So thought Andrew McGee upon learning he’d been red flagged and cut by the Chicago Bears just days after signing as an undrafted rookie last year.

His playing days were over, and though he’d dealt with and actually conquered that possibility previously, that was in college. He’d later prove himself wrong and return from a broken neck to share the Big 12 lead with five interceptions in 2010, but the bad news the Bears brought effectively ended his playing days.

Just not his coaching days.

McGee, 25, was interviewing for a position with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes earlier this year when Joe DeForest called. DeForest had been the safeties coach at Oklahoma State when McGee was a cornerback and then a volunteer assistant there.

DeForest had just been named the defensive coordinator at WVU and he wanted to see if McGee was interested in beginning work as a graduate assistant so he could begin a coaching career. McGee is now coaching the cornerbacks as the Mountaineers prepare for Saturday’s Pinstripe Bowl against Syracuse.

WVU will soon hire a full-time replacement for recently fired Daron Roberts and McGee will go back to his G.A. duties, but he’ll have a nice line on his resume when the time comes to find a coaching job of his own.

“This opportunity of coaching has blown my mind as far as the platform to impact on a daily basis,” McGee said. “That’s what I feel like my calling is. I do desire to be a coach because I think that’s my purpose. I think that’s my calling, to be a coach. I couldn’t picture me doing anything else at this point.”