Lambright, Part VI: Gaining the players' acceptance

       (Part VI)
       The adjustment to new head coach Maxie Lambright and his staff was a challenge for the Louisiana Tech football players in the spring and fall of 1967.
       They had been recruited by outgoing head coach Joe Aillet and his staff, they were accustomed to the calm manner and guidance of "The Smooth Man," and they were uncertain about the newcomer.
       Here are the thoughts of five Tech players who made the transition. The first three -- Jesse Carrigan, Glenn Murphy and Wayne "Butch" Williams -- were the first all-conference offensive linemen in the Lambright era.
---
       Jesse Carrigan (offensive tackle-guard, 1965-68, from Fair Park-Shreveport, now resides just outside Tampa, Fla., CEO and owner of Blue Head Tequila, LLC):
       "There was a little animosity when Coach Lambright came in. But he told us he was going to play the best guys. He definitely made changes from Coach Aillet.
       "Football was changing, and [Tech under Lambright] was very successful because he had Mickey Slaughter running the offense. Mickey had been in the school of business (same as Carrigan) a few years earlier and he had a 4.0 grade-point average. He was highly respected there.
       "[Lambright] was intense, but I thought he was well-mannered. He had some real intense assistants. I dealt mostly with [offensive line] Coach [Jimmy] Mize, and you couldn't have a better guy; he had a business manner.
       "Lambright had those assistants, but he was the general. He was hard and he was direct, but I don't remember him jumping on anybody, screaming at them, really bad. He did put together the right guys (staff).
       "I never had a problem with him on or off the field. You had to go to class, but you always had to do that. He treated me with courtesy."
---

       Glenn Murphy (offensive guard, 1964-68, from Bastrop, now resides in Alexandria, where he coached and officiated football for years):

       "Coach Lambright had a brilliant mind for football. ... He was one of the smartest men I ever knew, a special man.

       "[On offense], he would target an area and manipulate defenses to attack them. He altered blocking schemes, and that would open up the running game." [He cited an example of changes before the 1968 game at Southern Mississippi; Tech won 27-20 against a team it had lost to 58-7 the year before.]

       "Personally, I think I was like every other guy on the team -- I was scared of him. But I respected him; that's the key word: respect. I thought he cared a lot about us.

       "He was more of an in-your-face coach than Coach Aillet. But he encouraged you. He might be in your face, but it was, 'You can do this, son.'

       "Coach Aillet expected you to mature and learn on your own. Coach Lambright motivated you more directly."

---

       Wayne "Butch" Williams (offensive tackle, 1966-69, from Minden, where he returned to coach football and guide the 1972 baseball team to a state championship, then -- following the path of his father -- became a high school principal and later the superintendent of schools in Webster Parish):

       "I kind of started off on the wrong foot with him [Lambright], but he gave me a chance to play and I'm grateful for that. He brought in an excellent staff, hard workers, knowledgeable football people. Mickey [Slaughter] was one of the best around [offensive backfield coach]; he was such a big factor sitting in the press box calling plays.

       "They all had a purpose, and they knew what they were doing."

       Williams' father had been a close friend of George Doherty; he was the school principal when Doherty guided Minden to two state championships in the 1950s. So Butch was hoping Doherty would be the Tech head coach.

       "Coach Doherty was more of a 'three yards and a cloud of dust' offensive coach. The open [passing] game Lambright and his staff brought so much more to Tech.

       "I was not the greatest of his [Lambright's] fans, but he was not an enemy. He gave me a fair shake and I don't forget that.

       "Coach Aillet and Coach Lambright were totally different type people. I heard Coach Aillet curse once, maybe. They had a totally different way of doing things -- how they organized practices and games. You had to be there to understand.

       "Coach Aillet would be dealing with the offensive line and he'd say to me, pretty quietly, 'Now, Wayne -- he always called me Wayne -- don't you think you could have executed that block more efficiently?' Maxie was a lot more direct."

---

       Jim Willis (center, 1964-67, from Monroe-Neville High, now resides in the Houston area, founder and president of the Wildlife Habitat Foundation, dedicated to the restoration and upkeep of native prairie land, designed to protect and preserve the dwindling quail population):

       "I came to Tech to play for Coach Aillet, and I was excited to do that. 

       "Coach Lambright was a man of few words, but he said the most meaningful things with those few words. ... He had a way of letting you know he was there. I had a special relationship with him; he made me feel that I was the best player I could be at my position.

       "He was so dedicated. I'd see him coming out of the office late at night, on weekends. He put so much effort into the program.

       "I wish I'd had four more years with him."

---

       Mike Mowad (defensive nose guard, 1965-68, from Oakdale, graduate assistant coach at Tech in 1970, a precursor to a coaching career that ended with a 26-year head coaching stay at Breaux Bridge, 200 victories and a state championship in 2005):

       "Coach Aillet was more the intellectual type, reserved. He thought about the players after they finished playing, he was concerned about academics.

       "Coach Lambright brought in one of the finest staffs; that's what I really compliment him for. Like all successful head coaches, he let  his coaches coach. Mickey Slaughter was a phenomenal offensive coordinator, Pat Collins was a phenomenal defensive coordinator.

       "Maxie was very dedicated to Louisiana Tech, dedicated to the players. He showed a lot of compassion at times to coaches and players.

       "He was well-organized. He allowed his assistants to give a lot of input for the game plans.

       "I think with the black players coming in [starting in 1971), he had to change his philosophy some; he had to change things to fit the lifestyle of the players.

       "When I was a graduate assistant, I got to drive Coach Lambright a lot of places, like coaching clinics. He was like a lot of coaches, a completely different person off the field."

       (Next: Two key players, two stories)  

          

 

 

 

 

        

Lambright, Part V: two men, two styles

        (Part V)
      The men who knew both Joe Aillet and Maxie Lambright can draw the best comparisons of the most successful head football coaches in Louisiana Tech University history.
      Two assistants worked under both, defensive backfield coach E.J. Lewis and the late Jimmy Mize (offensive line).
      Four of Lambright's assistant coaches -- Mickey Slaughter (offensive backs/receivers), Pat Collins (defensive front), Wallace Martin (offensive line) and the late Pat "Gravy" Patterson (offensive line/ends) -- played at Tech in the Aillet years.
      And many of the Tech players on Lambright's first three teams, 1967-69, were recruited by Aillet's staff and began their college careers playing in Aillet's last two seasons (1965-66).
      Aillet and Lambright gave Tech a combined 38 years of mostly great success and stability. 
       In 38 seasons since then -- yes, it is exactly 38 -- there have been 10 head coaches (11 if you count Patterson's one game as the "interim" coach -- an 13-10 victory against arch-rival Northeast Louisiana to close an otherwise miserable 2-9 1979 season, the one after Lambright retired).
       So how did the two legends compare?
---
        "They were absolutely diametrically opposite," said Slaughter, who among those in Tech athletics was the first to know Lambright, his high school coach at Bolton (Alexandria).

