Mully: Family Business A Natural For Bates, Bears

By Mike Mulligan-

Jeremy Bates is new to the Bears, but he's totally at home in training camp. The team's new quarterbacks coach can measure his life in yard markers, tackling dummies and two-a-day practices.

"When I was 5 years old at Texas Tech I was a ball boy,'' said Bates, whose father, Jim, spent a lifetime coaching, including two decades in the NFL. "Ever since then I have been going to training camp and never missed one. It's all I know. Football has paid for every meal I've ever had and ever house I've lived in.''

There were a lot of different houses. Bates has lived in 18 different cities in his 35 years, mostly following his father around the country before embarking on his own career. Training camp was special because that's when he most often got to spend time with his dad during the endless NFL seasons of his childhood.

"It takes a certain kind of commitment to be a coach,'' Bates said. "And when you are the son of a coach, you end up being a part of that.''

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