TOTOWA - The master multitasker is at it again on this typically hectic afternoon in his office off of Route 80. Mark Lepselter is furiously fielding inquiries on his office phone, both cell phones and his hand-held device, the one he uses to communicate constantly with Tiki Barber, Ronde Barber and a couple others who dwell within his entertaining inner circle. "He doesn't stop moving, he doesn't stop working, he doesn't stop thinking," said Amy Lepselter, Mark's wife of 15 years. "He doesn't know how to decompress. Sometimes I have to stop him from working." Surrounded by boxes of memorabilia for the Giants' star tailback to sign, the Barbers' business manager is sitting in his chair, talking television, radio and speaking gigs for Tiki Barber, book deals for Tiki and Ronde, and eventually, this weekend's NFL Draft. The second one conversation ends, another begins. In the back of his mind, he is thinking about squeezing in a late-afternoon workout and keeping things in the proper perspective, making sure he has his three kids' schedule of extracurricular activities in order.
All the while, he addresses a reporter's questions with a refreshing frankness that has made him an abnormal NFL agent, one who can't help but tell it like it is. "I've had guys fire me," Lepselter, 38, said, "and it was because I told them the truth, that they weren't good enough to play in the NFL. And I'm fine with that."
The longtime Wayne resident is fine with that because, at this point, he couldn't care less. Five years ago, the NFL Draft and its aftermath would've consumed him. Back then, Lepselter appeared driven to become a likeable alternative to Drew Rosenhaus, a straight-shooting power broker who would woo first-round draft choices. The University of Maryland dropout was working hard toward becoming an acclaimed agent by working mostly with low-profile clients who would either be drafted late or take the difficult free-agent route to NFL roster spots.
Ten new clients per draft was normal for Lepselter then, when he didn't so much mind the cutthroat world of representing players. Three months ago, though, Tiki Barber enabled Lepselter to realize that the juice just wasn't worth the squeeze. Lepselter was stewing over a Syracuse defensive lineman that was ultimately using him during the recruitment process. Tiki Barber, whose off-the-field endeavors have made him one of the most recognizable football players in the history of the world's largest media market, couldn't comprehend Lepselter's dilemma. Why would the mastermind of Barber's booming non-NFL career worry about making three-percent commissions off mostly small contracts when they were making so much money together?
"It was a headache," Barber said. "I've watched him do on-field representation of kids for several years. He has made zero. And that's how most on-the-field contractual agents are. So I said, 'Lep, why do you do it? You don't need to do it anymore. Because where my career is going, it'll take care of both of us.' I think he had been thinking of it for a while, but that was kind of the catalyst that turned the switch."
Tiki Inc. is big business Lepselter represents 10 players currently contracted by NFL teams, most notably Redskins receiver David Patten and Broncos fullback Kyle Johnson. Lepselter is indebted to Patten, the first player that sought Lepselter's services to negotiate his NFL contract. Patten, a former Giant, signed a five-year, $13 million deal with Washington two years ago. But Lepselter, a Paramus High School graduate, agreed to work with just three players that are eligible for the second half of today's draft --- Central Florida defensive end Paul Carrington, Rutgers guard John Glass and Syracuse cornerback Steve Gregory. Next year, his MJ Sports Management company might not take on a single new NFL client for on-the-field representation. "In the past, this weekend has been one where you have agida and a little bit of anxiety," said Lepselter, whose Maxximum Marketing Inc. represents several NFL players-turned-broadcasters. "I'm a lot more loosey goosey this year. A lot of agents try to make more of this weekend than it really is.
The media certainly does. We're not fixing the problems in Iraq. There are far bigger issues in this country than the NFL Draft. And I kind of feel liberated in a lot of ways, because I was, in a crazy way, at the beck and call of these kids and their parents. There were a lot of people you had to stroke and take care of and I'm not going to miss it."
He can afford, of course, to not miss it. Lepselter believes that Tiki Barber can earn $5 million per year when he is done playing football, or more than one of the league's elite tailbacks will earn playing for the Giants this season. About 20 percent of whatever Barber earns off the field will go to him, leaving Lepselter looking like a visionary for beginning Barber's life after football only two years into his NFL career. That's when an executive working for the marketing arm of the company that handles Barber's NFL contracts told Lepselter he wasn't going to fight with him "over a Tiki Barber."
"I laughed when he said that," Lepselter recalled. "I'm still laughing." Barber and Lepselter laugh, too, when they call Lepselter's huge house in Wayne "the house that Tiki built." But Barber wasn't laughing when he began believing he was playing his way out of the league in 1998 and 1999. By then, Lepselter had landed him some personal appearances, two-hour trips to supermarkets that netted Barber about a thousand dollars, $1,500 at the most. Lepselter figured, however, that Barber's intelligence, genuine nature and wide smile would transcend taking handoffs from Kerry Collins.
"Did I envision what I would be?," Barber asked. "Absolutely not. But he did, and that's all that matters. I give Mark so much credit because he had this vision in 1998. Believe it or not, it played out to exactly how we wanted it to be. We've positioned ourselves, and I'm talking outside of the NFL, to do whatever I want in a year, two years or whenever I decide to retire."
The family business Barber is still contracted by the first company he endorsed in 1998, the lasik eye surgery center founded by the late Vadim Filatov, who maintained an office in Clifton. He doesn't do ShopRite anymore, though. He is involved in numerous charitable causes, but Barber doesn't leave the house for corporate speaking engagements unless he is paid in the mid-five figures.
Barber spent last week co-hosting FOX's morning show, "Good Day New York." He and Ronde just signed a deal to co-host an NFL show on Sirius satellite radio. Lepselter negotiated another deal with publishing giant Simon & Schuster, for which the children's book writers will co-author two novels, their fourth and fifth books with the company.
Last week, the Barber brothers and their wives visited the Houston home of George and Barbara Bush, with whom they've worked on a literacy campaign. On Monday, Lepselter, his wife, Tiki Barber and his wife, Ginny, will have lunch with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The Barbers and Lepselters are spending this weekend in Washington, awaiting the meeting and enjoying the nation's capital. Ronde Barber babysat for the Lepselters Saturday night, spending the day and night with two of the Lepselters' three children, 13-year-old Maxx and 10-year-old Jack. "Mark's become a lot more than just our manager and our off-the-field guy," said Ronde Barber, a Pro Bowl cornerback for Tampa Bay. "He's the kind of guy you want to have your back. We're really close family friends now." They're so close that when Mark and Amy renewed their vows on a beach in Hawaii a couple days before the Pro Bowl last year, Tiki Barber played rabbi at the unofficial ceremony. Tiki Barber believes they've developed this unusually close player-agent relationship over the last eight years because of Lepselter's abilites to shoot straight, yet establish relationships at every turn. When they're together, the strapping Lepselter is often mistaken for Tiki Barber's bodyguard, and at least figuratively, he is. In fact, Lepselter serves as Barber's biggest defender of everything he
does on and off the field.
"It's hard to find someone you can trust in life, especially in this business," Barber said. "And I consider myself fortunate because I have someone I can trust. If my life is on the line, I'm calling Lep, and I know he'll figure it out."
Reach Keith Idec at (973) 569-7073 or idec@northjersey.com
