Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

A look inside a college football\'s most underrated football programs
by: Aaron S. Lee
© More from this issue

          
Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. ... This is not just a slogan for the University of Southern Mississippi, located in the piney woods of Hattiesburg, Miss., it is a way of life that has defined the character and grit of Southern Miss football for all of its 86-year existence.

Schools like Southern Miss have embodied the pure essence of competition that envelops college football and all those that stand outside the BCS. Schools that constantly fight against the powers that control the destinies of all Division I football, schools like Colorado State and Fresno State. Schools that stand where the Florida States and Virginia Techs have stood years earlier before positioning themselves among the nation’s elite.

These are schools with smaller budgets, enrollments and facilities, but don’t make the mistake of calling them the giant killers, mid-majors or the have-nots. This is not a story about David and Goliath. No, this is a story about three coaches who lead programs that stand eye-to-eye with any football program in the nation, programs that routinely bloody the nose of the Alabamas, Colorados and Michigan States of the world.

Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. ... It is not just a ticket sales promotion, it is a national identity that highlights how schools like Southern Miss approach the game of college football.

Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. ... This is not a false belief, but a true statement of what lengths these schools will go to in order to gain national respect.

Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. ... Are you willing to accept the challenge?

Jeff Bower, Southern Miss

When Jeff Bower, a native of Roswell, Ga., took over the helm at Southern Miss in December 1990 to lead the Golden Eagles against North Carolina State in the All-American Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., he was no stranger to Southern Miss football. Bower, who replaced Curley Hallman after Hallman left to take the head coaching job at LSU, had graduated from Southern Miss in 1975 after setting several records at quarterback, some of which he still holds to this day. Bower has now spent a total of 26 years associated with his alma mater, as a player, an assistant coach and as head coach, with stops at SMU (1982-86), Wake Forest (1987) and Oklahoma State (1989-90) in between.

During Bower’s 12-year tenure as head coach, the Golden Eagles have posted an impressive 80-58-1 record, captured three Conference USA titles and compiled a 30-8 league mark. He is the dean of C-USA coaches, as well as the winningest. He is also tied for seventh among all I-A coaches in number of years at a present school. Bower’s 127 games coached makes him only the second Southern Miss coach to coach more than 100 games, and only 49 of those games were played at home.

What’s most impressive is that Bower’s Golden Eagles have currently recorded nine straight winning seasons, making them one of only 10 teams nationally to find themselves in a similar situation. So what’s next for Bower?

“I think the future of Southern Miss football is good,” said Bower. “I’ve been here going on 13 years and we play almost 60 percent of our games on the road, but because of our budget concerns we have to go on the road for the big paychecks and we’ve done it just like the slogan says, ‘we’ll play anybody.’”

Life on the road has always been a staple of Southern Miss football. The Golden Eagles once played 24 straight games on the road from 1974-75, along with the first two games of the 1976 season, due to the construction of their on-campus stadium.

Over the past two decades, Southern Miss has regularly played and defeated Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Colorado State, Illinois and Oklahoma State, along with in-state rivals Ole Miss and Mississippi State. But don’t call Southern Miss giant killers.

“Giant killers? I really don’t like the perception of that term,” said Bower. “That gets me riled up a little bit because I do feel that we have accomplished a lot. Most coaches will tell you that you get better by playing good competition and I think that part of the growth of this program and success has had a lot to do with who we’ve played in the past ... we always play a tough non-conference schedule. I think the program has grown because of playing the tough competition.

“I know the other in-state schools respect us a lot because they won’t play us,” he continued. “So that is a compliment to this program. In the eyes of the coaches and people that really know college football, there is probably more respect for this program than the average fan.

“Sure, from a competitive standpoint, we’ve not had some of the teaching aids that a lot of schools have ... I would like to give our coaches a better opportunity to be better teachers.”

Like many schools, Southern Miss finds themselves on the outside of the BCS looking in. The Golden Eagles are constantly fighting an uphill battle for their share of the revenue that never seems to trickle down to those in need. The Golden Eagles are the original road warriors of college football, but lately, some schools, such as Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Illinois have made the trip to Hattiesburg. Even Nebraska comes calling in 2003 for a Sept. 25 showdown.

