Ten Coaches You Should Know

by: Richard Scott
© More from this issue

          
Bobby Bowden. Joe Paterno. Steve Spurrier. Phillip Fulmer. Even the casual college football fan knows those names, and they've earned their fame and fortune through time, experience and victory.

But what about those head coaches who don't make the headlines, but still do a great job? The NCAA record book is filled with the names of outstanding coaches who never coached a game in the so-called "big time," but there's no doubt that men such as Amoz Alonzo Stagg, Ron Schipper, Frosty Westering, Roger Harring and Jim Malosky were big time coaches, even if they aren't household names in college football circles.

Today's coaching ranks are loaded with quality head coaches, and they aren't all making $1 million per year and coaching on national television. Some of the nation's most successful coaches are coaching at NCAA Division I-AA, II and III, the NAIA and junior colleges.

If you don't know these coaches, you should. One issue of American Football Monthly couldn't do justice to all the coaches who deserve mention, but here are 14 of those coaches you should know, watch and study:

Div. I-AA

MIKE KELLY * DAYTON

Mike Kelly spent five years as a high school teacher and coach before moving to the college level, but he hasn't strayed from his teaching roots during his college coaching career at the University of Dayton, a Division I-AA non-scholarship program.

According to his bio in the Dayton football media guide, "Sometimes appearances deceive. The members of the University of Dayton football team aren't the biggest or most physically imposing athletes you would ever meet. In fact, you might not even pick most of them to be football players, let alone members of one of the most successful football programs in the last 20 years. The same can be said for the Flyer's head coach, Mike Kelly. ... There's nothing about him that would indicate that he's one of the greatest football coaches ever. Nothing, that is, except his record."

Kelly entered the 2001 season with a 185-39-1 record in 20 seasons as Dayton's head coach, and his career winning percentage of .824 is the best of any active coach who has been in the profession 15 years or more. It's also the tenth-best-all-time for coaches with 15 years or more experience.

Beyond the simple win-loss percentages, Kelly has been the Pioneer Football League's Coach of the Year five out of the eight years the league has been in existence, and the Football Gazette NCAA Division I-AA Non-Scholarship Coach of the Year. Since the Pioneer Football League debuted in 1993, Kelly's Flyers have won the championship four times and tied for the title in 1994 and 2000.

PAUL JOHNSON * GEORGIA SOUTHERN

It's tough enough inheriting the pressure and expectations that comes with a championship tradition. It's even more difficult to continue that tradition with more success. But that's exactly what Paul Johnson has accomplished in four years at Georgia Southern.

It's possible that no college football program has experienced more constant success than Division I-AA Georgia Southern over the past 15 years, with six national championships since former Georgia Southern coach Erk Russell first formed a championship program from scratch on the banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek.

Since Johnson, a former Russell assistant, inherited the Georgia Southern football program in November, 1996, he's added more chapters to the Georgia Southern tradition, winning two national championships (1999, 2000) and four consecutive national coach-of-the-year selections in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In one 48-month period, the Eagles broke or tied 379 individual and team records, ranked in the top 10 in 14 national statistical categories (led in three) and produced 31 All-America selections.

Prior to the current season, Johnson has won nearly 90 percent of the games he's coached at Georgia Southern (50-8) and led Georgia Southern to four consecutive Southern Conference titles and four consecutive NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances.

ROY KIDD * EASTERN KENTUCKY

It's one thing to have your name mentioned in the same breath with Eddie Robinson, Paul "Bear" Bryant, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. It's another to have former players still singing your praises after 46 years in the coaching business.

"Coach Kidd and his staff make players better than they think they can be," said Wally Chambers, a two-time All-OVC and All-American defensive tackle in the early 1970s who went on to play seven years in the NFL. "I was a fat kid who no big college wanted. I'd never been pushed. Coach Kidd and his staff saw in me more than I knew I had, and they taught me and pushed me to become as good as I could be."

Kidd has taught and pushed Eastern Kentucky players to be their best for 37 seasons, and recently became only the seventh coach to win 300 games in NCAA Division I and only the third, behind Joe Paterno and Eddie Robinson, to win 300 at one school. His 17 playoff berths in 22 years in a record in Division I-AA.

