Joe Ehrmann

Ehrmann was named to Syracuse University’s All-Century Football Team, and lettered in lacrosse. He received the Arents’ Award, SU’s Most Distinguished Alumni honor for his contributions to society. He was the NFL’s first Ed Block Courage Award Recipient. He has been named “The Most Important Coach in America” by Parade Magazine and the Institute of International Sport chose Joe as one of The Most Influential Sports Educators in America.

In 2004, Marx's book Season of Life was published, featuring the Gilman football team and Joe's transformational coaching. The book became a New York Times best-seller.

After The Door, Ehrmann founded Coach for America in 2003 to inform, inspire and initiate individual, community and societal change through sports and coaching. The goal of CFA was to create a tipping point in the world of sports where coaches, educational institutions and sport organizations support and implement the idea that the physical, social, emotional and moral well-being of players are no longer considered beyond the scope of what sports and coaches can or should accomplish. Through a strategic and intentional focus, Joe developed InSideOut Coaching as part of a multi-systemic prevention and intervention model to assist the healthy development of youth and communities.  

Ehrmann attended Syracuse University, where he was a three-year football letterman in 1969, 1970 and 1972. Primarily a defensive tackle, he was an All-American selection in 1970. He was named to the university's football All-Century Team on October 28, 1999. He was also the recipient of the George Arents Pioneers Medal, the university's highest alumni honor, in 2004 and also lettered in lacrosse.

In 1978, Ehrmann watched his 19-year-old brother Billy lose his five-month battle with cancer. This experience caused Ehrmann to rethink and reorder his priorities in life. Ehrmann spearheaded the construction of a Ronald McDonald House in Baltimore in memory of Billy, becoming a founding board member. In the off-season, Ehrmann attended classes at Dallas Theological Seminary and, following his football career, he attended Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, specializing in urban ministry. He was ordained in 1985.

Joseph Charles Ehrmann (born March 29, 1949) is a former National Football League (NFL) defensive lineman, originally drafted as the 10th pick in the first round of the 1973 NFL Draft out of Syracuse University to the Baltimore Colts. Ehrmann is currently the President of the InSideOut Initiative. Ehrmann played with Baltimore for eight years as a member of the "Sack Pack," and finished his NFL career with the Detroit Lions as part of their vaunted Silver Rush defensive line in the early 1980s. He was an NFL defensive tackle from 1973 through 1982. He then played in the USFL for the Chicago Blitz, Arizona Wranglers and Orlando Renegades.