European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 8, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday. November8, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 25 old coaches keep winning formulas by Dave Goldberg a football writer one mid season awards list made Dick Macpherson the 61-year-old Rookie coach of the new England patriots the coach of the year because he had a team that was 1-15 last season at 3-5. Another gave it to Cleveland s 38-year-old Bill Belichick who had a 3-13 team at 4-4. Trendy but what about the three Good old Well Middle aged Guys a Joe Gibbs Dan Reeves and Mike Ditka All they be done in a Little More than Hall a season is direct Washington Denver and Chicago to a combined Mark of 23-4. But they re overlooked because they be been doing it for a decade a lifetime in this Era of coaching. Only the elder statesmen a Don Shula Chuck Noll and Chuck Knox a have been around longer and two other coaching stars of the past decade a Bill Walsh and Bill Parcells a have retired to the television Booth. Not these three even though Ditka Star of soup commercials and other ventures would seem to be a natural for the tube. A i done to even think about stepping Down a says Reeves who was just 46 last season when he had to leave training Camp to undergo treatment for a heart problem. A i know what else to do. In a not sure i could Deal with and Why should he Reeves took Over the Broncos in 1981, the same year Gibbs went to Washington. Since then he a taken Denver to three super bowls and has a career record of 103-68-1. That a Good but not As Good As Gibbs or Ditka. Including their 9-0 Start this season the redskins Are 122-55 under Gibbs including two wins in three super bowl appearances. Dan Reeves his .663 winning percentage is the fourth Best Ever among coaches with 100 or More victories a behind George Halas George Allen and Shula. And who a fifth none other than Mike Ditka. In a decade with the bears a year less than Reeves and Gibbs have put in he s 103-53, or .656. A people Lake him for granted a defensive tackle Steve Mcmichael says. A they done to remember that before he got Here the bears had just one winning season since 1963. That s 1963&Quot indeed. Like Reeves Ditka has had heart problems a a heart attack in 1988, when he was 48. But he was Back on the sidelines two weeks later in Washington. A year later Chicago fell to 6-10, Dit kans Only losing season since his first. They started 4-0, lost several key players to injuries and lost 10 of their last 12 games. A we stink. We wont win another game All season a Ditka said at one Point with typical brusque Ness. True to his word they did t. But losing Only made coaching a bigger Challenge and Ditka returned to Lead the bears to an 11-5 Mark last year. This season they re 7-2 and on track for their seventh pfc Central title in eight years. Reeves who like Ditka coached under Tom Landry in Dallas has had his problems too. Last season after their third super bowl she lacking in four years an embarrassing 55-10 loss to san Francisco the Broncos fell to 5-11. This year the injured players got better Reeves drafted a Well and Denver leads in the acc West at 7-2. In part that a because of an easy schedule a result of last seasons misfortunes but its also due to Reeves who is flexible enough to deviate from conventional Wisdom to let John Elway Call his own plays. Then there a Gibbs perhaps the Best coach in the nil Over the past decade. He won super bowls in 1982 and 1987 and in 1983 lost to the los Angeles raiders with perhaps his Best team. Now he seems headed Back again with Joe Gibbs has his Washington redskins cruising comfortably at 9-0 this season. File a team that a had four different quarterbacks since Joe Theismann a career was ended by injury in 1985. The current one is Mark Rypien but the reason Washington remains on top is the games Best offensive line a one that s allowed Only four sacks All season a and a rebuilt defense. There s also a rebuilt Gibbs who admits that the pressure from his unbeaten record often gets to him. Still he a loosened up from the time he worked 18 hours a Day six Days a week and often slept in his office from sunday night through thursday. A a in a having As much fun As a coach can have a Gibbs said after the redskins overtime win Over Houston sunday. Ditka and Reeves would say the same. Just ask them. Smart jocks get revenge on the Gridiron _. A. A i t a i i. _ a a i Mattil in Tho Plueck Annm by Jeff Shain Dpi sports writer suddenly its not athletic suicide to be a football player or coach at an academic institution. As recently As a few years ago it was easy to track the football prowess of schools such As Northwestern Vanderbilt and Rice a just look at the Bottom of the conference standings. But no longer. Stanford is 5-3 and in the running for a possible bowl berth. Vanderbilt has won three straight games and could be .500 in november for the first time since 1984. Duke was 4-1-1 before losing last week