"Roy is one of the best coaches in the history of the sport, and he could have gone other places," said David Cawood, a former Kidd assistant who served as assistant executive director of the NCAA for 20 years. "But he has a comfort level at Eastern, and he has his ego in check. He already has what's important to him."

BILL HAYES * NORTH CAROLINA A&T

One of the qualities of a successful coach is his ability to take a losing program and turn it into a winner. Another quality of a successful coach is his ability to sustain winning, even when it's expected.

Bill Hayes has proved he has both of those qualities in his tenure at North Carolina A&T.

The A&T program had slipped a few notches when Hayes took over in 1988, and three years later led the Aggies to a 9-2 record - the program's first winning record since 1986. The Aggies finished second in the MEAC that year, despite being picked to finish sixth. Since then, the Aggies have continued to win and Hayes has become the program's all-time winningest coach. With an 8-3 record in 2000, Hayes entered the current season with 183 career coaching victories, a total that ranks among the top 10 in Division I-AA.

When Hayes isn't coaching football, he's keeping busy with community affairs, and serves as chairman of the Old North State Council Boy Scouts of America. He recently received the Silver Antelope award, the highest Regional award bestowed upon a Boy Scout volunteer. He was one of 14 Scout volunteers selected across the 13 southern states.

AL BAGNOLI * PENN

The numbers never tell the whole story for any coach, but it's hard to ignore the impressive numbers on Al Bagnoli's resume.

Bagnoli recently became the fourth coach in Penn's 124-year history to record 60 wins, as well as the program's third-winningest coach and will most likely earn his 150th career coaching win by the end of the season. Even more important, Bagnoli has led the Quakers to four Ivy League championships in his nine years with the program.

When Bagnoli took over at Penn in 1992, the program had suffered through three consecutive losing seasons. He immediately restored Penn's winning ways with a 7-3 record and a third-place finish in the Ivy, the second-best turnaround in the program's history. The next year, the Quakers captured the Ivy League title and went undefeated (10-0) and went on to win 24 consecutive games from 1992 to 1995.

Bagnoli entered the season with a career record of 145-59 (.747), placing him third among active coaches in I-AA in winning percentage and ninth in wins. He is also the two-time recipient (1993 and 1994) of the Scotty Whitelaw Award as the Division I-AA Coach of the Year.

Bagnoli is a current member of the I-AA rules committee for the AFCA and served two years as a panel member of the New York State Task Force on Athletics.

JOE TAYLOR * HAMPTON

Under Joe Taylor, Hampton University has not only made a successful transition from Division II to Division I-AA, the Pirates have also achieved national success at the I-AA level and become a dominating force in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

"Hampton came into the conference and rearranged all the furniture," Howard University head coach Steve Wilson said.

Taylor took over at Hampton in 1992 and immediately started rearranging the way the Pirates play football. In his first three years at Hampton, the Pirates went 31-4-1 (.875), won three consecutive CIAA titles with a combined conference record of 23-0-1, earned two Division II national playoff appearances and the 1994 SBN Black College National Championship.

When Hampton joined the MEAC in 1995, the Pirates weren't eligible for the conference title. That can be a frustrating experience for any program, but the Pirates still finished with an 8-3 record that season and a 3-1 record against MEAC opponents. Since then, the Pirates have posted an impressive 40-18 overall record and a 25-9 MEAC conference record, winning back-to-back MEAC titles (1997, 98), their second SBN Black College National Championship (1997) and two Division I-AA playoff invitations.

Beyond those wins and titles, Taylor has also brought stability and installed a high degree of accountability in the Hampton players, earning the widespread respect of opponents for disciplined teams.

DIV. II

BOB BIGGS * UC DAVIS

If anyone knows about what it takes to win at UC Davis, it's Bob Biggs.

It was Biggs who quarterbacked the Aggies to a memorable 29-28 win over Cal St. Hayward in 1971 by leading a 16-point comeback in the final 20 seconds. That victory paved the way for the first of UC Davis' national-record 20 straight conference championships. After an All-American season as a senior, Biggs played with a fractured finger in his final college game, the Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City, and set two national records, including a record for 59 pass attempts that day still stands as a Division II postseason record.

Biggs' success at UC Davis didn't end with his playing days. In his first seven seasons as a head coach, Biggs has continue to bring success to his alma mater, leading his teams to a 59-23-1 mark.

