Seven months later, the firing of Tom Landry really comes into focus this week. Before Coach Jimmy Johnson and the Dallas Cowboys play at New Orleans Sunday, the other people affected by the trickle-down of Dallas owner Jerry Jones' move will take their new teams into big games.
Saturday afternoon, Dennis Erickson takes Miami to Wisconsin for a network TV game. Thursday night, Mike Price brings Washington State to Provo to play BYU on national cable TV. Saturday night, Dave Arslanian and Weber State open the season at Nevada-Las Vegas.And Saturday afternoon in Sioux Falls, S.D., defensive coordinator Merle Johnson and the Bemidji State Beavers face Augustana College.
When Arslanian moved up from his offensive coordinator's position to replace Price at Weber, he came up with a great line: "I never dreamed it would take the firing of Tom Landry for Dave Arslanian to become head football coach at Weber State."
In coaching, the sporting version of the political spoils system, the cycle just keeps going beyond the head coaches.
You get a job, you take your people with you.
Johnson took six Miami assistants to Dallas. Erickson took six WSU assistants to Miami. Price took four assistants from Ogden to Pullman, Wash. Weber State slowed the merry-go-ground by naming an insider, but Arslanian, too, had openings to fill. One of his moves was hiring Mark Brady, the defensive coordinator at Bemidji State, as his secondary coach.
Which, of course, left a vacancy at Bemidji, a Division II school in Minnesota.
Strangely enough, Merle Johnson was living in the Dallas Metroplex when Landry was fired. A graduate assistant at Texas Christian, the 33-year-old Johnson was in his first of two scheduled years at the Fort Worth school and not really looking for full-time work. When the dominoes started falling last spring, though, Johnson decided to take a job while it was available.
So this week, while the Bemidji Beavers prepare for their opener at Augustana, Johnson can thank Mark Brady for giving him an opening. And Brady can thank Dave Arslanian, who can thank Mike Price, who can thank Dennis Erickson, who can thank Jimmy Johnson.
Said Merle Johnson, "It kind of goes in circles, doesn't it?"
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THE GAMBLER: Chuck Stobart, never known for taking risks during his coaching days at Utah, delivered at least one surprise in his first game at Memphis State - Stobart's first as a head coach since the 1984 Utah-BYU game.
To open the second half against Mississippi, Stobart ordered an onside kick which the Tigers recovered, leading to a field goal. Still, Memphis was not quite able to recover from a two-touchdown deficit, throwing two incompletions in the end zone on the last drive in a 20-13 loss.
Stobart is using the Southern Cal I-formation offense, partly because there was no time to change the Memphis system after he arrived in June. Against Ole Miss, the Tigers passed 20 times and ran 49 times for 230 yards.
Stobart, the offensive coordinator at Pitt, Arizona and USC since leaving Utah, could be in line for his first win this week when the Tigers host Arkansas State. If not, he could be in for a long September. After that, Memphis plays at Alabama, Florida and Vanderbilt.
The big news is, Memphis drew 59,795 for the opener. Of the fans, Mark McClellan of the MSU sports information office says, "They realize this could be a long year, coming in at the time he did and losing key players, but he seems to be pretty popular, especially with the boosters and alumni."
Just like at Utah, right?
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BIG PLANS: Never accuse athletic officials at New Mexico of not considering all the possibilities.
In a management meeting last week, this subject actually came up: What to do about protecting the goalposts, in the event the Lobos upset BYU.
No matter that the Lobos had lost 65-0 to the Cougars last October and were 29-point underdogs in this season's opener. Sure enough, New Mexico inspired thoughts of an upset by leading 3-0 at halftime and still trailing by only 7-3 before a 97-yard interception return resulted in a 14-point swing.
With that, the goalpost issue became meaningless for at least another week, or year, or decade. By the way, the official decision was made not to protect the goalposts, but let them be torn down.