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What's next for Harbaugh and Toreros?
By Bill Center
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 11, 2006
During the 50th anniversary season of USD football, the Toreros are facing a question nearly as old as the program itself:
Where do they go from here?
At 9-0, USD is off to its best start. Going into tonight's sold-out final home game of the season against Dayton, the Toreros, who are riding a 17-game winning streak, rank 15th in the nation in Division I-AA and hope to land a berth in the I-AA playoffs.
Honors: Three USD players were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VIII Team: senior linebacker Kyson Hawkins of Fallbrook, junior wide receiver Wes Doyle of Phoenix and sophomore defensive back Patrick O'Neill of Mission Viejo.
And USD is ranked the No. 1 “midmajor” in the land. Which raises the question: What's a midmajor? No. 2 is Monmouth. No. 3 is Drake. Not exactly the household definition of “major” powers.
Clearly, USD has again become what was once defined as a “small college” power. Just as clearly, head coach Jim Harbaugh's Toreros are overachieving at that level.
USD is a nonscholarship program operating out of one of the priciest private universities in the West.
Should the Toreros receive a playoff berth, they likely would be the only team in the 16-team tournament not supported by scholarships. Most of their rivals will be handing out the maximum allotment of 63.
The Toreros are a Cinderella story – with punch.
Junior quarterback Josh Johnson is said to be a major-college talent with pro potential. But Johnson isn't the only talented player on the team.
The Toreros' heights and weights might not be up to major-college standards, but the drive of such players as defensive end Eric Bakhtiari, center Jordan Paopao, running back JT Rogan and linebacker Kyson Hawkins certainly is.
Plus, Harbaugh has put together a coaching staff worthy of a much bigger power. Defensive coordinator Dave Adolph, for example, has 21 years' experience in the NFL.
“It's no fluke,” Harbaugh says when asked about the Toreros' success. “We've worked hard.
“Our coaches have done a great job finding and teaching players. And our players have accepted the challenges we've put before them. Only one or two players from every high school across the land get scholarships.
“But there are a lot more players on those teams who can play the game. Those are our players. That's our success. I won't be the coach who says that guy won't fit our system because of size and speed. Give me character and toughness.”
And give USD players who will perform for nothing.
Even most nonscholarship programs find ways to support student-athletes through need-based scholarships – which is the model for the Pioneer Football League, of which USD is a member. But USD's guidelines are more restrictive than most.
“We search for ways to support our players,” Harbaugh acknowledged. “We've become pretty good at finding different forms of financial aid from hometown scholarships to Cal-grants to need-based aid to summer jobs.”
Local businesses have come to USD's aid. During the offseason, USD football players can be found working everything from construction to security at Mission Valley hotels to building pallets at local beverage distributorships.
“To play at USD, you really want to be here,” said Harbaugh. “Some would see that as a disadvantage. You find a way. We recruit to our strengths . . . smart kids who like contact and work.”
Last season, 39 USD players carried at least a 3.0 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) during the fall semester. Ten Toreros made the Pioneer League's All-Academic team. The 21 starters on this year's team who played last year had an average GPA of 3.15. And football players last year took home three of the four academic awards presented annually by the athletic department.
“Needless to say, we're proud of our football program both on and off the field,” said USD Athletic Director Ky Snyder. “There's a tremendous reward just being around what's going on. There's a passion. It's fun. The campus is excited. This is a peer group that's succeeding.”
Yet, Snyder knows the Toreros continue to face an uphill haul – again raising the question of where the Toreros go from here.
Is the program sustainable at its present level without a future scholarship commitment? Certainly, Harbaugh would like to see more financial support for his players.
“I'd love to see some scholarships,” he said. “I'm not talking the full 63. Even if we had some to spread among our players, it would make a difference. We have a unique spot here. Players want to come.”
And what happens if Harbaugh leaves? With a 27-5 record nearing the end of his third season, it's only a matter of time before the former NFL quarterback starts drawing offers from bigger programs.
“When I took this job, there was a vision, a plan,” said Harbaugh. “I didn't know where all the speed bumps were. A lot of people didn't even know we had football. Now we've got games on radio and TV. We're looking to get a band. Ticket sales have improved. Our success has us on the move.”
