Long live the history buff, who’s been reading a John Adams biography lately.

“I know how much abuse he took when he was over in France and England,” Stewart says. “His own country just ripped him for 10 solid years. His own friends turned on him. But the deal is, he stayed the course. He was chastised and abused, but they all came back around.

“It’s pretty interesting.”

So was that. I hadn’t heard or been a party to a quote like that from Stewart on the subject since the wheels started turning in Deember. Time has passed, though, and maybe time has introduced new and useful elements.

Or maybe it’s because that was part of Stewart’s visit with ESPN.com’s Brian Bennett last week, which included some face-to-face time with the two, a note like that and a gem like this.

But Stewart isn’t sure he’s done with football yet.

“I’m only going to be 59 this year,” he said. “I was born to coach. I was born to lead.”