College Coaches: More About "Me" Than Molding Players

Pittsburgh Panthers coach Mike Hayward was just given his walking papers after an arrest on a domestic violence charge. He only had been in the job for two and a half weeks. College Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg says in response, "Head coaches are among the university's most visible representatives and are expected to maintain high standards of personal conduct and to avoid situations that might reflect negatively on the university."

Well, isn't that special? And what a crock.

Tell that to Declan Sullivan.

The 20-year-old Notre Dame student fell to his death filming a practice that coach Brian Kelly conducted in tropical storm winds. No changes were made to the routine, despite the 60 mile per hour winds that Sullivan faced while standing on a hydraulic lift 50 feet from the ground.

Kelly was never held accountable and neither was the athletic director or school president. It was chalked up as an "unfortunate incident." In reality, the Irish could have postponed the practice or moved it indoors. This was negligence at its best. But, the Irish carried on business as usual. They played the next day and the NCAA never batted an eyelash.

December 29, 2009, Texas Tech finally came to a right decision and punted head coach Mike Leach, who had a series of questionable conduct, but his ultimate undoing was locking player Adam James in a shed during a practice.

Then there is Lane Kiffin. He was reprimanded by the SEC for calling out Gators' coach Urban Meyer for recruitment tactics -- this when he was with University of Tennessee. Then after one year with the Volunteers, he jumps ship to go to University of Southern California to replace Pete Carroll. The grass seemed greener, I guess. His likeness still hangs in effigy in Tennessee.

Speaking of breaking contracts, Nick Saban, who after verbally dispelling rumors, insisted he was not leaving the Miami Dolphins (with time left on his contract) and lo and behold, he's coaching University of Alabama.

But with death and physical abuse aside, the poster coach for lack of integrity has to be none other than Bobby Petrino.

With three games still left in the season, less than 24 hours after a blowout loss, Petrino left a note in the player stalls of the Atlanta Falcons' locker room to say he quit. Hours later, the Falcon players watched their ex-head coach calling out "pig suey" at a press conference announcing him as the head coach of University of Arkansas. The move was so distasteful and scorned that even today, broadcasters can barely mention his name without hurling.

So let's not revere these coaches too fast.

A Sports Illustrated story this season exposed the real truth behind the bowl games and who wins financially. Not the colleges -- in many cases, it costs them thousands of dollars out of pocket to send teams to the events. The winners are the sponsors, the host cities, and college coaches. Yes, coaches. Why? Their salary goes up with every bowl game appearance. Most football fans would welcome the end of the bowl system in lieu of a playoff, but the colleges, whether they benefit financially or not, will fight to the death to support it -- for its coaches.

Also note that the NCAA is an institution that penalizes its players for selling personal items or accepts any financial help, while it makes a killing off the backs of the same players. See Reggie Bush giving back his Heisman trophy, although Cam Newton seems to have gotten off scott-free.

Joe Paterno

Urban Meyer

Bobby Bowden

The Legend of Eddie Robinson

More than a legendary college football coach, Eddie Robinson reflected the progress of a nation.

His tenure stretched from the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, to the Korean War, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement, to the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings, women’s liberation, moon landing, the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union, to the age of the Internet.

Some of the elements that draw in fans of college football are tradition, innocence, purity, and big name coaches. The likes of Joe Paterno, Bobbie Bowden, Bo Schembechler, and a handful of others are in a league of their own.

Eddie Robinson is also a member of this exclusive club. However, he didn’t coach a Big 10, SEC, Pac 10, Big 12, or even a WAC team. He coached the Grambling State University Tigers. Chances are the only time you might have seen them on TV would have been during the traditional annual Bayou Classic when Grambling faced Southern University.

But even if you never saw Robinson coach one of his 588 games, you can learn much from this man. At the very least, you will be inspired. The biggest lesson he bestowed was being able to face your fears with courage.

Considering the cultural climate during his upbringing in Jackson, Louisiana, as the son of a sharecropper and domestic worker, Eddie Robinson could never have dreamt there would eventually be a stadium or a prestigious Football Writers of America award named after him.

Fresh out of Leland College, Robinson wasn’t able to find a job in coaching, so he went to work in a Baton Rouge feed mill. A relative helped him find a position with the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, where after an interview with Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, the 22 year old took the reins as the team’s sixth head coach. That team eventually became the Grambling State University Tigers.

Most coaches do more than just coach, but for Robinson at the beginning, he also had to mow and line the football field, direct the girls’ drill team at halftime, and write a recap of the game for reporters. These duties earned him $63.75 a month.

His first season was unimpressive – a 3-5 record. In his second year, the Tigers were undefeated. An interesting fact is that among the university’s male student population, 33 of 57 played football for Robinson.

Coach Robinson became more than just a coach to his players. He was a father figure, a mentor, a friend, and cheerleader. He understood that football was more than just a game. It shaped lives. It gave individuals the discipline they needed to create their own success down the road. Robinson was personally involved with his players and taught them more than just x’s and o’s on the chalkboard.

Some of his players didn’t know how to eat properly with a knife and fork before they met Coach Rob. He taught them that hard work, dedication, and determination pays off and to never give up.

He said, “You have to coach ‘em as though he were the boy who was going to marry your daughter.”

In 1949, he saw one of his players, Paul “Tank” Younger, become the first player from a historically black college sign with an NFL team with the Los Angeles Rams. By the early 1970s, there were 43 former Grambling players attending NFL camps.

Robinson was named the Coach Who Made the Biggest Contribution to College Football in the Past 25 Years in 1966. But one of his biggest highlights was in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. This was a place where blacks were not only unable to play, they couldn’t even watch a game. In a game between Grambling and Southern University, 76,000 came to see them play.

The school had to hire a public relations person to handle the national publicity campaign when Grambling scheduled games against other historically black schools in Yankee Stadium, Rose Bowl, and Los Angeles Coliseum.

Then in Tokyo in 1976 against Morgan State, Grambling played in the first regular season game on foreign soil.

Another proud moment for Coach Rob was January 31, 1988. He was in stands at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego and watched former Grambling quarterback Doug Williams lead the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos. It was the first time a black quarterback played in a Super Bowl. Williams was also given the game’s Most Valuable Player award.

Robinson’s accolades are too numerous to mention, but during his overall record of 408-165-15, he became the winningest coach in college football history until 2003, when John Gagliardi recorded 409 wins for St. John’s, a Division III school in Minnesota. He was the first coach to chalk up 400 wins and guided over 200 players into the NFL.

Because of coach Rob, Grambling State became a nationally recognized power and had only eight losing seasons during his tenure. He won nine National Black College championships, 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, and coached over 4,000 players during his 57 seasons.

Robinson shares his overview of his career, “I guess you could say I’m proud of the fact that I can summarize my life by saying I had one wife and one job.”

Sadly, Robinson reluctantly resigned in 1997. He suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. When he died in April 2007, nearly 6,000 attended his funeral.