Oct. 17, 2006
by Rod Williamson
Bobby Johnson stood on a chair surrounded by jubilant Commodores minutes after Vanderbilt had spoiled Georgia’s Homecoming weekend. He bore evidence of a Gatorade dousing.
After addressing his troops, it was time to award the game ball to a deserving hero. He chose to award two with coordinators Bruce Fowler and Ted Cain the recipients to the enthusiastic approval of their foot soldiers.
This is now a program that has three signature victories in 13 months – road kills at Arkansas, Tennessee and now Between the Hedges. That’s more convincing evidence of progress if anyone still needs it.
It’s almost comical to realize the obvious – better players make better coaches. This is Year 5 of the Bobby Johnson Era. Outsiders wondered what headway, if any, was being accomplished during those painful first seasons when this staff inherited a cupboard that was lacking in Southeastern Conference gridiron talent.
As any hard-earned success nearly always appears, lots of midnight oil and some outstanding work in our strength and conditioning center make these `Dores seem to be overnight sensations. It’s been a long but steady grind toward respectability – not the decades some of our fans have experienced but when you are running wind springs in 90-degree heat, who checks a calendar?
Nobody is saying our football program has arrived, lock, stock and barrel. Certainly Coach Johnson isn’t making any wild claims. At his Monday press conference, he said “there are always many corners to turn in the SEC” and that our program’s success will always be a work in progress. In other words, don’t expect any let-up in intensity.
However the time has come for some things to be questioned. Let’s talk about one of the biggest myths in college athletics – those rankings the recruiting services proclaim at the conclusion of each signing day.
For years “experts” have automatically rated Vanderbilt at or near the bottom of their SEC class rankings. When your program is down in the dumps, you can get a commitment from, say, a three-star high school star but by the time he signs his John Hancock, he has mysteriously been downgraded to a one or two-star prospect. Fewer things carry less weight to knowledgeable coaches than a recruiting service’s rankings of a given prospect.
If you buy into these rankings, please explain why is it that the talent margin between Vanderbilt and the rest of the league appears to have narrowed?
There could be several possible reasons. Either our coaches are vastly better than their counterparts, our talent level is a heck of a lot better than gurus realized or our on-campus support system is doing a terrific job.
I think the answer is a bit of all of the above. Some of the best coaches in collegiate football reside in the Southeastern Conference so I don’t think it’s a case of “our guy” being so much wiser than his counterparts, many of whom have every advantage that a huge budget, great tradition and fabulous facilities can produce.
But, if I was in charge of writing SEC payroll checks, I am thinking I am getting a LOT more for my money with Bobby than some of these other storied programs are getting from their coaches. Bobby hopped into a Ford Focus five years ago and right now has it running on the lead lap with the Indy cars. Darn few coaches can do that.
We are blessed with excellent recruiters and teachers. They are good people, solid citizens, to begin with and they create a favorable impression when they hit the trail. They are savvy, expert at evaluating how a kid might project out several years down the line. We obviously recruited some pretty good football players in those trying early years. They are playing some of these five and four star recruiting flashes to a standstill.
We’ve had some coaches in the past that privately doubted a prideful program was possible unless the University reinvented itself, which will never happen. There are scads of coaches across the country that still think that way, that academic integrity and gridiron glory are polar opposites.
However, Bobby is one of a number of very successful head coaches in McGugin Center who want to be at Vanderbilt. They understand when you target the right potential student-athletes about the opportunity to attend a Top 20 University, play SEC competition and live in the great city of Nashville that it becomes a distinct advantage, not a disadvantage.
How will we do this week…or the week after that? I don’t know. But what I have realized is that the evolving trademark of Bobby Johnson’s Vanderbilt teams is that they show up ready to play hard-nosed football and that they are exciting to watch.
If you don’t have season tickets, we have just teamed with the top-rated sports talk station 104.5 The Zone to introduce a great mini-package for our last three home games with South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee and also have included the attractive Georgetown men’s basketball ticket – all for just $104. Don’t get stuck missing another memorable game because you weren’t on hand to witness it – decide now you want to buy into the rising stock of the Vanderbilt Commodores.
A signature victory produces many post-game stories and we hear them from all corners of our Commodore Nation. Here are a couple of heart-felt gems from last weekend.
“…my son, Martin, who graduated from Vanderbilt in May, was at the game with some Vanderbilt buddies. While I was watching at home, he would periodically call after Vanderbilt made a score, as if he were trying to reassure me that this was not just a dream. After the Georgia interception and then the shanked punt, I was prepared for the normal depression that follows a valiant effort that always comes up short. Then when Vanderbilt made that beautiful drive from its 20 yard line, culminating in the field goal, Martin called and said, “Dad, this is the happiest day of my life!”
“…They deserved that win Saturday. I found myself in a Home Depot and my son called from St. Louis saying that Vandy had scored to go up 21-13. My only comment, besides thanking him for at least remembering his old man, was (and I apologize but all of us know it comes naturally) “how much time left?” The answer in quarters, minutes and seconds just led me to say to myself “that’s too much.” Then, while looking at the latest leaf rake, I just offered up a simple prayer “hey, I’m going to Mass at 5 pm, just give them a damn chance for once, let the fumble go their way, let the damn ball drop instead of being intercepted… About an hour later I was still out and got another call from my oldest son who asked `Did you hear the Vandy score?’ No, I replied, I guess Georgia came back. He didn’t even laugh. He said “Yeah, they did, big time, but they left too much time on the clock and Vandy just kicked a field goal to go ahead.” Again, my only response was…and you’ll forgive me…”how much time left?” A few seconds was his answer. Then he said “It’s over, we won. Good Saturday and good memories.”