Coach Joe Aillet

     "Coach Aillet was very polite, a very calm personality," Slaughter explained. "He was not easily upset, always in charge of his faculties. When he used a profanity, which was not very often, he said very softly and unless you were right next to him, no one else could hear it. And he was a deep thinker when it came to football."
      Lambright, said Slaughter, "was a volatile individual, with players and coaches. You did not want those cold blue eyes starting at you. When he had something to say to someone, he said it -- very directly."
      Lewis spent four seasons with Aillet and 12 with Lambright.
       "I was very fortunate to fit in with both of them," he said. "They were both great guys, both great coaches, good disciplinarians. ... Both good to work for."
      Martin, who came back to Tech in 1971 after a graduate assistant role at the University of Arkansas under coach Frank Broyles and then an assistant track coach/P.E. teaching job at Northeast Louisiana, said Lambright "demanded a lot from us. As long as you did your job, it was fine. He expected high production.
     "But if you didn't produce, you had to answer to him. When those blue eyes zoomed in on you, when he got to looking at you, you knew you were in trouble.
     "Overall, he was a joy to work for. Extremely fair and very understanding. I thoroughly enjoyed those years."
     The Aillet-Lambright comparison? "In some ways, they were a lot alike," Martin said. "They knew where they wanted to go, and knew how to get there. The kids they recruited were going to be good citizens. They both were committed to doing the best they could for the kids and for Louisiana Tech.
     "Coach Aillet was a lot more low-key. Maxie would get a little more excited about things."
---

Coach Maxie Lambright

     Lambright could be a tough disciplinarian. He was, as has been noted, hard on his coaches and if players broke team rules (arrived late for or missed meetings or practices, or in one case when facial hair was still a no-no in the early 1970s), he was willing to send them home or go into games without them. And that included some star players, future pros.
     It would take some persuasion -- begging is not quite right -- by assistant coaches to gain relief for the players.
     One example was that a player -- recruited by Aillet --  had a pre-dental curriculum that required lab classes which conflicted with football practices. Maxie insisted he not miss practice; the player wound up changing his major.
      "Coach Aillet would never have let him miss those labs," a fellow player said.
      And yet, coaches and players knew that second chances were a possibility with Lambright.
      Conversely, one person noted that "when Coach Aillet had it in for somebody, there was no redemption. He had a hard time forgiving. They were gone."
      A couple of my media friends would attest to that after they drew Coach Aillet's displeasure. No way would they want -- or dare -- to trade verbal or written exchanges with him, knowing he was one of the wisest individuals they would ever encounter.
      For the players who bridged the Aillet and Lambright years, however, the adjustment was often tough.
      (Next: Gaining the players' acceptance)

Lambright, Part IV: Choosing the next coach

       (Part IV)
       Maxie Lambright was an accomplished and qualified football coach when he was named head coach at Louisiana Tech University in March 1967.
       But who at Tech knew that exactly?
       So he was a surprise selection of sorts as Joe Aillet's successor. Among the few Tech people who knew who he was, though, were the five Bulldogs coaches who had been on the opposite sideline when their teams matched up with Southern Mississippi.
       They knew that Lambright was directing the offense that helped Southern Miss beat Tech in five of his eight years as a USM assistant coach.
       What the great majority of Tech's football players, all recruited by Aillet and his staff, knew was that he wasn't George Doherty. And Coach Doherty, the Tech defensive line/linebackers coach for 10 years, was who they wanted to be their next head coach.
       Coach Aillet wanted that, too, and so did the substantial base of ex-players and alumni and Tech friends who were Aillet loyalists.
       Maxie, unwittingly, came into a house divided.

Dr. F. Jay Taylor

       But he was Tech president Dr. F. Jay Taylor's pick, and that was that.
       It was, I dare say, the most high-profile decision -- and division -- of an unpublicized but not unknown clash of two strong-willed, powerful Tech personalities.
       Dr. Taylor and Coach Aillet.
       The young "new school" progressive Tech president and the very respected veteran athletic director/head coach who was one of the university's best ambassadors. 
       Aillet wasn't exactly "old school" because in athletics he always adjusted with the times and often was at the forefront of new developments. But he had run his football team and the department with much success for 2 1/2 decades, he was sure of his leadership, and he was a legend.
       There was a Dr. Taylor faction; there was a Coach Aillet faction (and some people caught in between). And there was quite a bit of jealousy.
       Both were top-notch educators, effective speakers, both polished and polite. But not agreeable with each other's roles.
       Jay Taylor had come back to Tech -- where he was a student soon after Aillet became AD/coach in 1940 -- as president in 1962, and the school was beginning to grow in many areas.
       Enrollment was increasing each year, thus requiring new and renovated facilities. Dr. Taylor was well-connected politically in Louisiana, good at cajoling people and obtaining the funding for increased personnel and the many proposed building and educational projects.
       Who knows how much he differed with Coach Aillet on athletic department issues -- I would guess primarily on  funding -- but the fact was that the two men did not have the same perspective.
       Dr. Taylor was bringing in his own people as administrators for departments all over campus.
       And he delved into athletics when Scotty Robertson, a Tech graduate and former Tech athlete who had become a very successful high school coach (primarily in basketball), was brought in as assistant coach to longtime Tech basketball coach Cecil Crowley in the fall of 1963.
       It was obviously with the intent of Scotty soon replacing his old coach -- Joe Aillet's coaching companion dating to Haynesville High School in the early 1930s. That happened after only one year.
        The Aillet boosters, sensing Dr. Taylor's growing influence, organized a "Joe Aillet Appreciation Day" for the 1963 homecoming game, not only to honor the coach but to make it clear to the new president how much the coach meant to them.
       Coach Aillet was presented -- if I recall correctly -- a new Cadillac, quite a luxury in those days, and the football team presented him a whopping 45-0 victory against Southwestern Louisiana (not yet USL, or Louisiana-Lafayette, or -- heavens -- the University of Louisiana).
       The 1964 Tech team was one of Coach Aillet's best -- 9-1, with only a controversial loss at Southern Mississippi the spoiler. That team gave up only 50 points other than the USM game and was one of the best defensive teams statistically in school history.

