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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


The Way It Used To Be

College football coaching legends share their experiences on the gridiron before laptops, charter jets and mega-million dollar facilities
by: Aaron S. Lee
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If there is one constant, it is that there are no constants. Over time, everything changes and nothing remains quite the same. Never is this more evident than in the profession of coaching college football.

American Football Monthly
recently sat down with a few of the game’s greatest coaches for a peek inside the ever-changing world of college football. From their first job to their last, their first championship season to their first losing season, AFM has captured it all – in their words. Men like Pat Dye, Bo Schembechler, Barry Switzer, Don Nehlen and Gene Stallings have provided AFM with an exclusive journey down memory lane. Maybe you can’t walk in their shoes, but perhaps you can at least try them on. Over the course of the next few months, AFM will feature several of these “firsts” in each issue. So sit back and enjoy the game of football “the way it used to be.”

Travel ...

R.C. Slocum (Texas A&M, 1989-2002)
“ In 1976, I was an assistant coach at Texas A&M. We were getting ready to go play in the Sun Bowl and we were loading the team at the airport. It was late and we were leaving from practice on a bus full of coaches and players when all of the sudden we felt a jolt and a loud noise ... the bus had run underneath the wing of the plane and got lodged. Well, we had to wait for engineers to come and look at the plane. Ironically, three years ago we were up in Kansas and we were in the locker room and I told the coaches that story to kill some time. That day we flew home, and when we landed the bus that came out to pick us up off the plane ran into the plane as well. Lightning does strike twice.” More from Coach Slocum in upcoming issues of AFM

The Job ...

Darrell Royal (Texas, 1957-1976)
“In 1956, I was lying in bed in Seattle and I got a phone call from D.X. Bible regarding a head coach opening at the University of Texas ... although I was a first-year coach at the University of Washington, he asked me if I would like to fly down and interview for the job ... well, after I got to Austin, I found out that they had a list of about 125 coaches and my name was not on that list ... so how in the heck I got that job is anybody’s guess. Somebody thought that I had a little potential, and potential just means that you hadn’t done it yet.” More from Coach Royal in upcoming issues of AFM

Recruiting ...

Bobby Bowden (Florida State, 1976-present)
“I remember one year when my son Terry was the head coach at Auburn and we were recruiting the same kid ... they were literally coming out the door of this kid’s home while we were going in.” More from Coach Bowden in upcoming issues of AFM

Bo Schembechler (Michigan, 1969-1989)
“Former Western Kentucky coach Jack Harbaugh was a longtime assistant of mine at Michigan. He and I went to quarterback Art Schlichter’s house on a recruiting trip and we started talking to the family when Art’s dad spoke up and said, ‘Ol’ Woody Hayes was in here yesterday and promised that Art would be the starting quarterback next year.’ I told him, ‘Hold on, if I’m not mistaken Rod Gerald was just a junior, and he is going to be the starting quarterback.’ Art’s dad replied, ‘Woody said no, no, he was going to move Gerald to receiver, and Art was going to be the starting quarterback. Woody said it was no longer going to be three yards and a cloud of dust, that Woody was going to open up his offense, and he was going to throw 30 times a game.’ Now, I was already suspicious, but then the father tells us how Art loves basketball and Woody said that for the first time in his career, he was going to allow a football player to play basketball.

“So finally, I slammed my fist on the coffee table and said, ‘Let me just tell you something, when we start our season next year, a guy named Rick Leach is going to be my quarterback; now if you are going to buy into this stuff that the ol’ man up the road is giving you, then you send him to Ohio State. Could we have our coats please?’

“We get outside and Jack nudges me and said, ‘What did you think of that?’ And I said. ‘I don’t think we’re going to be coming back here anymore.’ And he said, ‘No, we’re not going to be coming back.’

“The funny thing is, Art went to Ohio State and started the first game after they moved Rod Gerald to wide receiver. Art threw the ball about 25 or 30 times, and he did play basketball. So everything that Woody promised, he did do. More from Coach Schembechler in upcoming issues of AFM






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