to Georgia tech. Rice knocked Baylor from the ranks of the unbeaten. Even Northwestern which Lai cd to win More than one game in a season for a stretch of six years in the late 1970s and Early 80s, has won Back to Back contests for the first Lime in five years. What a happening Here has revenge of the nerds finally reached the Gridiron ? a your academic cutoff May be higher but we can recruit like anybody else a Vanderbilt coach Gerry i Nard snid. A there used to be a time when football excellence and academic excellence weren to incompatible. Schools such As Yale Dartmouth Fordham Cornell and even Carnegie tech dotted both the ratings and the All America lists with regularity. But that was Back in the Days when helmets were leather and the Forward pass was a measure of last resort when the army Navy game really meant something. The Ivy league was King now it does t even qualify for division 1-a status. Tver since the Advent of scholarships football has belonged to the big state institutions that could draw bom a wide Range of the populace and did t have to worry about test scores to land that big running Back born last Deadwood. Lets face it its a lot less difficult to find a player who can run a 4.4 in the 40-Yard dash and hit like a train if you done to have to worry about his ability to interpret the theory of perpetual motion. So As Nebraska Ohio state Oklahoma Penn state and other state universities began to dominate the National scene the private academic institutions had a hard time keeping up As did the military academics. A a you re Hilling the name of the game a said Navy coach George Chaump who along with army a Bob Sutton and air forces Fisher Deberry probably has to Deal with the most stringent Entrance requirements of All a you have to get the players in school. There a a lot of unequal. When you have schools with academic Dii Ferencis sometimes you get unfair Battles. Rice once a Power in the Southwest con Erenee has t had a winning season since 1961. Northwestern s last winning season was 1971 and the wildcats have had Only two since 1963. Take away Vanderbilt s Hall of Fame bowl season of 1982 and the commodores Haven to produced a football Winner since 1975. In fact it was Only two years ago that the three schools managed three victories Between them. Northwestern was 0-11 in 1989, while Vanderbilt went la it and Rice 2-8-1. Then there was 1979, when each school went 1-10. It. Only Stanford has avoided a Long term drought thanks in part to such coaches As John Ralston and Bill Walsh and quarterbacks like Jim Plunkett and John Elway. But even the Cardinal had Only one winning season in the last 10 years. As the losses kept piling up. The notion that you cannot win in today s game with players who devote As much Lime to boning up on Homework As they do to the Wishbone became More prevalent. Perhaps dispelling that theory is the greatest achievement behind the no wound resurgence of the academic schools. Coaches Francis Pheuy of Northwestern Fred Goldsmith of Rice Dennis Green of Stanford Barry Wilson of Duke and Donardo have begun to convince kids that it is possible to win both on the playing Field and in the classroom. A for too Long players at Vanderbilt Laboured under the Assumption that they win in the Southeastern conference and that As much As anything else reflected in their performance a said Dinardo Colorado a offensive coordinator during its Rise to prominence. Quot i believe there Are enough 18-year-Olds out there who can compete in the Sec and in our As Long As the players continue to believe those schools will be Able to attract some of the top notch Talent that can qualify under their academic guidelines. With All the conference hopping that s going on maybe the academic institutions could Rente their own league. Already Many of them have each Oiler on their non conference schedule. A proposed league consisting of Stanford. Duke Northwestern Vanderbilt. Rice and the three military academics received surprising support from some of the coaches w to would be involved. A i wish we had a conference like that is Here everybody had an academic oriented background and played each other Quot Deberry said. A Why Don t you propose it and Well jump into it Quot Chaump called the proposal Quot a Hack of a Good idea. You could Call it the academic Green w to also has coached at Noi the Estoni also was in favor of the idea but was a Little More pragmatic about its chances. Quot there should be an academic league and 1 think that s something that has been considered before Quot he said. A it could very Well take place but you will nol get the same kind of Money from to and howl games. We use that funding to fund the rest of our Alhi Tiv departments. We need to play the Alabama and Michigan a 1o get a big paycheck. The sharing of to Revenue and bowl Revenue can support All the other that a too bad. In these Days of Reform among the nations athletic departments the academic 10 would i Model for Csc room to aspire to
