He Controls What He Can : Ross Works Long Hours Minding Every Detail

It’s time for vacation, but Coach Bobby Ross is alone in his office reviewing the Chargers’ playbook. He wrote it, knows it better than anyone else, but still he finds it fascinating reading.

“I really kind of enjoy it,” he said. “I just want to make sure it’s all in place. . . . Look at this, we agreed we would call this nickel front a certain way and we started to call it that in the playbook, but then changed.”

The Chargers have not played a game under his direction yet, but it’s already become evident that his Chargers will leave nothing to chance. If there is fine print, he has read it. If there are schedules to be met, each player and staff member will receive a copy in triplicate. If there is a question to be asked, he has prepared an answer.

Although he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery recently, he personally timed how long it will take his players to walk from meals to meeting rooms to the practice field at the Chargers’ camp at UC San Diego.

“Ten minutes the long way from the dorms to the field,” he said. “Eleven from the meeting rooms. Two-and-a-half from the mess hall to the meeting rooms.”

Details. Details.

Ask him about James Fuller and, while you may say, “Who?” he will turn to the list posted on the wall and explain that the rookie safety is away at school. Press him, and he might be able to tell you Fuller’s hourly class schedule.

Nothing to chance. One draft choice, who failed to report on time for voluntary workouts this week, had an “It wasn’t my fault” excuse ready for Ross. The rookie will learn. Ross had checked with the airline in preparation for the rookie’s late arrival, and he knew the player had changed the ticket to buy more time at home.

Details. Details.

He already has given thought to how the Chargers will conduct themselves on the road.

“I can assure you we won’t be wearing Bermuda shorts,” he said. “We will do certain things, and the players may or may not like it. But we’ll do it, and if they don’t, they will get fined.

“I always give the players the opportunity to express their opinions. I recall when I first went to Maryland someone immediately put up their hand, and said, ‘Yeah, I take issue with that.’ I said, ‘Well, you’re entitled to your opinion,’ and then we moved on and didn’t change.

“Listen, I know how kids watch and respect athletes, and I want the youngsters to see the good in players and relate to it.”

He has a file on his desk crammed full of practice schedules and team guidelines, which include procedures for dealing with reporters, steroids, gambling, equipment, training room behavior, training camp meals and postseason financial rewards. Each subject has been addressed in his writing. Now you know how he has been spending his Saturdays the past five months.

“No one is here,” he said, “and I can get a lot done.”

His assistant coaches and players have departed San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium in favor of rest and relaxation until after July 4, but he has stayed behind to study the Washington Redskins.

“You can see there,” he said, pointing to a stack of yellow notebook paper. “I’ve broken down five of their games. Their system is similar to ours and I thought they did some things within the system that were pretty good, and so obviously I tried to copy some of the things they have done.

“I’m not an innovator. I think if a person has a good idea, why not emulate it? The Redskins were extremely well prepared. I think the things they do are a little bit beyond what we do here. But that’s because they have players who have been in that system for some time. I think Dan (Henning) saw that and did not feel like he could take these guys and do the same things, particularly with John (Friesz) playing quarterback.

“I would have done pretty much the same thing. But I’m hopeful now that we can go to another level. I think John is ready to do that.”

The fans might wince, but Ross said he has kept Henning’s offensive system nearly intact. He said he has done so to not confuse Friesz, and therefore speed up his development.

“Dan brought the system in and we’ve pretty much kept it,” Ross said. “We’ve also brought in some two-back stuff and we will have different packages of players. We’ll probably move Ronnie Harmon around a little more, and a lot depends on how Rod Bernstine does.”

The long hours have served Ross well. He has watched his team on videotape. He has called the players to his office one by one. He has been on the field with most of them for almost 50 practices.

“I think I know my team,” he said. “I’m not looking at us to go to the Super Bowl, but I would hope that there might be a break or two and we would have a legitimate chance at the playoffs.”

Ross has known success. He won a national championship as head coach at Georgia Tech, and now he stands undefeated in the NFL.

“I swear in all honesty I haven’t seen that much difference in being a college head coach and a head coach in the pros,” he said. “The biggest change is still the fact that some players were not here for practice. I find that the most difficult thing to accept and understand.

“I’m not going to carry it over into my associations with my players. It’s a hard thing to do, but I’ve been told by a number of people to not let that become a factor. I’m not going to shun my players or let it affect my decisions.”

He says that, but then he relates a telling story about his days with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“My first year coaching the running backs in Kansas City our top two guys, Ted McKnight and Tony Reed, were holdouts,” Ross said. “We just went on and, when they came back, I had no problems with them.”

He had no problems with them, but he started rookie Joe Delaney in their place.

Ross also regards his football team as a family, but several of his unsigned players ignored both his written and personal requests to join workouts in recent weeks.

Ross still has not seen linebacker Leslie O’Neal on the field. He caught a glimpse of Bernstine, but then Bernstine disappeared. Tackle Broderick Thompson has been a no-show at practices. So has nose tackle Joe Phillips.

Linebacker Gary Plummer is unsigned, but he has caught Ross’s attention with his dedication. So have Friesz and guard David Richards. If first impressions count for anything, there are some players who will need to spruce up their relationship with the new head coach.

