When he played for the Met Union Select Side. I still remember him making a left footed drop goal (playing flyhalf), which started a big rally for us. NY won, after we trailed by something like 20 points, against Eastern Penn. It was a very memorable game for a few reasons, not the least of which was our rally.
Mike is a great guy, and always has been. I had a nice chat with him back in June, 2010 when he was on the Eagles coaching staff at a tournament at Red Bull Stadium outside of Newark, NJ. I hadn’t seen him in quite a few years and took a couple of pictures.
Mike has taught English at Xavier HS in Manhattan, I think since he graduated from college.
This is bigger then Tebow …
Here’s the NY Times story about Mike.
Tolkin says his philosophy of teaching can be applied to the classroom and the field: “Students remember 10 percent of what you say, 50 percent of what they see and 90 percent of what they do.”
Along with his duties at Xavier, Tolkin was the defensive coach for the American national team at the last World Cup. The United States placed fourth in its group of five there, but many were impressed with the team’s defense, which gave up only 22 points to Ireland and 27 to Italy.
Nigel Melville, the chief executive of USA Rugby, said he was “very pleased” with the defensive effort at the World Cup. Several of Tolkin’s colleagues on the United States staff applied for the job, he said, but “Mike stood out.”
Previous coaches were European, most recently Eddie O’Sullivan, an Irishman. But Melville said he “always wanted to hire an American coach when one became available.”
Great. I love it. A case of a nice guy finishing first.
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