Former Oilers' Coach Jerry Glanville: HC @ San Jose State?

[MrMustang1965]

from the Houston Chronicle by Mickey Herskowitz

Just when you think college football can't get any daffier, you note that your old friend Jerry Glanville has announced himself as a candidate for the coaching job at New Mexico State.

Unlike Raymond of the CBS sitcom, almost no one loves the Bowl Championship Series, which thankfully has produced a matchup between the first- and second-ranked teams in the land. Southern Cal and Oklahoma will ring in the New Year on Jan. 4 in a re-enactment of the Dust Bowl.

Meanwhile, as recently as two weeks ago, exit polls showed that several schools had vacancies to fill. Ty Willingham landed in Washington after being fired by Notre Dame, which hired Charlie Weis, a Notre Dame grad who did not play football.

Urban Meyer left Utah for sunny Florida, where Ron Zook had been given the boot, only to resurface at Illinois. Walt Harris quit at Pittsburgh to take the job at Stanford, replacing Buddy Teevens.

You know the turnover is drastic when the coaches have the school logo stenciled on their jackets in chalk.

We are not certain what is going on in New Mexico, whose state bird is the road runner and whose state flower is the yucca. But if that state's Aggies have an itch to shake up their image, create some controversy, keep the media in a lather, have fun and maybe even win some games, the university should hire Glanville, who threw himself into the running for that job and the one at San Jose State.

Seriously. We mean it. Now stop giggling.

Some of you may remember Jerry from his tempestuous four-plus seasons in Houston, where he resigned as coach of the Oilers with a year left on his contract.

He earned a certain notoriety as a coach who dressed in black, his tribute to Johnny Cash; left tickets for Elvis; was scolded on national TV by Steelers coach Chuck Noll; drove a Harley; and came to the job preaching smash-mouth football.

"Tricks are nice for Halloween," Glanville said when he was hired, "but we would rather break your nose."

Then, in a playoff game at Denver, he called an across-the-field lateral on his own goal line, leading to a fumble and a killer loss. He called the play "Stagger Lee," after the rock 'n' roll song.

His contradictions made Glanville a target, but they also made him interesting. His detractors faulted him in his first season for being too conservative.

Jerry never overlooked criticism. The next year against the Colts, the Oilers faced six third-and-longs. He ran each time, and Mike Rozier converted five of them.

The Detroit native returned the team to the playoffs and left with a record of 35-35, far better numbers than many who preceded him. In his first turn as a head coach, nothing became Glanville more than the way in which he left it.

The decision to resign was his own, and you guessed that he wanted to make life easier on his wife and young son and, possibly, Oilers owner Bud Adams. Jerry's early, often zany behavior had been an attempt, he insisted, to take the heat off a team that had floundered in the early 1980s.

His friends, including Adams, had hoped he would modify his act after a year or two of winning. Then he could concentrate on growing with his gifted squad. But the wisecracks, stunts and tendency toward bizarre events were no act. This was really Jerry Glanville. How many coaches do you know who were bitten by a snake on the eve of a game and had to be hospitalized?

The snake lived.

For the benefit of decision makers at New Mexico State, the fact is that Jerry can motivate his forces and has an eye for good people. Two staff members — Nick Saban and Kim Helton — became head coaches.

During the NFL players strike in 1987, Glanville's replacements won two games, and before the kickoff of their third and final appearance, Jerry made a moving speech.

He asked the players to join hands and told them that even though they would never be in the same room again, what they achieved would not be forgotten. Some of the players cried during the national anthem. And then they lost to New England.

"Maybe," Glanville told reporters after the game, "I should have held back a little."

[MrMustang1965]

And then they lost to New England.

"Maybe," Glanville told reporters after the game, "I should have held back a little."