The Day I Met Coach Edwards

Coach Edwards made such a big difference in so many lives...we will all miss him greatly. (Here are some thoughts regarding The Coach from a decade or so ago.) I'm confidant our Father in Heaven received him with open arms.

LaVell Edwards Was My Coach

By Ted D. Nelson

March 28, 2004

He is the biggest name in the history of Sports at Brigham Young University. He was the Head Coach of the football team for the best part of three decades. During those three decades, his teams won numerous championships and made many bowl appearances. In 1984, his team was crowned as The National Champions. While serving as an assistant coach, his specialty was defense. Yet, as Head Coach at BYU, he introduced a new style of wide-open offense that changed the way football is played today, not only at the college level, but at every level including The National Football League. He was my Coach! He is LaVell Edwards.

After Coach Edwards retired following the 2000 season, President Hinckley presided over a ceremony at which the BYU football stadium was renamed LaVell Edwards Stadium, in his honor.

But when I met Coach Edwards in the winter of 1969, he was still just a mortal, serving as an assistant to Head Coach Tommy Hudspeth. He was the defensive coordinator.

I was in my first semester at BYU but I was a second semester sophomore. I had transferred from Fullerton Junior College in January. At Fullerton, I majored in Football; although I made sure each class on my schedule matched a class in the BYU catalog so I could transfer once my junior college football eligibility was exhausted. But when I enrolled at BYU, I had to settle for accounting as my major.

At Fullerton, we had a great football program! In 1967 our record was twelve wins and no losses. We won the California State Championship and were named Junior College National Champions. In 1968 we lost one game by one point (home town refs) and mourned for a solid week before absolutely annihilating Mount San Antonio College in our next game.

A reserve in 1967, I started every game in 1968 as an inside linebacker. I was undersized for a linebacker and was regularly reminded of this fact by Coach Moore, my defensive coach. Often, when I would walk into the stadium before suiting-up for the game Coach Moore would challenge me? “Hey, what are you doing here? Do you play in the band? What do you play the flute?”

Once the season was over, the major college recruiters came around campus just like bees to honey. My buddies were being invited on recruiting trips all across the nation. They were visiting schools like Alabama, Nebraska, Tulsa, Washington, U.S.C. and many others. However, few of the recruiters seemed to be looking for a linebacker who could impersonate a flute player (or vise versa).

Our Head Coach, Hal Sherbeck called me into his office. “Ted, there’s a couple of schools asking about you.” “Coach, I don’t want to attend Long Beach, San Jose or Montana State. I’m going to attend BYU whether I can play football for them or not.” “I understand,” he said softly. “I know their coach, I’ll give Tommy a call and see if I can send them some film and get them interested.”

BYU responded to Coach Sherbeck’s efforts. However, my recruiting trip turned out to be lunch with a low level recruiter at Coco’s at the corner of Chapman and State College Boulevard in East Fullerton.

A week later I was at home when the phone rang. Mom answered the phone. “Ted, its BYU”

“ALRIGHT!”

This was it! BYU! The Western Athletic Conference! It was all I could do to hear the voice on the other end of the phone over my own breathing. “Yes, this is Ted. Thank you, I enjoyed meeting you too……..I see………. I understand. OK. Thank you. Good bye.”

“Mom, they think I’m too small for their program.”

Nine consecutive seasons of playing football appeared to be over. The second half of my life so far had been dedicated to playing football. I loved it! But now, it seemed that it was time to move on to the next phase of my life.

With football no longer a part of my life, I began to prepare to attend BYU just like any other Junior College transfer. Early in January I drove to Provo and checked into my room at Taylor Hall. I stood in long lines to pull computer cards to get my classes. All the classes that were left were either in the early mornings or late afternoons. Oh well. I was having fun and meeting lots of new people from lots of different places.

There was an outdoor basketball court between Taylor Hall, where my room was, and John Hall, where most of the Scholarship Athletes roomed. I could see the games played there from my third floor window. After a while, I got up enough courage to go down to the court and work my way into a game. Soon I was a regular on the court. As it turns out, a few of the guys that played there were members of the football team. I began to size them up. They weren’t so tough!

Finally, when I found out that one particular fellow had a full-ride football scholarship and that his claim to fame was that he had been selected as an all-state high school player in Wyoming, In Eight Man Football, that was it! The next day I mustarded every bit of strength I could and I went to introduce myself to Coach Tommy Hudspeth.

In those days, the football office was located at the top of the stairs in the Smith Field House between the racquetball courts to the west and the locker rooms to the east. As I entered the building, I could smell the wood chips that made up the surface of the in-door track. I thought, “Wow! An in-door track!” This was the Western Athletic Conference. On the other side of the basketball court I could see a bunch of guys lifting weights. I could hear the clanging of the weights, the shouts of encouragement and the occasional outburst of laughter. I recognized some of the guys from the basketball games.

I made my way up the stairs and entered the office, it seemed massive! After stating my business, I was led to Coach Tommy Hudspeth. “My name is Ted Nelson and I would like to try-out for the football team”. I was so apprehensive, I could barely get the words out of my mouth as I entered his office. After a bit of small talk, perhaps even a southern homily, he said “son, we’ll sure give ya a look-see”.

I was still standing as he walked to the door and shouted, “Hey LaVell, can you come here for a minute.” A relatively young man suddenly appeared in the doorway “LaVell, this here is Ted Nelson. He wants to see if he can play on our football team. Can you get him squared away with some gear?” ………………………………………..

To Be Continued

Some day I’m going to write the rest of my story. However, tomorrow (September 22, 2006), Coach Edwards will be inducted into the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame, so for now let me just say that Coach Edwards did get me squared away that day, but not just the way Coach Hudspeth intended. Sure, he introduced me to Floyd Johnson (the equipment man), and got me some shoulder pads, a locker, a practice schedule, a playbook, etc. But more importantly, he immediately went to work on building my confidence, on enhancing my self-image. You see, by the time we had reached Floyd’s cage to get me some gear, Coach Edwards had already let me know that he knew who I was. He didn’t say anything about me being too small. He let me know that he was impressed with what Coach Sherbeck at Fullerton had said about me and with what he had seen when he had studied my films. He made me feel as if I mattered. He gave me hope.

I was suddenly back! Football had reclaimed its place at the center of my life. Being a 195 pound “walk-on” middle-linebacker in a Division I football program was no cake-walk, even thirty-six years ago. It was one of the hardest challenges of my life. But it was great! I can’t imagine a better learning experience.

In those days, before the advent of the “Quarterback Factory”, Coach’s factory produced linebackers. Being a middle-linebacker in his defense, I interacted with Coach Edwards almost daily through-out my two year journey. I heard what he said; I saw how he conducted himself. He is a man of impeccable character.

When the football team was traveling, if you saw us in a hotel or at an airport, you would not be able to tell by watching Coach Edwards’ interaction with the players who the stars of the team were, or who the reserves were. They were all members of the team. They were people and were treated with dignity without regard to their playing statistics.

Coach Edwards wasn’t the head coach. He didn’t have control over certain aspects of the football program. Yet he carried out his responsibilities without sacrificing his values. Through his actions, I gained a greater understanding of the meaning of integrity, honesty, humility and patience. I learned self-discipline. I learned to take full responsibility for how I conducted myself without regard to how I might be treated. Based on my experience with The Coach, once he was given total responsibility for the football program, his incredible success came as no surprise to me.

Like hundreds of others, and not just BYU football players, I owe a debt of gratitude to Coach LaVell Edwards for helping me to be who I am today. Thanks Coach!

Ted D. Nelson @ 9/21/06

Ted D. Nelson