DETROIT — Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis is making sure his former high school coach sees his return home for the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.

Former Detroit Mackenzie High School football coach Bob Dozier says he's stayed in touch with his ex-player, a 1990 Mackenzie graduate who is fifth on the NFL's career rushing list after 13 seasons.

"I've been talking to Jerome every Tuesday," Dozier, who lives in El Paso, Texas, told the Detroit Free Press for a story Monday. "He told me the same thing Gilbert (Brown) told me: `Coach, I got a ticket for you.'"

Brown is a year older that Bettis and played in the Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 1997 and 1998.

Bettis, known as The Bus, is the third of Dozier's former players to participate in the Super Bowl. Pepper Johnson made the game with the New York Giants in 1987 and 1991.

"I'm just so happy for Jerome, and I'm happy for Mackenzie," Dozier said. "I feel it won't end when he parks the bus in Detroit. I think he's going to win it."