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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Class of 2002

Gailey returns to coaching; Teevens takes air show to Stanford
by: Steve Silverman
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They are a pair of the most significant shoes in all of the college football coaching world. When you step in at Florida for Steve Spurrier, there is no hope of warming or going through a learning experience.

Make no mistake about it. The heat will be on from Game One for Ron Zook. The Gators were one of the most consistent and powerful teams in the country under Spurrier. When Spurrier decided he had had enough of college football last January and wanted to take on the challenge of the NFL, that left an opening in Gainesville.

This was not a job that could go to anyone who still had some learning and growing left to do. This had to go to someone who was ready right now. Few people thought of Zook when Spurrier made his decision known. But while Zook had not been a head coach, his experience was vast, thorough and impressive.

Since 1996, Zook had been an assistant coach in the NFL with the Steelers, Chiefs and Saints. In 2000 and ‘01, Zook served as the defensive coordinator with the Saints and reaching that position in the NFL usually indicates a coach is ready to rise to the next level.

Zook has been coaching at the high school, college and professional level since 1976, including five years on the Gators’ staff from 1991-95. He is very familiar with the Gator tradition and was an integral part of one of their most successful teams.

Zook is not the kind of coach who will sit back and watch. While Spurrier was often laid back, Zook is a fiery and aggressive leader who will let players know when they have done something right or when they have made a mistake.

“I think the University of Florida made a great choice with Ron Zook as its head coach,” said Saint CB Fred Weary, who played for Zook in the NFL and at Florida. “He has big goals, big dreams and he’s going to be fine if he continues with his attention to the defense and lets the offense keep rolling like it has in the past. I think he’s a heck of a motivator. He can get the best out of guys.

“The guys at Florida are going to enjoy playing for him. He will be able to get them to play their hardest and put them in situations where they will play well. He has been a success at both the pro and college levels. Because of this, he will be able to let them know what they have to do to be successful at Florida and at the next level.”

Saint WR Willie Jackson also played for Zook at Florida, and he has great insight into what makes Zook tick. Jackson believes his former coach had the Florida coaching job at the top of his list.

“Coach Zook told me how much he wanted the job and I’m happy he got it,” Jackson said. “He will be good for the university. He’s a guy who I think is the opposite of Coach Spurrier. Where Coach Spurrier is much more laid back, Coach Zook is full of intensity. Spurrier is just as intense but it’s more inside of himself. That’s typical, though, as offensive guys are not as boisterous. Coach Zook is a very good choice for Florida and the players.”

Zook brings with him the credibility of having been successful at every level of coaching he has tried. ESPN college football analyst Mike Gottfried was the head coach at Murray State in 1978 when Zook got his first coaching job. He saw an intense fire burning inside Zook and made a note to keep tabs on his progress over the years.

“I’ve known Ron for over 20 years and I’ve closely watched him since the very beginning of his college coaching career, when he was with me at Murray State,” said Gottfried. “He has a strong desire and will to win, and to do things the right way. He is very passionate about coaching and helping young people. He has built outstanding relationships with players wherever he has coached. I feel he is unquestionably one of the very best recruiters in all of college football.

“Ron would rank among the top three coaches of all the assistant coaches I had the privilege of having on my staffs over the years because he is so well rounded and brings so much to the table in terms of what it takes to be a successful coach. I believe he ranks with people like Frank Beamer, Bob Stoops, Larry Coker and Ralph Friedgen as long-time assistants who deserved a chance to be a head coach, and I think Ron will be just as successful as those coaches have proven to be.”

Mark Mangino joins Zook as a long-time assistant who has finally made the jump to a head-coaching spot. After earning a reputation as one of the most creative offensive minds in the business during his tenures at Oklahoma and Kansas State, Mangino will try to breathe new life and excitement into a Kansas program that has struggled to win consistently over the years.

Mangino is known for his ability to create solid offensive schemes that are very difficult for opposing defensive coordinators to figure out how to stop. Mangino said that coaching his own program has always been one of his goals.

“I have always wanted to become a head coach and I think most coaches feel the same way,” Mangino said. “But it’s not about getting the title. It’s about doing things the right way and being ready to take over a program.”

Mangino should be ready. He has had a huge impact at both Kansas State and Oklahoma on both the coaching and recruiting end. Mangino has the ability to draw up an offensive play that gives his quarterback several options and is also a sensational recruiter who is very comfortable convincing a young man to join his program.

The hallmark of Mangino’s offensive coaching has been consistency. During his tenure with the Sooners, the Oklahoma offense scored 31 or more points in 26 of 37 games and produced 40 or more points 14 times. The Sooners have averaged 34.1 points a game over the last three seasons.

“We’re very proud of Mark and the job he has done here for the last three years, especially in the last two when we were 23-2 with a national championship and conference title in one season and now a 10-2 record and a New Year’s Day bowl the next,” said OU head coach Bob Stoops. “He’s been very instrumental in our success. Our staff is happy for him and we believe he’ll do an excellent job at Kansas.”

