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In his case, football separated him from the hard life of coal-mining and steel mill work that his father, Francesco, knew as an Italian immigrant. In his siblings' cases, advanced education offered that difference.

Only in America can the son of an Italian immigrant who spoke little English go on to be at the center of this country's new national pastime.

Fazio's journey has put him on the sidelines with such teams as the New York Jets and, most recently, the Minnesota Vikings -- as defensive coordinator -- before he joined the Washington Redskins this winter as linebackers coach.

Only in America could the children of an immigrant with little higher education make such impressive contributions.

Fazio's older brother fought in the Battle of the Bulge. His younger brother earned a Ph.D before a long teaching career at Indiana State. His sister earned her master's as a prelude to a career as a guidance counselor.

"My dad was in this country eight years before he could attain U.S. citizenship and my mother could come over here," Fazio recalled to SportsLine. "When he left Italy, my little brother was 2. My brother was 10 by the time my father saw him again."

Serafino Dante Fazio is 60 now. The name "Foge" took hold because, as a toddler, that was the way Fazio mispronounced the word "fudge."

He is long removed from a childhood in western Pennsylvania, when he and Mike Ditka were football teammates at the University of Pittsburgh 40 years ago.

His job with the Redskins places him front-and-center before a 1990s American success story, a 35-year-old billionaire owner named Daniel Snyder.

Snyder and personnel director Vinny Cerato have further energized the Redskins defense by signing free agents Mark Carrier (safety) and Bruce Smith (defensive end) and re-signing defensive end Marco Coleman.

As the Vikings' defensive coordinator, Fazio at times felt left as if he had been left with the scraps. The Minnesota organization emphasized offense. A year ago, injuries and other circumstances forced the Vikings to coax Chris Doleman and Jerry Ball out of retirement.

Conversely, Fazio encounters a relative set of riches in Washington. A team with enough cap room to make major free-agent additions to the defense. A team with enough draft ammunition to work a deal last weekend that leaves them with the No. 2 and No. 3 picks overall in the upcoming NFL Draft.

He also gets to work with newly named defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes, a former NFC Central rival.

Coming to Washington is something of a reunion with old friends for Fazio, who signed a two-year deal.

Coach Norv Turner's brother Ron -- now the Illinois head coach -- was on Fazio's staff when Fazio was head coach at Pitt in the early 1980s. Fazio also is extremely close to Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt, whose affection for Fazio -- they share a Pittsburgh heritage -- carried significant weight with Turner.

Fazio left a loftier position in Minnesota for the chance to be closer to Pittsburgh and his ailing mother, whose kidney condition requires dialysis.

Those home roots pull at Fazio. They always will.

He will never forget learning about what his family endured in making the move from Italy to the United States, initially through New York. He won't forget the years his father spent on his own, or his father's entry through Ellis Island before word of better pay in the West Virginia coal mines took him south.

One day, one of those mines caved in. Francesco Fazio broke his leg. That was it for coal mining.

Francesco moved to Coraopolis, Pa., outside Pittsburgh. He worked briefly in a steel mill. Then he took another big risk, scraping together enough money to buy a mom-and-pop grocery store for which he served as the butcher.

The family lived above the store.

"Every opportunity you get, you have to take," Fazio said. "Nothing was free. Everything you get, you have to earn it."

It was a passionate way of going about life. As one of Francesco's sons, Foge could not help but to transfer to his own profession the style of his father, who died in 1976 at age 75.

A career that has taken him from an assistant's job at Harvard in 1968 back to Pitt and on to the NFL has included one consistency: Fazio will scream, rant, curse -- but always out of the sincerest concern for his players.

"Yeah, that's how I am," Fazio said. "Because, you know what -- I've been very fortunate. In high school and in college, the coaches I've played for and been around all showed it's an emotional game.

"(Such coaches) are going to give you a look that can kill. And they're going to scream at you. But the next play's coming, so you can't hold on to that."

Fazio isn't proud of using foul language. But his intensity simply gets the better of him.

Veterans have learned how to take this tendency in stride.

Vikings defensive back Corey Fuller told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "He is a person with a big, caring heart. He's really just an older kid."

Redskins linebacker Shawn Barber will get a chance to learn under Foge Fazio next season.(Allsport)

"We always tell the rookies about Foge, 'Hey, look, he's gonna be on you. But it passes quick.'"

Might that be the experience for a rookie NFL linebacker in 2000 named Lavar Arrington?

It remains to be seen if the Redskins will take Arrington at No. 2, or if the Cleveland Browns might bypass Florida State wideout Peter Warrick and take the Penn State linebacker instead.

Whatever the case, Fazio is ready to mold Redskins linebackers Derek Smith, Shawn Barber and the rest of the returning unit with whatever supplements Washington can shake from the draft.

"I've watched a lot of the Penn State guys," Fazio said, referring to Arrington and defensive end Courtney Brown. "There's never any guarantee, and we only have four picks in the draft. But it's great to have No. 2 and No. 3."

You can picture Fazio beaming as he utters those words. It's refreshing to work from a position of strength, a position of wealth.

Fazio knows firsthand about being among the haves and the have-nots. He knows firsthand about trust and relationships.

It all goes back to Francesco Fazio and the hard life of an immigrant.

"Owning a mom-and-pop grocery store, he trusted a lot of people," Fazio said. "People always came through. I'm not afraid to trust people.

"People who worked in the mill, they couldn't pay their (grocery) bill until they got paid. But they paid up."

Fazio likes to have the same kind of trust in his players. And he hopes to get it from them in return, once they understand why he hollers so much.

"A player has to know you have a tremendous amount of confidence in him. I think they knew I was doing it because I was upset, that I expected better from them," he said.

"They realize if they listen to me, they're going to play well. They're going to make the big bucks."

Only in America.