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“A Tale of Two Coaches”

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You don’t know them very well. I do.

They do a great job, in the shadow of a major market. One wears his emotion on his sleeve. The other just says ‘aw shucks’.

Yet both are winning, and sadly both are virtually ignored in America’s Finest City.

Rocky Long has taken San Diego State football to heights never-reached in modern day football, at least not since the days of Don Coryell-Claude Gilbert, when the Aztecs were winning at the Aztec Bowl and in the ‘college division’ of college football.

Dale Lindsey has continued to build on a unique level of success, with a program that does not give out football scholarships, and has athletes who play because they love the game, while their parents pay 40,000 a year tuition to go to the Catholic school up on the hill.

Rocky Long is (46-23) at San Diego State, putting together a team of toughness, talent, speed and intelligence. He is doing here what he did at New Mexico, where he brought the Lobos back from the dead to be competitive.

Lindsey succeed Ron Caragher, who replaced Jim Harbaugh. Lindsey is (27-9) at USD, playing what they call 1-AA football, but in essence, coaching a strong Division III program.

Long takes exception to questions about becoming the next Boise State, lecturing the media his Aztecs have beaten Boise a couple of time. They step outside the conference, and take their kids for lifetime experiences at places like Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Miami, UCLA, Washington and Oregon.

Lindsey coaches against whomever is on the schedule, teams from the Pioneer Conference, a cross-country league of no-grant football programs, that include Dayton to Davidson, Marist to Jacksonville. From playbooks on Saturday, to books back in the classroom on Monday on Alcala Way.

The Aztecs average about 31,000-fans a game, fine if you were in Laramie or Fresno, but not equal to Boise, and deserving better than that in an NFL city.

The Toreros before friends, family, some alumns, and might draw 3-to-5,000 per home game at best.

They both operate in the shadow of the Chargers, and in the extended shadows cast by USC-UCLA, the Pac 12, and the Power 5-Conferences. They are who they are, and they are alright with that.

Long was an option quarterback back in the day at New Mexico. He is a guru as a defensive coordinator, have done well in the Pac 10 with stops at UCLA and Oregon State. He has found his home and would stay here the rest of his coaching life.

Lindsey played at Kentucky, played for the Cleveland Browns, and was a linebacker coach for a bunch of different NFL teams, including the Chargers and Chiefs and Redskins. He’s surprised he’s a head coach at an age approaching 70-but says he learns something every day from the kids he deals with.

It’s really too bad, the 110,000 San Diego State alums have never really wrapped their arms around the Aztecs program, to take it to the next level, in terms of crowd support, emotion, and financial backing. There are some pretty good players wearing Red & Black, bypassed, overlooked, under-recruited and insulted. All they needed was a chance and good coaching, and they are getting both.

It’s not the end of the world the support at USD is limited, for their program has different priorities. It’s no different than being at small places like St. Lawrence University or Pacific Lutheran, places that win, and please whomever comes to the games, with kids happy to continue theire career. Imagine these Division III type kids getting NFL coaching, having success, and then going out into the world with a USD-diploma that has great value.

San Diego State-USD. Two very different football programs, led by two pretty special head coaches.

I know who they are, and how good Rocky Long and Dale Lindsey are, as professionals and personally as people. Too bad most of San Diego doesn’t.

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