rich59 wrote:It is absolutely not true that Broyles was considered for the job when Rusty Russell got it. It is true that Broyles was in the running when Meek was hired.
Of course I was prejudiced because Dave Smith and I were good friends but I liked the uniforms he picked. He was kind of ahead of his times in making drastic changes in uniforms from old traditional ones. I like the old traditional ones like the New York Giants wear.
Dave Smith was ahead of the times? Dave wasn't even up-to-date! Our first indication that Smith was the wrong man was that he snuck out of Junction back in 1954 (or maybe that he chose A&M in the first place).
Bum Phillips had a burr haircut, wore cowboy shirts and talked like a Port Neches roustabout, that's not SMU. Dave Smith wore cardigan sweaters and paid for tackles THAT"S SMU!
HADEN FRY had the same problem at SMU most every other coach (until Ron Myer) had - recruiting. However, Haden Fry was a football genus. Because of the above, he had relative small but quick (offensive and defensive) lines. So he had his defensive line moving continuously. It looked like the linebackers played off of the linemen alinement when the ball was snapped - blitzing, filling and so on off of the linemen positions. I've never seen anything as dramatic. It was very confusing for the offensive linemen to know who to pick up and which way to block. It was equally confusing to the running backs and quarterback.
As a matter of fact, when I was in high school I sometimes used a simplified version of his stratagy in my working relationship with the linebacker on my side of the defensive line. If there was a slow lineman on our side I would often start moving and the linebacker would cover. (Thanks Hayden)
Unless I am mistaken, Dave Smith did not "sneak" out of Junction. He was there for most of the camp but it was clear that he did not fit into Bryant's plans for a QB that could be a runner first as well as throw. Dave was not a running QB. I believe that Dave Smith was the one who stood up to Bryant and the trainer and got his friend from Lockhart to a clinic to be treated for heat stroke and possibly saved his life. Furthermore, Dave must have been well thought of by Gill Steinke or he would not have gotten the job at A&I. Steinke turned out to be one of the most successful coaches in Texas college history.
I was joking when I said that he was ahead of his time on uniforms. I think his motivation for the Ohio State "look" was to try and change the team's attitude. I have never known any coach who coached with Dave or any player who was coached by him when he was an assistant who did not think highly of him. He was a good man!
jpe747 wrote:HADEN FRY had the same problem at SMU most every other coach (until Ron Myer) had - recruiting. However, Haden Fry was a football genus. Because of the above, he had relative small but quick (offensive and defensive) lines. So he had his defensive line moving continuously. It looked like the linebackers played off of the linemen alinement when the ball was snapped - blitzing, filling and so on off of the linemen positions. I've never seen anything as dramatic. It was very confusing for the offensive linemen to know who to pick up and which way to block. It was equally confusing to the running backs and quarterback.
As a matter of fact, when I was in high school I sometimes used a simplified version of his stratagy in my working relationship with the linebacker on my side of the defensive line. If there was a slow lineman on our side I would often start moving and the linebacker would cover. (Thanks Hayden)
It was called the Jitterbug Defense. My high school football coach told us about it and incorporated an aspect or two of it into our scheme. We used a stand-up nose guard who would move side to side over the center and shoot the open gap. A middle LB would fire into the opposite gap in a Y-stunt or a twist, very effective tactic.
Fry knew how to offset his own weaknesses tactically. When he got to Iowa he had the resources to go toe-to-toe on an even keel and he showed what a good coach he was, bringing Iowa back from a long drought.
jpe747 wrote:HADEN FRY had the same problem at SMU most every other coach (until Ron Myer) had - recruiting. However, Haden Fry was a football genus. Because of the above, he had relative small but quick (offensive and defensive) lines. So he had his defensive line moving continuously. It looked like the linebackers played off of the linemen alinement when the ball was snapped - blitzing, filling and so on off of the linemen positions. I've never seen anything as dramatic. It was very confusing for the offensive linemen to know who to pick up and which way to block. It was equally confusing to the running backs and quarterback.
As a matter of fact, when I was in high school I sometimes used a simplified version of his stratagy in my working relationship with the linebacker on my side of the defensive line. If there was a slow lineman on our side I would often start moving and the linebacker would cover. (Thanks Hayden)
I am not sure Hayden was a football genius, but a very good coach. As I recall Hayden was highly regarded for his pre-game preparations and generated much team morale. Problem was that he was not a particularly good game coach. During the period 1963-70 I am aware of a number of serious in-game coaching mistakes covering the full spectrum from clock management, extra points, time outs...etc. It must also be remembered during this period that he was a young coach and still learning his profession.
Hayden (like Ron Meyer) ALWAYS returned his phone calls and answered his mail. It didn't matter if you were a big contributor or just a small fish like me, he responded promptly and courteously. Great guys!
Fry was quite a talker and perhaps his best effort as head coach was luring good assistant coaches to SMU. He seemed to have that same facility at later jobs at N Texas and Iowa. His problem at SMU was that he often had difficulty taking advice from his assistants. I remember that Fry did not like to scrimmage his number one defense against his number one offense for fear of injuries and perhaps because he was afraid his offense would get intimidated. I believe that it was the spring of 1966 when his defensive coordinator, Glen Gossett and offensive line coach, Dave Smith finally convinced Fry to let the numbers ones go at it. They got after it in scrimmage with Glen and Dave actually having a shouting match about whether it was first down or not. There were more scrimmages like that and SMU won the SWC that fall.
rich59 wrote:Fry was quite a talker and perhaps his best effort as head coach was luring good assistant coaches to SMU. He seemed to have that same facility at later jobs at N Texas and Iowa. His problem at SMU was that he often had difficulty taking advice from his assistants. I remember that Fry did not like to scrimmage his number one defense against his number one offense for fear of injuries and perhaps because he was afraid his offense would get intimidated. I believe that it was the spring of 1966 when his defensive coordinator, Glen Gossett and offensive line coach, Dave Smith finally convinced Fry to let the numbers ones go at it. They got after it in scrimmage with Glen and Dave actually having a shouting match about whether it was first down or not. There were more scrimmages like that and SMU won the SWC that fall.
There were also some fights that broke out among players and they stayed mad at each other for long periods of time.
SMU Cyclist - So sorry I mispelled a word. Nonetheless, Hayden Fry was a special man and coach. I was fortunate to have crossed his path. He remains one of my stars.
The story I've heard is that Hayden Fry was fired because he ran over a woman's little poodle while backing out of her next door neighbor's driveway on Beverly Drive early one Sunday morning. The next door neighbor was Hayden's girlfriend he was spending the night with. The woman that owned the dog was a high up member of a prominent SMU Board, maybe the Board of Trustees, I don't recall. She was so upset about the poodle that she wielded enough influence within the powers that be to have him canned. I remember us beating TCU after the firing in Fry's final game to go 7-4.
WildBillPony wrote:The story I've heard is that Hayden Fry was fired because he ran over a woman's little poodle while backing out of her next door neighbor's driveway on Beverly Drive early one Sunday morning. The next door neighbor was Hayden's girlfriend he was spending the night with. The woman that owned the dog was a high up member of a prominent SMU Board, maybe the Board of Trustees, I don't recall. She was so upset about the poodle that she wielded enough influence within the powers that be to have him canned. I remember us beating TCU after the firing in Fry's final game to go 7-4.
Someone has quite an imagination. Fry was fired because after ten years he only had two winning records. It was decided to terminate him at the end of the 1971 season but since Willis Tate was retiring it was recided to wait until the new president was in office and fire him after the 72 season.
