Vince Amey brought an ASU keychain and binder to his Arizona interview.
Arizona defensive line coach Vince Amey is one of a handful of Wildcats with Bay Area ties. Amey also entered the news cycle recently in a roundabout way. All of which makes him one of the most interesting characters in Wednesday’s Foster Farms Bowl.
Amey was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Union City, a town of about 72,000 located 20 miles south of Oakland. Amey’s favorite teams were the A’s, Warriors and Raiders, who selected the former defensive lineman in the seventh round of the 1998 draft. His NFL career lasted one season.
“It was definitely a blessing, an honor,” Amey said of being drafted by his hometown team. “But sometimes I think back on it and wish I was drafted by somebody else just to see how it would have panned out.”
Amey believes he might have been more focused had he not been in Oakland. “Family, friends — everybody wants your attention,” he said. Just 23 at the time, Amey didn’t handle it as well as he could have.
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So began a football odyssey that saw Amey play professionally in Europe and in the Arena League. He eventually became an Arena League and high school coach, and the former helped him land a 2018 recruit.
Amey spent a season as the defensive coordinator for the Stockton Lightning. Former Lightning quarterback Jimmy Collins is now the head coach at City College of San Francisco. Amey figured out the relationship while speaking to Collins about CCSF defensive tackle PJ Johnson, who signed with Arizona last week and is set to enroll in January.
“It’s just those connections,” said Amey, whose recruiting responsibilities include the Bay Area. “Even when I’m out recruiting, it just feels good to be back home – the ocean breeze, the trees, the culture. I miss it.”
Amey also recruits the Phoenix area, where his ties run even deeper. Before playing several years for the AFL’s Arizona Rattlers and coaching at multiple Phoenix-area high schools, Amey attended Arizona State.
The 42-year-old is about to complete his sixth season as a member of the Arizona staff. He’s a Wildcat all the way now. But he used to be a Sun Devil. So if anyone can relate to the move Antonio Pierce just made, it’s Amey.
Pierce earned letters at Arizona in 1999 and 2000. He played nine seasons in the NFL. Last week he joined Herm Edwards’ staff as ASU’s linebackers coach.
Some UA fans viewed Pierce’s decision as an act akin to treason. Amey remembered the reaction when he first got hired by Arizona in 2012. A friend posted the news on Facebook. “I don’t care how much money you guys make,” one comment read. “I could never work for the enemy.”
“These people are crazy,” Amey said this week. “I love what I do. I love being able to influence kids. I’ve got to feed my family.”
Amey and wife Kelley have three boys: Myles, 13, and twins Dallas and Jackson, 7. All were able to accompany him to San Francisco.
Kelley went to high school with Pierce, so Amey has gotten to know him. He texted Pierce after he got the job. The main message: Be ready for the pushback.
“He loves what he does,” Amey said of Pierce, who spent the past four seasons as the coach at Southern California powerhouse Long Beach Poly.
“He’s a football coach. It doesn’t matter what team.”
