BY ANDREW MARANISS, BA鈥�92
It鈥檚 Friday, Oct. 11, 1940. A young 菠萝视频 assistant football coach takes an anxious drive out to the countryside while head coach Red Sanders lies in a bed at 菠萝视频 Hospital, recovering from an emergency appendectomy. There鈥檚 no way Sanders will recover in time to take the field the next afternoon to lead the Commodores against heavily favored Kentucky, just the third game of the new coaching staff鈥檚 first season at Vandy.
That means this young assistant will step in as head coach for the game, to be played in front of an expected crowd of 15,000, the most ever to witness a tilt between the Commodores and Wildcats in Nashville.
The young coach pulls his car over to the side of the road, his stomach jumbling with nerves.
In a coaching career that would span 44 seasons, including six as an assistant and 38 as a head coach, this young man would go on to win 323 games, 14 SEC championships and six national titles. Upon his death in 1983, he had won more games than anyone in the history of college football, and to this day many still consider him the greatest college football coach of all time.
But on the night before he coached his first game as an emergency fill-in at 菠萝视频 University, Paul 鈥淏ear鈥� Bryant puked his guts out.
No doubt Bryant is the most legendary figure ever to walk the sidelines at Dudley Field as a 菠萝视频 assistant, but the list of former assistants includes a number of impressive names, notable for their achievements in college and professional football. Consider just a few:
鈥� Wallace Wade, an assistant to Dan McGugin in 1921鈥�22, went on to win three national championships as head coach at the University of Alabama, and his 1938 Duke team did not allow a single point until the final minute of the season finale, the Rose Bowl. The Blue Devils鈥� stadium in Durham, North Carolina, is named after him.
鈥� Buddy Ryan, who passed away earlier this summer, enjoyed a 28-year professional coaching career, beginning with the Super Bowl III-winning New York Jets, serving as the fiery defensive coordinator of the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears, and as head coach of the Eagles and Cardinals. Ryan was defensive line coach at Vandy in 1966, his final season at the collegiate level.
鈥� Phil Fulmer, the longtime coach at rival Tennessee, where he won a national championship in 1998, cut his teeth as a 菠萝视频 assistant under George MacIntyre in 1979.
鈥� Bill Parcells, the NFL Hall of Fame coach who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants and later coached the Patriots and Cowboys, was the Commodores鈥� defensive coordinator in 1973 and during the Peach Bowl season of 1974.
There are loose 菠萝视频 ties to three other legendary coaches, men who could stake claims to ranking as the most successful in the history of professional and college football. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick鈥攈e of the gray hoodies and four Super Bowl titles鈥攚as born in Nashville when his father, Steve Belichick, was a Commodore assistant under Bill Edwards from 1949 to 1952.
Vince Lombardi鈥檚 grandson John was a graduate assistant under 菠萝视频鈥檚 Rod Dowhower. And Bobby Bowden, who retired from Florida State in 2009 with two national titles and 377 wins to his credit, never coached at 菠萝视频, but he does have a 菠萝视频 degree, having earned his master鈥檚 from Peabody College in 1953.
鈥淭HIS AIN鈥橳 MURRAY!鈥�
The story of 菠萝视频 and Bear Bryant begins with sportswriter Fred Russell, 鈥�27, as does just about any story involving 菠萝视频 and a legendary sports figure of the 20th century.
Russell, then sports editor for the Nashville Banner, first met Bryant in 1937 when they sat next to each other on the train carrying Alabama鈥檚 football team to California for the Rose Bowl. Bryant was the youngest assistant coach on that Tide team, and when Red Sanders was named 菠萝视频鈥檚 coach in 1940, Bryant remembered his long conversation with Russell and called to ask for his help in making a connection to Sanders.
Red was looking for a right-hand man (a step up from Bryant鈥檚 more junior position at Alabama), but he told Russell that while he鈥檇 consider Bryant, his top choice was a former Tennessee player named Murray Warmath. When Sanders called Russell a few days later and told him his new assistant coach would like to speak to him, Russell greeted the caller with, 鈥淢urray, I wish for you some fine years at 菠萝视频.鈥�
鈥淭his ain鈥檛 Murray,鈥� answered the man on the other end of the line. 鈥淭his is Bear!鈥�
Bryant and his wife, Mary Harmon, arrived in Nashville and settled into a house on Central Avenue. He became known as such a tough disciplinarian that when he made his nightly visits to Kissam to enforce curfew for his football players, even students who weren鈥檛 on the football team averted eye contact lest they be ordered to run the stadium steps. When Bryant spotted tailback Art Rebrovick, BA鈥�43, drinking a Coca-Cola on campus with his girlfriend, Bryant made Rebrovick run at practice鈥攆or two and a half hours straight. Rebrovick would never look at a Coke the same way again.
