Year After Year After . .. Roy -Kidd's Pursuit of Excellence Takes the Coach and His School to College Football's Pinnacle

By Craig Ammerman, Guest Writer

For more than 40 yea rs, Kidd-coached players have been playing and winning on fall weekends, then moving on to successful lives Asked what philosophy he fo llowed as a coach, he said, "I try to treat my players, my coach ing staff, the peop le I wo rk w it h , the w ay I w ou ld l ike to be t reated ! tell my coaches, 'You treat those young men li ke you'd like to be treated' "

Turn the calendar back 32 years to September 1964. Lyndon Johnson had been President of the United States for less than a year. The Beatles were making their first trip to America The first American combat soldiers were on their way to a place that was then little-known: Vietnam .

And Roy Kidd was about to coach his first game at his alma mater, Eastern Kentucky State College, enrollment: 5,433.

Fast forward to 1996. Eastern Kentucky has grown up Its enrollment has more than tripled , to 15 ,727. The school was granted university status 30 years ago . President Johnson, the Beatles and Vietnam have are in our history books .

But the Roy Kidd Story is still being written. Every fall, a new chapter The page turns The characters change What doesn't change are the results.

Top Active Coaches

(Follwing are the records of the top active coaches, ranked by wins, in NCAA Division I and I-AA.)

What Roy Kidd has bu i lt is a record that will live through the ages--32 years from now and far beyond What he produces are teams which understand what has come before them and which seek to write their own chapter, make theirown place.

Kidd's name is on the stadium. He ' s all over the record book, alongside the legends : Bryant , Paterno, Hayes , Schembechler , Pop Warner

More than anything, he's still the coach His record paints quite a portrait. But it doesn 't fully cover the canvas, because numbers don't tell you what's inside a man. Listen to

200 Win Club

(Ranked by career wins as of the beginning of the 1996 season, following are the only Division I and I-AA coaches to win 200 games in their career * indicates coaches who are still active. The school listed is the current school, or the last one for inactive or deceased coaches director of the NCAA. "But he has a comfort level at Eastern and he has his ego in check. He already has what's important to him."

The man is also some kind of football coach. Since 1978, when Division I-AA was formed, Eastern Kentucky has the second winningest college football program in Division I. The 174 Colonel wins since 1978 are exceeded only by Nebraska among the 200 Division I and I-AA schools.

For the 18 years there has been a Division I-AA EKU has stood at its pinnacle. Only Georgia Southern, Young~town State and Marshall belong in the same paragraph.

There's more . But first, let's step back four decades to make the point that Roy Kidd's attainment of excellence is a long-playing record that was first heard long before anyone called him coach.

At Corbin High School, Kidd played three sports-football, basketball and baseball. He made first-team All-State in each.

Bear Bryant wanted Kidd to play quarterback at the University of Kentucky. Kidd chose Eastern, because the coaches were willing to let him play baseball as well, and baseball was Kidd's favorite sport as a player some who have lived and worked with him about the Roy Kidd they know.

"I try to live my life like his," said Byron Ingram, former Colonel who played four years as an offensive lineman in the National Football League.

"You can tell the first time you meet him that Coach Kidd tells you the truth," said John Jackson, now is in his ninth year as an offensive tackle with the Pittsburgh Steelers and a memberofUSAToday'sAII-ProTeamin 1995. "He always tells you where you stand. I've heard from other guys up here (the NFL) that a lot of schools, some of the big schools, try to hide things from you and you don't learn the truth until after you get there. With Coach Kidd, you know "

Wally Chambers, an Eastern graduate whose sevenyear NFL career included a Pro Bowl appearance and selection as Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1973, said, "Coach Kidd and his staff make players better than they think they can be.

"I was a fat kid who no big college wanted," said Chambers. "I'd never been pushed. They saw in me more than I knew I had, and they taught me and pushed me to become as good as I could be."

Carl White, Kidd's roommate at Eastern and now retired director of instruction for the Ironton, Ohio, school system, said, "In this day of uncertain sensual values and unstable family backgrounds of so many of our young students, it is reassuring that the EKU players have such a fine model for their lives after football."

"Coach Kidd always wants you to do the right thing," said Aaron Jones, ninth-year defensive end for the Miami Dolphins and the 19th player selected in the 1988 NFL draft. "He gives good advice, and he knows whatthe young guys love to do. You could never pull anything over on him. On campus or in town, he knows."

