Contained in the 'Stunning Thoughts' of Colts assistant Diego Ortiz

You may be taught all you must about Diego Ortiz from how he launched himself as a brand new Texas Tech graduate scholar in 2015:

“Howdy, my identify is Diego. I used to be born and raised in Mexico. I have been in Texas for 2 weeks now, and I wish to be a soccer coach.”

9 years and three grasp’s levels later, Ortiz is an everyday on the Indianapolis Colts‘ offensive coordinator’s sales space on fall Sunday afternoons helping with high quality management, having distinguished himself on this planet of American soccer on his option to changing into what’s believed to be the primary coach recognized to have been born and raised in Mexico on an NFL employees.

“Everybody discovered it a bit curious, as a result of that is how I might introduce myself in the course of the first few days of sophistication,” Ortiz informed ESPN Deportes, who profiled the Colts’ 34-year-old Tony Dungy Range Teaching Fellow for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Ortiz’s journey towards his purpose is paved with most of the similar virtues present in different coaches hungry for a shot: dedication, ardour, a flair for studying and a willingness to leap on alternatives. Those that mentored the Mexico Metropolis native say that what has made him stand out are an encyclopedic data of the sport and a persistent work ethic that drove Ortiz to grab a mile when given an inch, leaving a long-lasting impression alongside the way in which.

“We’d stroll into his workplace, and he’d have a thousand performs, like ‘A Stunning Thoughts’ written everywhere in the whiteboard,” mentioned Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who as Texas Tech’s head coach gave Ortiz his first alternative in 2016. “He has a real ardour for it. You could possibly ask him about any play, any recreation, any rating, like he’s extra locked in on soccer of in all probability anyone I’ve ever been round.”

Soccer’s world recognition and initiatives have however translated into restricted pathways for worldwide gamers and coaches. Ortiz, a former faculty soccer quarterback who additionally hung out as a youth coach in Mexico, was acutely conscious that he was getting into a world through which he’d should make a reputation for himself another time in a rustic the place his sport is king. However those that have witnessed his ascension from Mexico Metropolis to Indianapolis consider he has arrived.

Drawing it up

Highschool soccer packages are uncommon in Mexico, however youth golf equipment have been round for many years. Rising up in Mexico Metropolis, Ortiz performed quarterback for Membership Gamos at each degree earlier than becoming a member of Pumas Acatlán, which represents the Nationwide Autonomous College of Mexico’s satellite tv for pc campus in Naucalpan. He was QB1 on a staff that competed within the Liga Mayor, Mexico’s most prestigious collegiate circuit.

“I used to be at all times fascinated by the X’s and O’s of soccer and the opposite sports activities I performed as a child,” mentioned Ortiz, who additionally participated in baseball and tennis. “I rapidly realized that is what I favored essentially the most concerning the sport and that I wished to be a coach.”

At Texas Tech, Ortiz’s street towards his purpose started as an unpaid recruitment and operations intern, organizing paperwork and dealing with different inner duties. It was commonplace for senior members of Kingsbury’s teaching employees who arrived earlier than dawn to seek out Ortiz already within the constructing.

“I began to do these little jobs, and it went properly. I might watch video games and scout them, and in my free time, watch movies from prior seasons and begin studying the terminology for performs, ideas and routes,” Ortiz mentioned. “I wished to be prepared for when a possibility introduced itself.”

Ortiz would usually mirror Kingsbury’s morning routine and arrive on the staff’s amenities by 4 a.m. since he had not but been granted a keycard, mentioned Diego’s father, Guillermo Ortiz. If he could not sync his arrival with Kingsbury’s, he would wait exterior and courageous the weather till a licensed employees member may let him in.

In the meantime, the top coach started to take discover.

“His work ethic was wonderful,” Kingsbury mentioned. “He was one of many first few within the constructing, one of many final to depart. and he was doing it free of charge at that time as a scholar assistant. So you might inform that he was eaten up by it and had an actual thirst for data and love for the sport.”

Upon finishing the primary of his three grasp’s levels from Tech in 2018, Ortiz was able to dedicate himself totally to soccer. He earned a promotion after one season to high quality management assistant, which entails assembling scouting studies, transcribing recreation plans for coaches and scribbling out follow schedules all the way down to the final element. It is an ideal function for potential coaches seeking to immerse themselves in a recreation plan’s finer factors. Present NFL head coaches Mike McCarthy, Sean McVay, Robert Saleh and Kyle Shanahan all dealt with high quality management duties as they labored their method as much as the highest of the ladder.

Texas ties that bind

Ortiz and Kingsbury nonetheless communicate, their textual content chain plagued by recollections of the pupil’s whiteboard left for the grasp to guage. Ortiz stayed on at Tech after Kingsbury left for the NFL in 2018 and labored beneath a number of teaching staffs, first beneath Matt Wells and later Joey McGuire.

