Former SMU, UNT and IA great, Hayden Fry, & the "Bell Cow"

[Water Pony]

WSJ: Iowa: The Harvard of Coaching

How Hawkeye Great Hayden Fry Raised a Bumper Crop of Coaches; The 'Bell Cow' Theory

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... mMTIPOFF_h

[redpony]

Nice story. I always liked Hayden when he was at SMU. IIRC he just seemed to have a knack for rubbing some of the major alums the wrong way.

GO PONIES!!!

[smuuth]

Which alumns? Was it the ones wanting to cheat? So because he "rubbed" some alums the wrong way SMU lost out on a Hall of Fame coach who was the grandfather of 16 division 1 coaches. SMU is just geting back to a little respectability after 48 years! Wow...would be interesting to hear the real story so mistakes like this that affect football programs for 50 years don't happen again. Of course the fans at NTSU, Iowa, Kansas State, Wisconsin, South Florida, OU, Iowa State, etc are eternally grateful to those alums rubbed the wrong way!

[redpony]

Perhaps you didn't read the part that stated that I had always liked HF. I was sorry to see him go.
No need to rant at me.

GO PONIES!!!

[PonyPlayer4]

Fry is a legend at the University of Iowa. Don't know much about his SMU days.

[PonyKai]

Didn't we fire him because he couldn't beat Virginia Tech- or at least lost to them- long before Beamer came along and they were basically a body bag game?

[Dutch]

Fry is a legend at the University of Iowa. Don't know much about his SMU days.

he had the visitors locker room painted completely pink. floors, benches, lockers, fixtures, ceiling.

[rich59]

It was decided to fire Fry after the season of 1971. At that time he had had two winning records in ten years. The powers that be did not want to fire him while Willis Tate was still president so they decided to fire him after the 72 season and Tate had retired. One of Fry's failings was that he seldom let his assistants do their jobs without interference from him. After 1971, he hired Bum Philips to handle defense and let him coach. SMU lost to Virginia Tech up there when VT was nobody on a questionable offensive sideline call from Fry. That loss likely cost SMU a bowl bid that might have saved Fry's job.

Fry did have a facility for hiring good assistants at SMU and later but he was not universally liked and respected by the assistants at SMU. As usual what something looks like on the surface is not always true.

[mrydel]

I played for Hayden and he is one of my favorite people in the world. He needed to go as much for his sake and health as SMU needed a new direction. Hayden being fired was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. He renewed his energy and his focus on his strengths in coaching. I truly believe he would have had a heart attack or stroke had he remained. You had to be with him behind the scenes to see the stress he was under. The move to NTSU was a reawakening of a great offensive mind and revival of his career.

I also was with Dave Smith of whom I thought the world. He was, however, in hind sight, the wrong selection for head coach.

[Topper]

I played for Hayden and he is one of my favorite people in the world. He needed to go as much for his sake and health as SMU needed a new direction. Hayden being fired was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. He renewed his energy and his focus on his strengths in coaching. I truly believe he would have had a heart attack or stroke had he remained. You had to be with him behind the scenes to see the stress he was under. The move to NTSU was a reawakening of a great offensive mind and revival of his career.

I also was with Dave Smith of whom I thought the world. He was, however, in hind sight, the wrong selection for head coach.

Hayden told my Dad that one day the school wanted to give him a raise and a new automobile and the next day told him that he was fired. Said he was completely blindsided. There was a group of very influential alums who were close to [deleted] Davis and were enamored with Dave Smith. Maybe they just saw a chance to bring in Smith and decided to hire him before someone else snapped him up. He was a bit of a hot commodity at the time. I think Smith was a sad story. A good coach and a good guy who got caught up in a witch hunt for doing what everyone else was doing. Maybe less corrupt than a certain school down I 35.

[rich59]

Myrdel, I believe you are on target with your post. As for other issues let me assure youall that when it was decided to fire Fry, Dave Smith was not in the conversation. I believe that he was still in Canada with Winnipeg at the end of the 71 season. He then got the job at Ok State and had a good season there in 1972 which made him attractive for the job at SMU and of course he was well known. He stepped into a situation that was almost no win at SMU. Perhaps he was not cut out to be a HC but he was a fine man and a fine coach. None of what I am saying is second hand!

Sometimes a man must suffer a real setback so that he reexamines himself and comes back a better man. Maybe that is what happened to Fry.

[Topper]

Myrdel, I believe you are on target with your post. As for other issues let me assure youall that when it was decided to fire Fry, Dave Smith was not in the conversation. I believe that he was still in Canada with Winnipeg at the end of the 71 season. He then got the job at Ok State and had a good season there in 1972 which made him attractive for the job at SMU and of course he was well known. He stepped into a situation that was almost no win at SMU. Perhaps he was not cut out to be a HC but he was a fine man and a fine coach. None of what I am saying is second hand!

Sometimes a man must suffer a real setback so that he reexamines himself and comes back a better man. Maybe that is what happened to Fry.

He came in and had three winning seasons after installing the option offense. There were some fine players on those teams, but they didn't have much depth. I enjoyed watching them and I even liked the Ohio State style uniforms although I know I am in the minority on that issue. It was ball control offense all the way, and I think that given the lack of depth on defense, it was the reason he turned Fry's teams into winners.

[rich59]

Dave Smith was one of the few SMU coaches to have an overall winning record, barely. I too liked the uniforms. I thought he would be a real winner at SMU. As an assistant coach I believe that he was well liked by the players. That is how I got to know him, when he first started coaching. He had a big influence on me. There were a lot of issues which turned things sour at SMU, some of which were caused by the ill feeling left after Fry's firing. In 1971, when the powers that be decided to fire him, some of the younger but lighter weight (financially) guys tried to warn the others that Fry had a lot of quality players coming back and a favorable schedule which he might do well at and make it difficult to fire him. Sure enough that is what happened. I know that some of the players left over from the Fry era were bitter and that worked against Dave. Interestingly, I believe that Dave had a lot more loyalty from his assistants than Fry had. Dave had very strong feelings of loyalty for SMU until the day he died. That was a little amazing to me for I felt that he was treated badly by SMU.

[Topper]

Dave Smith was one of the few SMU coaches to have an overall winning record, barely. I too liked the uniforms. I thought he would be a real winner at SMU. As an assistant coach I believe that he was well liked by the players. That is how I got to know him, when he first started coaching. He had a big influence on me. There were a lot of issues which turned things sour at SMU, some of which were caused by the ill feeling left after Fry's firing. In 1971, when the powers that be decided to fire him, some of the younger but lighter weight (financially) guys tried to warn the others that Fry had a lot of quality players coming back and a favorable schedule which he might do well at and make it difficult to fire him. Sure enough that is what happened. I know that some of the players left over from the Fry era were bitter and that worked against Dave. Interestingly, I believe that Dave had a lot more loyalty from his assistants than Fry had. Dave had very strong feelings of loyalty for SMU until the day he died. That was a little amazing to me for I felt that he was treated badly by SMU.

I remember a reporter from the Dallas Times Herald who dug up most of the dirt on SMU during those years came to speak to my journalism class. He bad mouthed Smith and drew a lot of comparisons between the Washington Post bringing down Nixon and the Times Herald bringing down Dave Smith and [deleted] Davis. The reporter was a pompous tool.