The Man With The Plan

a team that was 2-8, Kidd guided it through steady improvement the n ext two years with 3-5 - 1 and 4 - 4 - 1 record s.

Those were the l ean ye ar s - the ones he likes to forget. In the process of trying to build a winner, Kidd found ten non- sc holar ship players and made them starters, a move that was to pay off.

His 1966 team established a 7 - 3 - 0 record and tied for third in the OVC. Although it was hi s first winn i ng season at Eastern, it was probably the most disappointing ye ar Kidd had ever e ndured. The three OVC lo sses were decided by a total of eight points, and all on a play lat e in the game.

Then, in 1967, he took all the marbles, so to speak . Shaking off an opening loss to university division power Dayton, the Colonels finished the regular season 7-1-2 and won th e OVC. Then it was on to th e Grantland Rice Bowl and a 27-13 win over Ball State which earned the Mid - East Region title for t h e Colonels.

Eastern was ranked as high as third in Associated Pr ess poll and fini shed the season fifth.

A strong fundamentalist, Kidd-coach ed teams run a wideopen, pro-set offense and a rugged, stingy defense.

Kidd is married to th e former Susan Purc e ll of Richmond . They have three children, Mar c (10), Kath y (7), and Keith ( 5) .

Bob Harville

Offensive Line Coach

Bill Shannon

Defensive Line Coach

Personable Bobby Harville enters his fourth year on the Eastern staff, and his second year in charge of the offense.

He has always been one of the versatile members of the staff. Harville's first year was spent with the offensive backfield and the following season he coached the defensive secondary. That year the defense set a conference record with 20 interceptions.

And those are the reasons Kidd persuaded Harville to join his staff in 1965 - he knew from experience the Harlan native was a dedicated worker with a keen knowledge of all aspects of the game .

Harville and Kidd's professional association began in 1957 at Richmond Madison.

The next five years Harville spent as an assistant at Elizabethtown (Ky.) and Lancaster (Ohio) where the teams with which he was associated compiled a 41-9 record.

Then in 1965, Harville returned to Madison High School as its head football coach. He was inheriting a team that was 4-6 and had graduated 13 seniors, three of whom were to play college football.

But Harville brought the Royal Purples' winning football tradition back to life. Instilling basic fundamentals and a strong desire to win, he built a winner. That year Madison had a 10-4 record, won the Central Kentucky Conference and lost to Ft. Thomas Highlands for the state Class AA championship.

Harville is married to the former Sandra Sharp of South Fort Mitchell. They have three children, Robert Michael ( 9), Virginia Louise (7) and Leigh Ann (2).

This will be Bill Shannon's fourth year as head defensive coach, and if his unit continues to improve as it has under his tutelage, opponents may never see the Eastern goal line.

Shannon has built a stingy unit around strong quick line- ' men, sturdy pass defenders and hard-hitting lineback e rs.

Last year in regular season play, the Eastern "Headhunters" (the name Shannon tagged the defense) allowed only 70 points in ten games, second best among all college football teams in the country.

And this year's manpower could be better. Starters return at ten positions, and depth is abundant.

But that's the kind of coaching success he's used to.

In five seasons at Dixie Heights High School in South Fort Mitchell (1955-58, 63), he developed his teams into the football power of Northern Kentucky with a 47-5-2 record.

Under Shannon's leadership , Dixie Heights won three Northern Kentucky Conference championships and the Recreation Bowl, and was tied in its only Burley Bowl appearance.

The distinguished war veteran was Kentucky's "Coach of the Year" in 1955 and made three Kentucky East-West AllStar coaching appearances.

The one-time Danville High School star is married to the former Mary Peters, a fellow Danvillian. She serves as a registered nurse in the Universit y infirmar y .

Fred Francis

Offensive Backfield Coach

Jack Ison

Defensive Backfield Coach

Fred Francis i s s tartin g his sec ond ye ar as coach of the Colonel offen s ive backfield. The only non-Eastern graduate on the s taff, Francis proved valuab l e last year when he developed an ad e quate run nJ n g attack from what man y cons id e r e d a weak corps of pro s p ec ts .

Now Francis is faced with another rebuilding task. The team 's t w o top tailback s from the ' 67 se a s on are not back. Sprin g pra c tice produced two s tudent s who p e rform e d admirabl y con s idering their l ack of experience and more running backs will join the squad thi s fall a s fres hm en. It w ill be up to Franci s to find and estab li s h another so lid gro und game.

Hi s r e putation on the high sc hool coach in g l eve l i s we ll established throughout K e ntucky. With Francis at the helm, St. J ose ph Prep in Bard s town was reco g nized a s one of th e state's per e nnial Cla ss A power s w ith a thr ee - ye ar 20 - 6-4 record. ·

Franci s' 1966 team wa s rank e d ninth in th e s tat e, went throu g h the sc hool ' s fir s t undefeat e d se ason with an 8 - 0 - 3 record and defeat e d Cla ss AA runner -up Lexin g ton H enry Clay in the R ec reation Bowl.

He produced se v er al all - s tat e athletes and ha s pupil s playing for K e ntu c k y , Ohio Stat e, Ohio Uni vers it y and Yal e.

Franci s was a foo tball and ba s ketball s tar at B yesv ill e, Ohio , High School and earned All - Southea s t e rn Ohio honors a s a fullback.

He married Fr e da Catron of L e xington. They ha ve two so n s , Anthon y (3), and Ti mothy (1).

Once a g ain, J ack ! son's coaching job is l oaded with respons ibility .

In hi s first yea r l a s t se ason, I s on wa s forced to find replacements for graduated all - OVC performers Mik e Smith and Bu ddy Pfaadt i n a defen s ive backfie l d t ·1at was first in the conference the year before.

H e did that well. Th e Colonels ' pa s.; def e n se wa s again second to none in '67, allowing only 93.5 yards per game.

This ye ar i s much th e same. All - conference Harr y L e nz, the team 's l eader, gr aduat ed and mu s t b e repla ce d. I son has four lettermen and three s ophomores from which to find another cohesive unit.

Kid d is well aware of the 1961 Ea ster n graduate's c oachin g ab iliti es - he gave I so n hi s fir s t job at Richmond 's Madison High S c hool.

After ass isting Kidd to a 1 3 -1 record and a Class AA runn er -up trophy in 1961, I so n wa s named head coach in 196 2 when Kidd enter e d th e co ll ege coaching field . The Roya l Purple s were 6 -2- 2 und er his guidance.

H e r eceived the M .A. degree from Ea stern in 196 3 and entered the Uni vers it y of Indiana graduate sc hool that fall, earning 32 hour s t owa rd a doctorate.

The Ru sse ll native i s married to the former Pat ricia Lykins, whom h e m et as a classmate at Ea ste rn . They have two daughters , Elizabeth (6) and M eli nda (2).