He brought the spread offense to UC Davis in 1992, and the Aggies continue to re-write the school, conference and national record books with their passing attack.

Biggs is the only person at UC Davis to have been a star athlete, be inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame and become a head coach. He also served as UC Davis' head coach for men's tennis at one point.

CHUCK BROYLES * PITTSBURG STATE

Like a lot of successful coaches, Chuck Broyles would never take the credit for his program's success.

"I don't know that you can pinpoint a true formula for success," Broyles says. "There are a lot of intangibles that factor into it. Our players work extremely hard and so does our coaching staff. Mostly, its 100-odd persons driven by a common goal to be the best. It all starts with attitude."

Broyles doesn't say it, but that attitude and work ethic starts with the coaching staff. Broyles must be doing something right, because he entered the season with an overall record of 112-21-2 (.837) at Pittsburg State, making him the winningest active NCAA Division. II coach (by percentage) and the fourth-winningest collegiate coach in the nation at any level. In 1999, Broyles also became the first collegiate coach since the late 1800s to reach his 100th coaching victory in less than 10 full seasons.

During his first 11 years at Pittsburg State, the Gorillas have won more games (112) than any NCAA-II football program, and PSU had the fifth-highest victory total of all collegiate teams in the 1990s. In that period, the Gorillas won six conference titles, earned 10 Division II playoff berths and two trips to the national championship game in 1991 and 1992, winning the title in 1991.

Broyles is now in his fifth year as Pittsburg State's athletic director, and serves on the NCAA Football Rules Committee.

KEN SPARKS * CARSON-NEWMAN

Since 1980, Ken Sparks has brought winning football to Carson-Newman on a consistent basis, at both the NAIA or NCAA levels. That's appropriate, since Sparks is a former Eagle standout and assistant coach who's spent most of his life on the Carson-Newman campus in Jefferson City, Tenn.

Sparks inherited a program that had fallen on tough times but it only took three season for the Eagles to go 10-2 and earn an NAIA playoff berth. The next year, the Eagles went all the way, winning the school's first national championship.

Carson-Newman went on to win four more NAIA national titles under Sparks before joining NCAA Division II in 1991. Since them, the Eagles have maintained their winning ways, earning playoff berths seven times and reaching the national championship game twice.

Sparks, now in his 22nd season at his alma mater, entered the season with a 197-46-2 record (.804). That winning percentage ranks him second in NCAA Division II among active coaches and puts him fourth among active coaches in all divisions of the NCAA. He's also earned his share of coaching awards, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes National Coach of the Year. He is active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Football Coaches Association.

MALEN LUKE * CLARION (PA.)

In 11 seasons as a head coach, Malen Luke has led teams at the high school, NAIA, NCAA Division III and Division II levels. It seems like the higher he climbs, the more his teams achieve.

After turning a perennial loser into a winner in four years at Defiance College, Luke came to Clarion in 1993 and undertook a similar rebuilding task. Despite the challenges that come with building a winner, Luke's Golden Eagles entered this season with a 30-35 overall record, a 15-21 PSAC-West mark and have averaged nearly 30 points per game and 400-plus yards of offense in Luke's six seasons at Clarion.

Luke's best season at Clarion came in 1996 when the Golden Eagles went 11-3 overall, won the PSAC-West and NCAA East Region titles and advanced to the NCAA "Final Four" before losing in the final seconds to Northern Colorado, who went on to win the NCAA National Championship. Luke was voted AFCA Region 1 and PSAC-West "Coach of the Year" in 1996.

With a 12-year collegiate record of 67-56 (55 percent) entering this season, Luke's record might not be as impressive as some of the coaches on this list, but he remains committed to the overall mission of Clarion.

"Clarion has an outstanding academic and athletic reputation, along with the leadership and commitment to stay on top," Luke said. "I'm honored to be the head coach here and will work hard to continue that tradition."

MEL TJEERDSMA * NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE

It's almost hard to believe that Northwest Missouri State University's football program didn't even win a game in 1994, especially in the wake of the Bearcats' 1998 and 1999 NCAA Division II national championships and one of the nation's most consistent and sustained turnaround successes.

