Kazor: Big-time challenge at small-time school

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2000 | 9:49 a.m.

Here is this season's schedule, with results to date, for Steve Kazor's football team at Wayne State University:

Steve Kazor had more than a fling in the big time.

For 15 seasons he was an assistant coach in the National Football League, toiling under Tom Landry with the Dallas Cowboys, Mike Ditka with the Chicago Bears and Wayne Fontes with the Detroit Lions.

And while those experiences served him well, Kazor was intent on running his own program even if it meant stepping back to the collegiate level. As a result, he walked away from the NFL three years ago to take over at McPherson College in Kansas and earlier this year he migrated back to Detroit to become the head coach at Wayne State University.

That Division II school went 0-11 last season and hasn't won a game since 1998, although the Tartars won an exhibition game with Windsor (Canada) by a 65-0 score in August. Wayne State has since lost its first two regular-season games, to Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rivals Mercyhurst and Ashland, yet Kazor remains encouraged.

"It's not that things couldn't be better, but we've had such a great response from the campus and the administration that I have to say I'm content with how things are going," Kazor said this week during a telephone conversation from his office. "I'm comfortable with this right now."

Kazor, 48, is the only current head coach at the collegiate or professional level who is a product of the Las Vegas valley. A graduate of Rancho High School, he said he was happy to be back among friends in the Detroit area although he might someday look for something closer to "home."

Kazor spoke highly of UNLV coach John Robinson and mentioned that one of Robinson's assistants, defensive line specialist Craig Wederquist, once was an assistant on his staff at Iowa Wesleyan.

Kazor coached at Iowa Wesleyan in 1993 (prior to returning to the NFL with the Lions) and also had an earlier stint at Emporia State (Mo.). His overall career record is 28-15.

He said Wayne State's prospects are improving as the result of wholesale administrative changes and a greater accent on athletics. The university is nestled into a very urban setting in downtown Detroit and has an enrollment of 6,000.

"The new president really wants us to win," he said. "We're trying to upgrade in a number of areas and we may even be able to play in the new stadium that's being built for the Lions that opens in 2002."

Kazor is restricted to 29 scholarships in a league in which 35 is the norm. But he has no shortage of players on hand, as he kept all 113 who came out for the team this fall.

"It seemed like a good way to build rapport with the local high schools," Kazor said of not turning anyone away.

Wayne State has this week off and then faces perhaps its toughest test, vs. Ferris State, Sept. 23.

Next season the Tartars will add a game with a Division I-AA team, Northern Iowa, and Kazor said his president "has Division I aspirations."

Wayne State presently has a Division I program in hockey.

"It's possible we could end up in the Mid-American Conference someday," Kazor said of the school's future options.