Coaches’ Moods Shift From Buoyant to Blue

Precarious are the fortunes of a small college football team.

Most NCAA Division II schools can afford to give out far less than the 45 football scholarships allowed by NCAA rules, so even coaches of talented teams complain of a lack of depth.

The unexpected arrival of a key player or an injury to a starter often causes such intense mood swings in coaches that a psychologist could label them manic-depressive.

Cal Lutheran Coach Bob Shoup and Sonoma State Coach Tony Kehl, whose teams open the season against each another Saturday in Rohnert Park, Calif., offer testimony.

“I’m feeling buoyant today,” Shoup said.

Offensive tackle Tim McClelland, a two-year Cal Lutheran starter who was going to forgo football this season for a career as a firefighter, registered for school and reported to practice Wednesday for the first time.

“Tim certainly will add some stability to the line,” said Shoup, with a lilt in his voice.

Shoup’s happiness was a shift from his mood a week ago, when any discussion of the offensive line brought tales of woe.

The storm clouds that disappeared from Cal Lutheran apparently have drifted over Sonoma State.

“I feel like someone hit me over the head with a hammer,” Kehl said softly. Nose guard Steve Carr, who Kehl called a “great, great” player, had his knee shattered Tuesday in practice.

“It happened right at the end of the workout. We’re really down,” Kehl said. “If you would have called last week, I’d have said the defensive line was our strength. Not any more.”

Kehl is not optimistic about his team, which finished 2-4 in the Northern California Athletic Conference and 2-8 overall last season. “We’ll take our lumps,” he said. “We’re a little college in a little town.”

Facing a schedule that gets progressively tougher, CLC has a great opportunity to get off to a winning start. In fact, Shoup said a strong performance is crucial.

“We have to beat the Sonomas,” he said, “Because the Portland States and San Luis Obispos are going to be very difficult opponents.”

Cal Lutheran’s five Western Football Conference opponents, including Portland and San Luis Obispo, have many more students than the Thousand Oaks school.

McClelland, a senior, said he received a lukewarm reception from his teammates.

“I got some curious looks at first,” he said. “But when I explained myself, they accepted me. I’ll be paying my dues for missing camp and I want to help the team any way I can.”

McClelland met with the team’s seniors Wednesday evening and explained his absence. “I told them I missed football and wanted to finish my education before returning to the fire service.”

Coach Tom Keele and his Cal State Northridge football team needed a break during their nine-hour bus trip last Friday to Reno, where they faced the Nevada Reno Wolfpack in the season-opener. They found just the spot in tiny Lee Vining, near Mono Lake in the Sierra Nevada.

The Matadors pulled into Lee Vining High, whose football team is coached by Bert Umstead, one of Keele’s assistants at Northridge in 1984. Umstead showed the Matadors to the high school field, and Keele then put them through a one-hour light workout before loading them back onto the bus for the final leg of the trip.

Umstead, two members of the Lee Vining school board and dozens of other Lee Vining residents followed the team to Reno. The one-hour break and their new-found fans didn’t do the Matadors much good: They were walloped by the Wolfpack, 56-12.

Starting quarterback Chris Parker was the only CSUN casualty in the Reno game. He suffered a bruised left knee and a bruised shoulder, but began working out again this week. The Matadors, who have an open date on their schedule Saturday, resume against St. Mary’s on Sept. 21.