“I remember scheduling the Nebraska deal and I told our athletic director that the buyout was not enough to hurt these people, that it was concession money. Now, the buyout for the Nebraska game is half a million and that hurts a little bit. We were offered a substantial amount of money to move the game, but we just felt like we have to be loyal to the fans and they’ve been looking forward to this.”

Early in the 1997 season, Bower suffered a gut-wrenching tragedy when his eldest daughter, Kristen (17), was lost in an automobile accident. The entire Southern Miss community rallied around Bower and his wife Debbie, along with their youngest daughter Stephanie. Bower, however, showed the resilience and courage that has become a trademark of Southern Miss football as he led his Golden Eagles to their second straight C-USA championship, a final national ranking of No. 19 and a Liberty Bowl romp over Pittsburgh (41-7).

“I love Southern Miss and Hattiesburg,” said Bower. “Both have been very good to me and my family. Anyone that has ever been here knows just how special a place it really is.”

And Bower takes his responsibility at Southern Miss very seriously.

“We are here to foster growth of our players: academically, athletically, spiritually and socially. That is our responsibility as coaches and we work hard to do that. I don’t think you can develop leadership and help your players unless you have coaches on your staff that possess a lot of great depth and character.

“I talk a lot about how we approach recruiting. Obviously you want to get somebody that can be successful academically and someone that is a I-A player, but most importantly, I think you go out and recruit good kids. If anything, that has helped us be successful. You are not always right, sometimes you make mistakes, but if you bring one in that is suspect and the makeup of your team is good, then the chances of that kid going the right way will also be good.”

Bower’s loyalty to Southern Miss has paid major dividends and he attributes a lot of his success to learning from other coaches, like former Southern Miss coach Bobby Collins, who Bower says was the most influential person in his life other than his parents.

“I’ve been fortunate while coming through the coaching ranks to learn from some good coaches on good programs,” he said. “I want to get to know our players the best I possibly can and be honest with them. I don’t think kids will trust you or be committed towards you and the program in being successful unless you have that trust.

“The thing that I am most proud of is that we have done well here at Southern Miss and we’ve done it the right way. There’s not but one way to do it in this profession and that is the right way. You recruit, play by the rules and treat kids right.

“At Southern Miss we are doing things the right way.”

Sonny Lubick, Colorado State

On May 14, 2003, Colorado State University President Albert C. Yates announced that the football field at Hughes Stadium would be named for head football coach Sonny Lubick as a tribute to his success at the helm of CSU football.

“That was quite a surprise,” said Lubick. “I knew about the gift that we were possibly going to receive, but I had no idea about the naming rights. I am very proud of this because I would have never expected this to happen.”

Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the sheer magnitude of what Coach Lubick has meant to CSU and Fort Collins, Colo.

“Sonny Lubick is the embodiment of the university’s commitment to building a quality program by caring about student athletes and playing by the rules,” said Pat Stryker, president of the Bohemian Foundation, an organization that not only requested the naming rights, but also donated $15.2 million to the CSU athletics department.

“This is monumental in many ways,” added Jeff Hathaway, director of athletics at Colorado State. “It assures the growth and continued national prominence of our football program and the entire athletic department. It also honors Sonny for his unwavering commitment and unmatched success.”

Things are definitely going in the right direction for Colorado State football, but that was not always the case in Fort Collins. In the early-1980s, Lubick was the offensive coordinator for coach Leon Fuller’s Colorado State team, which was not nearly as impressive, before taking a position at Stanford in 1985 and serving as the defensive coordinator for the University of Miami for five years, which included two national championship seasons.

“I did not expect this to ever be as good as it is,” he said. “I was here as an assistant so my frame of thinking wasn’t as good. I was here in 1982-84 when we were pretty good, but pretty good was winning five games in those days. Right after I left, they went 1-11 and 1-10. So where we’ve come from, you wonder if our success is just an apparition, but we’ve had nine consecutive winning seasons and we just keep rolling along. But I never really had a game plan, just a good staff, good kids and a supportive administration.”