From The Shreveport Times sports page -- March 31, 1967

     Then, after successive 4-4 and 1-9 football seasons, Aillet decided -- on March 30, 1967 -- to announce his retirement from coaching. He wasn't forced out; no one was going to force out Joe Aillet. But he was 62, he had coached for nearly 40 years, and he wanted to remain as athletic director.
       In his lengthy letter to Dr. Taylor, Coach Aillet said, in part, "The combined duties of athletic director and head football coach are getting more demanding as our program expands. ... During the past two years my duties have been exhausting, both physically and mentally ..."
       Who would replace him?
       It was late in the school year, leaving little time for a new coach to prepare for the 1967 season. So promoting someone from Aillet's staff might have been more prudent than bringing in someone from outside.
       But Dr. Taylor likely had prepared for the time of change. 
---
       Doherty was the players' choice; they knew him. He had been a two-time state championship coach at Minden High, then returned to Tech, where he was a standout linemen on two of Coach Aillet's first teams (1941-42). He played five  seasons in the NFL.
       He was, as some players called him, a Jekyll-and-Hyde -- aggressive and demanding as a coach, especially in practice; a kind, genial, your-favorite-uncle type away from football.
       The players returning for the 1967 season had a meeting -- on the front steps of old Memorial Gymnasium -- and had a petition asking for Doherty to get the job. Most players, but not all, signed it.
       A couple then took the petition to a meeting with Dr. Taylor in his office across campus. He was cordial ... but he had his own plan.

This is the photo that
Southern Mississippi
provided to Tech when
Maxie Lambright was
named head coach.

       In short time, the news broke: Maxie Lambright was the pick.
       (If memory serves correctly, the first to report it was Alexandria Town Talk sports editor/columnist Bill Carter, who repeatedly broke Tech athletic department stories in the mid to late 1960s. He obviously had "inside" sources at Tech, and those sources were accurate. Carter had known Lambright from the coach's days --1956-58 -- at Bolton High in Alexandria.)
       Doherty would not be retained on staff. He moved to arch-rival Northwestern State as defensive line coach, and became head coach there for three years (1972-74), with one conference championship and a final 1-9 season before retiring.
      For the longest time, Lambright's selection was resented by many Aillet faithful. But their displeasure waned as Tech's teams began to win as they had under Aillet.
       When the Bulldogs had their unprecedented four-year run of success (44-4), then at the end of Lambright's 12-year tenure (and seven conference titles), and certainly now 50 years later, it was and is clear: He was a great pick.
       (Next: Two coaches, two styles)       
                          
         

             
          

Lambright, Part III: Letting the coaches coach

     (Part III)
     The first task Maxie Lambright faced in his first college football head-coaching job -- and his last, as it turned out -- was to assemble a coaching staff.
     He did that brilliantly. One of the hallmarks of his 12-year tenure at Louisiana Tech was that the staff stayed mostly intact the whole time. There were only a couple of changes.


The Louisiana Tech football coaching staff, 1971-78: (from left) Pat
 Collins, Wallace Martin, Pat Patterson, Maxie Lambright, E.J. Lewis,
Mickey Slaughter (photo from Tech's sports information office)

     The second task was to turn from a hands-on, do- everything-myself coach and become the general, the organizer, the overseer of a college program, and to trust those assistants.
     There was no doubt who made the final decisions for Tech football, 1967-78, but talking to the people who remember that time, one theme was "he let his coaches coach."
     Lambright's success -- and many with Tech ties think it is worthy of his being in the College Football Hall of Fame -- also was the staff's success.
     There were a couple of difficult seasons -- a 3-7 shakedown in 1967 and an unlucky 2-9 in 1970. Otherwise,  the Bulldogs were consistent winners and champions. The record in the other 10 years: 90-20-2 (.813).
---
      Mickey Slaughter was the first hire. As I recall, the day it was announced that Lambright would succeed Joe Aillet as Tech head coach -- the first change in that position since after the 1939 season -- it also was announced that Slaughter was retiring as a pro quarterback to return to Tech.
     That, eventually, would lead to a change in Lambright's offensive philosophy, and Tech would become known as a potent passing team -- even more than it had been under Aillet.
     In 1960, Slaughter had been the first Tech QB to play when Aillet switched from the then-popular Wing-T offense to a pro-style passing game -- with split receivers, and liberal use of the backs and tight end as pass catchers. Tech was among the first teams in the South, maybe the country, to make the switch.
     Mickey set school passing records and in 1963 was a seventh-round draft pick in the almost-new American Football League by the -- honestly -- awful Denver Broncos.


