Posted by NMSpartan on 3/8/2008, 2:18 pm
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SJSU's Two Biggest Commitments
Amid speculations of departure, SJSU's football coach and athletic director decide to stay on campus. What do their decisions mean to the football program?
Kris Anderson
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Sports
SJSU head coach Dick Tomey signed 18 new recruits to the football team this off-season.
But that list doesn't include the Spartans' two biggest names for 2008.
Without a doubt, the two foremost gets for the Spartans this off-season were Tomey and Athletic Director Tom Bowen.
After stealing a win from SJSU during the regular season, the University of Hawaii then looked to swipe Tomey from under our noses and install him as its new athletic director.
To further heighten fears in the land of Sparta, Bowen was included on the short list as one of six applicants for arguably the best job in collegiate sports, athletic director at LSU.
Losing those two would've meant a certain doom for SJSU football. We might as well have blown up Spartan Stadium.
But, Tomey said all along that he was committed to Spartan football, and last week Bowen removed his name from consideration for the
LSU job.
Now, for those of you who follow Spartan football, you may be apt to think: "So, big deal if we signed a small recruiting class. We have three elite talents that transferred in."
Those three - Jeff Schweiger, Coye Francies and Kyle Reed - are, in fact, not the biggest catches for SJSU in the past year, and not a single one of those star transfers would've known SJSU existed if it weren't for Tomey and Bowen.
Schweiger, when he was fresh out of Valley Christian High School in San Jose, was considered one of the top defensive ends in the whole country. Some recruiting Web sites called him an elite defensive end with the ability to single-handedly change an entire team. They called him a superstar talent. And guess what? Now he plays for us.
Schweiger, who transferred from USC, already has become a vocal leader, even though he spent last season in street clothes on the sidelines - as per NCAA regulations, transfers must sit out for one season after they arrive at their new schools.
The same can be said for Francies, who led the PAC-10 in punt returning as a freshman for Oregon State University, and highly touted, hybrid quarterback Reed, who migrated from Cal.
If you ask Tomey what he thinks of his teams' so-called success during his past three seasons, his humility and coaching acumen shine.
He might say something like, "We have done some good things, but we are still a ways away from where we want to be."
It's a silent recognition that he resurrected a football program that was sucking millions from the university and destroying the hearts of Spartan fans everywhere.
Let's look back at Tomey's monumental revival.
In just his second season at the helm, he led the team to a bowl game for the first time since forever, beat hated rival Fresno State at home, engineered a winning season for the first time since forever and saw two of his star players go on to, and contribute to, NFL teams.
I asked Tomey about these accomplishments at the end of last season.
I asked him where he thought the team was in terms of rebuilding.
He said, "If you looked at us (then) and thought we would be going to win a bowl game, you would have been called crazy. Nobody saw us doing that."
Yeah, Coach, you're right, but I have the feeling you like saying that. And I know that you would love to break into the top 3 of the Western Athletic Conference.
Tomey's touch is nothing short of gargantuan, but Bowen's is much more far reaching.
A financial wizard, guru, magician and artist, he single-handedly turned the monetary albatross that was SJSU athletics into a profitable enterprise.
To imagine how shocking a turnaround that is, look back just three years. Faculty were hounding President Don Kassing to axe the football program, cut its losses and stop stealing money from students to keep the program afloat.
Enter Bowen, and you all of a sudden have an entity that is no longer asking for money it can't repay but one that can stand on its own two feet and succeeding.
This is an era for Spartan sports that hasn't been seen in quite some time. And for Bowen and Tomey to choose to stay means Spartan fans have nowhere to look but up.
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