An old proverb says those who can’t, teach.
Well my friend Ron Zook, I know you just got fired from yourhead-coaching job at Florida, but there’s good news. Thosewho can’t coach, commentate.
Many college coaches have gone from the fiery furnace of thecollege football field to the safe haven of the press box.
Some go back to coaching, but others make a career out of it,and why not?
These expert analysts love to break down plays and second guesstheir former colleagues. They also provide valuable information tothe common spectator with their natural coaching instincts withoutany penalty — no tough questions to answer after the game, noawkward answers and no fear of being clipped.
We have seen three of ESPN’s so-so coaches turnedcommentators in Bill Curry (52-62 at Alabama and Kentucky), BobDavie (35-25 at Notre Dame) and Mike Gottfried (41-35-3 in his lasttwo stints at Kansas and Pittsburgh). Their coaching matches theircommentating — mediocre.
Let’s take a look at Terry Bowden and Lee Corso, who havemade the best transition in this area.
Bowden actually had an unbelievable career at Auburn with a47-17-1 record in a little less than five years. During his firstfour years he led the Tigers to eight wins or more each season,including records of 11-0 in 1993 and 10-3 in 1997.
The old coach ran into some hard times during the 1998 campaign,opening the season with a 1-5 mark. That was enough for the Auburnfaithful, pulling the plug on one of the program’s mostsuccessful coaches.
Since that time, Bowden has anchored ABC’s pregame,halftime and postgame highlight shows. Let’s face it: he wasa heck of a coach, but he’s built for television. I mean thisguy will never slip up and utter one of those words you can’tsay on the air. His father Bobby Bowden, who is also a successfulcoach at Florida State, must have ingrained his famous euphemismsinto Terry’s head — dagnabbit.
Corso may be the most recognized college football commentator.Most of us don’t really know too much about him as a coach,and there’s a reason. He was terrible.
Granted, Corso led the University of Louisville to a 28-11-3record during his four-year reign from 1969 to 1972. But the next10 years at Indiana University proved to be anything but successfulas the Hoosiers had a 41-68-23 mark under Corso.
This is another example of how a bad coach is good for collegefootball entertainment. Corso doesn’t take himself seriouslyand plays to all our passions.
When there’s a heavily favored team, Corso pulls out histwo catch phrases: “Not so fast my friend” and thisgame will be “closer than the experts think.”
And who would want to miss the final segment of Gameday whenCorso dons the head of the mascot he chooses for the game of thelive
setup.
Life is much more interesting with bad football coaches.
Zook you’ve already got a niche. Bring us some of thosenice one-on-one frat boy interviews from the student section. Workyour way up and maybe you can be a Corso one day as well.