The 1999 championship game provided an excellent example of how far Northwest has come in a short time. Trailing 44-29 with less than four minutes left in the game, Northwest roared back to tie the game at 44-44 with 10 seconds remaining. Four overtimes later, the Bearcats defeated Carson-Newman 58-52.

Much of the credit for this turnaround belongs to Bearcat head coach Mel Tjeerdsma, the MIAA coach of the year for five consecutive years from 1995-99 and the American Football Coaches Association National Coach of the Year for both 1998 and 1999.

With a 58-20 six-year record at Northwest, including a school-record 15 victories and the only 15-0 season in Division II history in 1998, as well as a 117-59 record in 16 seasons as a head coach, Tjeerdsma ranks among Division II top 15 coaches in terms of overall wins and winning percentage.

Beyond the numbers, Tjeerdsma has brought more than just football success to Northwest. His program participates in an annual spring cleanup day that serves as both a service project for the Maryville community and a fund-raiser for the football program. They have picked up trash, raked leaves, cut grass and cleaned up yards and streets throughout the community.

Div. III

LARRY KEHRES * MOUNT UNION (OHIO)

The average football fan might not know it, but Larry Kehres has built one of the most successful programs in all of college football in his 15 seasons at Mount Union.

"We're proud of what our teams have accomplished," Kehres said. "It's a compliment to all the coaches and players who have been part of our program and have contributed in the success at Mount Union. It's very difficult to reach the top, but even more difficult to maintain excellence."

The numbers are as impressive as they come in college football: Kehres' teams have won 11 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships ('86, '90, '92-'00) while recording 10 undefeated regular seasons ('86, '90, '92, '93, '95-'00). Under Kehres, the Raiders have won five Division III national championships in the past eight years ('93, '96, '97, '98, & '00). Since 1990, the Raiders have made 10 playoff appearances while recording college football's most wins and best winning percentage (134-7-1/.947). Entering the 2001 season, the Raiders have been 89-1 over the past nine regular seasons.

Kehres entered the season with a 164-17-3 record (.899) at Mount Union, and five GTE Division III National Coach of the Year awards. In addition to his role as head football coach, Kehres also serves as the athletic director and an associate professor of physical education.

JOHN GAGLIARDI * ST. JOHN'S (MINN.)

Of all the coaches on this list, John Gagliardi has come the closest to becoming a true icon in the business.

Gagliardi, who recently began his 53rd season as a collegiate head coach and his 40th at St. John's, is the winningest active coach and second all-time in college football history, entering the 2001 season with a 377-109-11 collegiate career record, just 31 wins short of the all-time collegiate win record of 408 set by former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson.

Gagliardi was meant to coach, taking over his own high school team in Trinidad, Colo., at age 16 when his coach was drafted into World War II. When he came to St. John's in 1953, the program had not won a conference title in 15 years and the previous coach, Johnny "Blood" McNally, vowed: "Nobody could ever win at Saint John's."

Through the years, Gagliardi has not only three national championships, but he's devised his own unique way of doing things, defying the common methods of most coaches and becoming something of a national media celebrity in the process. Gagliardi's team focus on intense concentration and perfect execution, without tackling and full pads in practice, blocking sleds or dummies, whistles, scholarships, spring practices or a compulsory weightlifting program.

His players even call him "John" instead of coach, and each year, more than 150 students turn out to be part of the Saint John's program. With all that going for him, and history on his side, Gagliardi must be doing something right.

NAIA

DR. TED KESSINGER * BETHANY (KAN.) COLLEGE

There's nothing about Lindsborg, Kan., or Bethany College that bears its names to suggest that Bethany should be a hotbed of football success.

Yet, with Dr. Ted Kessinger as the head coach, the Terrible Swedes have been anything but Terrible, with no losing records under Kessinger, as well as 15 conference championships and 13 national playoff appearances since he took over in 1976.

With a record of 200-49-1 entering the 2001 season, Kessinger is the winningest active NAIA coach.

Kessinger came to Bethany from Augustana College in South Dakota, where he worked for coach Ralph Starenko on a staff that included: Jim Wacker, former Minnesota and TCU head coach; Don Morton, former Wisconsin head coach; Mike Daly, former South Dakota State head coach; and Roger Thomas, North Dakota head coach.

Of all those coaches, it's Kessinger who continues to build on a career that stands out as one of the best in NAIA history.

NEW BOOK!

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