Mickey Slaughter

      Slaughter started 19 games in his first three seasons and had some productive outings, but injuries got in his way. After his fourth season -- curtailed by a shoulder injury -- he was traded to the Oakland Raiders. But he failed the physical, and never joined them.
     So when he received a call from Huey Williamson, retiring from coaching football after Aillet's retirement and about to head Tech's health and P.E. department, asking if he wanted to join Lambright's staff, it was an easy decision.
        Slaughter had played for Lambright in high school (Bolton, in Alexandria), so he knew the coach. But he had a big influence on a coach who was much more of an advocate of the running game.
     Slaughter had learned pro sets and receiving routes from Aillet and even more from his time in the AFL. And so ...
     "He [Maxie] allowed me to install the passing game at Tech," he recalled. "He had some ideas about the running game. We combined to set up the offense we wanted."
      It took some doing. Lambright's option offense had worked so well for Southern Miss; now, with Phil Robertson and Terry Bradshaw -- both sophomores in eligibility -- at QB for Tech, they started the season running some option plays.
      But, as Slaughter noted, "that's not what our talent prescribed. He [Lambright] got to where he liked the passing game, and that's the direction we went more and more."
      Dropback passing, spread formations, varied pass routes became Tech's offensive hallmark again, as it had been under Aillet with Slaughter, then Billy Laird and finally Robertson and Bradshaw throwing. But it was balanced with the running game Lambright loved.
      Robertson, the future "Duck Commander," and Bradshaw, the future Pro Football Hall of Fame QB, each had talent and some high-yardage games in 1967. But they also remained inconsistent.
      Several other factors -- Tech's overall talent level, either inexperienced or not up to the opponents' level, plus injuries and unfortunate breaks, meant a 3-7 first-year record for Lambright, not much improvement over the 1-9 in Aillet's final season -- a shock considering his consistent success over 2 1/2 decades.
     One other interesting aspect of that first Lambright season: who called the plays.
     "Those were the days when the quarterbacks called their own plays," Slaughter recalled. "Terry Bradshaw called his own plays" (and so did Robertson). 
     But, Lambright wasn't comfortable with that. And -- as would become the trend all over football -- a change was made.
     "Maxie came to me one day out of the blue and said, 'You will call all the plays from now on,' " Slaughter said.
     For the bulk of their coaching time at Tech, through a long string of terrific QBs and receivers, Slaughter called the right plays.
     And here is what else:
     "The thing I most admired about Maxie," he said, "that in 10 years, he never questioned one time the plays I called -- whether they worked or didn't work. It had to be hard for him [Lambright had called plays for years in high school and at Southern Miss]. But I could work without his interruption or his comments.
     "It was a really, really good situation. We had some great athletes to execute those plays. We had some quarterbacks who made us look good."
     Those QBs, after Phil and Terry, included Kenny Lantrip, Denny Duron, Steve Haynes, Randy Robertson and Keith Thibodeaux.
     Robertson quit football before the next season; he wanted to go hunting and fishing more than he wanted to play. Plus -- my opinion -- he could see that Bradshaw, going into the 1968 season was going to be the No. 1 quarterback.
     And in 1968, Bradshaw -- raw, tall and obviously still growing, with the strong right arm that few QBs could match, goofy but upbeat and entertaining, potential untapped -- developed into a talent Tech faithful perhaps had never seen.
     That was a huge reason -- plus, the maturation of seniors and juniors, especially linemen, who had been dominated too often the previous two years -- that the '68 season was the turnaround for the Lambright program.
     It ended with a 9-2 record, seven consecutive victories after a 2-2 start, and Tech's first-ever bowl game -- a 33-13 victory against Akron in the Grantland Rice Bowl, an NCAA Division II regional, on an extremely cold day in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
       In 1967, Tech's offense had set school records with 339.5 total yards per game and 209.2 passing. Those marks were shattered in 1968: 459.1 total yards per game, 316.4 passing.
        How good was that? No Tech team over a 49-year period averaged that many yards passing; it was 1996 before that record was broken. It was 22 years before the total-offense record was topped.
         (Of course, in the past 20 years, those high-volume numbers have become routine.)
---
         That first coaching staff was a nice mix of college coaching veterans and first-timers. Retained from Aillet's staff -- perhaps at Coach Aillet's request/insistence -- were Jimmy Mize (offensive line) and E.J. Lewis (defensive backs). Tony Misita, who had been defensive line coach at Southeastern Louisiana, moved to Tech. The newcomers were all ex-Tech players and graduates: Slaughter, Pat Collins (linebackers) and Pat Patterson (ends/offensive line).
     Collins, from Shreveport (Fair Park High), had been coaching at Airline High in Bossier City; Patterson, from Delhi in northeast Louisiana, had coached at Ouachita High (Monroe) and then Byrd (Shreveport).
     They all recruited the areas they knew, where they had coached. They were personable and diligent, and super salesmen for Tech. Over the dozen years, so many talented athletes chose to compete in Ruston. It had been that way during the Aillet years, too.

E.J. Lewis

        Lewis, for instance, worked in southwest Louisiana, where he had coached in high school, and into Texas -- southeast and especially the northeast part. He helped bring in loads of talent for football and track/field, where he assisted Mize. 
     "There was consistency in recruiting," said Wallace Martin, who joined the staff (coaching offensive guards and centers) in 1971 after Misita left for Tulane and the gentlemanly Mize retired from football for the track-only role. "Kids [recruits] felt we would be there."
---
     On the field, the Lambright staff was much different than the Aillet staff had been. The noise level (Slaughter alone could be heard miles away), the enthusiasm and -- yes -- the profanity in some cases ramped up. Practices were much more physical, rugged hitting sessions, than before.
     Aillet's practices were mostly quiet, efficient and clinical, teaching sessions. George Doherty was the most vocal and demanding of the Aillet staff, exhorting his defensive units in an excitable way. Lewis would bark out enthusiastically, mostly in an encouraging way.
      Misita was such an intense character that when his name is mentioned to players from the early Lambright years, they remember that Tony, well, threw up before every game.     

Pat Collins

     Collins was just beginning to develop the aggressive, fast defensive units that characterized the teams he coached. He would become a Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame coach -- inducted last summer -- after a great run of success (including an NCAA Division II national championship) at Northeast Louisiana, where he moved after being passed over for the Tech head coaching job when Lambright resigned before the 1979 season. (That's another story).

      Patterson was the motivational "slogan" guy, creating the banners and signs to remind Tech players. Meticulous and creative and folksy, he talked in clipped bursts. He was a good football coach and loyal to Tech, and he built and coached an NCAA Tournament-level baseball program for a couple of decades.

