College Football Hall of Fame inductee Dick MacPherson's Press Conference Transcript (Dec. 2, 2009)
Opening Statement:
"I'd just like to read some things to open it up. It's not very often I read things, but I'm really grateful to have the opportunity to be here with you, folks, who have covered SU sports for so many years. I'm sure you feel as lucky as I have been to be associated with such a great University. To say it's been an honor would be a real understatement. I played football in Maine, and I played my college football in Massachusetts. I have been an assistant football coach in so many places in my life that I can't even count them. I have this to say, under my tenure here, we had (All-American defensive lineman) Tim Green and (All-American quarterback) Don McPherson, on whose coattails I rode to what happened here.
“You football historians will remember a bunch of revered coaches who have been a part of us here. I'm saying this for a reason because one of them was my college coach, Ossie Solem. Ossie was a coach here for many years and in 1943, they shut down here because of the war and he ended up at Springfield College. On his (Syracuse) staff, he had Biggie Munn, Bud Wilkinson, Forest Evashevski, who was a running backs coach here and then was a coach at Iowa, and all of these guys ended up as Coach of the Year. So my coach, Ossie Solem, was named Coach of the Year. Somewhere, I hope, he reminds himself that one of his players is a Coach of the Year. It (Hall of Fame induction) is a very big honor, as far as I'm concerned.
"This award, I'm sure a lot of you know that more than four million people have played college football. There are less than 1,000 players in the College Football Hall of Fame, and also less than 100 coaches. That's the significance of the award. To say that I'm overwhelmed – believe me – I'm overwhelmed.
"To win anything, you must have the opportunity to compete. To have this happening to me, somebody had to say, 'I think this guy might be a good football coach.' Believe it or not, that was (retired Syracuse Athletics Director) Jake Crouthamel. Jake called me when I was coaching with the Cleveland Browns and asked me to come down to visit. I liked what I saw. We were in season at the time and heading for the playoffs, so it was kind of difficult. They arranged that after our usual Saturday morning practice in Cleveland, I flew on a plane here and met with the people. Father Charles showed me around the campus, and then we met at the Chancellor’s house. My plan was to leave sometime in the evening so I could get back for the Sunday game we had in Cleveland. Let me just give you an example of the visit. Nick Coyne, who is a lawyer in town, an alumnus, and a great supporter of Syracuse, picked me up at the airport. Chancellor Melvin Eggers was the chairman of the search committee. We met at his beautiful mansion. Through this, we had Melvin Holm, who was the chairman of the board of Carrier and was the chairman of the Board of Trustees when (the Carrier Dome) went up. We had magnificent meetings that showed the whole campus and everything that was going on. When it was just about time for me to leave, and Chancellor Eggers said, 'Coach, this staff has talked a little about it, and I think you might be the choice. We've liked everything we've seen and we'd like a little bit of feedback on how you feel.' I said, 'I come into this setting, I fly out, I fly back on a private plane. I'm just an assistant football coach in the pros. There are great people all around me. I'm not sure that what you see right now is what I really want you to know. What I really want to know is, suppose I go 2-9, 3-8, 4-5 – what the (heck) do you think of me then?' Chancellor Eggers is a wonderful guy. He said, 'Mac, we're going to love you. We don't know how long you'll be coaching, but we'll still love you.' That was the tone we had.
"I can't emphasis it enough that I take this honor on behalf of Syracuse University. I've been to a lot of places and nobody gave me any honors before. Because I came here, with the powerful tradition, the powerful academics, the powerful Carrier Dome, we were able to get (the program) back on its feet. I want to thank Jake (Crouthamel) for recommending me, I want to thank Chancellor Eggers for being the kind of guy he was, and I want to thank, most especially, Syracuse University. It was a special part of my life, my wife's life, and my family. Amen."
On whether he wondered if he'd get inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame while attending Don McPherson's induction last year:
"At my age, I thought everything passed me by. I had been out of college coaching for quite a while when Donnie went in. The thing about it is when one of your people go in, it's such a great thing for the University. Donnie MacPherson and Timmy Green, and all of their successors in football, they're class people, as well. There was a time period when I thought I was eligible, but I thought it had passed me by, to be honest with you."
On his reaction after getting the phone call that he was being inducted:
"I told my wife, 'I know this can't be true, so forget it.' We were in Florida at the time that I got the call. To be honest, I got the call one day and I was in New York City the next. They didn't get a chance to blow the secret out to anybody else. They handled it really well. The National Football Foundation Hall of Fame is a very respected and revered thing, and it's amazing how you're accepted into that group. For me, two of my best friends in coaching were Don Nehlen and LaVell Edwards. I think they were as happy as I was that I was in the thing. I'm the only guy in the state of Maine that's in it. The only other guy in the state of Maine that anyone knows about is Louis Sockalexis, who was the first Native American in the Major League, and we thought that was enough. All of the sudden people know who we are. I'm very proud of the MacPherson's and I'm very proud for my wife because she put us through this thing."
