The year was 1957 and a young assistant coach at the University of New Mexico, named Marv Levy had a voracious appetite for football knowledge. With aspirations of becoming a head coach, Levy traveled across the country attending countless coaching clinics to obtain every ounce of wisdom any proven college or professional coach was willing to offer.
"The first few summers I was in coaching I followed around three coaching icons at the time," said Levy. "Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma), Woody Hayes (Ohio State) and Paul "Bear" Bryant (Alabama). I spent my whole summer following them around the country going to their clinics."
One of the more publicized clinics was being held in Santa Barbara, California that year the first week in July and Wilkinson and Bryant were both scheduled to lecture.
"Dave E. Nelson from the University of Delaware spoke too," recalled Levy. "He was running the great new offense at the time, the Wing-T which we had adopted. Dan Devine, who at that time was the coach at Arizona State, and then later at Missouri and Notre Dame was also there."
The star-studded lineup drew close to 2,000 coaches.
"Most were from California," said Levy. "But there were coaches from all over."
At that time most clinics dealt with the 'x's' and 'o's' of coaching, and coaches like Wilkinson and Bryant who were wildly successful often espoused the virtues of their respective offenses and defenses.
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Edited by Mr. Miyagi - due to copyright issue, the entire article cannot be displayed.
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