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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED OLUME 26, ISSUE 5 38 ship" between its coaches and players than the true player-coach relationship in college, he has taken the same tact at both levels. Malone got into coaching because he wanted to make a difference — like he'd experienced in his own life playing for Detroit Catholic Central's Tom Mach and Holy Cross' Rick Carter. Malone even considered coaching basketball, not just because he loved the Xs and Os and coaching strategies but because he thought a basketball coach could have more influence on players because there were fewer of them. He's done just fine reaching a bigger scope of guys in football, though. At Purdue, Malone quickly has gained respect over his 15 months on the job by the way he's handled play- ers, first as tight ends coach and now in the broader role as coordinator, which has put him in the sphere of more players. That includes sophomore starting quarterback David Blough, who's been impacted even by seemingly small gestures by the veteran coach. In mid-April, Blough was spending one of his off days from class at Mollenkopf and popped into Malone's office. He noticed the row of playbooks on Malone's top shelf and asked to peek at one from the Saints matchup with the Cowboys — Blough's a na- tive Texan — from 2014. Blough, partially, wanted to be able to review the Saints' Drew Brees-led offense to see its similarities with Malone's new system for the Boilermakers. But with Brees coming to town later that week for a groundbreaking ceremony for the new football facility, Blough, honestly, wanted to be able to have some conversation points prepared for his first in-person meeting with the future Hall of Famer. Malone obliged, allowing Blough to look at the scouting report, and then went a step further. "Do you like that?" Malone asked. When Blough responded in the affirmative, Malone told him just to keep it. "He didn't even think twice," Blough said, shaking his head. "A tool for me to get better but a gift from him that means something probably a lot more to me than he even thinks about." It's in bigger moments, too, that Malone has im- pressed the young QB. Like when he urges Blough to step out his comfort zone — in more than football. Malone has encouraged Blough to keep taking mission trips to South Africa. Blough will make his fourth visit to an orphanage there in May. And Blough knows it's not just because that may seem the right thing to say — he's seen how Malone's substance is about more than calling plays, how there's more depth of insight than football knowl- edge. "It's in the man he is. You can see it just in the way he treats people and the way he cares for his guys — he's about creating men," Blough said. "Yes, the winning is great, but he sees where he can make a dif- ference. You see he's part of the cancer walk (before the spring game), and he genuinely cares about the well-being of others. It's nice to be around. It's always positive and uplifting." But that's not just a persona Malone assumes for trying to build up players. He's impacted coaches he's worked with, as well. Current Saints offensive coordinator Pete Car- michael joined the franchise only weeks apart from Malone in 2006 — then Carmichael was the team's QB coach — and they struck up a fast friendship. Carmichael admired Malone's devotion to his family, oftentimes seeing Malone's sons around the Saints complex or at the team hotel nights before games. Malone and his wife Ann also were quick to invite Carmichael and his family over for dinner. Their con- versations during the week may have been centered on football — they were together daily preparing each week's game plan — but they didn't stay there. "That's what probably made us be as close as we were to each other: Our faith and families were an important part of our lives. We didn't let the busi- ness side of it affect that part of it," Carmichael said. "He really enjoys getting to know people, and I think people see that he cares about them more than just football. I think that's a strength of his. People grav- itate toward him because they know deep down he