Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Chidi Ahanotu says a custody battle for his two sons sidetracked him last season, leading to his release.
By ROGER MILLS
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 24, 2001
TAMPA -- A week before the Bucs open training camp, former defensive end Chidi Ahanotu sits in the office of his South Tampa restaurant satisfied with his lot in life, yet wishing for a new direction.
He still wants to play football, but a bitter custody battle over his two sons seriously limits his options and might force him to retire.
A starter once deemed a "franchise player" by the Bucs is now without a franchise.
"It's hard for me to talk about this because I have as much pride as the other guy," said Ahanotu, who signed a six-year, $30-million deal in 1999 that included a $6.5-million signing bonus. "I had to deal with some personal issues that made last year very, very difficult for me. But, I take full responsibility for how things turned out."
Last season, his eighth with the Bucs, Ahanotu, 30, said he struggled to deal with a long-distance custody battle with Joann Boksa, the mother of his sons.
Boksa and the boys, Ijechi, 4, and Mayan, 11/2, live in Ahanotu's luxury home in Pembroke Pines, which he hopes to eventually call home. He flew there after practice every Monday afternoon last season to see his sons and returned every Wednesday morning for practice.
"It was in the best interests of my kids and I was missing them," Ahanotu said, "but it was wearing me down. As the season went on, (the traveling) was mentally and physically draining me. Basically, I was a single father taking care of two little boys and their mother. There was just a lot of stress."
As a result, he said, his pass-rushing slipped. While still competent against the run, Ahanotu readily admits he was not getting to the quarterback as he did in the past, and he knew the team noticed.
Prefering to keep the custody issue private, Ahanotu confided only in defensive line coach Rob Marinelli.
"When a player has a one-on-one discussion with me on something that personal, I would rather not elaborate on it," said Marinelli, who was Ahanotu's position coach at California. "But I would say that his effort and his preparation were excellent as always and he was still very competent against the run. However, he did fall off when it came to rushing the passer."
Ahanotu, who finished the regular season with 631/2 tackles and 31/2 sacks, makes no excuses for the 2000 season.
"I was a professional, and as a professional it was my job to not let those things affect my play on the field," he said. "I know it affected my play. By the middle of the season, I was exhausted. My play was still on against the run, but when you're a defensive end, what you get measured by is the pass rush and I wasn't putting up the numbers."
There was another problem.
Ahanotu said his relationship with defensive tackle Warren Sapp was always poor and eventually deteriorated into a locker room fight the Thursday before the final game of the season at Green Bay.
"It got progressively worse and finally got to a point where it came to blows," Ahanotu said. "When you have two guys who are supposed to be the defensive leaders out there and they can't get along, you have a problem. As a team you have to look at that and say, "We can't have that going on.' "
Marinelli said the situation wasn't cause for concern.
"I don't believe in those personality things getting in the way," he said. "Once on the field, those guys got down and got to work. They lined up together in 1997, in 1998 and in 1999 and played some great games, didn't they?"
After the Bucs were eliminated by the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs, Ahanotu said he authorized his agent, Eugene Parker, to ask the Bucs for a trade.
The trade never came to pass and on April 20, one day before the draft, the Bucs, having signed free agent defensive end Simeon Rice and quarterback Brad Johnson, released Ahanotu to clear salary cap room.
Months later, Ahanotu has not signed with another team. He has had discussions, paid visits and taken physicals for the Dolphins, Panthers, Bengals and Jets, but no negotiations have started in earnest.
The indecision is in part, he said, because he no longer wants to be miles from the boys.
"They are the most important things to me right now and I don't plan on being away from them," he said. "We have lives that go beyond just football."
Ahanotu said he anticipates a final custody ruling from the Hillsborough County Family Court around Oct. 8. If he gets custody and can work out a parenting schedule where the boys can spend the bulk of the season with him, he will try to catch on with a team next season.
If Boksa gets full custody, he will either play for a Florida team or retire.
"I'm the supporter of my family and either they come with me or I stay in Florida," he said. "There is no way I'm going to be apart from them like that again. I don't need the payday that much."