Receives Lifetime Achievement Award . .. Roy Kidd's Quest For a Third National Title Has Not Dimmed

By Craig Ammerman, Guest Writer

pretty good. But not for Roy Kidd and Eastern Kentucky football.

- Roy Kidd

As measured by almost any yardstick, the Eastern Kentucky University football team had a successful 1997 season. Coming off a 6-5 record in 1996, the school's worst in 20 years, and facing perhaps their toughest schedule ever, the Colonels went 8-4, swept through the Ohio Valley Conference undefeated and returned to the I-AA playoffs.

But for Roy Kidd, whose place in the history of college football is secure, those four losses--and particularly a disheartening first round playoff defeat--left him unfulfilled.

"We bounced back, won our conference and got back to the playoffs ," said Kidd, "and those were our goals So, maybe I should be satisfied. But I'm not and neither are the coaches or the players. We all want to do better. That's among our goals for this season (1998) ."

It won't be easy The OVC will be stronger than in 1997, and to say that the non-conference schedule is stronger is considerable understatement. On Sept. 12, the Colonels go to Lexington to play the University of Kentucky, led by Tim Couch, the nation's top quarterback and a leading Heisman Trophy candidate Challenges such as those lead some to suggest that anything better than average in 1998 might be

There is nothing about Kidd ' s life or athletic career that causes one to use the word average (unless YOU want to suggest that about his golf game). For example, that 6-5 record in 1996 caused the Colonels to miss the I-AA playoffs for the first time in 12 seasons--only the third time they have missed the post-season in the 20 years since Division I-AA was formed

They began to put that behind them in 1997; they hope to completely bury the memory in 1998.

As he talked about the upcoming season in mid-July, Roy Kidd could hardly wait to get started. He was getti ng ready the way he always has: hours of meetings with the coaching staff and film study of his team and their early season opponents. In other words, hard work.

Just what you would expect from one of the most successful and respected coaches in the history of his sport . This will be his 44th year as a football coach, his 35th year as the head coach at his alma mater and the 41 st year that he has had the primary responsibility for a football team.

His coaching peers have elected him president of the Football Coaches Association. His name is on the EKU stadium, and it is engraved in the record books alongside the sport's giants--Eddie Robinson, Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Pop Warner. In mid-May of 1998, he was presented with the Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award for Head Coaches by the All-American Football Foundation, marking him as one of the great football coaches of alltime. His 280 victories rank him seventh all time.

Every fall , a new chapter of the Roy Kidd story is written. The page turns . The characters change . What doesn't change is what the coach expects of himself, his staff and his team, and the way he deals with the world around him.

Since 1956, Kidd-coached players have been winning on fall weekends, then moving on to successful lives. He always has followed a simple philosophy. "I try to treat my players , my coaching staff, the people I work with, the way I would like to be treated," he said. "I tell my coaches, ' You treat these young men like you'd like to be treated' "

His players remember.

"He has been the most important man in my life. He set me straight, made me care about school and about myself And he taught me how to win," said Wayne Bowlin, who played on the 1956 Madison High School team, Coach Kidd's first year as a head coach. 'Those lessons have stayed with me. There's rarely a day I don't th i nk of something I learned from Coach Kidd." (Bowl in recently retired after a successful career as a coach, teacher and principal ; his son, Mike, now a college assistant coach, played for Coach Kidd at EKU .)

"Coach Kidd has helped many, many athletes develop not only their athletic skills, but their character as well. What these kids are hearing today from him are the same things we heard from him 30 years ago," said Jim Guice, two-time AII-OVC quarterback who directed the Colonels in 1966, 1967 and 1968. (Guice is General Manager of the Miami Division of Ryder Transportation Services.)

"Coach Kidd changed my life," sa id Jim Demler, a standout defensive tackle in the late 1960s. "He believed in 'me and gave me a chance when others wouldn't. In addition to his outstand- ing knowledge of the game that he passed on to his players, he treated everyone with respect." (Dr. Demler is a urologistin Sarasota, Florida.)

"Coach Kidd and his staff make players better than they think they can be," said Wally Chambers, a two-time AII-OVC and All-American defensive tackle in the early 1970s. (Chambers played seven years in the NFL, was its Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1973 and made the Pro Bowl. Since then, he has worked as an NFL and college coach )

"No matter how big your reputation was, or where you came from, everyone was treated the same," said Robyn Hatley, a two-time, AII-OVC offensive tackle in the mid-1970s. "Coach Kidd gave us all a sense of pride, because of the way he ran his program." (Dr. Hatley is a pediatric surgeon at the Medical College of Georgia.)

