"Paul Dietzel was the best athletic director I ever
worked for. His book is a must read if you love college
football as much as I do. As good a football coach and
athletic director as Paul was, he's an even better human
being. Enjoy his book. I did."— Lee
Corso, ESPN
commentator
When LSU head football coach Paul Dietzel saw Billy Cannon
field an Ole Miss punt on LSU's own eleven yard line on a
stifling Halloween night in 1959, his shouts of "No, no, no!"
turned to "Go, go, go!" as Cannon eluded tackler after tackler,
sending fans in Tiger Stadium into a frenzy and earning himself
that year's Heisman Trophy. Dietzel is probably best known
for leading LSU to its first national championship the year
before Cannon's legendary run, but his career in athletics
also carried him to numerous posts across the country and
put him in the company of some of the best coaching minds
of all time. In Call Me Coach, Dietzel affectionately
recalls his rich and varied life in college football.
In 1948, Dietzel decided to forgo medical school at Columbia
University to become the plebe football coach at West Point.
As an assistant over the next few years, he worked with Bear
Bryant at the University of Kentucky, Colonel Red Blaik and
Vince Lombardi at West Point, and Sid Gillman at the University
of Cincinnati. Taking the job of head coach at LSU in 1955,
he reversed the Tigers' losing skid and—using the wing-T formation
and a revolutionary three-team substitution system incorporating
the White Team, the Go Team, and the renowned Chinese Bandits—crafted
1958's unbeaten championship run. The thirty-three-year-old
Dietzel was voted National Coach of the Year by the widest
margin ever.
Back at West Point from 1961 to 1965, Dietzel rallied the
Cadets to finally "beat Navy" and, as South Carolina's football
coach and athletics director from 1966 to 1974, he took the
Gamecocks to their first bowl game in twenty-five years and
mandated the recruitment of black athletes in all sports programs.
After twenty years as a head coach, with 109 wins and 95 losses
at three schools and a postseason record of 11 victories and
3 defeats, Dietzel retired from coaching in 1974, later serving
as athletics director at Indiana and LSU.
Through Dietzel's eyes, readers glimpse college football
during a simpler time but also see that many facets of the
game—including recruitment challenges, job insecurity, press
relations, and fickle fans—remain constant. Highlights among
the book's many unforgettable anecdotes are a 1962 interview
with Howard Cosell, discussion about West Point's football
team with General Douglas MacArthur, and a rare disagreement
with Bear Bryant during a staff meeting.
Dietzel's recollections of his early and later years help
complete the story of the man. In a warm raconteur's voice,
he describes his impoverished childhood in Ohio, his own participation
in high school and college sports, and his stint flying B-29
missions over Japan during World War II. His postretirement
endeavors have included providing color commentary for TV,
selling fudge, teaching skiing, and watercolor painting. Always
at the top of Dietzel's priorities have been friends, family,
and faith.
Gratitude rings as a constant refrain in Call Me Coach,
and sports enthusiasts everywhere will be grateful that Dietzel
has shared these recollections of his remarkable life.
Paul F. Dietzel and his wife of more than
sixty years, Anne, live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and spend
summers in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. His previous books
include Wing-T and the Chinese Bandits and Coaching
Football. |
