It wasn’t until 1994 that NIU defensive coordinator Scott Shafer knew he had chosen the right profession.

He was in Spear Mulqueeny Funeral Home in Painesville, Ohio, attending his father’s funeral.

It was there that he learned endless stories about his father, Ron Shafer.

Ron was a successful high school coach in northeast Ohio.

Scott grew up idolizing his father.

“I was always by my dad’s side,” Scott said. “I knew from a young age that I wanted to coach. I got to see my dad and his experiences. I was greatly influenced by him.”

When Ron was 23 years old, he got his first coaching job as an assistant at Green Springs (Ohio) High School. After only two weeks on the job, the head coach at the time asked Ron to take over for him.

Ron and the head coach went on to switch roles and lead Green Springs to an undefeated season.

The school had never seen a winning season before Ron’s first year.

Scott did not know this before that day in the funeral home.

The pallbearers for Ron’s funeral were the captains from the Green Springs team.

People showed up by the thousands to pay their respects.

“When my dad passed away, I was touched by how many people showed up,” Scott said. “That’s when I knew I was in the right profession.”

There is no denying the effect Ron had on Scott’s life.

Nearly every one of Scott’s coaching philosophies came from Ron. One in particular came in handy later in Scott’s life.

“A good coach can coach any position and any sport,” Scott said. “It’s all about breaking things down and motivation.”

Scott grew up a coach’s son. It was his father’s influence that eventually led him to Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio.

Scott spent a year-and-a-half at Ohio University as a quarterback, but injured his left knee in a spring game. When Ohio decided to use more of the option, Scott decided to move on.

At Baldwin-Wallace, Scott played quarterback for two years before graduating and moving on to Indiana University as a graduate student.

At Indiana, Scott began preparing himself for life as a coach. He worked as a graduate assistant at Indiana and was able to learn from a defensive coordinator named Joe Novak.

While at Indiana, Scott earned a degree in secondary education and was able to learn in two diverse environments.

He lived on the south side of Akron with a Proposition 48 student, partial academic qualifier, while doing graduate work to get the feel for the inner city.

He then moved to Arizona and lived on a reservation with the White Mountain Apache Indians – all in the name of diversity.

“I was able to study two completely different cultures,” Scott said. “I wanted to know how life was different in other places.”

The trips paid off. Scott now recruits for NIU in the inner cities. The experience he got in Akron has helped him land players like Lionel Hickenbottom (Robeson H.S.), Brian Atkinson (Fenger H.S.), and former NIU standout Larry Williams (Dunbar H.S.). All three are some of Scott’s favorite players.

“Those are the guys I take a special interest in,” Scott said. “Guys like that are going to come in and be players. Giving kids an opportunity and letting them run with it is what this profession is all about.”

After two years at Indiana, Scott was hired as quarterbacks coach at the University of Rhode Island.

But once coach Floyd Keith realized he was only able to have nine coaches instead of 10, something had to give.

Keith offered Scott a job as secondary coach. Scott accepted.

“As a quarterback, you know all of the coverage,” Scott said. “At that point I was just looking for a job.”

Scott worked at Rhode Island from 1993 to 1995. When that same defensive coordinator at Indiana became the head coach at NIU, Scott got a phone call.

Ron had coached with Novak for a year at Warren Western Reserve High School in Ohio, where both were assistant coaches.

Now Scott had a chance to coach with Novak.

After coaching the secondary from 1996 to 1999, Scott got his chance to be the defensive coordinator in the 2000 season.

Last year, Scott’s defense set school records with 101 tackles for loss, 65 pass deflections and 47 sacks.

The base for this defense was the same one Novak used at Indiana. Scott has changed it only slightly from those days, implementing more blitzes to pressure the quarterback.

It’s this Attack 4-3 defense that has won over his players at NIU.

“I definitely like playing in his scheme,” NIU defensive end Travis Moore said. “We just play fast. He lets us use our size and speed to our advantage.”

NIU linebacker Nick Duffy, who Scott named as one of the best defensive players he has worked with, is sold on his coach.

“There isn’t a guy I know that knows more about defense than him,” Duffy said. “He’s taught me how to be tough and physical. He makes you enjoy the game.”

It’s players like Moore and Duffy that keep Scott in the game. He has a passion for the game and the players. While some coaches recall different wins as proud moments, Scott relates a different kind of success with coaching.

It’s the kind of success that comes from uniting farm boys with big-city kids every year at Huskie Stadium.

It’s the success of watching Williams go from the projects of Chicago to an All-MAC linebacker and more importantly, to walking across the stage at the Convocation Center and receiving a degree from NIU — all while raising a family.

It’s why Scott wants Duffy, a Wheaton native, to go to Chicago’s South Side and eat Thanksgiving dinner with Brian Atkinson.

It’s easy to see where Scott got this personality. His father was the same way.

When Scott names the most important people in his life, he names his wife Missy and his two children, Wolfgang and Elsa.

When asked what Ron would have said to the same question, it takes a moment.

Scott leans forward in his chair in his cramped office perched above Huskie Stadium and stairs at the ground.

“He was proud of his family and proud of Mom,” Scott said. “I guess he would say the same thing.”

It’s those values that have carried over into the secondary, where Scott is the position coach.

This family mentality has produced eight All-MAC performers. All are remembered in Scott’s office with black-and-white pictures.

“The man knows his stuff,” cornerback Randee Drew said. “He works hard. He’s the first one here and the last one to leave. He’s passionate about his job.”

For Scott, it’s hard not to be. When your livelihood depends on wins and losses, you tend to take things seriously.

If he wasn’t in coaching, he would be the same way in another profession.

“If I worked with computers, I’d be emotional about computers,” Scott said.

Eventually, Scott wants to be a head coach. His dream job is to coach at Ohio State. Growing up in Ohio, that’s everyone’s dream. You always are intrigued by what you know, Scott said.

He also has a soft spot in his heart for NIU.

What Scott knows is football. He also knows a thing or two about inner-city living, Indian reservations and raising a family.

Just ask his players

Not bad for a coach’s son from rural Ohio.