When I first starting in the recruiting business in 1979, I had very few football friends and even fewer coaches who had any idea of exactly what I was doing.
| |  | | Bill Callahan |
I could count on one hand the number of coaches who would lift a finger to help. One of them was a 24-year-old graduate assistant at the University of Illinois named Bill Callahan. Although we immediately started talking, we did not become good friends for another year or so when Callahan became the offensive line coach for the Illini. I was immediately taken by his work ethic, fiery approach to coaching and tireless work as a recruiter.
Over the years I've always kept lists of the best recruiters, not only head coaches, but also assistant coaches. Even back in 1981, Bill Callahan stood out. He was relentless in his pursuit of blue-chip athletes and was persistent in not only his personal phone calls, but also personal letters. And remember, back in the early '80s phone calls to prospects were unlimited.
The first comments to me about Callahan from a player were from Jim Juriga, a 1981 Prep Football Report All-American who was Callahan's and head coach Mike White's most important recruit to date. However, the comments were not positive; Juriga told me Callahan was too intense, too fiery and all business. A few months later during another conversation with Juriga, I was amazed with the about-face in his relationship with his new offensive line coach. Within six months Callahan had galvanized the entire offensive line into one terrific unit that would (in less than one year) help lead the Fighting Illini to their first Rose Bowl appearance in almost 20 years. From then on, every offensive lineman that ever worked under Callahan had nothing but praise for his integrity, work habits and coaching ability.
After leaving the Illini in 1986, Callahan became offensive line coach at Northern Arizona for two years. He then became quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois University under former mentor Bob Smith. After just one year in Carbondale, Ill., Callahan moved on to Madison, Wis., to become offensive line coach under newly named head coach Barry Alvarez. He immediately become one of Alvarez's top recruiters, landing several All-American prospects who would later become integral parts to the Badgers' 1993 Rose Bowl team.
The six years he spent in Madison solidified his position as one of college football's top offensive line coaches. In fact, Callahan's coaching philosophy along the offensive line made such an impact that his name was easily recognizable among college head coaches looking for the very best. His next move after six years in Madison was to professional football and the Philadelphia Eagles under Ray Rhodes, where he quickly established himself as one of the NFL's top offensive line coaches. In fact, during a speaking engagement in Mobile, Ala., in 1997, I happened to be sitting next to famed NFL scout Gil Brandt, who commented to me that in his opinion the best offensive line coach in all of football was Bill Callahan.
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ABOUT TOM LEMMING
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Tom Lemming is editor of Prep Football Report. For information on how to subscribe to Prep Football Report's three yearly magazines and five newsletters, fax your request to 847-842-1313 or write to P.O. Box 59113, Schaumburg, Ill. 60159. For year-round recruiting updates, call Tom Lemming's Prep Football Hotline at 900-860-9888. Calls are $1.79 per minute, and callers must be 18 years old or have parents' permission. |
After three years with the Eagles Callahan moved on to accept the offensive coordinator and offensive line coaching positions with the Oakland Raiders under Jon Gruden and remains in that same position today. During my 21 years of evaluating and writing about the nation's top football recruits I've happened upon several assistant coaches who are definitely head coach material, with Callahan at the top of the list.
In early June I had breakfast with Callahan at an Oakland restaurant and asked him what he thought about someday returning to college football as a head coach. His answer was rather predictable, but he definitely left the door open for a return as a head coach to some major college program. He did tell me that working in the NFL was an eye-opener, not only because of the pressures, but also because of the amount of work that actually goes into it.
It's always been my thought that college football coaches work much harder than NFL coaches because of their recruiting responsibilities, but Callahan was quick to point out that NFL coaches work much longer hours and under much more pressure than college coaches. He also had high praise for Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis and Gruden, not only because of their ability to lead, but also because of their loyalty to former players and assistant coaches. Being an integral part of the Oakland Raiders' West Coast offense should make Callahan a hot name in December when most of the coaching changes take place.
Recently I've talked to several college head coaches and NFL personnel who say Callahan has one of the strongest offensive coaching backgrounds in the country; all 23 years of his coaching experience have been as an offensive coach. He has coached every offensive position at a high level. There are not very many coaches around the country that have his kind of background or expertise. He possesses tremendous leadership abilities in directing and handling position responsibilities, and more importantly he has been a part of five programs that have started from scratch and have gone onto great success.
As offensive coordinator he has also coached some of the game's greatest players, including Tim Brown, Ricky Watters, Guy McIntyre, Irving Fryar, Jeff George, Napoleon Kaufman, Steve Wisniewski and Steve Everett. Another reason why I've been so high on Bill Callahan as a potential college head coach was the fact that he's been a winner everywhere he's been, including his college days as a 5-foot-9 record-breaking quarterback at Illinois Benedictine College.
If this sounds like a "Bill Callahan For College Head Coach" sales pitch, well, then maybe it is. But believe me, it was completely unsolicited and written only because it is my belief that there are not enough qualified head coaches in college football these days, and that some athletic directors do not do their homework when the time comes to name a new head coach.
In college football the selection process looks for someone with the ability to speak in public, coach the heck out of average to below-average players and most importantly recruit. Callahan gets A-pluses in all three categories and in a lot of ways reminds me of Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez when he was defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. Back then it was easy for me to see that Alvarez was definitely head coach material and I commented on that fact to several Chicago and Milwaukee newspapers. Callahan has kept his hand in both college and high school football when time allows. Because of his draft responsibilities he's watched film on hundreds of college players, and as far as high school is concerned, his son, Brian, was the backup quarterback as a sophomore in the nation's No. 1 team, Concord DeLaSalle.
My next profile will be about college football's all-time best recruiter -- Vinnie Cerrato -- who's now director of player personnel for the Washington Redskins.
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