Excerpts from “James,” the new autobiography of UW football coach Don James:
Wife Carol hugs husband Don James as they watch a TV broadcast of the 19 77 USC-UCLA game. USC won with a last-second field goal, ensuring that the Huskies would qualify for James’ first Rose Bowl.
I enjoy going into the homes of the prospects. And I’ve been in hundreds and hundreds of homes over the years. Generally, it’s an enjoyable experience, although there have been some difficult visits.
I’ve dealt with the finest parents you could ever want to meet. And alcoholic parents who weren’t so great to deal with. I’ve been through it all. But it’s fun to go into a home and talk to parents about their son’s future. They are so concerned about him and so proud of him. It gets easier as you have gained a bigger name in the field of coaching and people know who you are before you arrive. And when the team has had a success, that also helps. The quality of the school that you represent means a lot.
The most memorable home visit I ever had came a couple of years ago when we were recruiting … Beno Bryant. He lived in an area of L.A. where you had to be a little careful after dark. Coach Larry Slade and I were talking to the boy’s parents when we heard gunshots right next door. The houses were so close together it was just like it was coming from the next room.
Larry asked the father, “Shall we hit the floor?” After all, we weren’t accustomed to sitting in someone’s living room and hearing gunfire, but the dad said, “Unless it’s a Uzi (an automatic weapon) we don’t worry about it.”
As sirens blared outside, we went ahead with our visit. When we got ready to leave, an ambulance and the police were next door. When we came out of the house there was a helicopter overhead with the lights shining down on all of us in the area. Needless to say, Larry and I sprinted to the car and took off.
UW Quarterback Warren Moon and Coach James are elated after their 1978 Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. “We were at least a two-touchdown underdog going into the game,” James recalls. Moon, who in the mid-’70s had been the goat of Husky fans, emerged as a hero that season and was named the Rose Bowl’s Most Valuable Player. Wide World Photo.
After two seasons (1974 and 1975) we were 6 and 5 and then 5 and 6. And according to some, it was all Warren Moon’s fault. As a coach I couldn’t buy that.
Some people also tried to make the situation at quarterback a black-white issue. Some would have you believe that Moon was booed because he was black. When that was happening, the thing we tried to emphasize to Warren was that if you’re a quarterback, it doesn’t matter what color you are. If you don’t move the ball, and don’t win, you’re going to get booed. But we stuck with him.
Even when he was booed, Warren held his head high. And he worked to get better to help the team. I respected him for the way he handled it. Later, in a game against USC, he went back to pass, but nobody was open. So he ran 70-some yards for a touchdown. The whole stadium was going, “Moon, Moon.” At first I thought they were still booing him. But the fans had finally changed from “boo” to “Moon.”
When James gave President Ronald Reagan a football at an October 1984 rally, he had no inkling of the uproar to follow.
After sharing a platform with Ronald Reagan and George Bush when they were president and vice president of the United States, I learned that football and politics don’t mix. I didn’t think I was getting that involved in politics when I did what I did. I thought I was only honoring the offices they held—not promoting the men who happened to hold those offices.
… President Reagan was coming to Seattle … They wanted to know if I would make some sort of a presentation. Possibly give him an autographed football and a Husky hat. … I wanted to do it. After all it was the president of the United States. … I talked to some people who were close to our program. … They didn’t think it would be an issue. So I did it.
… The phone about rang off the hook. People really came down on me over the incident. Really bad. Not just a few. A lot of people were upset. Democrats and people that were no doubt opposed to President Reagan and his program. I had many people who backed me, of course.
… A number of faculty called, critical of what I had done. I thought they were wrong and still do. I don’t know how a faculty member could ever criticize me after the things that I have witnessed on college campuses during the past 32 years.
… Among the mail was a letter from a guy who said that I was rich and that I didn’t know what it was like to be poor and suffer financially. I couldn’t wait to write him back and explain my childhood and how I lived in a garage for eight years with no indoor plumbing. And to let him know that I did know what poor was. I added that if I have any affluency now, it’s because of the great country we live in and the opportunity that we are afforded.
It was mind-boggling to me that people could be mad at me because I got to meet the president of the United States. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t get a chance to say anything. I just congratulated him and gave him the autographed ball. … Incidentally, I paid for the football and the hat so that no state monies were involved.
The good guy image is not always true, says James. Here the coach argues with an official during the 1991 UW-California game in
Berkeley. Photo by Mark Harrison, courtesy of the
Seattle Times.
Many articles have stressed the fact that Don James is basically a good guy who runs a clean program. But the writers often seem to feel compelled to add that he’s also a person who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t swear. I don’t want to disillusion those who believe everything they read in the newspapers, but all of those things aren’t true. You should hear me after I make a bad golf shot or what I think is an incorrect call by an official.
