UAlbany's only head football coach
seasoned in pride
by Tim Wilkin
Staff Writer, Times Union
Reprinted with permission of the Times Union.
©1997 Times Union, Albany, NYAt 60, Ford shows no
signs of letting upSo many games. The University at Albany record book tells us Bob Ford has been in 172 of them as a football coach.
So many players. Ford himself isn't sure how many players he has tutored in college football but it's safe to say it's well over 1,000. So many long bus rides: way up the Northway to Lake Placid and then a long trip west into Canton to play St. Lawrence; west on the Thruway to Syracuse and then south into Ithaca to play the Bombers in the Southern Tier. So many roads.
Plenty of wins. Too many losses.
When Bob Ford first became a football coach, Dwight David Eisenhower was president of the United States. Erastus Corning was in his 17th year as the mayor of Albany. Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers was the leading scorer in the National Football League. Schenectady native Pat Riley was 14 years old.
It was 1959 when Bob Ford became a fresh face in the world of college football. He was named the running backs and secondary coach at St. Lawrence University the fall after he graduated from Springfield College.
Eleven years later, he would land in the Capital Region and start a football program at the University at Albany.
He's still here.
"God, it's been a long time," Ford says with a healthy laugh when reminded how long he has been the head whistle blower for UAlbany. "There are moments when it seems like I've been here a 100 years and there are other moments when it seems like it was just the other day when we got started."
When he came here, he honestly believed he wouldn't be here forever. There were other opportunities. Then head Syracuse coach Dick MacPherson called with a position in the 1970s, Bucknell wanted him as head coach as did Bridgeport. The answer was always no.
"When you start a program ... this has sort of been my baby," Ford says.
UAlbany—then known as Albany State—was a club football team in its first three years. In 1973 the Great Danes started at the Division III level and stayed there until last season. UAlbany is playing Division II ball now and moves to I-AA in 1999.
For every down of football an Albany team has played, Ford has been right there with them.
He is the longest tenured coach at UAlbany now that the legendary Doc Sauers has retired after 41 years as head coach of the men's basketball team.
No time soon does Ford plan on joining Sauers for daily doses of 18 holes on the golf course. Although he is 60 years old, Ford still has the same zip he had 30 years ago. Mike Simpson, UAlbany's defensive coordinator the last 12 years, has seen little change in his boss.
"He might have a little bit more snow on top of his head but he has not slowed down, not at all," Simpson says. "I get in here in the morning—and I get here early— and he has already been here for an hour already. I'll tell you what, he is the reason I've been here for 12 years."
Ford climbs into his pickup every morning and makes the 20-minute drive from Clifton Park to his office in the old physical education building on campus. He looks at films, he draws up a game plan for that week, he talks to his staffabout recruits.
Then comes perhaps the most satisfying part of his day. In the afternoon he gets to spend a couple hours down on the practice field with his players. When making that walk from his office down the hill to the UAlbany practice field, Ford is at peace with himself. He isn't thinking about being anywhere else.
"I never walk down there thinking I would rather be someplace else," Ford says. "I don't think about being on the golf course or anywhere else for that matter. There is nothing wrong with saying you don't care to do it anymore but I haven't had that. I have been afforded the luxury where, at the age of 60, I am still allowed to do this. There are a helluva lot of great coaches that did not get to this age and get the option to continue."
Of course, it also makes for good theater that the aging, yet enthusiastic, coach has a team that is doing most things right these days. UAlbany defeated UMass Lowell Saturday and is 7-1 with a six-game wmning streak.
"One of the things I am really happy about is that you feel you have done something with these kids' lives," Ford says. "The most gratifying group of kids are the ones that come from real tough family backgrounds. When they get their diploma it's like, yeah, maybe we probably played a little larger role with him than the kid that came out of Shenendehowa with both mom and dad working and making $100,000.
Ford has been an influence on his players and also a major influence on those who have decided to follow in his footsteps as coaches. That list is a long one.
Coaches who have started out their careers under Ford are now spread all over the country. Dave Campo is the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, Tony Wise holds the same position for the Chicago Bears; Al Bagnoli (Penn), Jack Siedlecki (Yale), Bob Benson (Georgetown), John Audino (Union), Joe King (RPI), Ed Zaloom (Siena) are all head coaches. Dozens more are working as assistant college coaches and head coaches in high school.
"Coach is a legend, there is no doubt about that," says Jack Burger, head coach at Troy High School who played at UAlbany in the late 1970s. "He's the reason I'm a football coach."
Since going to Division III, Ford has had just six losing seasons. He has a healthy 143-99 career record as head man of the Danes.
He figures he'll stick around when the Great Danes take the plunge into Division I waters. He says he is excited about that prospect.
"I see that when the school goes Division I, Milt (athletic director Richards) says we're gonna play Syracuse in basketball," Ford says. "And I think that's wonderful . . . I just hope to hell that Milt isn't thinking about doing that in football.
"But I really think Division I is where this program should be, I really do," Ford says. "I thought that the first time I walked on this campus."
With that said, it's apparent retirement is out of the question right now. Come back and ask him the same question in 10 years and you might get a different answer; you might need only to wait five years. Right now, however, each Saturday afternoon Ford will stuff his UAlbany baseballcap over his head and send his team on the field.
"I refrain about talking about retirement, I don't even think about it," Ford says. "I read somewhere that if you set a number on how much longer you're going to coach, you have already quit."
"I want Bob Ford to coach here as long as he wants to coach," says Richards. "I want to see him take this program to Division I."