Michael Strahan’s time in the spotlight might easily have ended when he walked away from the NFL in 2008. After all, it’s pretty hard to top a 15-year run with the New York Giants that landed him in seven Pro Bowls and culminated in a Super Bowl upset win over the New England Patriots.
“Your career is over when you’re still very young,” he says. “I was 36 when I retired!” But Strahan knew he had more to achieve.
As it turns out, Constance Schwartz-Morini, a razor-sharp alum of the NFL and talent agency The Firm, saw Strahan’s potential for greatness off the field. She’d tapped him to emcee a golf tournament in the ’90s, and they became lifelong friends. Under her guidance, Strahan revamped his brand and branched into TV, first becoming an analyst on “Fox NFL Sunday” and then landing the coveted hosting gig opposite Kelly Ripa on the syndicated morning show “Live With Kelly and Michael.”
“I call her the boss, because she is the boss,” Strahan says of Schwartz-Morini, adding he’s learned better than to question her sage advice. “She’s more than likely right,” he quips.
In the years since, Strahan has transformed from a defensive end to a powerful multi-hyphenate,
becoming an author, an entrepreneur and one of the most visible faces on TV, hosting “Good Morning America” and “The $100,000 Pyramid” on ABC.
After crafting that white-hot second act, Schwartz-Morini and Strahan set about mimicking that success for others. They’re charting a new course for the modern athlete through SMAC Entertainment, the all-in-one talent management, production and brand incubation company they founded in 2011.
“People would try to pigeonhole and say, ‘You’re only going to do this,’” Schwartz-Morini recalls. “The future is being able to weave all of this together.”
Just a few years ago, many athletes’ only post-retirement option was vying for a commentator role on network TV or a podcast. SMAC aims to open more doors for them.
Take Deion Sanders. Thanks to SMAC, the former pro football and baseball player has added “docuseries star” to his résumé. Fans can follow his new chapter as a college football head coach (first for the Jackson State Tigers and now for the Colorado Buffaloes) in the series “Coach Prime,” which returns for its third season on Prime Video in early 2025.
Deion Sanders in “Coach Prime”
Courtesy of Prime Video
Sanders has also entered into lucrative partnerships with brands like Nike, Blenders and RedCon1 to sell everything from sunglasses to protein powder. “Coach Prime’s cleats were on fire this week,” Schwartz-Morini says. “So many top-level NFL players were wearing them.”
SMAC’s roster of clients, which includes Nikki and Brie Garcia, Stefon Diggs and Tony Gonzalez, has expanded to more than just athletes. Rappers Common and Wiz Khalifa, sports commentator Erin Andrews and model Camille Kostek are among the entertainment figures rounding out the list.
SMAC’s secret sauce, Schwartz-Morini says, is its in-house production resources, which enable clients to fulfill their wide-ranging goals.
“Talent is raising their hands and shouting from the mountaintops, ‘We’re more than just one thing. We want to produce projects,’” says FredAnthony Smith, who joined SMAC two years ago as its unscripted development chief.
Among those productions is the just-released Prime Video series “Evolution of the Black Quarterback,” in which Michael Vick goes on a cross-country journey to explore the connections between Black quarterbacks and American social history — and reflects on the personal road he’s traveled.
Michael Vick and Doug Williams in “Evolution of the Black Quarterback”
Amazon Studios
The SMAC team doesn’t dwell on the success of one series before moving on to the next. From now
until January, they have a new show launching every month, including “Black Comedy in America” on Vice and a “Madden” video game docuseries for Prime Video. “We’re tiny and mighty, and our heads are always down,” Schwartz-Morini says.
“It seems like a short time for most, but it’s been a grind,” Strahan adds. “I just marvel at Con’s tenacity. The boss led the way.”
What’s next in the SMAC pipeline?
“Black Comedy in America”
Vice — Oct. 15
This docuseries, hosted by Tiffany Haddish, Chris Spencer and Ryan Davis, examines the history of African American comedy’s impact on America.
Untitled ‘Madden’ Video Game Doc Series
Prime Video — Fall 2024
The series explores the history of the ‘Madden’ video game, including the origins of Electronic Arts and the efforts to convince John Madden to come onboard.
“Coach Prime” Season 3
Prime Video — Early 2025
University of Colorado Boulder football coach Deion Sanders returns for another outing, this time joined by his son Shedeur and top-ranked prospect Travis Hunter, as the Buffaloes move to the Big 12.