RON HAUN wasn't worried about the 12-hour bus ride, or for that matter, the weather. A winter snowstorm was heading toward Colorado, where his No. 1-ranked Ricks College football team plays Friday, but that was no problem. When you live in a place where the temperature drops to 12 degrees in early November, weather isn't all that big an obstacle.
Distracting Haun these days will take more than bad weather. A win against the Air Force junior varsity and a victory in the Real Dairy Bowl will give the Vikings their first-ever NJCAA football title."I'd be less than honest to say it didn't matter," said Haun, who has been the Vikings' head coach for 16 seasons. "Somehow that has eluded us. It's fun to win the league title, but I would like to win a national championship."
If Haun doesn't win the title, that's about all he hasn't done. His teams have won eight conference championships and played in 11 bowl games. Going into this season his 0.796 winning percentage ranked first nationally among active junior college coaches. By comparison, BYU's LaVell Edwards has a 0.743 winning percentage in the same 15-year period.
Consequently, Ricks is a 900-pound junior college football gorilla. In 1990, the Vikings were ranked No. 1 to start the season, but a 7-4 season dropped them out of the rankings by year's end. In 1993, they were ranked first, on a 24-game win streak, before losing to Dixie. Though the Rebels eventually had to forfeit the game, the Vikings had already dropped in the polls and never returned.
In 1994, they finished the season ranked second nationally after going 11-0. In the last 13 years, they've finished the season ranked in the top 10 eight times.
National football acclaim hasn't always been a Ricks entitlement. For most of their history, the Vikings were respectably innocuous. The school was an obscure junior college in an obscure junior town. People wanted to know where Ricks College was and who was this guy named Rick.
The place was remote and cold - not that that part has changed. But playing in a place that can freeze in June isn't all bad. When Ricks played in Phoenix last season, a rainstorm ensued. The Scottsdale players shivered and huddled as though they were stranded on an ice floe. The Ricks players thought they were in a water park. They went on to win 45-9.
"We love to play in Phoenix, but they hate to play up here," Haun said.
Last year Arizona Western tried to turn the weather situation around on the Vikings. Rather than scheduling a game in Yuma at night, the Matadors set up an early afternoon kickoff, when the temperature turned out to be 106 degrees. Ricks went on to win 49-0, anyway.
So it's an all-weather kind of team.
Haun arrived in Rexburg in 1979 after coaching on five state championship teams at Skyline and Murray high schools in Utah. After three seasons as an assistant, he claimed the head job at Ricks. A Utah native, he recruited the area with a passion. Soon he had Ricks looking like the northernmost junior college in Utah. Indeed, when the first two polls of this year came out, Ricks was listed as "Ricks College, Utah."
The emphasis on Wasatch Front players hasn't changed. By league rules, Ricks is restricted to no more than 20 Utah players on the active roster each year, so each year that's what they have. This year's team includes four players from Lehi alone - Cole Cooper, Matt Ekins, Jay Hill and Richard Peterson. The starting quarterback, Greg Robertson, is from Smithfield.
"Utah kids are our strength," Haun said.
In the process, Ricks has become a destination junior college. Cold winds aside, the place can sell. Fifteen to 20 players a year go on to major college programs. "We tell them that this isn't the end of the line," Haun said.
Two of Arizona's starting offensive tackles - Ed Mulitalo and Jose Portilla - played at Ricks, as did BYU's Aaron Roderick, Matt Johnson and Ben Cahoon. Ricks players have matriculated to Stanford, San Jose State, Hawaii, Iowa, Utah State, Missouri, Memphis, Mississippi State, Idaho State, Arkansas and Weber State.
Although last Monday's NFL game was hyped as the matchup of former BYU quarterbacks - Steve Young and Ty Detmer - former Ricks receivers Mark Harris and Greg Clark played for the 49ers, while Patrick Augafa, an ex-Ricks offensive lineman, played for the Eagles. Other Ricks players who have gone on to the NFL include David Dixon (Minnesota), Jason Buck (Cincinnati, Washington) and Tau Pupua (Baltimore).
Hence, the 10-0 Vikings were off and rolling Wednesday afternoon, heading for Colorado with intentions of winning the national title. They left knowing that all that stands in the way is the Air Force JVs and a yet-to-be-named bowl opponent. And knowing that if their biggest problem is the cold, it's all over but the celebrating.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Juco football standings
Team, record
1. Ricks College, Idaho, 10-0
2. Trinity Valley CC, Texas, 10-0
3. Garden City CC, Kans., 10-1
4. Dixie College, 9-2
5. Miss. Delta CC, Miss., 9-1
6. Coffeyville CC, Kans., 9-2
7. Rochester CC, Minn., 10-0
8. Blinn College, Texas, 8-2
9. Snow College, 7-2
10. Rock Valley College, Ill., 7-2
11. Lackawanna JC, Penn., 9-1
12. Hinds CC, MS, 8-2
13. WR Harper College, Ill., 8-2
14. Iowa Central CC, Iowa, 6-2
15. Nassau CC, N.Y., 7-2
Top Junior College Programs of the 90s
(based on final football polls)
1. NE Oklahoma A&M, Okla.
2. Nassau CC, N.Y.
3. College of DuPage, Ill.
4. Ricks College, Idaho
5. Dixie College
6. Garden City CC, Kans.
7. Glendale CC, Ariz.
8. NW Miss. CC, Miss.
9. Ellsworth CC, Iowa
10. Grand Rapids JC, Mich.
11. Coffeyville CC, Kan.
12. Hinds CC, Miss.
13. Blinn CC, Texas
14. Navarro College, Texas
15. Snow College