      But one man united the staff. 
     "In the beginning, he had a bunch of young guys, some with no college coaching experience," Slaughter said. "He had to corral some young coaches who thought they knew more than they did, mainly me."
     "Maxie was the kind of guy you could sit down him and talk to him," said Lewis. "He let you do your thing in coaching. He was a really good teacher, especially teaching running backs to block. Roland Harper [who would star at Tech, then play fullback for the Chicago Bears to team with superstar Walter Payton in the late 1970s] was an example.
     "You could take a chance, do something in coaching and go," Lewis added. "But if he saw something he wanted to change, it was going to be his way."
     Collins was reminded of that one day. He had consulted with several coaching staff on a particular coverage -- I believe it was to walk a linebacker out head-on over the tight end in certain sets. When in a staff meeting, he explained this, Lambright -- in sharp, clear fashion (and we heard tell, not calmly) -- said no, Tech's defense was not going to do it that way.
     And then there was the day when an offense-vs.-defense drill -- Slaughter's unit vs. Collins' -- broke into a full-scale scrimmage. "Two young coaches, both as [bleeping] competitive as anyone in the world, going after one another," Collins remembered.
     Lambright was on another field when he heard the commotion.
     "He charged up that hill [to this practice field]," Slaughter said, "and he was yelling, really giving it to us."
     When practice ended, as the coaches walked toward the dressing rooms, Lambright continued to chew on his top two assistants. "All we could do was keep our mouths shut," Slaughter said.
     And it was not uncommon. Maxie Lambright could be a hard man, with his players and with his assistants.
     "You had to steel your mind," Slaughter said, "that you were going to get your butt chewed out once or twice a day."
     But there was this: "He never took credit when things were going well," Collins said. "He was one of those guys who always knew what he wanted."
     (Next: Not the "designated" choice)
                

Lambright, Part II: The coaching road, through USM

       (Part II of a series)
       Until he became the head football coach at Louisiana Tech University in 1967, Maxie Lambright -- as a young coach -- was very much the "hands-on" type.
       It was that way his first nine years as a high school coach and the next eight years as the offensive backfield coach -- and much more -- at the University of Southern Mississippi.
       That would change somewhat when he became a college head coach, at Louisiana Tech. He would trust and give more responsibility to the coaching staff he put together that stayed mostly intact for 12 years.
       But not entirely. Sometimes the "hands-on" prerogative would return, and everyone would be reminded -- although they always knew -- who was in charge.
       One thing never changed. Throughout his 29-year coaching career, he was a winner.
---

Maxie and Gerry Lambright: Their journey
covered several football stops over 29 years.

       The journey, with his new wife Gerry, began in 1950 for five years as an assistant at Mississippi schools, Greenwood and Greenville. With small coaching staffs, he had to learn to coach the entire game, not just the backs.
       It was the same in his first head coaching job, 1955 at Winona, Miss., where his team went 10-1 and won the Delta Valley Conference championship.
      He came to Louisiana as a head coach in 1956 for a three-year stay at Bolton High (Alexandria) -- and a 22-7-1 record, with at least seven victories each year.
      That was in a tough district that included perennial powers Sulphur and Lake Charles High. In 1958, when Mickey Slaughter (soon headed for Louisiana Tech) was the senior quarterback, the Bears went to Lake Charles and beat the state champions-to-be (Tommy Mason, future Tulane and NFL star, was their best  running back). 
      It was an era of power football, run-oriented offenses, with passing mostly on a "need" basis and simple one- or two-receiver options. Lambright's philosophy fit that era, and he knew he could teach the basics of blocking and tackling.
      And it was much the same when he moved to college coaching in 1959 at his school, Southern Miss. Lambright was a proponent of the running game, and USM had an option-type offense with strong, physical teams.
      Head coach  Thad "Pie" Vann, in the 10 years before Lambright joined his staff, had one of the nation's best small-college programs, with winning teams each year (except a 5-5 record in his second season). That included seasons of 10-2, 9-2, 9-1, 7-2-1, 8-3 and the 9-0 small-college national championship team of 1958.
      Maxie moved in -- and took over the offense.
---
      To suggest that Lambright was the "brains" of the USM program from 1959 to 1966 is, said the 1963-65 quarterback star Vic Purvis, "a gross understatement."
      A small high school star QB who came to USM after a tryout with Lambright and a one-year scholarship, Purvis said, "The best thing Coach Vann ever did was hire a guy named Maxie Lambright and turned it over to him."
      Purvis convinced the coach he was going to grow -- and he did. But he showed enough skills, smarts and speed in fall drills as a freshman to quickly be offered a full scholarship. By his third year (after freshman ball and a redshirt year), he recalls being the team's fastest player -- and its option-running starting QB.
      Which meant plenty of meetings with Coach Lambright, including the Sunday day-after-a-game film reviews and later "sessions on the [next] game plans. I dreaded those," Purvis said. "He'd give you down-and-distance situations, and then say, 'Give me a play, quick.' You'd better have the right answers."
      (That's reminiscent of what former Tech quarterbacks Jimmy Orton and Billy Laird, both from Shreveport and both outstanding coaches after their playing careers, recalled about QB meetings with Tech coach Joe Aillet.)
      Purvis recalled being in Lambright's office one football game week when the coach was working on the offensive game plan. After they talked, Lambright said, "All right, you need to get out of here; I have to work on the defensive game plan."
      Purvis was confused. "You do the defensive game plan?" he asked. "Purvis, when you run the offense," Lambright answered, "don't you think you also need to know what the defense is doing? We might have had a defensive coordinator, but Maxie was drawing up the plans."
      On the practice field, though, he saw some scenes he would remember -- Lambright scolding (or worse) offending players. After one particular mad scene, not involving him, Purvis stopped by the office for a meeting.
      "What did you think of my performance?" Lambright asked. Purvis said he could only shrug, afraid to give the wrong reply.
      "I'm a very patient man," Maxie told him. "I will take all the time to explain [to players] what we do and why we do it. But I can't stand players making the same mistakes again. Either way, if they don't understand me or they deliberately defy me, I can't stand it."
      The players and coaches in future years at Louisiana Tech would understand that.
     With Lambright on the USM staff, the Southerners had eight winning seasons -- a 53-23-1 total record -- and the 1962 team (9-1, following an 8-2 season) was declared the small-college national champion.  
     It might not be coincidental that when Lambright moved to Tech, USM had a 6-3 record in 1967, then only one winning season (6-5 in 1971) over the next five seasons.