“He biked in all places. So if you happen to have been coming in early, you’ll be able to guess that you will see Diego on his bike driving in,” McGuire mentioned. “You form of anticipated it on daily basis. We’re early. I do know Kingsbury is an early man. And so, you’ll be able to at all times guess you noticed Diego biking in.”

There’s maybe no higher place to showcase soccer’s dominance than in Texas, the place even highschool groups get pleasure from state-of-the-art stadiums and infrastructure. That Ortiz gained sufficient credibility to work in one of many state’s Energy 5 soccer packages whereas coming from a rustic the place one other kind of soccer is the nationwide pastime speaks to his thirst for the sport.

As a teenager, Ortiz dreamed of changing into the subsequent Drew Brees, a Texas native who starred at Westlake Excessive College close to Austin earlier than taking part in faculty ball at Purdue and finally changing into one of many NFL’s most prolific passers with the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints. These goals gave option to a ardour usually cited as a motive Ortiz was in a position to mix into Texas’ soccer tradition and make his eventual bounce to the NFL.

“No doubt, Texas highschool coaches and guys that love this recreation respect and are open to guys which have an outstanding work ethic and guys which might be passionate concerning the recreation,” McGuire mentioned. “And that is who Diego is. He’s extraordinarily obsessed with soccer. He’s a learner.”

Constructing a ‘library of data’

Placing collectively an NFL playbook requires an enormous quantity of data. Coaches and gamers are obligated to be conversant in each element. Ortiz is the kind to fortunately volunteer to devour each web page.

“I might are available in and also you see that he was pulling up movie of NFL groups, and he would have a pleasant little chart on his wall of groups he wished to guage. So initially I assumed it is a man who simply desires to be taught as a lot soccer as potential,” mentioned Colts operating backs coach DeAndre Smith, one among Ortiz’s a number of Texas Tech connections. “He was simply constructing his library of data.”

Smith and Ortiz have been collectively at Texas Tech from 2019 to 2021. Their present boss, Colts head coach Shane Steichen, is thought for his artistic use of the run recreation whereas serving as offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Chargers. His schemes usually embrace run-pass choices that till just lately have been extra widespread within the faculty recreation.

“In the event you can know [Diego] like we did, he is been phenomenal. Simply good, actually good,” Steichen mentioned. “He’ll do no matter you ask. There’s quite a lot of the operation stuff behind the scenes, breaking down tape scripts, all these forms of issues. However actually detailed.”

Final season, the Colts gave Ortiz his first style of the NFL after they invited him to coaching camp as a part of the Invoice Walsh Teaching Range Fellowship, a program targeted on giving younger minority coaches the chance to achieve expertise.

Smith was key to serving to him transition to the professionals. In his first season as a part of the Colts’ employees, he keyed Ortiz in on this system and allowed him to look at 17 days of staff practices throughout camp.

In his present function, Ortiz has immersed himself in absorbing the breadth of the Colts’ playbook.

“There is not any doubt that [Diego] may go in and set up Kingsbury’s offense,” McGuire mentioned. “And, you recognize, I might assume name it and execute it at a really excessive degree. He’s a man that has studied it and has gone all-in. And I believe that is how he lives his life. You understand, he is a lifelong learner.”

Alternative knocks

The Colts’ personal Tony Dungy Range Teaching Fellowship, named after their Corridor of Fame coach who was the primary African American to win a Tremendous Bowl, additionally goals to supply a assist system for younger minority coaches. Ortiz was introduced as a recipient final April, giving him his most up-to-date alternative within the NFL.

“When the Tony Dungy [Fellowship] got here up and we interviewed him for that, clearly we had expertise with him from the yr earlier than,” Steichen mentioned. “We had him in because the Invoice Walsh [recipient] final yr. And the way in which he labored in Walsh deal was unbelievable. He was at all times attempting to do various things, something he may do to assist.”

A lot of Ortiz’s former colleagues and gamers at Texas Tech have been thrilled for him, together with former Purple Raiders operating again Tahj Brooks, a second-team preseason All-American:

Pleased with my Man 💙 https://t.co/gudK3FMvWn

— Tahj Brooks (@just_tahj) April 22, 2024

Not less than three former Tony Dungy recipients have latched on to the NFL in several capacities. That bodes properly for Ortiz, whose dedication and zeal for soccer have served as the best calling card and have prompted these round him to foretell larger and higher issues.

“Whether or not he will get a shot within the NFL first or has to return to varsity to [coach his] personal room as a place coach, that is the one half to me that is left for him … to get in there and reduce his tooth on teaching on his personal room,” Kingsbury mentioned. “After which he’ll do an incredible job at that.”

ESPN Deportes’ Carlos A. Nava and NFL Nation reporters John Keim and Stephen Holder contributed to this report.