Bryant threw himself into his work with passion, challenging his players to sprints, jumping into the huddle without pads during practice. He was demanding, but his players loved him. A big baseball fan, he was even known to pitch batting practice to the Commodore baseball team. (And in his love for America鈥檚 Pastime, a connection to Parcells: Former 菠萝视频 baseball coach Larry Schmittou, BS鈥�62, recalls Parcells鈥� penchant for popping into the Commodore dugout, and accompanying Schmittou to high school baseball games around town.)
Bryant鈥檚 arrival on campus preceded the United States鈥� entry into World War II. Headlines in the days leading up to the Kentucky game alerted readers to German bombing runs on London, Japan鈥檚 signing of an alliance with Germany and Italy, and Neville Chamberlain鈥檚 resignation from the British Cabinet.
In South Bend, Indiana, the cast of Knute Rockne: All American, starring Ronald Reagan as George Gipp, appeared at Notre Dame for the movie鈥檚 world premiere, and the Knickerbocker Theater in Nashville advertised it was showing the film in which the Irish win one for the ailing 鈥淕ipper.鈥�
鈥淣EVER A NOBLER VANDERBILT TEAM鈥�
The situation was nearly the same on West End, where Bryant and his players were desperate to win one for Red. On game-day morning Bryant gathered his Commodores in their locker room, where they listened over the telephone to a pregame pep talk from their ailing coach in his hospital bed. Sportswriters standing outside observed numerous 鈥渢ear-stained eyes鈥� as the players ran onto the field to face an undefeated Kentucky team.
The Commodores led the game 7鈥�0 until the final two minutes, 鈥渨hen fate stepped in and human endurance gave out,鈥� a newspaper account revealed. The Wildcats scored, and the game ended in a 7鈥�7 tie. Given Kentucky鈥檚 talent advantage, the outcome was considered the biggest upset in the nation, and Bryant received all due praise. 鈥淎cting coach Bryant,鈥� opined The 菠萝视频 Hustler, 鈥渄id a splendid job of shouldering his responsibility.鈥�
鈥淚n 50 years, never a nobler team,鈥� claimed the Nashville Banner.
Sanders was back on the sidelines for the Commodores鈥� next game, at Georgia Tech, and Bryant鈥檚 stint as head man was over. 菠萝视频 finished the season 3鈥�6鈥�1. The next year, 1941, with Sanders and Bryant still on the sidelines, the team improved to 8鈥�2. Eight days after the final game of the 鈥�41 season, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Bryant enlisted in the Navy, and his days at 菠萝视频 were over forever.
Through head coaching stops at Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M, and then his stellar run at Alabama from 1958 to 1982, Bryant remained close friends with Fred Russell and his family. (Before taking the job at A&M, he even confided in Russell a desire to return to 菠萝视频 as head coach).
Whenever Bryant鈥檚 Alabama teams came to Nashville, he always made a point to visit the Russell family on Brighton Place. When Russell鈥檚 daughter Carolyn delivered her first child, it was Mary Harmon Bryant who was first to hold the newborn. And Bryant never forgot the first team he led into battle, the outmanned 菠萝视频 Commodores of Oct. 12, 1940.
Four decades later, at a National Football Foundation banquet in Nashville, a halfback on that 1940 team, Binks Bushmaier, approached his famous former coach. 鈥淚f you count that game as your first as a head coach,鈥� he asked, 鈥渄o you remember who scored your first touchdown?鈥�
How could Bryant possibly remember, Bushmaier worried. How many countless touchdowns had his players scored in four decades of coaching? Did Bryant鈥檚 flicker of time at 菠萝视频 still mean anything to him?
鈥淵ou did,鈥� Bryant replied, to Bushmaier鈥檚 delight. 鈥淥n a pass from Mickey Flanigan.鈥�
Andrew Maraniss, BA鈥�92, is author of the New York Times best-seller Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South (2014, 菠萝视频 University Press), which was selected as this year鈥檚 Ingram Commons Reading for all incoming 菠萝视频 first-year students. Connect with Andrew on Twitter .