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 Eddie Robinson, Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer,
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.”
Recruiting ...
Don James (Washington, 1975-92)
“
In 1988, I was recruiting a kid out of Southern California ...
well, I was at his home with his mom and dad when suddenly I heard
gunshots – five shots actually. The gunfire was coming from
the house next door and I was next to the window and could see
the house, which was only about eight feet away. So I asked if
we should get down and the father said, ‘No, it’s not
an Uzi.’
“The police came and arrested the person doing the shooting and it was
Todd Bridges (actor from Diff’rent Strokes) and he was attempting to buy
drugs next door. That was the incident that sent him to jail before his lawyer,
Johnnie Cochran, got him out. The good thing is that we were all unharmed and
Bridges has apparently turned his life around.”
Bobby Bowden
(Florida State, 1976-present)
“About 10-15 years ago, my son, Tommy (head coach, Clemson), was an assistant
coach at Alabama and I was the head coach here at Florida State ... we were trying
to recruit a young man out of Live Oak, Fla., named Matt Frier, who was an outstanding
All-American high school receiver. Well, Tommy was trying to recruit Matt to
Alabama and I was trying to recruit Matt to Florida State and one night I called
him at his home and his mother answered the phone. Now, I didn’t know that
she had just talked with Tommy, so when I first started talking with her, I said
that I was Coach Bowden and she thought that she was talking with Tommy. We talked
a little bit and she finally recognized my voice and said, ‘Oh, this is
the real Coach Bowden!’
“I always kid Tommy about that.”
Pep talk ...
Barry Switzer (Oklahoma, 1973-88)
“To appreciate this story, you have to know the guy I’m talking about,
Jack Baer... I just buried him last year; he was 86 years old and was the equipment
manager for Oklahoma for 40 years. He was also the baseball coach in the 1940s
... well, Jack Baer, who was an old crusty guy that played at Oklahoma during
the early-30s, would tell a kid with shoes that were too big to grow into them
... if the shoes were too little, he’d tell them to curl their damn toes
up. He was a gruff equipment manager, especially to the freshmen because he didn’t
want them to be bothering him about changing something every single day. He always
had more bark than he had bite ... he was grumpy, but loveable.
“In 1985, we were getting ready to play for a national championship in
the Orange Bowl against Penn State, which was undefeated and ranked No. 1. Before
the game, I’d given the team both barrels and I started looking around
the locker room and told everyone that this is a team sport and if any of the
players had anything they would like to say before we go out and play this game
to speak up. A few of the players got up and said something inspirational ...
then I asked the coaches if they had something that they wanted to say. Finally,
as I got around the room, I looked over at the door where Jack always stood to
let the team out of the dressing room. Jack and I made eye contact and he did
not expect me to ask him to say anything. Well, even though I was thinking more
of the coaches and players saying something – I hated to make eye contact
and not allow someone who was definitely part of the team say something – I
asked Jack if he had anything he would like to add before we played for the national
championship. He said, ‘Yeah, I’d like to tell you sons-of-b******
when you guys come back after the game to only take one towel, those bastards
didn’t give us enough for you to take two!’
First car ...
John Majors (Pittsburgh 1973-76, 1993-96, Tennessee 1977-92)
“I went to Montreal to the Canadian Football League for a season following
my final year of playing football for the University of Tennessee in 1956. I
bought a 1957 Impala Coupe and it was a classic back then. It was an unbelievable
car that was black with silver streak down the rear fender. It had a white top
and red and black upholstery.
“Montreal gave me a thousand dollar bonus and a thousand dollar advance
on my salary ($10,000) ... I paid $2,400 for that car and I drove it all the
way to Montreal. A year later, I drove it back to Tennessee ... the rest is history.” More
great stories about days at Tennessee, Iowa State and Pitt from John Majors in
upcoming issues of AFM