UH FOOTBALL • SEASON OPENER
Eastern Illinois Panthers have become I-AA power
| • | Some recruits may not need to wait to play |
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
To be sure, life is not fair, at least according to the NCAA classification system.
Advertiser library photo
For instance, Eastern Illinois, a Division I-AA school, will have a disadvantage in its football season opener against Hawai'i Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
Coach Bob Spoo said the budget for his Eastern Illinois team is smaller than the Warriors' budget.
Division I-AA football teams are limited to 63 scholarships, compared to the Division I-A maximum of 85, and can keep eight coaches on the payroll, as opposed to 10 for the bigger programs.
Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo said his program's budget is "considerably smaller" than the Warriors' $4 million expense account for this fiscal year.
But Spoo, entering his 16th season at Eastern Illinois, is undaunted by steep challenges. Against long odds in 1987, Spoo, then 50 and father to a 3-year-old daughter, was named the Panthers' head coach. On his application form, under current employer, Spoo had scribbled, "None."
"There's a cliche, 'a coach is hired to be fired,' and at that time, I was out of a job," Spoo said. "I had some success previously (as Purdue's offensive coordinator), and I applied. I got lucky."
Charleston, Ill., is an agricultural town with a population of 20,000. Many families earn their income from farming — corn and soy beans are the most popular crops — or from Eastern Illinois. "The school is a big part of this community," he said.
Spoo offered recruits a comfortable environment, strong academic program and a chance to play in a football program that promised a wide-open offense and high-pressure defense. "There are a lot of schools in Illinois, a lot of competition, but we knew if we were successful on the field, we would have success in recruiting, too," Spoo said.
Under Spoo, the Panthers quickly developed into a Division I-AA power. In five of the past seven years, the Panthers qualified for the national playoffs and finished in the I-AA top-25 poll.
"It takes a lot of hard work," Spoo said. In recruiting, "You just hope you do the right thing and have some success with players who may have been overlooked. Sometimes, just by luck, you've been on a kid who turned out to be better than expectations."
One such player was quarterback Tony Romo, a two-time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year. "He wasn't highly recruited," Spoo said, noting Romo did not begin playing football until his junior year at a Wisconsin high school.
"At first, we offered him a partial scholarship," Spoo recalled. "He's such a competitor. We took a chance, and we lucked out. He's got a fine arm, first of all. It's an arm that never gets tired or sore. The other thing is, he's a great person. He doesn't get flustered. He's willing to work, and because of that, he's earned the respect of his teammates."
Spoo also has drawn the admiration of his players. Since suffering from heart problems in 1999, Spoo works out for 40 minutes three times a week, beginning at 5:45 a.m. At 65, he recently agreed to a three-year contract extension. Retirement is not an option.
"I love what I'm doing and I want to keep working," he said. "If my health holds up, I'll certainly keep coaching."