Before Lubick signed on in 1993, the Rams had only participated in two bowl games in its previous 100-year history. Since, Lubick has guided the Rams to seven bowl games, six conference titles and nine straight winning seasons, which includes victories over Arizona, Michigan State, Virginia and three wins over in-state rival Colorado.

“Colorado State was averaging 3.5 wins a year for the previous 15 years when we got here,” said Lubick. “No bowl games, no conference titles, no anything ...

“Then in the second year (1994), we won 10 games which had never been done before at the school. We beat Arizona, BYU, Air Force and Fresno State. ABC came in and did a game of the week with us against Utah, we were both 7-0 at the time ... all of the sudden this thing took off.”

Lubick wasted no time in bringing Colorado State to the forefront of college football, and solidifying his reputation among the nation’s elite coaches. Lubick has been named Mountain West Conference coach of the year four times, Sports Illustrated’s national coach of the year (1994) and he was inducted into the Colorado State Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

“The one issue is credibility," Lubick said. "We certainly want to do well in our conference, which if we do well in the Mountain West, I feel that we can compete with anyone. We like to play teams in California because we do a lot of our recruiting in that state. I think our football team has been good enough and competitive enough to force a really good football game with anybody.”

Since Lubick has been long regarded as one of the nation’s premier coaches, it is no wonder that Colorado State is vying for blue-chip recruits and championship rings against schools associated with the Bowl Championship Series.

“The recruits see the quality of our program and see that they can win some football games here,” he said. “You can look at this in a lot of different ways, because everyone has BCS on their mind, but there are a lot of football programs out there in the BCS that are sitting out there with 2-9, 3-8 seasons year in and year out and that is no fun. We have won 84 games in the past 10 years, which averages out to about eight and a half per season, and everyone walks around with a smile on their face and you know that you are as good as anyone.

“A lot of people may say that we are not Florida State and in a lot of ways, I understand that, but look at Florida State. They go up to Louisville and get beat and we crushed Louisville. We had the Cardinals 34-14 in our place midway through the fourth quarter.

“I hear there may be some cracking in the foundation,” said Lubick of the current BCS alliance. “It seems like maybe six or seven commissioners got that thing wrapped up and pretty tight with those athletic directors and they are not going to let loose of anything. But how can only six or seven people have the power to make the decisions that affect everyone else? They are hurting college football with this super conference scenario.”

However, if a BCS super conference does become a reality, Lubick has a few thoughts of his own.

“Go ahead and get your 50 schools, and then who are you gonna play? They don’t wanna play each other. Hell, if they had to play each other they wouldn’t survive ...they would all end up 5-5.”

“There was a time, two or three years ago, that some BCS schools didn’t want to play us even at their place,” said Lubick. “I don’t want to sound like we are that good, because we have to struggle to get through our conference. But BCS schools don’t want to play certain teams ... you don’t want to fool with Southern Miss and the same with Pat Hill, he has a good football team at Fresno State.”

With all the success at Colorado State Lubick has been faced with, one would think that schools would be showering him with offers each season. And while some offers have been made, Lubick has made it clear that he is quite content with his current position.

“Sometimes as a coach you look out there and see the things that are happening and you think about things,” concluded Lubick. “But when the dust all clears you are just very fortunate to be where you are. I can tell you it doesn’t get any better than it does in Fort Collins, maybe somebody is making a few more dollars – well, quite a few more – but Colorado State would be a difficult place to beat.”

Pat Hill, Fresno State

When Fresno State opens its 2003 football season on the road against Tennessee, it will mark the fourth consecutive year that ESPN will televise the Bulldogs’ season opener. In fact, Fresno State has become an ESPN fixture over the last two seasons with 14 television appearances, more than any other college football program in the nation. Not bad for head coach Pat Hill’s squad from the “Valley.”