"Roy is one of the best coaches in the history of the sport, and he could have gone other places," said David Cawood, a former Kidd aide who is now assistant executive

His senior year at Eastern, Kidd was an All-American quarterback. After one year as a graduate assistant at Eastern and another year as a coach at Madison Central High School, Kidd went to Richmond Madison High School, one of Kentucky's smallest schools, as its football coach.

It soon was obvious that a man and a profession had found each other. In six years, Kidd's Madison teams won 54 games and lost 10. There was a 27-game winning streak; in one 21-game stretch, Kidd's Madison teams allowed a total of 15 points: In 1961, his final year at Madison, Kidd was Kentucky Coach of the Year.

Kidd served the next two years as a college assistant, in 1962 at Morehead and in 1963 at Eastern. He began the 1964 season as the head coach at his alma mater.

Now, he begins his 33rd consecutive season in that job, a one-school tenure exceeded only by Grambling's Eddie Robinson among Division I coaches.

Along the way, there have been a succession of very good teams The first Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) championship of the Kidd era was in 1967, which ended with a 27-13 victory over Ball State in the Grantland Rice Bowl. The second

Coaches at One School

(Following are the records of the only coaches who have ever won 200 or more games at one school in the history of Division I college football. * indicates a coach who is still active.)

OVC title came the next year, as a team led by quarterback Jim Guice and split end Aaron Marsh (AFL Rookie of the Year in 1968) set the standard which Kidd would call on future teams to match or exceed The number of OVC titles under Kidd's stewardship now stands at 15

The march for national recognition began to be heard in 1978, when the NCAA created two levels in Division I football. Division I-AA was formed when some conferences (the Southern, Southland and Big Sky) stepped down from Division I and others (the OVC, Yankee, Colonial, Southwestern and Gateway) stepped up from Division II.

I-AA schools could award 65 scholarships That was a turning point , because now Roy Kidd had 25 more scholarships than in most previous years. This allowed Kidd and his staff to bring in more of the raw, undeveloped recruits who had much in common with the best players who had come before them--like Guice, Marsh and Chambers These were players with talent, but without the size, experience and clippings wh ich attract the football powers

For the first time, Eastern coaches had depth. This meant there was time to teach players the basics of football, which is what Roy Kidd believes his job is about.

The first I-AA season, 1978, the Colonels were 8-2 but did not make the playoffs Then began a four-year run which is the program's high water mark :

- In 1979, the Colonels won the first playoff game in the school's history, a thrilling 33-30 double overtime win over Nevada, and went on to cap an 11 - 2 season with a 30-7 romp over Lehigh It was Eastern's first national championship.

- The next season, Kidd's squad advanced to the championship game again, losing 31-29 to Boise State on a fourth down desperation pass in the game ' s final seconds.

-In 1981, a 12-2 record and tough playoffvictoriesover Delaware and Boise State did nothing to mask the disappointment of a 34-23 loss to Idaho State in the national championship game .

- Kidd and a veteran team entered the 1982 season determined. Led by quarterback Tuck Woolum and wide receiver Steve Bird, who went on to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Colonels stormed to a perfect 13-0 record, defeating Delaware 17-14 for the school's second national championship

Since 1982, EKU has returned to the playoffs every yearbutone(1985)

Year after year after year, fall Saturdays bring victory

Winningest Active I-AA Coaches

(Following are the winningest active Division I-AA coaches, ranked by winning percentage. As with all other coaching statistics listed in this section, a minimum of 100 games as a head coach is required ) to Roy Kidd and Eastern Kentucky. Sometimes, it seems as if the calendar never turned . The emphasis is on fundamentals. There aren't many turnovers, and even fewer gimmicks.

"Coach Kidd believes in blocking and tackling," said Tim Stowers, coach at Georgia Southern. "His defense says, Here we are, block us if you can. His offense says, Here we come, stop us if you can Not many people block them, and not many people stop them."

"Look , you know what they're going to do," said Dave Roberts, offensive coordinator at Notre Dame and a former assistant to Kidd. "They do pretty much the same thing every year. But that doesn't make it any easier. They just line up and beat you."

