BRIGHAM YOUNG'S 30-17 win over Penn State last Saturday continued to inch LaVell Edwards, the Cougars' head coach, to the 200-win plateau. Edwards now has 188 career wins with either three of four games yet to play this season, depending on whether the Cougars get to their 15th straight bowl game.
Edwards began the 1992 season, his 21st as BYU's head coach, in the No. 39 position on the list of major college coaches with the most wins. The Cougars' second win of the year, over Utah State, moved him into the No. 38 spot, ahead of former Texas coach Darrell Royal, and the Cougars' third win, over Fresno State, got him into the No. 37 spot, ahead of John Heisman, the coach for whom the trophy was named.Three more wins will get Edwards past the 190 barrier and former Mississippi coach John Vaught. It's possible that could happen this year and put him within reach of 200 next year.
All this, even if Edwards isn't aware of the fact.
"People keep talking about 200 wins," says the coach. "But it's like retirement, I really don't think about it."
INSIDE MAN: The recent election of Salt Lake Bid Committee chairman Tom Welch to the United States Olympic Committee's executive board gives Utah a voice on the inside of the USOC. And after a couple of weeks on the inside looking out, Welch reports that Utah's stock with the USOC is healthier than ever.
"It's clear we have become an institution of value to them," said Welch. "We're not just a bid city anymore. We're working on a two-way street. Their commitment to us goes far beyond the Olympic Games. With the facilities we're putting in place, the Olympics pales compared to what we can be to the USOC and to the country as a center of excellence for winter sports for years to come. That's what I'm seeing."
Welch's term is for four years, and could be extended beyond that. The job has prestige but pays the same as the bid committee chairmanship - zero. "I'm finding work," said Welch, "I'm just not finding anything that pays."
PIVOTAL LOSS: An era will end Friday night when the Utah Jazz open the season in the Delta Center and Mark Eaton won't be jumping for the ball at tip-off. Eaton has been an opening-night starter for the past nine seasons straight, from 1983-84 through 1991-92. But rehabilitation from knee surgery will keep him out of the first few games this season.
Of the rehab, which is being supervised by physical therapist Marc Larson in Park City, Eaton said, "It's going well. We're working in the pool now and I should be jogging on it next week. It's been frustrating, but by the same token you have to realize these things happen when you get older. I've got to take care of my body."
Eaton remembers his first start nine seasons ago. "That was my second year and the beginning of the first Cinderella season for me," he said. "That's the year we went on and won the division."
Although he will open the season on injured reserve, Eaton's still in better shape, employment-wise, than the teammates who opened the '83-84 season beside him. Adrian Dantley, John Drew, Darrell Griffith and Rickey Green, all of them now out of the NBA.
ADD EDWARDS: Whatever the significance of 200 victories, if and/or when the Cougar coach gets there he'll join a rare club. To date, only six coaches in more than 100 years of major college history have won 200 games at the same school. They include Amos Alonzo Stagg at Chicago, Bear Bryant at Alabama, Joe Paterno at Penn State, Woody Hayes at Ohio State, Jake Gaither at Florida A&M, and Vince Dooley at Georgia.
ADD WELCH: The Bid Committee chairman thinks the election of LeRoy Walker as the USOC President means a big boost for Salt Lake's chances for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
"It's not so much that he's the first black man to be president, but that he's a man who has proven himself as a sportsman in every sense of the word for the last 60 years," said Welch of the former athlete, coach and USOC board member. "Internationally, he'll be very well received. I'm looking forward to making our official bid presentation with LeRoy standing right there, supporting our candidacy."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Detroit Tigers manager Sparky Anderson on Toronto, the city of the World Series champion Blue Jays: "Toronto's just like Detroit or Cleveland or Chicago or all the other American cities. The only difference is that it's cleaner and maybe smells a little better."