The University of Memphis football team finished the fall semester with a program-record GPA of 3.24, and that’s emblematic of how the Silverfield era has propelled Memphis football to unprecedented stability.
When Silverfield officially took over the program as head coach, he faced a tall task. Former coach Mike Norvell had taken the Tigers to their best season in program history, including a conference championship and a Cotton Bowl appearance.
Because Silverfield worked under Norvell, many assumed he would continue to run the program, business as usual. Any change would be seen as a downgrade, as the Tigers were coming off such unusual success. But for Silverfield, change was necessary.
"I trusted the process," Silverfield said. "I also said this is the way we're going to do things. We're going to change the roster. We're going to change the way we recruit. We're going to bring in the type of young men that we feel fits this era and the way we want to do things regardless of what the win totals were before."
Silverfield and his proposed changes have since taken the Tigers to back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time in program history. But more importantly, he has established a culture of excellence.
Thomas Phillips, Memphis football’s defensive academic advisor, credits head coach Ryan Silverfield with building the Tigers into a powerhouse off the field.
“I’m a believer in the idea that how you do anything is how you do everything. From football to game operation, you can tell a lot about a program or its culture by grades, even how clean the locker room is; it’s just attention to detail.”
“It’s a trickle-down effect from coach Silverfield. I give a lot of credit to this staff for identifying those (academically motivated) guys in recruiting,” Phillips said. “We meet with him every week and show ‘here’s who’s struggling, here’s who’s doing well.”
Phillips also notes that Silverfield makes it his prerogative to hold every position coach accountable for their guys, on and off the field.
“We (the academic staff) can only hold guys accountable to a point. That’s why I appreciate Coach; he truly cares so deeply about his guys.”
For Phillips, the job has its pros and cons.
“There are days when you're fired up and days when you aren’t ready.”
But at the end of the day, “This job is what NCAA is about–if I can help somebody get to that degree. I’ve had guys tell me they didn't think they were ever going to graduate who told me how grateful they were for me.”
Meredith McCall, the director of football academics, noted that for the two learning specialists and four interns responsible for Memphis football academics, it is an act of pride to lead these Tigers to success off the field.
“Slowly, as they get better at school, they get more confident, and I get to be a part of that ride. If it weren't for football, a lot of these kids wouldn't be getting a degree.”
Associate athletic director Fernandez West believes there is a correlation between success off the field and on it.
“Roc (Taylor) had to prioritize working super hard in class. But when I saw how much he cared, I thought, ‘He’s going to be really good because of how hard he works in the classroom.’ Work ethic translates both ways. Guys who take shortcuts in the classroom have penalties and mental errors on the field.”
In the past, programs could teach incoming freshmen the ropes; by the time they were upperclassmen, the motivated ones would be academically self-sufficient. Now, with the rapid rise of athletes in the transfer portal, roster turnover is at an all-time high.
McCall said, “We do transfer evaluations on all of our close to 40 transfers. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of friends in this business, so I made a lot of calls to find out about these guys before they even got here so we can make sure we know what they will be faced with coming in.”
McCall battles to highlight the importance of academics to players whose identities have been shaped almost entirely by football.
“They’ve been told their whole lives how good they are at football but never encouraged academically. Football is going to end at some point.”
“For me, it’s the little things. It can be a long day, but sometimes you get a text from a kid who got a 10/10 on a quiz who’s never done that before,” McCall said. “Watching these kids go from thinking ‘I’m an athlete’ to ‘I’m a scholar.”
Coach Silverfield understands that battle and uses it as an opportunity to lead the students he sees as his own.
"When you walk into a room of about 150,18 to 22-year-olds and see them excited that you have the chance to lead them, it warms your heart because I look at them like my sons," Silverfield said. "And I think that special relationship, me holding them accountable, our entire staff holding them accountable, has been wonderful on the fact that they bought into the way we do things, the culture we built."
However, as much credit as the staff deserves for creating an academically inclined culture, Phillips shifts the praise to his students.
“All of the praise goes to the kids. I tell them all the time that at the end of the day, I’ve already got three degrees; you’ve got to do the work.”
Reach Rivals contributor Sam Shoemaker on X @s_shoemaker52 or email sjshmker@memphis.edu
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