"You can tell the first time you meet him that Coach Kidd tells you the truth," said John Jackson, a two-time, AII-OVC offensive tackle in the mid-1980s. "He always tells you where you stand. I've heard from other guys that a lot of schools try to hide things from you and you don't learn the truth until after you get there. With Coach Kidd, you know " (Jackson is in his 11th year as an NFL starting offensive tackle, and his first season with the San Diego Chargers; he entered 1998 with a new 6-year, $26 million contract, making him the NFL's highest paid offensive lineman )

"Coach Kidd always wants you to do the right thing ," said Aaron Jones , two-time AII -OVC and All-American defensive tackle in the late 1980s. "He g ives good advice, and he knows what the young guys love to do. You could never pull anything over on him On campus or in town, he knows." (Jones , the 19th player taken in the 1988 NFL draft, played nine years in the league, through the 1996 season.)

The man also is a football coach with few peers. Since 1978, when Division I-AA was formed, Eastern Kentucky has the fourth winningest college football program in Division I. The 188 Colonel wins in the 20 seasons since 1978 are exceeded only by Nebraska, Brigham Young and Florida State among the 200 Division I and I-AA schools

For the 20 years there has been a Division I-AA, EKU has stood at its pinnacle Among current participating schools, only Georgia Southern and Youngstown State belong in the same paragraph.

Before he was a coach, Roy Kidd was a player. Just as in his coaching career, as a player he stood above the crowd. At Corbin High School in southeastern Kentucky, Kidd

Coaches at One School

(Following are the records of the only coaches who have ever won 200 ore games at one school in the history of Division I colleg I. " indicates a coach who is still active.)

Coac , ool Years

Eddie Robinson, Grambling 55

*Joe Paterno.Penn State

*Roy Kidd, Eastern Kentuc

*TubbyRaymond , D

Tom Osborne, Nebras a

Amos Alonzo Stagg , Chica

*LaVell Edwards , BYU

*Bobby Bowden, Florida State

Woody Hayes, Ohio State

Jake Gaither, Florida A&M

Vince Dooley , Georgia

T 15 made first-team all-state in the three sports in which he competed--football, basketball and baseball.

Kidd turned down a scholarship to play for Bear Bryant at the University of Kentucky because his favorite sport was baseball--and the football coaches at Eastern Kentucky were willing to let him play both sports.

Which isn't to say that he couldn't play football. His senior year at Eastern, Kidd was an All-American quarterback.

After one year as a graduate assistant at Eastern and another year at a local high school, Kidd was named the football coach at one of Kentucky' s smallest high schools, Richmond Madison, about a 4-iron from the EKU practice field.

In six seasons, Kidd's Madison teams won 54 games and lost 10. There was a 27-game winning streak; in one 21 -game stretch, Kidd ' s teams allowed a total of 15 points Kidd was Kentucky Coach of the Yea r in 1961, his last year at Madison.

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

Now, he begins his 35th consecutive season in that job, a one-school tenure unmatched in Division I or I-AA.

Kidd ' s first Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) championship came in 1967, which ended with a Grantland Rice Bowl victory (27-13) over Ball State. The second OVC title came the next year, as a team led by Guice and w ide receiver Aaron Marsh (AFL Rookie of the Year in 1968) set the standard for future teams

Things began to get really interesting in 1978, when the NCAA created two levels in Divis ion 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.

That was a critical moment , because Division I-AA schools could award 65 scholarships, 25 more scholarships than Roy Kidd had ever had before. The coach was able to bring in more undeveloped recruits who were similar to the best players who had come before them--like Guice, Marsh and Chambers These were players with talent, but who pe rhaps were an inch shorter or a step slower or a few press clippings lighter than the athletes pursued by the major colleges.

The first I-AA season, 1978, the Colonels were 8-2 but did not make the playoffs Then began this four -year run :

- In 1979, the Colonels won their first playoff game , 33-30 in overtime over Nevada, then methodically dispatched Lehigh, 30 -7. It was Eastern's first national championship

- In 1980 , EKU made it to the final game again, losing 31-29 to Boise State in the game's final 15 seconds on a fourth-downand-goal desperation pass.

- The 1981 season produced a 12-2 record and playoff victories over Delaware and Boise State But the season ended in crushing disappointment with a 34-23 loss to Idaho State in the national championship game.

- Quarterback Tuck Woolum and receiver Steve Bird led a veteran team into the 1982 season. They were determined not to be denied again , and they weren't. The Colonels completed a marvelous 13-0 record by winning their second national title, 17-14 over Delaware

Every year since then, with the notable exception of 1985 and 1996 , fall Saturdays have brought eight or more victories and playoff appearances to Roy Kidd and Eastern Kentucky. Always, the emphasis has been on fundamentals Turnovers and penalties are few, gimmicks even fewer .