Vic Purvis

       "Pie" Vann was as highly respected as Coach Aillet at Tech -- their teams faced each other for 18 consecutive years -- and Purvis said Coach Vann was "a father figure. He made football a serious business for us. He taught us to work hard, to be disciplined, and he was a great diplomat." (Again, reminiscent of Tech people's view of Aillet.)
       Lambright, he said, "wasn't beloved. There were times when he scared you, and he was never your best friend."
       But then there was the day when Purvis threw a last-minute TD pass to beat Memphis State and "he kissed me on the cheek."
      Purvis, who had a brief pro football career and then returned to a successful business career in the Hattiesburg area, for 41 years was the analyst on USM football radio broadcasts, retiring at the end of the 2014 season after doing 471 games.
      "I admired him," he said. "I believe if his health hadn't given out, he would have been known nationally as a college legend. I've never known anyone as smart as he was."
      As it was, Lambright certainly would become known as a Louisiana Tech legend.
     (Next: He "let his coaches coach" at Tech)
             
                    
         
 
       

One Louisiana Tech legend followed another

      (First of a series)
      For 26 seasons (1940-66), Louisiana Tech had a College Football Hall of Fame head coach.
      For the next 12 seasons (1967-78), the Bulldogs were led by a coach who should be in the College Football Hall of Fame.
      One legend followed by another: Joe Aillet, Maxie Lambright.
      So for 38 seasons, Louisiana Tech football had ability, stability, leadership, respect and a winning tradition. These were men the players, the people on campus and in town, and the alumni could count on.
       The university's football stadium is named for Aillet, who had the long-range vision for the facility. The Tech recreational center is named for Lambright.
       Coach Aillet was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989 -- 23 years after he coached his final game, 19 after his final year as athletic director. 

Maxie Lambright
(his Louisiana Tech Athletics
Hall of Fame photo)

        It has been 38 years since Coach Lambright coached his final game. But, for an inexplicable reason, he was never even nominated for the College Football Hall of Fame until 2015.
        Perhaps only a dozen years as a college head coach is not enough of a qualification for those who vote on this honor. But what a 12 years it was.
        Seven conference titles, in a 10-year period. Three national championships in NCAA Division II -- two awarded by poll voters, one won officially (on the field). Two Independence Bowl (Division I) appearances. A final record of 95-36-2 (.722). 
        And, over four seasons (1971-74), the "golden era" of Tech football -- an overall 44-4 record, one "perfect" season, a 23-game winning streak, a 37-1 stretch, four conference titles, the national titles.
        (Plus, before he came to Tech, Lambright for eight years was the offensive backfield coach at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi. Those were all winning seasons, with one national small-college championship team.)
        As consistent a winner as Coach Aillet's teams were -- 21 winning seasons, 12 conference titles -- there was never a "perfect" season (three near-misses, 9-1 records) and never a national poll or a playoff at Tech's level of play (NCAA small-college).
         But that certainly is no criticism of "The Smooth Man." Dating to the 1930s as a high school coach and advocate for athletics in Louisiana, he had an impeccable reputation. And Tech's record under him -- 152-85-8 (.637) -- included 12 conference championships.
         He was a big winner, a tough act to follow. But the man who followed him at La. Tech, a controversial choice for the job early in 1967 (but through no fault of his own), proved he was up to it. He, too, was a big winner.
          Aillet and Lambright: different men, different styles. But also much in common.
---
          Joe Aillet was, most everyone agreed, a brilliant man, one of the smartest on the Tech campus, a professorial type -- if he had chosen, he could have taught English, or chemistry, or psychology, or engineering. But he chose to teach athletics, especially football and golf.
           He was a coach who stressed the student part of student-athlete, and he was a disciplinarian, in a quiet way.
           He was a compelling and popular public speaker  when time permitted (in the football off-season), one of Tech's top spokesmen.
           Soft-spoken but his Cajun upbringing not all that evident as he spoke, he rarely raised his voice -- even in football practices, meetings or in game situations.
           He knew practically all there was to know about football techniques, strategy, trends. His Tech teams often were among the first college teams to change offensive formations, for instance the pro-style passing game in the early 1960s.
           He had a large loyal following of Tech people -- especially his former players but also among the university  administrators, faculty and staff.
           His coaching staff, the athletic staff, had stability -- offensive line/track and field coach Jim Mize was with him    for 25 years (the last four when Aillet remained as athletic director), ends coach Huey Williamson for 16 years, defensive coach George Doherty for 10, and defensive backs coach E.J. Lewis for four.
           Plus, Cecil Crowley -- who dated to Haynesville High days with Coach Aillet -- was on the football staff and head basketball coach for 16 years, then basketball-only for another nine, and Berry Hinton was the baseball coach for 23 years and also the Tech alumni director.
           And, although Tech was not a "major" school, Coach Aillet was well-known among coaches nationally -- and had been for three decades.
---
           Few people knew who Maxie Lambright was when Tech president Dr. F. Jay Taylor -- with the athletic council's approval -- named him to succeed Aillet. It was a surprise to many who thought Doherty was the heir apparent.
           Lambright had spent 14 coaching years in Mississippi, but had made a previous coaching stop in Louisiana, three years (1956-58) as head coach at Bolton (Alexandria) High School. This is where he first encountered a young quarterback named Mickey Slaughter.
           At that time, Dr. Taylor had been across the Red River in neighboring Pineville as a dean at Louisiana College. Maybe they had met, maybe not. But Dr. Taylor likely took  notice of the success Lambright's teams had at Bolton. 
           Temperament-wise, Lambright away from football mostly was cool, calm, calculating and caring -- like Aillet. He was that way at times, too, in football, but -- unlike Aillet -- he often was intense.
           That's a nice way to put it. As one person told me, "He had a hair-trigger temper. He could rage."
           This is a repetitive point made in the interviews in which Coach Lambright was the subject.
           His assistant coaches and his players, simply put, feared him. Perhaps he wasn't as well liked as Aillet, but -- no question -- he was just as respected.
            And here's what he had in common with Coach Aillet:     
            (1) A stable coaching staff -- one much younger and more aggressive than the previous one. The staff he assembled was, most everyone agrees, one of the real keys to the program's success in the Lambright era.
            Four coaches -- Slaughter, Lewis, Pat Collins and Pat "Gravy" Patterson -- were with Lambright for all 12 years. Wallace Martin, who replaced Jimmy Mize in 1971,  was with him for eight years. All but Lewis were Tech graduates and ex-players. And his assistants were as loyal to him as he was to them.
             "He was a great guy. He was like a second father to me," said Collins. "I was very close to him, on and off the field. He didn't make mistakes. If he did, I don't remember them."
            "He let everyone do his job," said Martin. "He was extremely fair and very understanding. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching for him."
            "With all the [coaching staff] egos sitting around the table, it took a man like Maxie Lambright to hold it together," said Lewis, now 88 and living in Ruston. "He had his finger on everything." 
             (2) He was, as various people described him, "highly intelligent" with a "terrific memory" and more talents, more history, than most people would have realized.

