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©
More from this issue
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 Johnny Majors,
Darrell Royal, Spike Dykes 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.”
Moving ...
Johnny Majors (Pittsburgh 1973-76, Tennessee 1977-92)
“One of the hardest things I was faced with in coaching was the moving.
It was hard to leave Iowa State for Pittsburgh and it was hard to leave Pittsburgh
for Tennessee. When I was offered the Tennessee job, it was a tough decision.
I wanted to stay at Pitt more than I wanted to go because I fell in love with
Pittsburgh, but the Tennessee job was intriguing. I went to school there and
I had two younger brothers who also played there. My father was a highly respected
and successful high school and college coach in that state for 37 years. In fact,
my entire family lived there.
“It was the job I wanted as a kid and I always wondered what it would be
like to try to revitalize your hometown school. To be perfectly honest, there’s
some ego involved. After all, everyone likes to be wanted.
“But it wasn’t easy going back and trying to be the hometown hero.
It turned out for 16 years to be a very exciting thing, but it was the hardest
move I ever made in my career.” More from Coach Majors in upcoming
issues
of American Football Monthly
Refs ...
Gene Stallings (Alabama, 1990-96)
“I remember facing my old coach, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant back during
the 1967 Cotton Bowl when I was the head coach at Texas A&M and he was at
Alabama. I had played for Coach Bryant when he was the head coach at A&M.
In fact, I was one of the boys that survived Junction, Texas, in the summer of
1954. Anyway, the game was tight and Alabama was in a third down situation, but
Coach Bryant thought it was a fourth down. Back then, the rules stated that if
you sent a player into the game, he had to play one down. But Coach Bryant sent
his punter in. I knew that he was confused and making a mistake.
“Nevertheless, he sent his punter in, so I sent in a safety that could
field punts pretty good, but he wasn’t much of a defensive player. Then
I saw the Alabama coaching staff talking to Coach Bryant over on the sidelines,
and finally he sent another player in and the punter came out. Well, I had no
other option but to send my defensive safety in so my other guy could come out.
Just then the official on the sideline walks over and says, ‘Whoa! You
can’t do that. He’s got to stay in the game for one play.’ I
said, ‘Now wait a minute, fellow. I’m sitting right here watching
Coach Bryant send his punter in, and then Coach Bryant took him out!’ He
looked at me square in the face and said, ‘You ain’t Coach Bryant!’” More
from Coach Stallings in upcoming issues of American Football Monthly
Coaching ...
Darrell Royal (Texas 1957-76)
“I can remember a game back in 1974 at the University of Texas that is
interesting. We were playing the Arkansas Razorbacks in an old Southwest Conference
matchup. The game was pretty close in the first half and I inserted a freshman
fullback named Earl Campbell at nose guard and he blocked a punt that set up
a touchdown. He went on to carry the ball offensively eight times for about 109
yards. But it just goes to show you how intelligent football coaches are. A blocked
punt is the kind of play that can win games. Earl Campbell blocked the first
one he ever went after, and we quit using him. I guess we decided to do it the
easy way and just give him the ball 30 times a game.” More from Coach
Royal
in upcoming issues of American Football Monthly
High School Football ...
Spike Dykes (Texas Tech, 1986-99)
“This is a story that I like to tell ... I was the head coach of Texas
Tech and we had just defeated Jackie Sherrill’s Texas A&M squad in
Lubbock, Texas. After the game, Bill Hart of the Abilene Reporter News asked
me, ‘This is the biggest win of your life, isn’t it?’ And I
said, ‘No, not really. The biggest win of my life was when I was coaching
at Coahoma and we beat Aspermont.’ He thought I was kidding, but it really
was. I never will forget that football game. It was the craziest thing I ever
saw. High school football is huge and it is a major event that happens every
Friday night all over this state.” More from Coach Dykes in upcoming
issues
of American Football Monthly
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