Vandy's Chris Marve teaches, then turns to coaching

Chris Marve was one of the best linebackers in Vanderbilt history, but teaching seventh grade math turned him toward coaching college football.

About three years ago, Marve was trying to keep his students' attention long enough to explain pre-Algebra at LEAD Academy Middle School. But rather than standing and talking, he divided them into small groups and gave them a problem and a time limit to solve it.

A few minutes later, he brought them back together and put their answers to the test.

By the time Marve figured out he had unknowingly put his 13-year-olds through a Vanderbilt practice routine — first positional groups and then a team period — he knew he wanted to coach.

"It was the same deal," said Marve, now a defensive graduate assistant coach at Vanderbilt. "As a group, they had to solve a problem together in 10 minutes. As a coach, you do (group drills) and watch film and then solve the problem against the offense. Be in the right gap, know your responsibility, execute to the best of your ability. It's very different, but very similar."

Fast forward to the present, and Marve is now "a rising star in the coaching profession," Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason said. Marve even has been sought by former Vanderbilt and current Penn State coach James Franklin for a job opportunity.

"James Franklin talked to him three or four times, and he's had other job opportunities," Mason said. "People are going to try to get Chris out of here."

'It finally clicked'

Marve is one of Vanderbilt's most successful student-athletes in the dual sense of the term. He was a four-time All-SEC selection from 2008-11 and served twice as a team captain.

In the classroom, Marve earned a bachelor's degree with a double major (human organizational development and sociology) and was accepted into both business school and law school after graduating. He instead chose to serve two years in Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that enlists recent college graduates to teach in low-income communities.

"I just loved the idea of impacting those kids and their families in those communities," said Marve, a Memphis native. "But then it finally clicked for me that I wanted to coach. I wanted to impact the youth of America, but the pre-adult age, because that's where I developed the most as a young man when I came to college."

Marve, now 26, taught math at LEAD Academy for two years and also coached basketball. Last spring, he came to Mason with a passionate request for some role in the Commodores football program — where he played under three different head coaches (Bobby Johnson, Robbie Caldwell, Franklin).

"I tried to talk him out of it," Mason said. "When you look at his resume — whether business school or law school — he could've gone a lot of different directions. So you want to make sure that a young guy who is married understands the obstacles you run into in this profession. It's not easy. It's a very competitive job environment."

Marve persuaded Mason to give him a job, but athletics director David Williams initially had similar skepticism.

"David's eyes rolled back a little bit," Mason said. "It wasn't in a condescending way, but he knows Chris can do almost anything. But he wanted to get into coaching."

'A Vanderbilt man'

Marve finished his stint at LEAD Academy on a Friday last May. The following Monday he was in the Vanderbilt football offices as a quality control assistant.

He handled office paperwork, planned meetings, assisted in game film study, talked to families during recruiting visits and all the grunt work that many coaches detest. But Marve, a logistics junkie, loved it.

"I was eager to do anything. Whatever comes, bring it," Marve said. "I love seeing all the behind-the-scenes work come to fruition. It looks like a bunch of guys running around and screaming and hitting each other, but there is so much that goes into a single practice.

"It's beautiful when you see it come together. I love it. I love to work."

Mason loves Marve's example for his players.

"He is a great mentor. He understands what Vanderbilt is about," Mason said. "To have a guy like Chris Marve here is important to me because he is a Vanderbilt man, and he embodies what these kids want to be here.

"He has shown me over the past year that coaching is not a passing fad with him."

'Seat at the table'

Mason, a former Stanford defensive coordinator, named himself the defensive play-caller for the 2015 season and restructured his staff and "I wanted Chris to have a seat at the table."

Although just a graduate assistant, Marve began coaching outside linebackers in spring practice, while associate head coach Kenwick Thompson focused on the inside linebackers.

"These guys really respect Marve because he's a smart young man but he also played at an All-SEC level," Thompson said. "That special experience of playing at Vanderbilt and succeeding academically goes a long way with these guys."

Marve is pursuing his master's in higher education administration at Vanderbilt's Peabody College while starting his coaching career. It will be his third college degree, adding to a pair of undergraduate diplomas, and he said he's using all of them.

"What I finally discovered was that I love building guys in a team setting, I love impacting young people, and I love football," Marve said. "All those things — school, my playing career, teaching — came together to prepare me to become a coach."

Reach Adam Sparks at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @AdamSparks.