… I suppose, because I try to prepare our team on a tight, regimented, disciplined schedule and in an organized way—and attempt to keep my emotions under control—a lot of people view me as something I am not. I hope to be considered an understanding, caring person who is pleasant to be around, although most competitors are not much fun to be around the closer you get to a contest.
During practices, Coach James spends much of his time in a tower. “It gives me a clear view of the entire field and everything that is going on.”
File photo courtesy of
UW Sports Information.
I’m sure some of the players think I’m standoffish. But decisions about personnel and position changes are always tough to make. And the more you can keep personalities out of that decision-making process, the better.
I have certainly never tried to present the image of being aloof to my players, but I suppose, because I have been on a tower much of the time while they were practicing, they didn’t feel they knew me or were as close to me as they were to their position coaches. A big lineman once told my wife, after he had finished his playing career, “How can a guy as big as me be so scared of a guy the size of your husband? I don’t know why, but I was always scared to death of him.”
Some people think that we ought to let the talented athlete come to college and just “major ” in football. That’s not the proper solution, even though, if we are honest, all major college coaches have a few students who do not have a lot of interest in academics. It’s very difficult for them. They struggle a lot in class because they don’t have the skills their fellow classmates have.
… Sometimes, however, I think the finger is pointed unfairly at the athlete. What about the college student who has only one goal—to succeed on the New York stage? He gets into drama and does very little if anything else academically. Or the talented trumpet player at the school of music. He and the athlete are in much the same boat. He can’t take trumpet lessons all day long.
The answer is that they both need to get a well-rounded education. And that’s what we’re into for the athlete. And I’m supportive of that approach.
James was a star of two Massillon (Ohio) High School championship football teams, playing quarterback his senior year.
The possibility of a national college playoff is another NCAA matter which is constantly in the news. Personally, I hope we never go to a playoff system at the major college level. I look at it two ways. First, I think the best way to look at it is from the player’s standpoint. There are already so many demands on the players right now. We have fall camp, winter conditioning programs and spring practice, plus summer programs for them to follow. Then an 11-game season.
It’s true that a playoff system would generate a lot of money, but I don’t think you should do it unless there was some way for the players to get something out of it.
At least get them the “laundry money” I had as a player. But I don ‘t think this is going to happen. … Then there is the injury factor. We bang up kids in practice. And the season, by that time, takes its toll. They just don’t need a longer season. It’s long enough now.
I favor the bowl system. I think the bowls have done a lot for college football. Last year [1990], colleges received over $60 million from the bowls. … Revenue sharing has kept a lot of the teams alive.
The university presidents are trying to send a message that there is an overemphasis on major college sports. And that they’re going to do something about it. In my opinion, if they then allowed a playoff, they would just be defeating everything they’ve tried to get established.
James gets a hug from his daughter Jeni, a Husky cheerleader, after an upset victory over USC in 1990.
I have not given retirement much thought. Obviously, I cannot pinpoint a day or time for that to happen. I’m afraid that if a coach seriously entertained such a thought he would subconsciously stop recruiting. … There are great challenges in this job. The challenge of putting a staff together. Of putting the team together. And then the challenge of 11 or 12 games a year—breaking down the opponent, the scouting report, devising a game plan and then going out to orchestrate the contest. And that challenge is just as exciting to me today as it’s ever been. That’s why I coach. I not only enjoy it but it’s what I always wanted to do—teach and be with young men and make them better. Take them as far as they can go in their sport. Try to lead by example.
… I really can ‘t imagine coaching anywhere but here at Washington. I’ve had other offers during the years. And I’ve had an opportunity to interview for other college jobs on two or three different occasions, but I haven ‘t taken them.
Born: Dec. 31, 1932 in Massillon, Ohio
Colleges: University of Miami, B.A. 1954. Played quarterback for the Hurricanes, setting five school passing records. Earned school’s top scholar-athlete award. University of Kansas, M.A. 1957, doubled as freshman football coach.
Married: Carole Hoobler of Massillon, Ohio, on Aug. 9, 1952.
Children: Jeff, Jill and Jeni. Also has five grandchildren.
Coaching career: Florida State Assistant Coach, 1959-65; University of Michigan Assistant Coach, 1966-67; University of Colorado Assistant Coach, 1968-79; Kent State Football Coach, 1971-74; Washington Football Coach, 1975-present.
UW record: 144-54-2, .725 win percentage
James, the autobiography of Don James as told to Virgil Parker, is available at Seattle-area bookstores or through the UW Alumni Association. © Copyright 1991 by Don James and Virgil Parker. Reprinted by permission.