Dave Roberts, a former Kidd assistant who now is the head coach at Baylor University, said, "Look, you know what they're going to do . They do pretty much the same thing every year. But that doesn't make it any easier They just line up and beat you. "

Tim Stowers, the former head coach at 1-AA power Georgia Southern, said, "Coach Kidd believes in blocking and tackling. 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 "

Coach Kidd pleads guilty ''We try to keep the game from being too complicated, " he 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."

There is no doubt that it works. His 280 victories at Eastern (334 wins overall as a head coach) rank Kidd seventh all time among Division I coaches and third all time for victories at one school.

The Colonels have compiled some impressive records as well. In the 20-year history of Division I-AA, EKU ' s 188 wins are comfortably ahead of all others in the 90 -team division--16 more than second -place Delaware

EKU has appeared in the I-AA playoffs five more times (a total of 17 appearances) than any other school, and played in more playoff games (31) than any other

Along the way, there have been opportunities for Roy Kidd to finish his career at a bigger school , earning more money But he hasn 't budged .

"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 served as assistant executive director of the NCAA for several years . "But he has a comfort level at Eastern, and he has his ego in check. He already has what's important to him."

What's most important to Coach Kidd is his family . He and his wife, Sue, have three children--Marc, Keith and Kathy--and six grandchildren: Seth Kidd {11 ), Samantha Kidd (8), Evan Kuhl (9), Nicholas Kuhl (5) and Kirsten Kuhl (3) and Kody Kidd (1 ).

"I have a lot of roots here," said the coach. "This is my home It's Sue's home; it's our family's home. This is my school. I played here. I really love this place. And I really love the kids we have at Eastern, and the friends we've made over the years."

Those years have not dimmed the competitive fire that drives Roy Kidd. He's not a good loser, and freely admits it.

He loves to coach, and he still looks forward to the work winning requires--the seven-day weeks, the countless hours of watching film, being available when a current or former player needs him.

For all the success, the victories, the championships, the unmatched sat isfaction he feels from seeing so many former players doing so well in their lives for all of that, Coach Kidd is a man who is not very content.

"Last year, we were much improved over where we were in 1996; I still have nightmares about 1996," said Kidd. "But we aren 't where we want to be, where we expect to be.

"We've lost nine games the last two years. We're not used to that, although I know those were the two toughest schedules we've ever had. But we've always had challenging schedules. We have a very tough one this year."

The coach said his staff and the players had responded well to the challenge to getting ready for 1998. "We had a good winter program and a good spring," he said. "A number of our kids have been working very hard this summer, getting ready for September."

Offensively, Coach Kidd likes the depth and experience he has up front, the potential represented by running backs Derick Logan and Corey Crume and the speed and experience of wide receiver Rondel Menendez. Sophomore Waylon Chapman, who had a good spring and came out of spring drills as the number one quarterback, will battle junior transfer Jon Denton and junior college transfer Chad Collins for the starting job.

Defensively, there is no depth at defensive tackle (Kidd: "whoever backs up the starters will not have ever played collegiately"), no experience at middle linebacker and a major concern in the secondary: all four starters in 1998 have graduated. Strong safety Scooter Asel, an all-OVC player as a freshman in 1996, is fighting his way back from a knee injury that ended his 1997 season in the opener. If healthy, Asel could make a big difference for the Colonels

Asel's presence would help The OVC portion of the schedule is expected to be very tough, with stiff championship challenges expected from Middle Tennessee, Murray State, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech. The non-conference schedule features Western Kentucky, which returns the incredible Willie Taggart at quarterback, Appalachian State , Kentucky State, and, for the first time, the University of Kentucky and its fabulous quarterback, Tim Couch

"It's not like we don't have a full plate," said Kidd. "But I like the way our coaches have worked to get ready, and I like our kids. They may be overmatched on occasion, but they'll come to play."

Along the way, there will be reminders about what is expected in a program with so much tradition. Some will come from former players who don't need much prompting to discuss what it has meant to them to play for, and learn from, Coach Roy Kidd

Robyn Hatley, pediatric surgeon: "He has given a lot of people a chance that they probably would not have had other places. He believes in you. He is a gentleman and a good man."

Wayne Bowlin, teacher and principal: "I tried to tell him once what he had meant to me, how he was so important in my life. He told me to do the same things for kids who, like me 40 years ago, needed help."

Jim Demler, urologist: "He changed my life. He believed in me unequivocally, and he gave me a chance when others wouldn't. I'll never be able to repay him for all the things he did for me, for making me a better person."