"We try to keep the game from being too complicated," Kidd said. "Some of the people we play try to do too much, and that leads to mistakes I believe that your kids should know what they are supposed to do, so they can execute on the field. If you ' re going to beat me, I want my kids to know what they are doing. We want to make it possible for them to win "

Clearly, it works, because Roy Kidd enters the 1996 season in third place on the winning list among active Division I coaches. Only Eddie Robinson and Joe Paterno are ahead of him.

His 266 victories rank Kidd sixth all time among Division I coaches and third all time for victories at one school. Meantime, the Colonels can add to some impressive records of their own. In the 18-year history of Division I-AA, Eastern Kentucky teams have :

-Won more games (EKU's 174winsare22 more than second-place Delaware) than any school in the 90-team division .

-Compiled a 102-9-1 record at Roy Kidd Stadium, an incredible winning percentage of .915.

-Appeared in the playoffs five more times (16) than any other school.

- Played in the most playoff games (30).

-Won more playoff games ( 16) than any school except Georgia Southern (20) and Marshall (19) and more national championships (2) than any school except Georgia Southern (four) and Youngstown (three)

All of which has caused some to wonder if Kidd may soon decide to extend his golf season into the fall. When the 1996 season ends, Kidd will be 64. He's in good health. As fall practice was about to begin, his enthusiasm was high

Those closest to him don't expect Kidd to retire very soon. Although he still receives calls about jobs at bigger schools, most expect him to stay at Eastern.

"I have a lotofroots here," Kidd said. "This is my home, it's (wife) Sue's home, it's our family's home. This is my school. I played here, I was a graduate assistant and then an assistant. I really love this place . And I really love the kids we have at Eastern, and the friends we've made over the years. I don't think I'd want to leave that."

Kidd is married to the former Susan Purcell of Richmond. They have three children--Marc, Keith and Kathy-- and five grandchildren : Seth Kidd (9), Samantha Kidd (6), Evan Kuhl (7), Nicholas Kuhl (3) and Kirsten Kuhl (1 1/2).

Kidd is as competitive as he's ever been No matter what he does, he tries to win. "I'm not a very good loser," he says.

On the golf course, Kidd will try about anything he can think of to beat you. He's not above setting up a game which makes him nearly unbeatable. (Of golf, he said, "I play to win. I don't just play to be playing.")

He loves to coach, and he looks forward to all the work winning requires. There are no off-days for Eastern coaches du ring the season; Kidd doesn't ask his assistants to put in any time he doesn't work himself. He still works four or five nights a week during the season.

What about the 1996 season?

"We lost 23 kids who played significant time last year, so we have a lot of spots to fill," said Kidd

"Offensively, our linemen are experienced and capable, but we have virtually no depth," he said. "We'll be weaker at tight end. We'll be looking to some redshirts and maybe even some freshmen to help us

"We're looking to Greg Couch to lead us at quarterback. I think Greg will be a real leader. He'll have a good year. Our running game has a chance to be strong and we have some good receivers, although again we don't have much depth there "

Defensively, Kidd pointed to strength at the linebacker position and solid returnees in the secondary and in the line. "But here again, we will be relying on kids who have played very little or none at all to give us the depth you've got to have "

What worries Kidd is the most difficult schedule in the school's history. Non-conference opponents are archrival Western Kentucky and two 1-AA playoff teams that return most of their 1995 teams--Appalachian State and Troy State.

In the OVC, Morehead State, which the Colonels defeated 24ofthe last25years, has been replaced by Eastern Illinois, a returning 1-AA playoff team and one of the top 10 alltime 1-AA programs. Defending OVC champion Murray State, another 1-AA playoff team, and perennial challenger Middle Tennessee may each be ranked in the top 10 in the country.

"I've never seen anything like this schedule," said Kidd "It is going to require the best effort from our players, our coaches, all of us We have a great tradition here We're going to need it and everything else we can muster to produce the kind of year everyone has come to expect from an Eastern football team."

The Best Since 1978

(Following are the 10 Division I (A and AA) programs with the most w ins since 1978 , when D iv ison I-AA wa s formed. )

Division I-AA Playoff Records

The Best Since 1978, Part 2

(Following are the top 10 programs , ranked by winning percentage, in Divis ion I (A and AA) since 1978 , when Division I-AA was formed )

(Combined playoff records in Division I-AA since its

8 inception for all teams with two or more playoff appearances , ranked by number of years in the playoffs)

Top Division I-AA Programs

Overall records of top Division I-AA programs since 1978 , the first year of play in the div ision , ranked by wins )