BYU'S COACHING STAFF is the Rolling Stones of college football. They keep turning out hits, despite their graying hair, growing paunches and the occasional complaints that they're behind the times. In a profession that tends to foster youth and staff divorce, they are an anomaly. Coaching staffs are not supposed to last longer than a Larry King marriage.
But there they are. BYU's coaches have endured wishbones, flexbones, shotguns, Veers, run-and-shoots and all the other changes on the gridiron landscape. Offensive fads come and go, but they don't. They've coached together so long they can coach in their sleep, a fact confirmed by the boss's trademark sideline posture - arms folded, chin in chest, and motionless.LaVell Edwards has been at BYU 36 seasons, the last 25 as head coach. Norm Chow has logged 20 seasons. Roger French, 17. Chris Pella, the new kid, 12. Lance Reynolds, 15. Tom Ramage, 25. Ken Schmidt, 16.
Stated tactfully, they are mature beyond their peers. Their ages are, in order, 65, 51, 63, 54, 43, 62, 55 (or an average of 56). They almost have enough grandchildren to field two complete football teams.
The BYU staff would be even more mature if it hadn't lost two mainstays in the last few years - Dick Felt was forced to take an administrative position because of health problems after 27 years at Edwards' side, and Mel Olson took a teaching position after 20 years on the staff.
The Geezer Club has coached about 141 years at BYU, combined. That adds up to about 15,000 practices. Bottom line: They've probably got this coaching routine down by now. When something goes wrong, they yawn - and fix it the way they always have.
They've done it all, seen it all. Season after season, they have taken raw and increasingly disparate groups of youths and sculpted another team. Kids with tatoos, kids with bell bottoms, kids with earrings and missionary kids, from the hippie generation to Generation X, from Tongans on the islands to blacks in the cities - they've coached them all, and the results have usually been the same: a conference championship (18 and counting).
These guys have been together at BYU so long they're coaching the sons of players they used to coach and hiring their former players (Robbie Bosco, Brian Mitchell) as coaches. The only thing no one can understand is how this new guy, Barry Lamb, broke into the inner circle four years ago. The Geezer Club is harder to crack than Augusta National. Nobody ever goes anywhere; there are No Vacancies.
This is almost unheard of in the coaching biz. Usually two things happen to coaching staffs. Either they lose, and they're fired and scattered to jobs at other schools, or they win and take promotions and raises elsewhere. Coaches are to schools what cabinet members are to Bill Clinton. They come and go. Only goat herders are more nomadic.
A couple of years ago there was talk of breaking them up in the wake of a rare stretch of mediocrity - namely 8-5, 6-6 and 7-4 seasons (thanks to them, this passes for mediocrity at BYU these days). The new athletic director, Rondo Fehlberg, came to town talking about the need for new blood. The Grandpas in the football office shrugged and produced a sterling 14-1 season last year, which ended with a Cotton Bowl victory.
You never hear any of that new-blood talk anymore. But you will the next time the Cougars hit a dull stretch, however short it is.
"If we're winning, it's because we're mature," Edwards likes to say. "If we're losing, it's because the game has passed us by. That idea of new blood is overrated. The key is what the old blood's doing. Every year our old blood has gone out and spent a lot of time with other staffs to stay on the cutting edge. We've gone to Florida, Alabama, Michigan, to clinics, to pro camps. It's not like we're locked into the same stuff. It looks like we're doing the same thing all the time, but there are always subtle changes."
Every one of BYU's coaches have had several chances to leave Provo and take jobs for more money and perhaps more prestige. Every season one or more of them receives an offer or two from name schools. Last year Chow was courted by Arkansas.
Edwards himself nearly left about 10 years ago, and then who knows where they would all be now. He had always thought the one thing that could entice him to leave Provo was an NFL job, and then it came. The Detroit Lions made him an offer he almost couldn't refuse - a head coaching position for seven figures. But he quickly realized, just as his assistants had for years, that quality of life and raising a family in Provo easily beat money and fame. Edwards' ego was small enough that he could pass on that.
"There have been very few people here who didn't want to stay if they could," says Edwards. "That's just the charm of the place."
Of course Edwards and his assistants never would have had the choice of staying if they hadn't consistently produced winners (no losing season in 24 years). After that, they had only to decide what they wanted. "Now would be the time normally for me to leave, but I don't because of these other things," says Reynolds.
Things like Provo's small-town, family oriented community; shared religious affiliation; stability for their families; winning; the type of kids they got to work with at BYU.
But to a man, the assistant coaches say that the biggest reason they stayed was Edwards. A master of delegation, he lets his assistants do their job with little interference, without peering over their shoulders or counting their hours, and he creates an atmosphere of stability and security. His mild, warm temperament is also something they can get used to.
Even after all these years together, they all love the old man. In this case, familiarity has bred sheer admiration. To wit:
"It's because of LaVell," says Ramage of his reasons for staying. "He's great to work for."
"I work for a good guy," says Chow. "Why would I want to move? He leaves me alone and lets me coach."
"The head guy is very wise," says Reynolds. "I'm sure he has to bite his tongue sometimes. If he has something to say, he says it, but he doesn't embarrass you. He brings you in his office. He treats you with respect."
"You won't find a better guy to work for," says Schmidt.
Says Felt: "I never worried about my position at BYU; that's the way LaVell is. You had that trust. In talking to other coaches, you don't have that other places; you're always looking over your shoulder."
So the Geezer Club presses on, a little grayer, a little wiser, each season counting the wins - and the grandkids.
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Additional Information
Cougar coaching consistency
Seasons
Coach Age at BYU Job Description
LaVell Edwards 65 36 Head coach (25 years)
Norm Chow 51 20 Offensive coordinator
Roger French 63 17 Offensive coordinator/line
Chris Pella 54 12 Recruiting coor., kickers, tight ends
Lance Reynolds 43 15 Running backs
Tom Ramage 62 25 Defensive line, special teams> Ken Schmidt 55 16 Defensive coordinator/linebackers