Resiliency not just a concept for Iowa defensive line coach Kelvin Bell

IOWA CITY — Major-college football coaches commonly take back roads and detours to their destinations, but Kelvin Bell drove through apparent dead ends.

“It was a miracle, really,” Bell said, “that I ended up at the University of Iowa.”

Twice, actually. Getting to Iowa as a player was improbable enough. Becoming the team’s defensive line coach and mentoring future NFL players like A.J. Epenesa, Daviyon Nixon and Chauncey Golston was far less likely.

Bell grew up in Olive Branch, Miss., 25 miles from Memphis, Tenn. Andy Thorn, an Iowa recruit from Michigan, took an unofficial visit to Mississippi because his uncle lived in Olive Branch. On the night before they checked out Ole Miss, they attended an Olive Branch High football game.

Thorn signed with Iowa. He urged his new coaches to take a look at a 6-foot-2, 310-pound defensive lineman he saw in Olive Branch. It was Bell, who had attracted no interest from SEC schools.

Bell’s first personal contact with the Iowa staff came when assistant coach Phil Parker visited him at his school.

“He got me out of music appreciation class,” Bell said, “sized me up, told me I wasn’t tall enough but I was big enough.”

Iowa brought Bell up for a January official visit. He liked it.

“On Sunday before I left, Coach (Kirk) Ferentz brought me into his office. ‘We don’t have anything to offer you. If something falls through, we’ll give you a call.’

“I get to the airport. I had the Iowa jacket on that they gave me, because it was cold out. I’m thinking I’ll just wear it home. I get to the gate — this was before 9/11 — and there’s coaches there, Pat Flaherty and Eric Johnson, to take the coat from me.”

NCAA rules, you know.

“The funny thing about that is, I’ve had to do that as a coach,” Bell said.

Two days after going home with no jacket or scholarship offer, Bell and Bob Sanders were made the final additions to Iowa’s 2000 recruiting class. Sanders became a star. Bell had no college playing career. He got hurt, needed knee surgery, and that was that.

“Coach Ferentz allowed me to be a student-assistant here in ‘02, working in recruiting,” Bell said. “I’m organizing Coach (Ron) Aiken’s recruiting book. I did that for about two weeks and I quit. Never came back. Just felt uncomfortable being in the building. Felt really odd being around my teammates knowing what they were doing and that I couldn’t do it.”

Bell stayed at Iowa to complete his degree in mathematics, with an emphasis on computer science. He got a job at University of Iowa Hospitals. And took an unusual circle back to Hawkeye football.

Regina High School: Bell’s mother sent her younger son north to get better education and live with his big brother. Kelvin worked with Scott Bell in Regina’s weight room.

Soon, other students joined them. Before long, Regina put Kelvin in charge of the weight room and he implemented a strength program for Regina’s athletes.

Then-Regals head football coach Chuck Evans paid to have Bell take a course at Kirkwood Community College to earn an Iowa coaching authorization. Bell coached Regina’s junior high football team and helped with the varsity.

“It taught me to start at start,” Bell said. “Don’t assume anything. These kids don’t know what they don’t know. Meet them where they’re at. That stuck with me.”

Regina won the 2005 state Class 1A title. “It was a great time,” said Bell.

Cornell College: “I answered an ad in the paper. They were looking for an offensive line coach. I played defensive line but my passion is offensive line.

“We were not very good. We went 2-9, 2-9. We were low on numbers.

“I doubled as equipment manager. I would wash clothes for all the teams, not just football.”

Wayne State College: Bell’s Cornell colleague, Tim Triplett, had gone to Division II Wayne State, and urged Bell to do the same.

“They called me five days before the start of spring ball and said you’ve got the job,” Bell said. “I’m driving to Wayne, Nebraska, and crying the entire way because I don’t know if this is the right move.

“I’m moving to a place where I know one guy. I didn’t have cellphone coverage there. The money I saved working at the hospital, the health insurance, the benefits, all those things I gave up to work for $500 a week and free grad school, $423 a week after taxes.

“And it was great.

“The head coach was an offensive line guy and he gave that to me. I embraced the pressure. In two years, we were 19-5. But I was only a two-year guy.”

Just three Wayne State assistants were full-time. The rest were grad assistants changed every two years. At the end of his second season, Bell was 26 and again out of football.

“I moved back to Iowa City, tail between my legs.”

He did reestablish contact with Iowa’s coaches. He attended some Hawkeyes practices, watched film with assistant coach Reese Morgan.

“Kelvin had a genuine thirst for knowledge,” Morgan said. “I think he’s got a gift in coaching. He has an ability to relate to people.”

Bell took stopgap jobs while searching for another football opportunity. He delivered pharmaceuticals to nursing homes. He reviewed life insurance policies for Transamerica in Cedar Rapids, “making sure ‘i’s were dotted and ‘t’s were crossed. It sucked. It was mind-numbing.”

He become a fleet manager at Heartland Express in North Liberty though “I knew nothing about trucking. I started out with 20-some trucks, ended up with 50-some.

“It was a lot like coaching. You had to understand how to talk to people. Truck drivers have to know that you trust them and they can trust you. It really helped my communication skills.

“Heartland was about accountability. If that load was late, I’m late with you. That’s coaching. If my guy’s not where he’s supposed to be, I’m in there with you, man. I spent all week coaching you, I’m in there on that mistake. But I’m also with you when we celebrate the good things, too.”

Bell learned of an offensive line coaching opening at Trinity International University in suburban Chicago. He went to the 2011 American Football Coaches Convention in Dallas to seek people with contacts to the school.

He attended a clinic of then-Iowa assistant coach Lester Erb and found himself seated next to Trinity International assistant Ashton Aikens. He gave Aikens his resume. Nine days before the start of that year’s spring practice, Bell had a two-day interview for the job. He was a coach again.

Trinity International: He also was again an equipment manager.

“I bought the footballs,” said Bell. “I bought the warm-ups. When Northwestern went from Adidas to Under Armour, I drove a U-Haul to Northwestern and got 150 pairs of Adidas cleats for $50 apiece.

“I was the sports information director, too. I had to write articles about our games and upload them to our website. I’d have to keep score at the baseball games. These are all things you do to coach.”

But coach, he did.

“I was back, and I was going to make the best of it at Trinity International University,” Bell said. “I’m going to build my brand here as an offensive line coach.”

He was given a $3,000 raise and more football responsibilities after a season there. But then Ferentz called him to ask if he were interested in becoming a Hawkeyes graduate assistant. That was a yes.

In 2014, Bell was asked to become the program’s director of on-campus recruiting. It wasn’t a role he wanted because it meant no coaching.

“I was going to be coordinating with caterers and logistics,” Bell said. But this time he stayed.

Two years later, Ferentz told his staff defensive assistant coach Jim Reid was leaving Iowa for Boston College.

“I marched right into Coach’s office and said I want that job,” Bell said.

He and Ferentz were together on a visit to a recruit’s home in Brownsburg, Ind. Just as Bell knocked on the front door, Ferentz told him he was going to be Iowa’s next assistant coach.

“He’s paid his dues,” Morgan said.

“I had my ups and downs,” Bell said. “But I wouldn’t trade it.”

Monday: Bell talks about 2020 and the aftermath of Black former Hawkeye football players making charges of mistreatment and racial bias by some Iowa coaches. “As a Black man,” Bell said, “they looked at me like ‘How did you let that happen?’”

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com