In a day of glitz and glam in college football, Hill is a throwback to the great, stoic football coaches of the past. He is simply going to do it his way and – by the looks of it – his way works just fine.

In just six seasons, Hill has transformed Fresno State into a college football powerhouse with four straight winning seasons, four consecutive bowl berths, one Western Athletic Conference title and a 35-18 record, including 28-5 at home.

“When I took this job, with what’s happening in the NCAA, I figured that if we wanted to have a chance to play big time football we have to play a big time schedule,” said Hill. “After our upcoming season we would have played 24 BCS conference schools and all but three of them have been on the road.”

Hill’s Bulldogs have created interest and buzz throughout the country with his rugged style and no-nonsense approach to the game, including Sports Illustrated naming him its 2000 Bowl Coach of the Year, which stated: “Fresno State’s Pat Hill kept his players focused after they fell behind Air Force 34-7 in the Silicon Valley Bowl, and when the Bulldogs pulled to within 37-34 he disdained a 33-yard field goal attempt with 14 seconds to go and called for a fake kick. The ensuing pass fell incomplete, but what kid wouldn’t want to play for a coach like that?”

Fresno State’s program was on life support when Hill, a native of Los Angeles, took the job in 1997. The program had suffered three straight losing seasons, and only had 61 scholarship players on campus. But Hill, who was the recruiting coordinator and line coach under Jim Sweeney at Fresno State during the late-1980s before spending time in the NFL as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns (1992-95) and the Baltimore Ravens (1996), had a vision.

“Football was big before I got here,” said Hill. “But it was big regionally and not nationally because they never left the western part of the country to play. When I came in they had suffered through three straight losing seasons and now we’ve been here six years and we are averaging 9 wins per year. Our attendance is averaging a little over 40,000 in a 41,000-seat stadium. So, it has really gone to another level.

“In 2001, we were probably two plays away from going to a BCS bowl, but we ended up going to the Silicon Valley Bowl and finishing the season ranked No. 8 in the nation. Last year, we started off with a last second loss to Wisconsin and a last minute loss to Oregon to start the season. We then lost to Oregon State, but won eight of our last 10, including a win over Georgia Tech in the bowl game. So our team came on strong at the end.”

This upcoming season will be Fresno State’s fifth straight year of seven road games, which is not a situation that Hill particularly likes, but nevertheless, a situation that he is forced to deal with.

“The way we are doing it is the hard way, but it is the only way I know to really become a team that is respected throughout the country. The only way to get respect is to play the best and win ... .”

The Bulldogs record the first three years against BCS schools was 0-10, but every game, except for a couple, was either an overtime loss or losses by seven points or less. Fresno State has scheduled and defeated some of the top schools in the nation, including wins over Oregon, Georgia Tech, Colorado and Colorado State.

“We are always faced with an uphill climb in the month of September,” said Hill. “But the theory is that as the television contracts come up for the BCS in three years, I want to make sure that Fresno State is one of the schools that people are considering to be part of the future of Division I football. Because of the people we play and because of the 5 million people within the 150-mile radius of the school, we believe that this school is as valuable as any other in the country. I think that it is real important that the rest of the nation know about the San Joaquin Valley, which supplies about 80 percent of the nations agriculture.”

Overall, the future for Fresno State football looks bright with Hill at the helm. With road trips to Tennessee, Oklahoma and Colorado State, along with a home game against Oregon State, the road will not be easy for the Bulldogs, but Pat Hill wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I came to Fresno State to bring big time football to the San Joaquin Valley. I can see that we are pushing a very big boulder up a very steep mountain and if I let go our program will get run over. The future of Fresno State football is to put ourselves in a position to be part of the realignment of Division I-A football. If we have to fund it ourselves, then we’ll fund it ourselves, but we are going to be a part of Division I-A football and that’s the bottom line ... we are not going to make excuses, we are going to do everything we can even if it means that we have to go on the road and play every BCS team on the planet – we’ll do it.”

NEW BOOK!

Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach