Cabrillo grad wins second Super Bowl with Giants

Posted: Feb 5, 2012 8:24 PM by Bill Halter
Updated: Feb 5, 2012 11:08 PM

Lompoc's Sullivan wins 2nd Super Bowl with Giants

Cabrillo High School graduate Mike Sullivan won his second Super Bowl ring on Sunday. Sullivan was the New York Giants wide receivers coach in 2008 when the Giants won a championship and is the quarterbacks coach on the current team. The Giants beat the Patriots 21-17 for the Super Bowl 46 title and Sullivan's number one responsibility, quarterback Eli Manning, was named the Most Valuable Player.

Sullivan was a standout as a football player at Cabrillo in the mid 1980's, he helped the Conquistadores to a 10-2 season and Los Padres League championship in 1984. Sullivan went on to play football at West Point where he eventually became an Army Ranger.

Sullivan was a wide receiver, defensive back and kicker at Cabrillo. His coach for all three of those positions was Jarrett Tennant. Tennant describes Sullivan as, "very intense, a smart kid. Basically he was a coaches dream."

In an interview with the Santa Barbara Press in 2008, Sullivan credited Tennant with helping shape him as a mentor. Sullivan said about his former coach. "I try to pattern myself after him, his passion, his enthusiasm."
Reading that was a great moment for Tennant who has so much respect for Sullivan.
"Quite frankly it made the hair stand up on my back. He used to tell me he used my mannerisms."

Living on the other side of the country and working long hours, it's been a while since Sullivan has made it back to the Central Coast.
"He does 70 hours a week during the regular season. He called me one night just before the Super Bowl in 2008 and It was 10 o'clock here so it was one o'clock in New York, he was still there. Unbelievable hours" says Tennant.

Those hours appear to have payed off for Sullivan, the quarterbacks coach has helped Manning to his best season. Sullivan has established a reputation for himself in coaching circles as one of the most prepared people in the business and his star is rising. Multiple media reports suggest Sullivan might be a candidate for the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator position.