Columnist Steve Guiremand: Hill, SJSU overcome rugged schedule

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 22, 2002 | 10:09 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

It may be the story of the year in college football.

Here's the plotline: A respected, no-nonsense African-American head coach is in charge of a struggling, once-proud program that is burdened with low expectations and one of the nation's toughest schedules. Somehow he rallies his troups to a surprising bowl bid.

Notre Dame's Tyrone Willingham? Nope, try San Jose State's Dr. Fitz Hill.

The Spartans (6-6, 4-3 in the WAC) are this year's Cinderella story of college football.

Despite strong rumors that the school could be following fellow California commuter schools such as Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Fullerton and dropping its football program in the near future, the alma mater of current 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia and countless other former NFL stars is alive and kicking.

The Spartans need only a win over in-state rival Fresno State (6-5, 4-2) on Saturday to clinch a berth in the Silicon Valley Classic.

This despite the fact the Spartans have just 62 players on scholarship and will be completing a brutal 13-games-in-13-weeks schedule that included stops at Ohio State, Washington, defending Big Ten champion Illinois and Hawaii. San Jose needed to play the road-heavy schedule for the guarantees that helped pay athletic department bills.

After the Spartans stunned Illinois 38-35 Hill said: "People said we didn't have much chance of winning. But we picked up the check and cashed it, too."

The Spartans have played nine road games and traveled 23,617 air miles. They played one game in the Eastern time zone (Ohio State), four in the central (Arkansas State, Illinois, SMU and Tulsa), three in the Pacific (Stanford, Washington, Nevada-Reno) and one in Hawaiian.

The result, other than a lot of time spent sitting around airports, is a close-knit group of players that far exceeded preseason predictions of an eighth-place WAC finish.

"We've been together so much," said junior quarterback Scott Rislov, one of 14 new SJSU starters. "On all those long road trips, the only people you see are your teammates. So it's easy to form bonds."

Hill, who received a bronze star for his role as a transportation officer in the Gulf War during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, has used his war background as a frame of reference in convincing his players that they really haven't had it so tough.

"I told the guys how can you complain about traveling, even if it is 13 straight weeks, with nobody shooting at you," Hill said.

"In combat, I have seen men have to fight for 13 straight days. It's a matter of perspective. You can always find something positive out of something. That's the schedule we had and we are not going to throw it in. That's the hand we've been dealt. It's about how you present it to our kids."

Mooning the WMC

Wyoming AD Lee Moon, who subbed for fired head coach Vic Koenning on this week's Mountain West Conference coaches' media call, didn't hold anything back when talking about his decision to fire Koenning after three last-place seasons.

When informed that some of Koenning's peers, such as Air Force's Fisher DeBerry, Utah's Ron McBride and BYU's Gary Crowton, came to Koenning's defense earlier on the conference call, a slightly agitated Moon blurted: "You've got to look at the win-loss record. We're 1-19 (in conference games). Give me a break. If I was one of the coaches in this conference, I'd be real supportive of him, too."

Moon then pointed out that the Cowboys have just one quality win in three years -- this year's upset of a flat Air Force squad coming off a nationally televised loss to Notre Dame. Two of the school's five wins in Koenning's reign came against Division 1-AA schools, including a 34-30 come-from-behind home win against The Citadel this season.

One place Koenning definitely won't be missed is the MWC's weekly media calls. His allotted 10-minute slot frequently ran about three times as long with much of the weekly conversation spent moaning about his team's injury situation and alleged blown calls by officials. The only thing missing were violins playing in the background.

Once around the Mountain West

AIR FORCE: If the Falcons (8-3) knock off visiting San Diego State (3-8) as expected on Saturday morning, it will be head coach Fisher DeBerry's 150th victory in 19 seasons at the Academy. His overall record is 149-81-1. "My response to my record is that it must mean I'm getting old," DeBerry said. "But I'm proud of this team because they weren't expected to win a game in the (Mountain West) Conference." Memo to Fisher: The Falcons, in fact, received one first-place vote in the MWC preseason poll.

BYU: Cougars (5-6), who travel up I-15 to Salt Lake City to play arch rival Utah (4-6) on Saturday, has not had a sub-.500 season since 1973. With a win, BYU will likely head to the Seattle Bowl to play Clemson.

COLORADO STATE: Ram running back Cecil "The Diesel" Sapp, the conference's rushing leader and one of eight finalists for the Doak Walker Award, suffered a painful turf toe injury on his last carry against San Diego State last Saturday and has had limited practice time this week. Sapp is expected to try to play in Saturday's showdown with New Mexico. Rams are 22-4 in November under Sonny Lubick.

NEW MEXICO: Lobos (6-5, 4-1) could finish no worse than co-champions of the Mountain West with an upset at Colorado State on Saturday and a season-ending win over Wyoming the following week. The last time New Mexico won a conference championship was in 1964 in the WAC. The Lobos have won just four league titles in their 104-year history.

SAN DIEGO STATE: Junior quarterback Adam Hall, who left Saturday night's loss to Colorado State with a second degree concussion, will not play Saturday at Air Force and could miss the Aztecs' Dec. 7 season finale at Hawaii. Hall leads the Mountain West in passing with 3,253 yards, an average of 295.7 yards per game. Lon Sheriff, who has started off and on during his career in San Diego, will get the start in Hall's place.

UNLV: Sophomore safety Jamaal Brimmer leads the MWC in tackles for loss with 16 for a minus 61 yards. Rebels could see their fair share of empty seats in next week's season finale at Colorado State. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday and potential 10 a.m. (MST) start, CSU officials are estimating a crowd of only about 15,000 could be hand.

UTAH: USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who is credited with turning around the career of Heisman Trophy contender Carson Palmer this year after a number of years of grooming top-notch QBs at BYU, is among those rumored to be in the running as a replacement for Ron McBride. McBride is expected to be fired after Saturday's game against BYU, in great part because of rapidly declining season-ticket sales.

WYOMING: Among the latest names to pop up to replace Vic Koenning is that of former Georgia head coach Jim Donnan. Donnan was head coach at Marshall under Wyoming AD Lee Moon. Others mentioned include Tulane head coach Chris Scelfo, Southwest Missouri State head coach Tim Billings, Maryland offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe, Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, Montana head coach Joe Glenn, Purdue assistant head coach Scott Dowling and Washington assistant Steve Axman, a former head coach at Northern Arizona.