The Way It Used To Be

Football coaching legends share their experiences on the gridiron before laptops, charter jets and mega-million dollar facilities
by: Rex Lardner
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American Football Monthly recently sat down with a few of the game’s greatest coaches for a peek inside the ever-changing world of football. From their first job to their last, their first championship season to their first losing season, AFM has captured it all – coaches provide 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. So sit back and enjoy the game of football “the way it used to be.”

Lou Holtz
Spanning a career over five decades, Lou Holtz enters his sixth season with South Carolina this fall...Holtz has been a head coach since 1969 and is the third winningest active head coach...he offers these thoughts on changes over his career:

“The game has changed significantly over the years. The number of actual players you deal with has changed-from an unlimited number to 95 scholarships to now a total of 85. Recruiting has changed as well over the years where at one time you had relatively unlimited amount of contact with players and now it’s extremely limited and regulated.

Athletes have also changed over time: today’s athlete wants instant success especially with the eligibility of freshmen. Players are more impatient yet often they don’t have time to learn proper offensive and defensive schemes. The player today, I believe, is more fragile than players of years ago and has never been really pushed. While certainly the modern day athlete is bigger, faster, and stronger than his predecessor, his work ethic is different and he has to be taught its value and how to achieve what the team’s objectives and goals are.

The game itself has become so much more specialized-there are third and long specialists as well as third and short specialists. Pass rushing has become an integral part of the game and pass coverage itself has become more complex.

What really hasn’t changed, though, over the last few decades are the principles of success: hard work, fundamentals, the importance of conditioning, and perserverence. I’ve found that good people want to achieve at whatever level they’re at.”

Chuck Neinas
President of Neinas Sports Services, a company that provides consulting services primarily in intercollegiate athletics, Chuck Neinas is the former Executive Director of the College Football Association and Commissioner of the Big Eight Conference. An associate of the AFCA, Neinas received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award for “outstanding service in the best interests of the advancement of football.” He offers these thoughts on changes in the game over the last 20 years:

“Clearly the biggest change in football over the last 20 years is in the area of television. From a restricted number of telecasts governed by the NCAA for thirty years, all of that was thrown out in a ruling by the Supreme Court on June 29, 1984. Colleges were no longer limited in terms of television appearances and bidding began among the networks, cable entities and regional channels. It really has changed the way people recruit and coached and has obviously given tremendous exposure and visibility to the sport at many levels.

Also, today’s coaches are better served with more assistants and the game itself is so much more wide open. The key, however, is defense. As Bud Wilkinson once said, ‘If you can run and play defense, you can win’. It’s ironic that the three top teams after last winter’s Bowl Championship Series – LSU, Oklahoma, and USC, were all coached by former defensive coordinators – Nick Saban, Bob Stoops, and Pete Carroll.”

Paul Crane
Sports anchor and play-by-play announcer Paul Crane worked for nearly a decade at CNN and CNN-SI as well as for KDFW-TV in Dallas, Fox Sports South, and The Football Network. He has been a sportscaster for over 25 years and offers this story on Florida State legendary coach Bobby Bowden who received his first National Championship in January, 1994.

“For a few years I hosted the program ‘College Coaches Corner’ on Sundays mornings throughout the fall for CNN. Coach Bowden was a regular on the program and was always tremendously gracious every time we asked him to be a part of the program.

“When the Seminoles beat Nebraska 18-16 in the Orange Bowl, they won top honors as the number one team from the Associated Press. The next day, a Sunday, we aired the show live from a Miami hotel where Bobby and his family were staying. That morning we were waiting for the results of the USA Today/CNN Coaches poll that would determine if Florida State also won the Sears Trophy that would ultimately mean a unanimous National Championship.

Anxious to go out recruiting for next year, Bobby couldn’t wait for the results even though they were slow getting in. He kept asking me to call for updates although it was too close to call (with Notre Dame the other candidate for top honors). Because many coaches’ votes trickled in late morning, it was hard to determine the outcome as to which team would get the honor. Finally, we received enough votes to unofficially tell him he was ‘over the top’ and the National Championship was Florida State’s. It was overwhelming to him and his family.

It was the Seminoles first undisputed National Championship. But for Coach Bowden, until we received the results, he was like a kid in a candy store. He couldn’t wait for the results and then get back on the recruiting trail.”

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