Stolz’s Finale for SDSU Arrives a Decade Early
This day has come 10 years before Denny Stolz dreamed it would. It is the day he must walk away from San Diego State and, perhaps, college football.
He never planned it to end this way. He never thought he would go out in disgrace--fired by the same school that 2 years earlier had rewarded him with an extended contract after his first season produced SDSU’s only Western Athletic Conference championship.
But here it must end. Stolz was told so Monday morning.
He will hold the title of coach until Al Luginbill takes over Wednesday, but this job effectively will end with the last play today against New Mexico. A coach is not a coach if he has no games to play and no players.
“That is the saddest part,” said Steve Devine, who has coached the offensive line for Stolz at SDSU and, before that, Bowling Green. “To realize that this might be the last game he coaches for long, long time--maybe forever.”
Stolz started coaching 33 years ago on a high school sideline in Haslett, Mich. He went on to Alma College, then Michigan State, Bowling Green and now SDSU. He is 54, turned that the day after the Aztecs beat Air Force Sept. 11 for their first victory over the Falcons in 8 years.
It is an awkward age to think about starting over.
“The truth is, that has crossed my mind,” Stolz said. “This very easily could be the last game I coach in this or any other capacity.”
He couldn’t have been forced to do it in a more dreary setting against a more undistinguished opponent.
Snow flurries and gusting winds greeted the Aztecs Friday afternoon. Similar weather is expected today, and that can only hold down what was expected to be a crowd of no more than 7,000 anyway. It should make New Mexico’s 30,646-capacity University Stadium, which stands on an open patch of desert on the outskirts of the city, feel like little more than a Dust Bowl occupied by two teams that have four victories between them.
This will be far from the cheering crowds Stolz was used to at Michigan State in the early 1970s, or the one that rooted the Aztecs to a victory over Brigham Young and their first WAC title 2 years ago at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
But no matter the surroundings, the emotions figure to be strong.
“I don’t think anyone realizes the relationship between a player and a coach,” Stolz said. “It’s a very special relationship. . . . Young players are tied to their staffs. They almost idolize their position coaches.”
For many, and certainly for Stolz, that relationship will be forever altered after today. But nothing can completely sever those ties.
“They can take the team away from me, but you don’t have to disassociate from them,” Stolz said. “These are kids we recruited, kids we lived with for 2 years. They are close to us, and we are close to them. We are going to follow their careers, watch them play and mature. They are going to win a lot of ballgames.
“The thing about this whole mess that bothers me the most is to be taken away from a bunch of young guys who are going to be very talented.
“I don’t care about the money or the ego or the prestige. All I care about is we brought these guys in here; we had to put up with the roster problems and depth problems. We got our face kicked in for a couple of years at times and now to not be able to have them for the good times, that’s hard to take.”
Stolz figured he, too, would mature with this program. They would grow older together, winning along the way. He said he made this commitment after the 1986 season, when the Aztecs won the WAC title, and he was being lured to replace Larry Smith at Arizona.
The Aztecs and community improved Stolz’s financial package and added a year to his contract, carrying him through 1991. Stolz reacted by building a new home and giving thought to retiring in San Diego. He plans to move into the home next month. The rest is more uncertain, his future colored by the 7-15 record of the last 2 seasons.
“I made a commitment to San Diego State to stay here, and that has never changed,” Stolz said. “This is where I wanted to stay. This is where I wanted to finish. That is different now.”
This is not the first time Stolz has had to walk away from a program before he was ready.
He left Michigan State prematurely, forced to resign in March 1976 in the wake of a recruiting scandal that landed the school on probation. He left Michigan State with a 19-13-1 record in 3 seasons, departing as he is this time, just 2 years after earning conference coach of the year honors.
The Michigan State job was Stolz’s dream. He was born in Lansing and was an assistant under Duffy Daugherty. To leave in disgrace hurt deeply. He spent a year out of coaching before taking over at Bowling Green.
In the Mid-American Conference, he coached deep in the shadow of the Big 10. His teams struggled through 5 non-winning seasons before Stolz came across a freshman quarterback named Brian McClure.
McClure would become the second quarterback in major-college history to pass for more than 10,000 yards and led Bowling Green to 4 consecutive winning seasons. That success brought Stolz to SDSU’s attention and his appointment in December 1985 as the school’s 12th football coach was something of a rebirth.
He was back on television, back in a bowl game, back in a world of big-time college football that he was forced to leave after the mistakes of Michigan State.
“That is why I was so proud they chose me for this job, so proud when we won it for them and they rewarded me with with a nice 5-year contract,” Stolz said. “In professional and personal terms, I really felt wanted again. I came through for them, and they came through for me. It was a good marriage.”
All that is left now is to set the terms for divorce. Stolz has 3 years remaining on a contract that this year pays him a base salary of $62,500. Athletic Director Fred Miller has said Stolz will be assigned another job in the university. Stolz has made no definitive statements about his plans.
“I would be less than candid to say I haven’t thought about my future, but I’m not in a panic situation,” Stolz said. “I am in no hurry and most likely will stay right here.”
That way, Stolz figures to be able to keep an eye on a team that he will have trouble walking away from without pain. Ask him a question this week, and invariably the answer came back to his disappointment at having to leave with his work incomplete but much of the talent in place.
“It’s like any good program, you just can’t run out there and win,” Stolz said. “You have to build it. And I can damn well guarantee you, the foundation is pretty good.”
What success those players may have is out of Stolz’s control. All he can do is look back on what he has accomplished with some pride.
No matter what else is said about his brief tenure with the Aztecs, Stolz will always be known as the coach who won the school’s first WAC title. And until someone else comes along who can do it again, it is the only one.
The Aztecs will be playing a team with the worst defense in the country when they conclude their season today (11 a.m. PST) at New Mexico.
New Mexico (2-9, 1-6 in WAC) is last in country in scoring defense, allowing an average 45.5 points per game. But the Lobos are coming off a 24-23 victory against Colorado State last Saturday, their first in nine games and the first WAC victory for second-year coach Mike Sheppard.
The Aztecs (2-8, 2-5) will be trying to end a 6-game road losing streak and send Stolz out a winner.
With little else at stake, the Aztec effort might be geared to help senior tailback Paul Hewitt break the school career scoring record and become the first player in school history to twice rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
Hewitt needs 6 points to equal Art Preston’s school record of 204 points set in 1949-51 and 85 yards to reach 1,000 yards for the season. Hewitt rushed for 1,001 last year to become the sixth Aztec to reach that level.
The Aztec defense will be without its two ends that started last week at Texas El Paso. Pio Sagapolutele is out after spraining a knee against the Miners, and Bob Graff did not make the trip after spraining his knee in a motorcycle accident Monday. They will be replaced by juniors Milt Wilson and Jason Swaney.