Posted by sjsbuff on 8/29/2007, 10:44 pm, in reply to "Re: Spartan Attitude Keeps Tomey Winner" I think the fact that D.T. says we need to duplicate last season's successes repeatedly to feel like we've arrived as a program is admirable and indicative of why he's been so successful over the years. In his (accomplished) world, there's always room for improvement, which is a great way to focus on the job at hand. --Previous Message--
68.164.88.173
I really enjoyed the read as well. Inasmuch as many of us here despise D.E. and what he stands for, it's nice to hear him compliment D.T. in such a manner. Perhaps last season's lack of post-game "pleasantries" against Idaho was an aberration, not the norm.
: That's a terrific article. Thanks for posting
: it. I love when the players get praise, but
: I just can't get enough of articles that
: recognize Tomey for the very brilliant coach
: he is.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Spartan attitude keeps Tomey winner
:
: Scott Bordow, East Valley Tribune Columnist
:
: Dick Tomey should have hung up the phone and
: had a good laugh at San Jose State’s
: expense.
:
: It was the fall of 2004, and the Spartans
: were calling to see if Tomey, the former
: Arizona Wildcats coach, was interested in
: becoming their head coach.
: Are you kidding?
:
: Tomey was 66 years old. He had a great gig
: as the Texas Longhorns’ assistant head
: coach. He and his wife, Nanci, liked living
: in Austin, Texas.
:
: Why in the world would he want to take over
: a program that had one winning season since
: 1992, hadn’t played in a bowl game since
: 1990 and was so down and out that just two
: years earlier it was in danger of losing its
: Division IA status because it failed to meet
: NCAA criteria, including averaging 15,000
: fans per home game?
:
: Here’s why: Where others see thorns, Tomey
: smells roses.
:
: “I’m not sure there’s more exciting work
: than building a program that’s fallen on
: hard times,” Tomey said. ... “I don’t
: believe any job is a graveyard. To think
: they can’t have winning football here is
: crazy.”
:
: No, what Tomey has done the past two seasons
: at San Jose State is crazy.
:
: After an inauspicious 3-8 start in 2005, the
: Spartans finished 9-4 last season and beat
: the University of New Mexico in the
: inaugural New Mexico Bowl.
:
: The nine wins were one more than the
: Spartans had the three previous seasons —
: combined. It was San Jose State’s first
: winning season in six years, and home
: attendance at Spartan Stadium was up 300
: percent.
:
: Tomey didn’t win any end-of-the-year
: coaching awards, but he may have done the
: best job of any coach in college football.
:
: “There were a lot of people who said, ‘You
: can’t win there,’ ” said Texas assistant
: coach Larry Mac Duff, who was an assistant
: under Tomey for 14 years at Hawaii and
: Arizona. “He just went in and changed the
: whole culture.”
:
: Tomey did so by selling sunshine.
:
: He gave more than 100 speeches in and around
: campus his first year on the job. He sold
: the community on his vision and the
: Spartans’ players on the future. That
: enthusiasm — along with tangible
: improvements such as additional scholarship
: money and a salary hike for assistant
: coaches — gave birth to belief.
:
: “Like Colin Powell says, ‘Optimism is a
: force multiplier,’ ” Tomey said. “I believe
: in that so much. ... Players need to feel
: good about where they are and they need to
: feel they can achieve and grow.”
:
: Tomey didn’t just water the plants, though.
: The football program had been down for so
: long it was bereft of discipline and
: accountability. Tomey scared his players
: straight.
:
: “We had to change the work ethic in the
: program,” Tomey said. “You need to set high
: standards in terms of what you expect in
: personal behavior and attention to detail.
: At the same time you need to hug your guys
: and get to know them and treasure them as
: people.”
:
: Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson had no
: doubt Tomey would resurrect San Jose State.
: In fact, he told Spartans athletic director
: Tom Bowen that Tomey, who was on Erickson’s
: San Francisco 49ers staff, would be the
: ideal candidate because he already had
: transformed downtrodden football programs at
: Hawaii and Arizona.
:
: The Wildcats had one bowl victory in 85
: seasons prior to Tomey’s arrival. In his 14
: years there, they went to seven bowl games
: and beat, among others, No. 10 Miami in the
: 1994 Fiesta Bowl and No. 14 Nebraska in the
: 1998 Holiday Bowl.
:
: Tomey brought that blueprint with him to San
: Jose.
:
: “He’s just done a great job,” Erickson said.
: “To win nine games (last season) and go to a
: bowl game is really phenomenal, but I’ve
: always thought he’s one of the great coaches
: in the country.”
:
: Tomey is not quite ready to take a bow — “I
: think the jury is probably still out on
: exactly what we’ve done because we’ve done
: it one year and you need to do it repeatedly
: for a program to be really turned around” —
: but he will admit to feeling good about the
: program’s direction. He should. San Jose
: State was on the endangered species list
: five years ago. Saturday, it will pose a
: real threat to Arizona State.
:
:
:
:
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