Sports Radio Interviews

La’roi Glover Hangs It Up After 13 Years In NFL

Defensive tackle La’Roi Glover has decided to retire from the National Football League after a successful 13-year stint in the game. Glover was a 6-time Pro Bowler during his time with the Raiders, Saints, Cowboys and Rams. He finished with 320 tackles, 83.5 sacks and garnered All Pro honors four times during his very productive career. Glover joined XX 1090 in San Diego to talk about the decision to retire and to reflect back on his fruitful NFL career.

On the emotions of leaving the game after having participated in football in some form for all his adult life:

“There were mixed emotions all the way through this entire process. I mean it was probably the toughest decision I’ve had to make in a very long time and this is a decision you really don’t want to make. But you know going in to it that you can’t play forever. So it was almost inevitable but at the same time, I was at a situation where it was like a diminishing return for me – I wasn’t getting any younger and my play was obviously depleted so from that standpoint the decision was pretty easy but you never want to leave the game.”

On if he’s excited about the next chapter of his life, whatever that might entail for him:

“Yeah it is exciting, I just have to make sure that I stay busy. I’m still a hyper guy, I like to move around. I can’t stay in one place for too long, so as long as I’m working, being productive, I think I’ll be ok. I’m actually in New Jersey now participating in the NFL broadcasting boot camp so that’s pretty exciting here. And then the week after this I go down to Florida to participate in the Rookie Symposium so I’m trying to stay as busy as possible.”

On the highpoint of his long career:

“I think the obvious one would be the 2000 season, being able to play on a team that went to the playoffs then individually to collect 17 sacks from the defensive tackle position. But I think for me, it was my ability to just play in every game. I had a streak going of about 193 straight games which is equivalent to about 12 years of straight ball, and never missed a game due to injury. So that’s something I take a lot of pride in because initially, I was always considered a guy who was too small and there were questions about whether I could handle that type of pounding in the NFL – I think I proved those guys wrong.”

On the one coach who had the most profound effect on his life and career:

“I would have to say Bill Parcells. I learned so much from him not only about the game of football but just off the field as well. He was a guy that if you did your job right, you got a pat on the butt; if you did it wrong, you got a kick in the butt. And that type of tough love is what you need sometimes get a team and to build that team chemistry and to win football games.”

Listen here to Glover on XX 1090 in San Diego

Tags: Bill Parcells, Dallas Cowboys, La'Roi Glover retires, Laroi Glover, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams, XX 1090