Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff kept his eyes downfield even when he worked as a groundskeeper

HOUSTON – As near as I can recall, the last time I saw Thomas Dimitroff in person before this week was about 24 years ago in Berea, Ohio.

Mid-20s. Shaggy, shoulder-length hair. Dirty jeans, sweat-soaked T-shirt, muddy boots. If he looked like a guy who had just gotten done pulling tarps, painting fields and cutting grass at Cleveland Browns headquarters, that's because, well, he had done just that as a member of the team's grounds crew.

"That," said Dimitroff Wednesday, "was a long time ago."

Literally and figuratively.

Today, Dimitroff is all cleaned up as the 50-year-old general manager of an Atlanta Falcons team that will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI on Sunday. Back in 1993, no reporter covering the Browns knew his name. Some might have known he was longtime Browns scout Tom Dimitroff's kid.

"I had been in football my whole life, and I was between jobs," Dimitroff said. "I was working just to pull in a few dollars."

Dimitroff played defensive back at Guelph College in Ontario. After graduating in 1990, he went to work in the CFL for $16,000 a year as the Saskatchewan Roughriders' scouting coordinator.

The head coach of the Browns was a young man named Bill Belichick. He controlled everything from the players on the field to the people who took care of the fields.

Belichick also had an eye for work ethic and made sure to offer a hand up the ladder through any means necessary.

Ozzie Newsome, the current Baltimore Ravens general manager, retired in 1991 after 13 seasons as a Hall of Fame tight end. Belichick and owner Art Modell gave him an entry level front office job whose menial tasks included distributing paychecks to the players.

Eric Mangini, who would go on to become head coach of the Jets and Browns, was a public relations intern. He delivered pizzas to the media and pasted newspaper articles on the Browns in a scrapbook for Belichick to read while on the treadmill the next morning.

Scott Pioli, a former NFL general manager and currently Dimitroff's assistant GM, was kicking off his front office career. He drove players to and from the airport after they had been cut or signed.

Today, Dimitroff and Belichick are on opposite sides of Super Bowl LI. For Dimitroff to win Atlanta's first Super Bowl, he needs to deny Belichick from becoming the first head coach to win five Super Bowls.

Back in 1993, though, Belichick recognized that if Dimitroff was willing to work on the grounds crew, he'd have a shot at thriving in the NFL, where long hours and hard work seemingly never end.

"We all want to sensationalize it, but I had been in football," Dimitroff said. "It wasn't like I just came off the street and was pulling a tarp and people allowed me up to watch some video and become a scout."

At that financially challenged time, Pioli and Mangini were among those sharing an apartment in Berea. There are stories about stacks of empty pizza boxes and a daredevil raccoon that made his way inside to check them out.

"I stayed with my parents," Dimitroff said. "I would go over and hang out and drink a beer or two with them. But that's it. They had their own subculture going on over there."

"I know Pioli called all of us 'The Slappies' back then, but I was probably exponentially more slappy than a lot of them," Dimitroff said. "But I had a great time and learned a lot."

Obviously.

Mark Craig is an NFL and Vikings Insider.

E-mail: mcraig@startribune.com