But the sky is not the limit.
Don't look for USD to start giving out scholarships or bolting the far-flung PFL for something more regional and competitive such as the Division I-AA Great West Conference.
“We are starting to schedule stronger to test ourselves,” said Snyder. “And we want to win on a regular basis. But we are a good philosophical fit with other members of the Pioneer League. Any upgrades we make will come inside parameters that we know work for our institution.”
For example, any savings USD would gain from eliminating its four or five cross-country trips each season as a member of the PFL would fund fewer than a third of the scholarships needed to compete in the Great West – which includes schools such as South Dakota, Southern Utah and Montana.
“The questions about our options are difficult,” Snyder acknowledged.
And they are not new to USD. The champions of the Pioneer League were once themselves the Pioneers. Fifty years ago, USD, then called the Pioneers, had high hopes for its fledgling football program.
USD's first football game in 1956 was also the first game played by the Air Force Academy. A year later, coach Bob McCutcheon arrived at Alcala Park aiming to turn USD into “the Notre Dame of the West.”
Don't laugh.
USD quickly became a small-school power under McCutcheon. The 1957-58 teams went 14-5. Quarterback Vern Valdez played in the NFL. Running back Bobby Keyes played in the AFL. Three other players went to pro training camps.
The Pioneers were superior to pre-Don Coryell San Diego State. The Aztecs in fact, rejected an offer to play USD.
After the 1958 season, however, USD downgraded its plans after a review of budget overruns. Three seasons later, the university dropped football.
Four seasons after USD returned as a club program in 1969, head coach Andy Vinci came up with a novel idea to fund football, using annuities and lodging players in local hotels. Vinci departed after two seasons.
But USD continued on as a small-college program until the early 1990s, when the NCAA ruled that universities competing in Division I in basketball also had to be Division I in football if they had a program.
USD faced the choice of dropping football or upgrading. It selected the middle road of competing in the nonscholarship, I-AA PFL.
“There is a reason we're where we are,” said Snyder.
The pond is small. But the fishing is still satisfying.
By Bill Center
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 11, 2006
During the 50th anniversary season of USD football, the Toreros are facing a question nearly as old as the program itself:
Where do they go from here?
At 9-0, USD is off to its best start. Going into tonight's sold-out final home game of the season against Dayton, the Toreros, who are riding a 17-game winning streak, rank 15th in the nation in Division I-AA and hope to land a berth in the I-AA playoffs.
Honors: Three USD players were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VIII Team: senior linebacker Kyson Hawkins of Fallbrook, junior wide receiver Wes Doyle of Phoenix and sophomore defensive back Patrick O'Neill of Mission Viejo.
And USD is ranked the No. 1 “midmajor” in the land. Which raises the question: What's a midmajor? No. 2 is Monmouth. No. 3 is Drake. Not exactly the household definition of “major” powers.
Clearly, USD has again become what was once defined as a “small college” power. Just as clearly, head coach Jim Harbaugh's Toreros are overachieving at that level.
USD is a nonscholarship program operating out of one of the priciest private universities in the West.
Should the Toreros receive a playoff berth, they likely would be the only team in the 16-team tournament not supported by scholarships. Most of their rivals will be handing out the maximum allotment of 63.
The Toreros are a Cinderella story – with punch.
Junior quarterback Josh Johnson is said to be a major-college talent with pro potential. But Johnson isn't the only talented player on the team.
The Toreros' heights and weights might not be up to major-college standards, but the drive of such players as defensive end Eric Bakhtiari, center Jordan Paopao, running back JT Rogan and linebacker Kyson Hawkins certainly is.
Plus, Harbaugh has put together a coaching staff worthy of a much bigger power. Defensive coordinator Dave Adolph, for example, has 21 years' experience in the NFL.
“It's no fluke,” Harbaugh says when asked about the Toreros' success. “We've worked hard.
“Our coaches have done a great job finding and teaching players. And our players have accepted the challenges we've put before them. Only one or two players from every high school across the land get scholarships.