“I can’t say that Leslie O’Neal is a great athlete until I see him,” Ross said. “I can tell you this: I think Junior Seau is a great athlete. I think Stanley Richard is a great athlete. I think Marion Butts is a great athlete. I think Anthony Miller and Shawn Jefferson are great athletes.

“I’m anxious to see Leslie. All the things that I have been told about him have been positive as a player. I’m anxious to see how he will fit in, but there’s no doubt in my mind, initially he’s going to be behind.”

Ross has even graver concerns about Bernstine’s missed practice time.

“Rod has more to learn than Leslie,” Ross said. “We see Leslie as a defensive end and that’s a relatively simple position.

“Offensively, the most difficult position we have is (H-back). And Bernstine plays both running back and (H-back). There’s a lot to be learned. I don’t know how well he’s comprehending that. I have no idea because he has not been here. I know how Derrick Walker does, and he does it incredibly well.”

The Chargers open training camp July 15 at UC San Diego, and Ross said he is ready. But he is apprehensive about all his players being there.

“It’s a real battle,” Ross said. “I can’t see what’s going on with both sides. I can’t see the value of letting it go beyond the opening of camp.”

So it goes in the NFL. The Chargers still have 27 players unsigned.

“I talk to Bobby every couple of days about it,” General Manager Bobby Beathard said. “At first, Bobby thought it was maybe him. ‘Is this all directed at me?’ I said, ‘No, it’s not directed at you at all. This is just the way it is.’

“I would love to see all these guys excited about Bobby and his staff, and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to come in anyway.’ But that’s not the way today’s athlete is.

“The thing I don’t want to happen is I don’t want Bobby to think that we’re being stingy here and delaying the signings because we don’t want to pay anything. That’s not the case. We haven’t even spoken to half of these guys.”

Explain that to Ross. He’s pouring over a playbook on a fine sunny day with training camp just weeks away and, in some cases, unsigned players and management have yet to discuss money.

“I’ve seen it (Ross’ frustration),” Beathard said. “Sometimes we’d be at practice and he just couldn’t imagine why some of these guys wouldn’t be out there. But there have been a lot of changes since Bobby was in the NFL (as an assistant coach with the Chiefs from 1978-1981) in that area with the agents and the players.”

Beathard is as eager as Ross to get to work in training camp. But his task is to operate within a budget and maintain order.

“It would be great to have all the players here so the new staff could get off on the right foot,” Beathard said. “You look at the guys who didn’t participate in the off-season things here on the field and then you look at the Redskins. Look at what the Redskins have accomplished and I guess, because of their desire to do it again, their unsigned veterans came in and participated in the off-season camp. That was probably the most disappointing thing to see here. Some of the guys have not been exposed to this new system at all.”

Beathard said the team is close to reaching an agreement with cornerback Marquez Pope, a second-round pick, but he acknowledged that several veterans have refused to open negotiations until the trial in Minneapolis between the players and management has been resolved.

Ross, therefore, finds himself prefacing his optimistic remarks about his team with “if all players are here. . . .”

He said he has high hopes for his developing offensive line, but he noted that five of his offensive linemen remain unsigned. He said he knows he has one of the best groups of running backs in the game, but Bernstine must catch up. All of his key receivers are under contract, but he conceded they might very well be this team’s Achilles’ heel.

“When I studied the Redskins, they had some drops too,” he said. “But they got some remarkable plays out of their wide receivers. For us to really get better and improve offensively, we’ve got to get our wide receivers more into the action.

“I’m saying that Friesz will get better. I’m assuming that. That may not happen and, if it doesn’t, we’re going to struggle. There is a lot resting on his shoulders, but he should progress.”

If he signs a contract in time to report to training camp. . . .

“To me the biggest question marks are here on defense,” Ross said. “I think we have improved ourselves defensively, but I still worry about us a little bit in the secondary. On each corner, that’s where I worry about us.”

The Chargers finished 4-12 last season, but is this a 4-12 team?

“It’s a team that’s capable of being competitive,” Ross said. “I think there are three categories of teams in the league. There are maybe three or four teams in that top echelon and three to four in the bottom, who are really struggling. They didn’t play as competitively as San Diego.

“San Diego is in there with those other 20 teams. Eleven of our 16 games were decided in the final two minutes last year. There is something that needs to happen there. I don’t know whether it’s the development of certain players, the replacing of certain players or whether it’s something intangible. Maybe it’s a team cohesiveness or just a grittiness as a team.”

With that in mind, Ross put together highlights of the Redskins at play and highlights of the Chargers at work and then showed them to his players.

“I think there needs to be a lift in emotion in our program,” Ross said. “If we were world champions, that might be OK, but we’re not. I pointed this out to our players. There was a huge difference in the response of enthusiasm after a good play by the Redskins and after a good play by San Diego. It was like business as usual for San Diego.

“I want our players to know I’m going to be enthusiastic. If a guy comes off the field after making a damn good play, I’m going to pat him on the back. I may even high-five him if he wants to do that.”

Ross is ready to deliver a whole lot of high-fives, but the man who wants to leave nothing to chance is left to wonder who will or will not be there for the opening of training camp.