Aldrich was more than just a coach

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 12:01 PM CDT


By JIM SULLIVAN, jim.sullivan@wcfcourier.com
CEDAR FALLS --- John Aldrich, Sr., played many roles during his 85 years --- teacher, coach, athlete, author, friend, mentor, husband and parent.

The people who knew Aldrich agree on one thing --- he was a singular man.

Aldrich, a legendary sports fixture in the Cedar Valley for over a half-century, died Monday at home from natural causes. He was 85 years old.

"He was a class act and a classic act," said his daughter, Deborah Hodge.

"He was one of a kind," said Pat Mitchell, a friend of Aldrich and the head football coach at Cedar Falls High School. "It's the passing of a legend - I'll tell you that. He was larger than life."

Bob Lee was a student teacher under Aldrich at NU High in 1971. He worked with him as a faculty member and fellow coach for the Panthers over the ensuing 15 years.

"There's a hole in the athletic world," said Lee, the former track and cross country coach at NU and now an instructor at Northern Iowa. "Whether anyone can fill that, I doubt it."

A native of Providence, R.I, Aldrich played football and basketball at the University of Rhode Island. In fact, he competed in the 1944 National Invitational Tournament with his alma mater.

Eleven years later, Aldrich landed in Cedar Falls, becoming NU's head football coach and a physical education instructor.

He remained there for 31 years, retiring in 1986. Along the way, he also led the Panthers' tennis, track and baseball programs and worked as athletic director. A boys' track meet, the Aldrich Relays, is named in his honor.

Aldrich's work on the gridiron brought him national attention - as a writer. Aldrich was the author of "Single Wing Offense with the Spinning Fullback," published in 1983. Sports Illustrated mentioned the book in a 2008 story that chronicled the formation's rebirth.

"He was truly a dyed-in-the-wool single-wing coach," Mitchell said. "In his mind, there was no other way."

A member of the Iowa High School Coaches Hall of Fame, Aldrich posted a 120-49 record from 1955 to 1976 on the football field His sons, Steve and John, played for him.

"Dad was just very competitive," Steve Aldrich said. "He played the ballgame the way you should."

John Aldrich, Jr. recalled that his father/coach played it seven days a week. Sunday nights, his young assistant coaches, most of whom were football players at Northern Iowa, would drop by. Down to the basement they went to work on the game plan.

"Those are great memories," said Aldrich, Jr.

John Aldrich's son also said his father had perspective on his role.

"People always said what a great coach he was and this and that," said John Aldrich, Jr. "My dad's reply was, 'It's not the coach who makes the kids, it's the kids who make the coach.' He looked forward every day to getting up and going over to work with youth. He loved it. He just loved it when he coached."

Aldrich touched people in many ways beyond Xs and Os, touchdowns and match points.

Lee can remember walking into NU High early on a school day and hearing Aldrich singing.

"A lot of people didn't know that side of John," Lee said. "He was so big and gruff on the outside. Inside, he had a heart of gold".

And a personality that glittered.

"He just had a way," Mitchell said. "When he walked in a room, you knew the coach was there.

"Everybody from NU High to UNI people to Cedar Falls people knew him and liked him. He was an unbelievable personality and an unbelievable sports figure."

Services for John Aldrich, Sr. are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Nazareth Lutheran Church.


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Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Waterloo, IA,
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Should The Wildcat Pounce More This Season?

The biggest catch word of the '07-'08 NFL season was "Spygate."

The catch word for '08-'09 was "Wildcat."

The Wildcat offense, a variation of the single wing offense that your grandfather used to run in high school, baffled defenses last season for some long runs and big scores for the Dolphins.

Essentially, Ronnie Brown sets up as quarterback, Ricky Williams stands next to him and Chad Pennington assuming the role of a wide receiver. On the snap, Brown tucks the ball into Williams' gut while reading the line and defense. Then—like any NFL running back would—takes the ball back and tries to make something happen.

There were a lot of potential reasons for this: Maybe Pennington wanted a play from the wide receivers' view or maybe Brown had himself in his fantasy football league.