“But there are a lot more players on those teams who can play the game. Those are our players. That's our success. I won't be the coach who says that guy won't fit our system because of size and speed. Give me character and toughness.”
And give USD players who will perform for nothing.
Even most nonscholarship programs find ways to support student-athletes through need-based scholarships – which is the model for the Pioneer Football League, of which USD is a member. But USD's guidelines are more restrictive than most.
“We search for ways to support our players,” Harbaugh acknowledged. “We've become pretty good at finding different forms of financial aid from hometown scholarships to Cal-grants to need-based aid to summer jobs.”
Local businesses have come to USD's aid. During the offseason, USD football players can be found working everything from construction to security at Mission Valley hotels to building pallets at local beverage distributorships.
“To play at USD, you really want to be here,” said Harbaugh. “Some would see that as a disadvantage. You find a way. We recruit to our strengths . . . smart kids who like contact and work.”
Last season, 39 USD players carried at least a 3.0 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) during the fall semester. Ten Toreros made the Pioneer League's All-Academic team. The 21 starters on this year's team who played last year had an average GPA of 3.15. And football players last year took home three of the four academic awards presented annually by the athletic department.
“Needless to say, we're proud of our football program both on and off the field,” said USD Athletic Director Ky Snyder. “There's a tremendous reward just being around what's going on. There's a passion. It's fun. The campus is excited. This is a peer group that's succeeding.”
Yet, Snyder knows the Toreros continue to face an uphill haul – again raising the question of where the Toreros go from here.
Is the program sustainable at its present level without a future scholarship commitment? Certainly, Harbaugh would like to see more financial support for his players.
“I'd love to see some scholarships,” he said. “I'm not talking the full 63. Even if we had some to spread among our players, it would make a difference. We have a unique spot here. Players want to come.”
And what happens if Harbaugh leaves? With a 27-5 record nearing the end of his third season, it's only a matter of time before the former NFL quarterback starts drawing offers from bigger programs.
“When I took this job, there was a vision, a plan,” said Harbaugh. “I didn't know where all the speed bumps were. A lot of people didn't even know we had football. Now we've got games on radio and TV. We're looking to get a band. Ticket sales have improved. Our success has us on the move.”
But the sky is not the limit.
Don't look for USD to start giving out scholarships or bolting the far-flung PFL for something more regional and competitive such as the Division I-AA Great West Conference.
“We are starting to schedule stronger to test ourselves,” said Snyder. “And we want to win on a regular basis. But we are a good philosophical fit with other members of the Pioneer League. Any upgrades we make will come inside parameters that we know work for our institution.”
For example, any savings USD would gain from eliminating its four or five cross-country trips each season as a member of the PFL would fund fewer than a third of the scholarships needed to compete in the Great West – which includes schools such as South Dakota, Southern Utah and Montana.
“The questions about our options are difficult,” Snyder acknowledged.
And they are not new to USD. The champions of the Pioneer League were once themselves the Pioneers. Fifty years ago, USD, then called the Pioneers, had high hopes for its fledgling football program.
USD's first football game in 1956 was also the first game played by the Air Force Academy. A year later, coach Bob McCutcheon arrived at Alcala Park aiming to turn USD into “the Notre Dame of the West.”
Don't laugh.
USD quickly became a small-school power under McCutcheon. The 1957-58 teams went 14-5. Quarterback Vern Valdez played in the NFL. Running back Bobby Keyes played in the AFL. Three other players went to pro training camps.
The Pioneers were superior to pre-Don Coryell San Diego State. The Aztecs in fact, rejected an offer to play USD.
After the 1958 season, however, USD downgraded its plans after a review of budget overruns. Three seasons later, the university dropped football.
Four seasons after USD returned as a club program in 1969, head coach Andy Vinci came up with a novel idea to fund football, using annuities and lodging players in local hotels. Vinci departed after two seasons.
But USD continued on as a small-college program until the early 1990s, when the NCAA ruled that universities competing in Division I in basketball also had to be Division I in football if they had a program.
USD faced the choice of dropping football or upgrading. It selected the middle road of competing in the nonscholarship, I-AA PFL.
“There is a reason we're where we are,” said Snyder.
The pond is small. But the fishing is still satisfying.
