He answered the phone on the first ring.
"Football office," said the voice in rapid-fire fashion. "Coach Fassel speaking."
And for an instant it was 1985 again. Same optimistic tone, same busy cadence. Part friendly California dude, part pitchman.
But this time it wasn't Jim Fassel, the onetime Utah football coach. It was his son, John.
Don't look now, but time is sailing past. Jim Fassel is a grandfather, as well as coach of the New York Giants. John is a head coach, too.
The University of Utah and Jim Fassel have gone their separate ways, but both have prospered. Utah has a driven young coach, committed to long hours and a novel offensive attack. Sound familiar? Fassel was that, too. But he was fired at Utah after five seasons and a 25-33 record. That proved no hindrance; he went on to lead the Giants to the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, John grew up, played college football at Pacific and Weber State, and this year landed his first head coaching job. John coaches the New Mexico Highlands Cowboys, an NCAA Division II team that had lost 11 straight games going into Saturday's contest against Eastern New Mexico.
Like his father, 18 years ago, he too has a program to turn around.
Jim still wakes at 5:15 every morning to coach the Giants. Years of long hours have set his body clock accordingly; he doesn't even use an alarm. John wakes at that time, too. By 6 a.m. he's at school studying film while players lift weights. He doesn't get home until 10 or 10:30 at night.
"I've been around that kind of schedule my whole life," said the younger Fassel. "In bed at 11 and up at 5. It's what we lived."
On a small college coach's salary, that figures out to a lot of hours for the money.
"My dad always said to have fun and make sure your kids (players) have fun," continued Fassel. "That's what he does, even in the pro ranks.
He said you get into football because you love it. You don't do anything for the money. If you do things for the money, eventually you might make money but not enjoy it. You do it because it makes you happy and makes it fun for the kids. That's what I remember he would say."
Having fun when you're losing, though, is like enjoying the beach while you're getting a sunburn. Hence, his mission to get NMHU back on track. It didn't begin smoothly. The Division II Cowboys played Division I-AA Northern Colorado in the opener and lost 72-13. That's something his father experienced, too. In Jim's second season at Utah his team lost 64-6 at Ohio State and 52-7 at Arizona State.
John spent 2002 as the Cowboys' quarterbacks and receivers coach. Prior to that, he was a receivers coach at Bucknell and in 2000 was an assistant coach for the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe. The difference between the two Fassels is that Jim's first head coaching job was in Salt Lake, a top-35 market, at a Division I-A school. John is in Las Vegas, N.M. — which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the other Las Vegas.
It has 17,000 people, two movie theaters (but each has only one screen) and a lot of Mexican restaurants. It is a town that at varying times hosted Teddy Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, Kit Carson, Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid.
Situated at the base of the Rockies, Las Vegas is nearly 6,500 feet above sea level.
John Fassel teaches three to six credits each semester in classes such as "The Psychology of Coaching" and statistics. Unmarried, he eats dinner at the school cafeteria most nights. If he gets hungry for home cooking, he raids the stash of cookies his mother sends from New York.
"She told me to make sure to eat good and get enough sleep. Every night I go to the cafeteria and eat my green beans for Mom," he said.
"Right now I have three dozen monster cookies in my office that she sent me. I have them at the foot of my desk. But I have to hide them."
Lack of movie theaters, however, is a minor inconvenience. Who has time for movies when you're working 18 hours a day? He loves it all — the outdoor recreation, the teaching classes, the coaching, the bonding with players, the butterflies. Although he grew up in the Bay area, Salt Lake, Denver and New York, he even loves the small town feel.
"I've liked everywhere I've lived," he said.
His eventual goal is to coach with his dad, though he admits he isn't ready yet to work at that level. So he rises before sunrise and goes to work. Same job as his dad. Just different places and paychecks.
He talks football with the Giants coach at least twice a week.
"I just pick his brain and it helps me out," said John. "But we spend a lot of time leaving recordings on the message machines."
Like father, like son.
No time to lose on either end.
E-mail: rock@desnews.com