A young Maxie Lambright, Navy pilot

             He had been a Navy pilot in World War II (as had Dr. Taylor); like Coach Aillet could -- and would -- quote classic literature, such as segments from Shakespeare -- Lambright would recite poetry; he could entertain his coaches by playing the piano.
               "He amazed you all the time with the things he could do," Collins said.
              (3) There was no doubt about his football intellect.
              It was a Southern Mississippi person who put it best. Vic Purvis was perhaps Lambright's best quarterback there, playing in 1963-65, a much better runner -- in an option-based offense -- than passer. He thought he had learned a lot of football from the backfield coach; he knew it after he went to the Boston Patriots in 1966.
             "There was no one up there in his league," Purvis said. "The way he saw the game, the way he taught it, the way he analyzed it. The thought process of the game. He knew what plays would work, and he was always thinking 2-3 plays ahead. 
             "He could see the entire alignment, what everyone did -- the quarterback, the backs, the offensive line. And he could do the same with the defense.
            "He was the most amazing coach. I've never seen anyone who could do what he could do."
             (Sounds much like his ex-players and coaches would have said about Coach Aillet.)
---
             But one of the differences between Aillet and Lambright was the public persona.
             Where Aillet was comfortable and visible and accessible to the outside world -- the campus personalities, fans, media -- Lambright was reserved. 
              Meeting boosters, raising funds were not as crucial to athletic programs in those days because the state of Louisiana supplied much of the funds not raised through ticket sales. Lambright, while certainly not incapable of speech-making, didn't relish it.
             "I don't think he cared that much about being part of the community," said Keith Prince, Tech's sports information director for the last 10 years of the Lambright era. "I think his mindset was, 'I'm coaching football; this is my deal, this is who I am.' I think others, like Dr. Taylor, wanted him to be more involved with the public."
             Prince, though, was very much a Lambright fan (as pointed out in a later chapter). 
             "He was a marvelous coach," Prince said. "He took care of the details. He let his coaches coach, but he had the final word."
             "I wouldn't say he was shy," Collins said, "but he was very modest. We were very blessed to have known him and coached with him. I loved and worshipped the guy. He wasn't a guy, though; he was a man's man."
            (Next, Part II: The coaching road, through USM)
             
    
        

One more time: the media and politics

       So here is my challenge for the readers today: When you say "mainstream media" or "liberal media," be specific. Tell me -- by name -- who you are talking about.
       Not by network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, MSNBC, whoever else you consider the main ones), not by just a newspaper name (The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, etc.).
       Give me the TV reporters/analysts/and, well, entertainers you watch -- or don't watch. Give me the newspaper reporters/columnists you like -- and don't like.
       In other words, where do you get your news? Where do you get the information to confirm your opinions?    
       Don't just say the "liberal media" or the "conservative media." That's too easy. That's too general.
       I am not promoting any cause here, or criticizing one. I'm just curious to know what you think.
       I welcome the feedback to my blogs -- positive, negative. Whatever. I will post the comments ... if I think they're decent. If they cross the line into name-calling or if they're ugly, most often I will not post them. I might leave them on Facebook for a while, but not forever.
       The lack of civility in this campaign the past year and a half was the most galling aspect to me. Not only from the politicians, but all over social media. Disgusting. Enough already.
       So no bashing Mr. Trump, or President Obama, or Hillary.
--- 
       Before I return to the media scene, we interrupt our beginning message for a few thoughts:
       I keep seeing the Hate Hillary comments; I received a couple. Here is my view: She lost. She is no longer relevant. She is history. You don't have to keep beating a beaten candidate. It's piling on.
       On the other side, stop whining about the popular vote and 2.5 million. It doesn't matter; it's not what really counts. The Electoral College counts, and there's no reversing that. It wouldn't be right. And can you imagine the chaos in the streets if it was reversed?
       And when I see "sore losers," count me out.
       I was involved in athletics long enough to know that it's a competition; one side wins, one side loses. If you win, don't gloat too long. There is another game coming. If you lose, don't let it linger. Life goes on.
       An inside joke with some of my friends is that I am "a bitter man." I'm only bitter for a few moments, believe me. But if you want a list of the most painful sports losses, I did a blog on that.
       There are a thousand, ten thousand, games I wish would have come out differently. That doesn't happen.
       So this election is done, and as I wrote four years ago after President Obama's re-election, "get over it and move on." We have a President-elect, and we should wait and see what happens.
       Even if you're a Trump supporter, you might not  particularly like him, you might even admit that he is  unpredictable. You don't know what's coming next, what he's tweeting about at any moment. But you probably also believe his administration can fix what needs fixing.
       I was told by one friend that I must be a "Trump Hater." Nope. I try not to hate anybody; it's a waste of time.
       Didn't support Candidate Trump, but now that he's President-elect Trump, I wish him well. The Presidency should be respected, and if he and the Congress improve health care and immigration and veterans' needs, schools/education, inner-city issues, violence in the streets,  rising terrorism and its threats, etc., etc., we're all for it.
 ---
       Back to our regularly scheduled message ... 
       I believe that many people lose sight that many media people are paid to offer their opinions, whether in print or on television and radio. So you should not expect them to be unbiased. 
       You might expect reporters to be more straight-laced, factual. But they are human; they slant their stories through their own filters. And journalism/the media has changed over the years. It is more analysis-based now.
       This hit home with us as we listened to our latest audio book Tuesday. Early in This Town by Mark Leibovich (of The New York Times), published in 2013 and based on life and politics in Washington, D.C., he writes, "Punditry has replaced reporting as journalism's highest calling. ... " 
       After my most recent blog about Mr. Trump and his "war" with the media, one comment in particular triggered the idea for this blog.

