College Football : Eddie Robinson Says He Had the Best Teacher

With Grambling’s Eddie Robinson in position to pass Bear Bryant as the college football coach with the most victories, some people contend that there should be an asterisk attached. Bryant probably would not have been among them.

If Grambling beats Prairie View A&M; tonight at the Cotton Bowl, as the Tigers are expected to do, it will be Robinson’s 324th victory. Bryant retired with 323.

All of Bryant’s wins were earned in Division I-A. Grambling plays in Division I-AA. Some people want to distinguish between the coaches’ records.

But at a press conference here this week, Robinson said Bryant would have wanted him to have the record. Robinson told of the time he received the Distinguished American award in Memphis.

“Somebody else was supposed to give it to me, and his name was on the program,” he said. “But Coach Bryant made the decision nobody else could make the presentation but him.”

Robinson and Bryant were close. Bryant spoke at a Grambling athletic banquet. Robinson conducted football clinics at Alabama. He wired or telephoned Bryant after the Bear had passed Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg in the record books.

“Coach Bryant was to me and football what John Wayne was to the movies,” Robinson said. “He was the man, and everybody knew that.

“I’ve always been inspired by the deeds of other coaches, and Coach Bryant has accomplished the most. I’ve been the luckiest man in the world to be able to rub shoulders with Coach Bryant and other great coaches. I was stealing while doing some research on them.”

Robinson got his 323rd victory last Saturday at the expense of Oregon State Coach Dave Kragthorpe’s rebuilding program. The Beavers won their first two games but will carry a 2-2 record into today’s game against USC at the Coliseum.

Oregon State had a miserable night in Shreveport, La. Southwestern Athletic Conference officials, who regularly work Grambling games, walked off 159 yards in penalties against the Beavers.

Also, quarterback Erik Wilhelm injured his knee on the last play of the third quarter and is out for the season.

Besides losing the game and their quarterback, the Beavers also lost money. The game attracted only 13,336 fans to the Independence Bowl. Oregon State’s share of gate receipts didn’t cover traveling expenses.

Robinson will break Bryant’s record less than three years after the Alabama coach’s retirement. Robinson’s record is destined to last a great deal longer.

The only other active coach with more than 200 victories is John Gagliardi of St. John’s in Minnesota. He had 231 victories before this season, all in Division III.

The leader among active coaches in Division I-A is Michigan’s Bo Schembechler, who will go for his 190th victory today. Penn State’s Joe Paterno has 180.

But neither is expected to continue on the sidelines long enough to break the record, particularly since Robinson plans to coach for four more seasons.

Among the younger Division I-A coaches who have a chance at the record are Nebraska’s Tom Osborne and Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer. Today is Switzer’ 48th birthday. Osborne also is 48.

Osborne has 120 victories, four more than Switzer. Both have been head coaches for 12 seasons.

If they continue to win at their current rates, they can catch Robinson before they hit 70. It’s doubtful, though, that either plans to coach that much longer.

Osborne had open-heart surgery early last year and probably will become Nebraska’s athletic director within the next few years.

Switzer has become wealthy in outside business interests, mostly oil-related, and probably will retire from coaching while he is still young enough to enjoy his money.

Stanford Coach Jack Elway admitted that he cost the Cardinal a chance to beat Texas last Saturday.

Elway’s team fell behind, 24-3, in the first half. But after he made a blocking adjustment to keep Texas’ defensive linemen off quarterback John Paye, the Cardinal was virtually unstoppable.

Passing for 365 yards and three touchdowns, Paye brought Stanford back to take a 34-31 lead in the fourth quarter. With two minutes remaining, the Cardinal was trailing, 38-34, but had a first down at the Texas 42.

Elway then stunned everyone by calling four straight running plays, even though the Cardinal had less than 80 yards rushing to that point.

On fourth-and-two from the 34, fullback Brad Muster was thrown for a three-yard loss. Texas took possession and ran out the clock.

“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t do it that way,” Elway said. “I’d go to the short passing game.

“The last play was really the wrong play. We didn’t have a chance. As soon as the ball was snapped, I knew we weren’t going to make it.

“I wanted the first down. Then we were going to worry about scoring. I would love to do it all over again.”

College Notes Tulane Coach Mack Brown, his team off to an 0-4 start, said: “I called Dial-a-Prayer, and they hung up on me. They told me they were going to do a commemorative stamp of me, but they had to scrap that idea. They were afraid people would spit on the wrong side.” Brown will never get respect if he continues to steal Rodney Dangerfield’s jokes. . . . The Green Wave today will play 1-3 Vanderbilt, whose coach, George MacIntyre, may be out of a job if his team loses to Tulane. “If what I do isn’t good enough to keep my job, then somebody else can have the job,” he told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. . . .

If Indiana beats Northwestern today, it will be the first time the Hoosiers have started a season 4-0 in 100 years. . . . The Big Ten has four other undefeated teams, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin. Against outside competition this season, the Big Ten is 24-6. . . . After playing only one game, Oklahoma’s starting backfield is already depleted. Starting running backs Spencer Tillman and Earl Johnson are both sidelined. Johnson is out for the season with a knee injury. Tillman is out indefinitely with a groin injury.