, the 1982-83 season.
“That would the Redskins. That was a strike shortened season. They beat the Dolphins,” and correct Patel was again!
So yeah, the guy is really good, and I suppose if the whole football coaching thing doesn’t work out for whatever reason he can always fall back on those hospital scrubs.
“That helped Coach Traylor hire because if it doesn’t work out he can do something with his degree,” he said. “I think he felt better after I graduated about hiring me.”