On whether he ever had to go to Chancellor Eggers or Jake Crouthamel to ask if he still loved him even after the losses:
"They proved they loved me. They didn't fire me. I knew I was loved."
On what he's looking forward to most about the induction:
"My wife and I have been to probably 20 or 30 of these dinners in a row. The only time we missed it is when I went to the Patriots. It’s a wonderful time. All the coaches are coming back. The people who haven't been there that are going to be there is a wonderful thing to see. A couple of my players from UMass had breakfast with me one time, and in came (Penn State head coach) Joe Paterno and (former Brigham Young head coach) LaVell Edwards and they sat around at breakfast. It's amazing. Last year, the coach of Texas came over to our table at breakfast, and he and his wife thanked us for all the help we gave to (former SU head coach) Greg Robinson. There are people like that all over the place. That's why a football fan likes to be there. I don't know that my wife likes to be there, but she's there all the time."
On the work he did at Syracuse:
"To be honest, I don't see how it (the program) can fail. To me, Syracuse is anything that anybody would want to come to school. You learn through experience that recruiting is the name of the game. The number one thing, which has been studied by the Board of Trustees, is academics. We were able to promise kids that anything they wanted to be, they could be academically at Syracuse. That's how we got Timmy Green. Timmy wanted to be a heart surgeon. We had our own school and we had the best heart surgeon in the country, and he help us recruit him. The second thing after academics is tradition. Who in (heck) has a better tradition than Syracuse? The third thing would be facilities. Who else in the nation had the Carrier Dome? The big thing that we were able to use is what Chancellor Eggers used. Look where the Carrier Dome is. It's right in the middle of campus. It's not stuck on Skytop or out at the Fairgrounds. Chancellor Eggers used to say all the time that the further football gets separated from main campus, the further football is from academics. We plunked it right on campus and we used that. Then we talked about scheduling. Who played a better schedule at that time? We were one of the big five in the East. At the time I was thinking of coming here, I had always thought of going to Holy Cross. (My wife's) mother was visiting us and she asked who we played, then she asked who Holy Cross played, and she said, 'Oh, (heck) Mac, go for it. The (heck) with Holy Cross.' That's how we ended up here. My mother-in-law wanted us to be here."
On what it means to return the program to a successful one:
"Everything was here to get it done. (Retired SU Athletics Director) Jake Crouthamel found a way to get things done. He had to do some digging. Our athletics director (Dr. Daryl Gross) is sitting here right now and he's a head coach's dream. The thing about him is that he's going to give you everything you need to win. That's what a coach needs and that's what's happening. I can give an example. I coached at UMass for five years and we had good success there. We beat (Boston College) on one kid in five years. They beat us in every kid we tried. We were the state university, but they were the big timers. I came to Syracuse. We were head-to-head with BC five times. Five went to SU, zero went to BC. It's the same thing we do with Penn State. When we came here, there were seven out of the top 22 from New York State on Penn State’s roster. When we beat them in 1987, there were zero New York State kids at Penn State. That's the kind of recruiting we had to work on. We had a staff, and you can't blame the Coach and you can't blame the staff. You have to blame the academics and the location. Believe me, the Carrier Dome was a big thing for us."
On what he's most proud of:
"If you talked to our kids, I think they had a (heck) of a lot of fun. I think they worked hard, played hard, and were very proud of the school they represented. If you talk to our kids, I think they had a good time here. That's what college football is all about. I think they had a good time and we had a good time. The thing about it is, you test that loyalty because when we first started this thing, it was tough. We went 5-6 in the first year, and 2-9 in the second, and we thought, 'Here we go again.' It was a tough grind to get over the top and get it going. It was a better program here when I left than when I came and I think that's what people like about it. I know the kids were sad when I left, but that's the time to leave – when the kids are sad you're leaving, (smiling) not when they are waving you out the door."
On whether he misses coaching:
"You'd love to be able to do it, but you can't. It's fun to watch the young people do it. I think (Florida State coach) Bobby (Bowden) is going to find that out. His wife won't like it, but he will. She loved being the head coach's wife. (laughing) I think my wife liked being the head coach's wife more than she liked being my wife."
On whether his speech is ready for next week:
"My wife is very happy that I don’t have to give a speech. If I had a speech, she would be sweating this one out, and so would I. John Robinson and I are the two guys going in. My best friends are football people all the way back to my high school days. Those guys are very happy I made it, (smiling) and there aren't very many of them left.”
