Glanville going from frontline to sideline
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
In the desert, surrounded by men and women of courage and perseverance, Jerry Glanville knew he would return to coaching football.
Yesterday, Glanville was officially hired as the University of Hawai'i football team's associate coach, a wildcard role that will allow him to serve as the Warriors' defensive coordinator. Glanville, 63, will return to the sidelines for the first time since 1993, when he was fired as the Atlanta Falcons' head coach.
His comeback was fostered during a visit with U.S. troops.
"This time a year ago, I was in Iraq," Glanville said at the end of UH's 2-hour spring practice yesterday. "Every 19-year-old kid in the calvary asked me to come back and coach. I knew that if I got home, I was going to coach — not pro football, but college football. I was going to coach the 19- and 20-year-olds. This is the greatest generation of kids who ever lived."
He recalled traveling with the troops "across the Kuwait Desert, the 'Highway of Death.' We went to Baghdad, Fallujah, the red zone at night. ... I was with the 19- and 20-year-olds from Minnesota, South Dakota. Everyone grabbed me and said, 'Coach, please come back and coach.' ... I told everybody that right when I got home, I'm coaching this generation of kids."
Glanville applied to coaching jobs across the country, without success, before learning of the UH opening.
Asked about his interest, he said, "I'm a football coach."
Since his dismissal from the Falcons — where he was succeeded by June Jones, now UH's head coach — Glanville has raced cars and served as an analyst on football telecasts.
"Driving the race car saved my life because I could still compete," Glanville said. "I drove as many as 23 races a year. That took the place of the kickoff. When you come out of Turn 4 in third gear and they wave the green flag, that's like the opening kickoff. I was lucky I was able to drive for 12 years. If I wasn't coaching and wasn't driving, I probably would have dropped dead."
Glanville cannot remember a time when his competitive drive was in idle.
He recalled asking his mother: "What did you do to my brother and me that every day we'd get up, we'd have to compete?"
She answered: "Absolutely nothing. That was there, and it never left."
Glanville said his television work could not fulfill his appetite for competition.
"TV is TV," he said. "TV is not coaching. There's a big difference. TV was very, very good to me financially. It gave me the chance to see everybody play, to see different things. But it's not coaching."
Glanville would not reveal what exact scheme he would implement as UH's defensive coordinator. But he expressed his fondness for a blitzing defense.
"Oh, man, we've had this style for so long," he said. "Where we started it, believe it or not, was at Western Kentucky University. We had one of the worst defenses in the country. It was probably back in 1967. I thought, if we went after (opposing offenses), attacked them more than defended them, we would play a little bit better. But you have to defend them, too."
Glanville said he draws inspiration from his cohorts. "See those two," he said, pointing to UH defensive backs coach Rich Miano and graduate assistant Keith Bhonapha. "I got something from them today. Today they did a great job in cover-2 run force. I watched how they did it. Yesterday, I learned something from the inside linebacker coach (Cal Lee). I'm a compilation of good assistant coaches."
He said he has saved hand-written notes from all of his coaching stops. "I used to keep a tape recorder, but I found myself breaking that," he said. "It would slide out of my hand and hit the ground really hard. I'm glad I have notes."
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.