Prior to coaching at Kansas State in 1991, Mangino worked one season as head football coach at Ellwood City (Pa.) High School. He spent three seasons (1987-89) as offensive coordinator at Geneva (Pa.) College, where he helped that team to a 24-9 record. The 1987 Geneva squad reached the NAIA national semifinals. Mangino also coached two seasons (1985-86) at Youngstown State under current Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel and was an assistant coach at New Castle (Pa.) High School.

“Mark Mangino is one of the greatest stories of persistence in the coaching profession,” Tressel said. “He has a passion for helping young people and will do a great job for Kansas. I am proud to have been associated with him. He embodies all that is good in the coaching profession.”

Mangino has paid his dues and now has the reward of his own team in the very rough and competitive Big 12. It would be unfair to expect him to turn around the Jayhawks in his first season, but look for steady growth from the Jayhawks under Mangino’s leadership.

Chan Gailey joins the head coaching class of 2002 with Georgia Tech, but he goes in with a bit of an asterisk. While it’s true that Gailey has never been a head coach at the Division I-A level, he has been an NFL head coach with the Cowboys and the Birmingham Fire of the World League.

Gailey inherits the program from George O’Leary who left to take over the program at Notre Dame. That situation turned out to be disastrous for O’Leary, but the opening at Georgia Tech seemed to be just what Gailey was looking for after serving as the offensive coordinator the last two seasons with the Miami Dolphins.

“How many times does a guy like myself get a chance to come to an institution like this?” said Gailey of Georgia Tech. “It’s something that you can believe in, and when you talk to somebody you know what you’re selling and you know what you’re talking about.

“I did ask, ‘Do we have the ability to win a national championship?’ because I want to win and that’s part of the process. I want to win a championship and that’s why you play, that’s why you line up and that’s why you go out and work and lift weights in the offseason, to have a chance to be the best of the best and that’s one of the goals. I get a chance to come back to my home state and I get an opportunity to work in a great city and to be involved with an unbelievable institute.”

Gailey had also served as a college head coach with Troy State and Samford University, but neither of those programs had a Division I-A label at the time. Troy State has since elevated itself to Division I-A status.

Gailey brings a wide array of experience to the Yellow Jackets, but he is best known for building solid offensive gameplans. While he did not have a lot of superior talent to work with in Miami, Dolphin head coach Dave Wannstedt was very impressed with Gailey’s ability to get the most out of his players.

“Chan did an outstanding job here,” Wannstedt said. “We didn’t have a lot of No. 1 draft picks at the skill position yet he came up with really good gameplans and schemes for our offense. He got a lot out of RB Lamar Smith and QB Jay Fiedler. He has a great understanding of the game and I’m sure he will succeed at Georgia Tech.”

Gailey studies film with a purpose and will be able to find the holes in defenses that his offense will be able to exploit. That was his calling card with the Steelers – he served as Bill Cowher’s offensive coordinator before becoming the Cowboys’ head coach – and it should be able to help him at the collegiate level.

“I was so impressed with coach Gailey’s ability to find the weakness in the defense and then teach us how to exploit that defense,” said Cowboy RB Emmitt Smith. “From a football perspective, he taught me some things about the running game that I didn’t know, and he helped my career. He knows how to move the chains and control the tempo of a football game. He knows how to score points, and he knows how to win.

“Away from the field, he is a great person – about as solid a man as you are going to meet. He will have success at Georgia Tech, and I will be pulling for him.”

Gailey has been out of the head-coaching loop since parting company with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys at the conclusion of the 1999 season. In the NFL, two years can be a lifetime, yet his former players like Smith still look back at him with fondness and respect. That bodes well for Georgia Tech, where Gailey should come out with guns blazing and a very productive offensive scheme.

The rest of the first time Division 1-A head
coaches in the class of 2002:


Coach: Steve Roberts
School: Arkansas State
Replaces: Joe Hollis
Skinny: Brings defense and discipline to Arkansas State program.

Coach: Jeff Tedford
School: California
Replaces: Tom Holmoe
Skinny: Should bring a more explosive offense and develop quarterbacks at Berkeley

Coach: Ricky Bustle
School: Louisiana-Lafayette
Replaces: Jerry Baldwin
Skinny: Former Virginia Tech offensive coordinator will get most out of the talent. If only he could bring Hokie special teams.

Coach: Paul Johnson
School: Navy
Replaces: Charlie Weatherbie
Skinny: Developed powerful running game at Georgia Southern

Coach: Tom Craft
School: San Diego State
Replaces: Ted Tollner
Skinny: Athletic Director Rick Bay likes Craft’s ability to put pressure on opposing defenses.

Coach: Phil Bennett
School: SMU
Replaces: Mike Cavan
Skinny: Defense, discipline and charismatic personality should upgrade Mustangs.

Coach: Buddy Teevens
School: Stanford
Replaces: Tyrone Willingham
Sknny: Brings Florida pedigree and great offensive mind. Could become the game’s next great coach.

Coach: Bobby Johnson
School: Vanderbilt
Replaces: Woody Widenhofer
Sknny: Will attempt to instill consistency to long-dormant program.






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