Sometimes being the Fourth Choice Ain’t That Bad!

I met Darryl Rodgers at the National College Coaches convention in 1978 thru some friends.  He had been the head football coach at Michigan State and was just making a step to take on the job at Arizona State.

 

I was set up to talk to him about joining his staff  as a defensive coach and someone who would also run the conditioning program for the team.  What he was looking for was a coach who could work on the field and also handle the task of training his players during the off-season.

This is something I could do – but, as he and I talked it became pretty apparent it wasn’t going to be me.  He wanted a more seasoned coach who had more experience than I did.  He didn’t want a young (yeah I was once young) graduate assistant from New Mexico State.  He wanted a veteran.

He didn’t want some youngster because this was a big-time job in a major conference and required someone who had experience in big games with really good players.  Obviously, I did not fit that bill.

I did not get the job …. But not so fast Batman.

Many months later – actually it was early August I got a call from one of the assistant coaches at Arizona State.  CT Hewgley was the Center and Guards coach for the Sun Devils and he had made the original contact with me about the job.  He asked if I might still be interested in the job.

Well, no kidding!  Only problem was that we had just started our training camp at New Mexico State and obviously I felt some allegiance to Coach Gil Krueger and the rest of the coaches and players.  I had gotten quite close to several coaches and really was having a good time on the State staff even if I thought Gil was a bit of an overbearing ass.

I told CT that I needed to talk with Coach Krueger and would get back to him the next morning.

When I went in to see Krueger I had a plan in mind.  After getting to sit down
with him I explained the situation and that I would be glad to remain in Las Cruces (Home of the NMSU) if he could pay me as a part-time coach instead of a Graduate Assistant.

In hindsight, I look at what an idiot I was.

Here, as a Graduate Assistant I was making three hundred dollars a month – I was asking Gil for $10,000 a year.  He dropped his half-moon glasses down his nose and stared at me …. In his deep gruff voice he said (with venom I might add) “Coach Clemons – first off you are disloyal and second you are just a grad assistant.  In my eyes you are just that and always be that – a fucking grad assistant!”

I left his office – walked down the hallway and our offensive line coach Don Christensen grabbed me and pulled me into his office.  In all honesty, I was nearly in tears.  I explained what was going on.  Don was a great friend and his family had taken me in and taken care of me like I was one of them.

I’ll never forget his words.  “Listen you idiot – go home pack up your pickup and drive six hours west.  Don’t stay here another second.”  He actually might have called me a “fucking” idiot act (pardon my French)!

On the way back to my apartment I ran into a few players and a former player John Cordova (who was now working on the coaching staff as a GA).  I told them all what was going on and they were sad to see me go – but were excited for my opportunity.

I loaded up “Old Bess” my yellow pickup truck headed west to Tempe, Arizona to become an assistant coach for Darryl Rogers and the Arizona State Sun Devils.

At some point, I realized what a tremendous opportunity I was being given.  Staying as a member of the New Mexico State staff would have been really stupid on my part.  The money – well, that is one thing.  But, the chance to work with some of the finest athletes and coaches at a higher level – it should have been a no brainer.  Well, later in life I truly realized how lucky I was.

After arriving in Tempe, it was apparent how much better the Sun Devil players were.  Honestly no offense to the NMSU team.  I loved those guys.  But the Pac-10 compared to the Missouri Valley Conference (The league New Mexico State played in) it wasn’t even close.

After getting to Tempe – I sat down with Darryl Rogers to formulate a conditioning program for the team as well as get my on the field assignments.  DR (as we called him) really didn’t want to have anything to do with what I was handling.  He said “Hey Don – that weight lifting stuff is all yours – you get with the defense to see what you are going to do for football.”

Pretty much that was it.

Well, he did tell me two other things.  First don’t tell anyone else in the athletic department how much money I was making.  I didn’t understand that and why would I bring that up anyway?  DR then told me that I was earning more than everyone else in the athletic department with the exception of the basketball coach. (Yet I was the lowest paid full-time coach on the football staff.)

This was stunning because the baseball coach Jim Brock had already won the National Championship at the College World Series and obviously was pretty good at his job.

I guess football was pretty damn important to Arizona State!

The second thing he told me was this.  DR told me that I was his fourth choice for the position I now held.  He said they brought in one guy who lasted a month and then had to let him go because he couldn’t handle it.  Two other coaches were offered the job at Arizona State and turned it down (I’m thinking that those guys must be idiots)!

So, I was the fourth choice.

I didn’t care – just happy to be a Sun Devil.  Think about my last year … making ten-grand as a sixth grade teacher in Pennsylvania – quit to take a job for three hundred dollars a month as a Grad Assistant at New Mexico State – get to Arizona State where I am one of the highest paid people in the athletic department.

The funny thing was that I became pretty close to Darryl and his entire family.  I truly loved DR and his wife Marsha and their children.  I know he was glad to have me on his staff at ASU because he eventually thought enough of me to bring me into the NFL.

Whenever DR would introduce me to a new friend he would say … “Hey this is Don Clemons our defensive coach.  He was my fourth choice … but I love him!”  If I had a dollar for every time I heard that introduction I would be rich.

But you know what – who cares I still feel such gratitude to have that opportunity Coach Rogers gave me.