07 Issues: Passing of an Important Generation

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Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles is expected to step down this week. His departure is yet another symbol of the passing of one of college football's greatest generations, the great coaches who presided over the game from 1960 or so until the mid to late 1970's. Broyles coached the Razorbacks from 1958 to 1976 helping them win a championship and competing nationally in a great era against powers like Alabama, USC, Notre Dame and Michigan.

Another giant of his time has left us in the mortal sense: Bo Schembechler. Schembechler coached Michigan from 1969 to 1989 becoming the face of the program until his death just before the Michigan/Ohio State game last year.

The only giants of that era still with us are Broyles, former Texas coach Darrell Royal (1957-1976) and former Notre Dame coach Ara Paraseghian (1964-1974).

Among the magnificent but dead is Alabama's Bear Bryant (1958-1982) who retired at the end of the 1982 season and promptly checked out of mortal existence. Ohio State's Woody Hayes (1951-1978) hung around until his death in 1987. Nebraska's Bob Devaney (1962-1972) checked out in 1997 and USC's comedic John McKay (1960-1975) lasted a little longer, passing away in 2001.

All those giants left the coaching ranks long ago, but each stewarded elite programs for a decade or more. To this day most of them remain the standard for which current coaches aspire to at each of their programs. Schembechler's death and Broyles' departure signal the end of their collective direct involvement in the college game.

As that great generation fades further into memory we must now also begin to take stock of the succeeding generation of coaches. I'm talking about guys like Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, John Robinson, Vince Dooley, Don James, Hayden Fry, Pat Dye, Lou Holtz, Lavell Edwards and Barry Switzer here.

They are the ones who were the game's caretakes from the mid to late 1970's until the late 1980's, an era of great transition and upheaval due to parity measures such as scholarship limits, the completion of racial integration and the rapid and dramatic death of plodding, run-heavy conventional offenses such as USC's "Student Body Right/Student Body Left" approach.

We'll save that analysis for another day, another time. Until then it's one final embrace of perhaps college football's "greatest generation" of coaches. Thanks for the memories, fellas.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-20-2007 @ 10:08AM

Steven said...

You did NOT just put Lou Holtz in the same category as Vince Dooley...

2-20-2007 @ 11:06AM

Ryan Ferguson said...

Nice post.

2-20-2007 @ 12:33PM

James said...

I agree with Steven. Lou Holt isn't a great coach. He couldn't cut it in the SEC.

He won at ND because they have hand picked schedules.

2-20-2007 @ 12:47PM

Brian said...

I'm talking about late 70's to late 80's Lou Holtz.

Say what you want but the man won a championship and did two great rebuilding jobs within a decade and was peaking right at the end of that particular era of the game with some superb Notre Dame teams in 88-93 or so.

He is part of that generation's cadre of highly notable coaches.

2-20-2007 @ 4:54PM

Gamecock Man said...

Lou Holtz was a great coach at one time. While his legacy has been tainted by his geriatric ESPN commentary, his Arkansas and ND teams were a force to be reckoned with. ND under Holtz was not like the ND of today. The person who accused them of hand-picking their schedule must have forgotten the year they beat Florida State in a No. 1 vs 2 regular season matchup. They should have won the MNC that year (them or the on-probation Auburn team that was actually undefeated but couldn't play in the postseason), but the voters robbed them. A year or two before, I think, they beat
one of Spurrier's SEC champion teams in the Sugar Bowl.

And I hate saying this, but you shouldn't fault the guy for not "cutting it" in the SEC. South Carolina isn't exactly one of conference's elite programs. And Holtz did take them from 0-11 in his first year to 9-3 a couple of years later. They beat Ohio State in the Outback Bowl in two consecutive years. That's all pretty good for the Gamecocks: the 9 wins is USC's second best season ever (they went 10-2 one year in the early 80s), and Holtz accounts for 2 of their 5 all-time bowl victories. And for what it's worth, Spurrier has yet to reach the 9 victory mark, although I think he will, eventually. Is Spurrier not great?

2-22-2007 @ 1:32PM

jake said...

I have to agree with Brian,i think holtz needs to be in there.I really do like what you wrote Brian so what im saying { GOOD JOB }

2-22-2007 @ 3:12PM

Thank you, Jake.

2-23-2007 @ 1:32PM

Mike said...

If I recall correctly Notre Dame (under Holtz) always had one of the top 5 toughest schedules year-in, year-out. Two or three times they were determined by the NCAA to have the toughest schedule, that includes 1988 when they defeated the Big 10, Pac 10, Big East Champs, and Miami.

2-24-2007 @ 5:05AM

Forrest said...

After reading "Under the Tarnished Dome ", i lost a lot of respect for ND and Lou Holtz.

2-24-2007 @ 6:36AM

Todd Morris said...

No question but that Holtz has been one of the greats. He can't be judged by a mid level performance at South Carolina. They were much better when he left than when he came. Look at is records at NC State, Arkansas, and Notre Dame. If you still say he doesn't belong, you've shown your own lack of football knowledge.

2-24-2007 @ 10:42AM

Clyde said...

I believe Don Nehlen should be included in that list of top notch coaches. He is in the College Football Hall of Fame and had 202 D-1A wins.

2-24-2007 @ 4:26PM

well if you add don nehlen lets not leave out another great one Shug Jordan

2-24-2007 @ 4:58PM

Rick said...

I'm having a little trouble figuring out why JoePA is considered "second generation". Is it that he's still alive, or that he's still coaching?

2-25-2007 @ 9:22PM

Rob said...

Coach Holtz was a successful coach in that era, but did not sustain success at the same school for an extended period of time. He was a rebuilder not someone who could maintain success, all others mentioned and Gen Neyland had success, championships, and legacy's at their respected schools, Matter of fact you can't mention their names without the thought of their schools coming to mind. Notre dame didn't name anything after Lou. He's not even in the top five coach's in that schools history.

2-26-2007 @ 8:38AM

Dan Kaiser said...

God Bless Woody Hayes

2-27-2007 @ 12:23PM

john maguire said...

Joe Paterno second generation?? What are you basing this on????? The man has been around since 1966 as a head coach....he was a contemporary of all you "first generation" coaches.

2-27-2007 @ 1:14PM

Yes but Joe was making his biggest impact on the college game in that next era.

Yes he's been around forever but he didn't impact the early 60's to late 70's in anywhere near the fashion of Bryant, McKay, Broyles etc.

2-28-2007 @ 7:01PM