Chuck Todd photo from nbcdfw.com

    John Dittrich, a baseball lover like me and a former Fort Worth resident, wrote: "Like you, I watch the Sunday morning political talk shows religiously (no church-related wisecrack intended). Although I continue to record and watch Meet The Press, it seems to me that [host] Chuck Todd is not very objective. He takes a very obvious hostile approach to the conservatives, particularly to anyone affiliated with Mr. Trump.
       "While I do not like President-elect Trump and consider myself left-leaning, I do feel that Todd gives credence to those in the right who accuse the media of being too liberal. He is so obviously argumentative toward certain guests that it actually makes me uncomfortable. This approach is exactly what damages the credibility of the mainstream media."
       We want to like Chuck, but I must add that I agree with John.
       I will stick with my contention that PBS has the best-balanced newscasts. I'd like to think that Meet The Press is also balanced, that Chuck Todd can be as tough with questions directed at Democrats, or left-leaning people -- as he was last Sunday with U.S. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi -- and that the panel discussions always have both sides represented.
       Same for Face The Nation, where host John Dickerson also asks the hard questions of both sides, but is more congenial than Todd.
       We do miss the late beloved, respected Tim Russert.
       We still see the old anchors from time to time. From left to center to right -- Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Fort Worth's Bob Schieffer. They are venerable.
       I think today's network news anchors -- Lester Holt (NBC), David Muir (ABC), Scott Pelley (CBS), Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Judy Woodruff (PBS) and, say, Brian Williams (MSNBC) --  play it pretty straight down the middle, they don't take positions. You might not agree. They ask tough enough questions to people from both ends of the political spectrum.

Katy Tur photo from mediamatters.org

      But it's different for reporters. We mostly watch NBC, so Andrea Mitchell, Hallie Jackson and Katy Tur were following the Clinton and Trump campaigns. My view was that they were demanding of the candidates they covered, but I had to feel for Katy, only 33, when Mr. Trump named her  specifically in a rally or two, and she needed security at events and afterward after receiving threats.
       We like the CBS 60 Minutes regulars, especially the venerable Lesley Stahl. Anderson Cooper (also on CNN) is clearly slanted toward more liberal position.
       Maybe so are Jake Tapper (CNN) and fast-talking, loud Chris Matthews (MSNBC). They can be tough and argumentative interviewers. Matthews is a small-dose guy, but I loved his reverent commentary when Pope Francis visited his hometown, Philadelphia.
       If you want to go right, go FOX. We don't watch it often, but Chris Wallace seemed like a fair moderator in the first Republican debate and even better in the third Presidential debate, and I wasn't familiar with Megyn Kelly until she squabbled with Mr. Trump in that debate, and he helped make her famous.
       Then there's Bill O'Reilly. Read a couple of his books we liked. Funny guy, at least when he banters with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show. His politics? Not for me, but he's entertaining. 
       You really want to go right, here's some names: Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, George Will, Thomas Sewell. We think Mr. Will is an outstanding columnist (Washington Post), and I loved his baseball book Men at Work, but seldom agree with his viewpoint. He also did not back Trump or Clinton. 
       Step to the right with FOX anchor Sean Hannity and to the left with Keith Olbermann wherever he is. Neither one appears on my TV; they are too much. Didn't like Olbermann in the sports arena, either.
       And then there is -- spare me -- Rush Limbaugh ... ultra-right. Is he "media" or "entertainment" or "human?" 
       (Of course, in the sports world, I feel the same about Skip Bayless and Mark May, and a hundred others. You could not pay me enough to watch them. Rarely watch or listen to any TV/radio talkfests. I've blogged on this, too.)
       Two conservative "pundits" who we did not pay attention to before, but impressed us in this campaign with their reason and their calm: Hugh Hewitt and -- surprisingly -- Glenn Beck. Hewitt wasn't enthused about Mr. Trump; Beck flat-out rejected the idea.
       Columnists to the left: No one more left, more critical of the right, than Paul Krugman (New York Times). Leonard Pitts (Miami). We like the very smart Thomas Friedman and the acerbic, rip-'em-all Maureen Dowd (both NYT).
       Also far left: MSNBC's nightly hour shows -- Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell. We watch regularly because they give us perspectives (yes, liberal) that we think are well-researched.
       And even farther left: Jon Stewart. Master of satire and The Daily Show on Comedy Central for all those years. Outspoken liberal. Generous benefactor of so many comedians/show hosts/commentator.
       Stewart, of course, is more entertainer than politician. So is Bill Maher. If you are a conservative, either Stewart or Maher might be Public Enemy No. 1 (outside of politics). Think we know who No. 1 and 1A are in politics.
       We don't watch the morning TV shows; too early. So we're strangers to Morning Joe, but it must have balance with Mika Brzezinski (Democrat) and Joe Scarborough (Republican). Do they have verbal battles?
       But have there been better verbal battles than those between Whoopi Goldberg and Elizabeth Hasselbeck -- political/social opposites -- on The View a couple of years ago? Sorry, I missed those (sounds good, but not really).
       Our favorite "pundit" is David Brooks, a New York Times columnist. He and syndicated columnist Mark Shields are regulars for us on the PBS NewsHour each Friday and for big political events.
       Brooks is conservative, but not overly so, and his columns are complex. On television his analysis is usually spot-on, but this campaign, he kept admitting that he was so wrong so often (as were the polls and so many other "experts). David consistently was not happy with either Presidential candidate.

Amy Walter, PBS photo

       Shields has been around forever and he's a liberal who seldom comes out of a left lean.
       Here is who I think provided the best, most balanced analysis of this Presidential race: Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report. She was a PBS regular, a political-panel regular who seemed to be on 25 hours a day. She is knowledgeable and insightful -- and cautioned to the very end that the Presidential race was wide-open. She was as correct as anyone we heard.
       Our favorite reporters/TV pundits are the Washington Post's veteran Dan Balz and young star Robert Costa (who covered the Trump campaign). They were often on talk/news shows. Two words for them: factual and fair.
       Away from politics: Mitch Albom, a sports columnist who ventures off into books and movies and plays on the real world, is always a good read. Dave Barry is the funniest read.
---
       My feeling is that all the honest/dishonest, fair/unfair, lying/truthful perceptions about media just depends on each individual and how they perceive it. There's no right or wrong.
       I don't like the attacks on the media -- especially from politicians. Media positions are jobs, and there are different ways to do the job.
       It is just people's opinions, and you know what they say about opinions.
       If you are right-leaning, you likely think the media is mostly liberal. If you are left-leaning, you think the conservatives are off-base. If you're independent -- and I have friends who are -- you don't agree with the media, period.
       So I've given you a lot of names, and there are many more. If you've read this far, you're tired. And so am I.
       Here's a rule I try to live by: Don't let politics spoil friendships. Friends -- true friends -- are valuable.
       I welcome responses and your favorites/least favorites. Tell me who influences your thoughts. Just be civil about it.