Whatever the reason, Brown usually does make something happen. No one stopped it until Baltimore did wild card weekend of the AFC playoffs—a 27-9 blowout won by the Ravens at Dolphins Stadium.

It's hard to recall all the downs and distances the formation was used but the simple truth is this; no matter how many times the opposing defense seeing it on tape, they still have to stop it.

But throw in a mobile quarterback, giving him these two offensive horses in Brown and Williams then someone who can find the open spot in the field for a 8-25 yard pass and every play can be a Wildcat play.

The upside to the Wildcat from last year is it put the ball directly into your playmaker's hands. The downside was it took the ball out of Pennington's—the most underrated quarterback in the NFL.

The upside to the Wildcat this year is that you have Pat White who can run this thing and still spread the ball around, However, the same downside happens.

This offense can be effective and the coaching staff knows how to get a lot out of it. I'm leery of the chance to get too greedy with it. Keep it controlled and used more for 4-7 yard off-tackle runs and it won't hurt your team.

The Wildcat can only do two things this year: Be just as productive as last season, or fizzle. I'd be crazy to suggest the later, but I feel the surprise factor is gone so I can't really pick the former.

Only time will tell if the Wildcat should pounce this year.




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Bleacher Report
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Spring football capsule: Riverview

By Izzy Gould, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, May 30, 2009

Riverview

Coach: Bruce Gifford (second season, 2-8)

Last season: 2-8

District: Class 5A-6 (Bloomingdale, Durant, Newsome, Plant City)

Key losses: LB Shannon Burch, OL Ryan Gascon, RB Eric Lampe, LB Devin Ray, DB Willie Timmons

Who's back: RB Terrance Carter, OL Eric Diaz, DL Jacob Farmer, DB Dontavious Gardner (Brandon transfer), OL/DL Bryan Giordano, QB Jarid Heffers, RB Ronnie Johnson, OL Anthony Quinones, DB/RB Jamal Stewart (Deerfield Beach transfer)

What's new: Gifford refers to his first season as a transition year. He has hired a new coaching staff and is implementing a new offense and defense. Riverview will run versions of the single wing and spread wing with the goal of getting the playmakers on the field at the same time. Defensively, the Sharks will run a version of the 5-3 to utilize a good defensive front. Returning to the staff is defensive coordinator Sean Washington, who spent the spring with Chamberlain. "We're bringing in my coaching staff and running what I want to run," Gifford said. "Last year was a transition year."

Audible: "We see things we have to work on. I like some of the things we see. Our team's beginning to mesh with this coaching staff. That was a problem and we've fixed that." — Gifford

Did you know? Five coaches, including Gifford, coached together at Durant under Mike Gottman: Washington, Chad Lee (offensive coordinator), Wesley Wyatt (offensive line) and Taylor Jordan (defensive assistant).

Spring game: Lost to East Bay 15-8

2009 schedule

Sept. 4 vs. Freedom

Sept. 11 at Tampa Bay Tech

Sept. 17 vs. Lennard

Sept. 25 vs. Plant

Oct. 2 at Spoto

Oct. 9 vs. Durant

Oct. 16 at East Bay

Oct. 23 at Plant City

Oct. 29 at Newsome

Nov. 6 vs. Bloomingdale




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St. Petersburg Times
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Parcells sees something in Patrick White

Published: May 22, 2009 12:19 am
HERTZEL COLUMN -

Parcells sees something in Patrick White

By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian

MORGANTOWN — A combination of factors that stretch back nearly 50 years converged around Patrick White this year, landing him in Miami with a chance to run the oldest newfangled offense in the history of the National Football League.

At the center of it all stands Bill Parcells, who used another former West Virginia University quarterback, Jeff Hostetler, to earn his first of two Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants.

Parcells today calls himself “a guidance counselor” to the coaching and personnel departments of the Miami Dolphins, downplaying any role he may have had in developing the Wildcat formation or in drafting White to run what they now are calling the “WildPat” formation in South Florida.

“I’m not the head coach, and I’m not the personnel director,” Parcells said early Thursday morning, before going out onto the field to do some counseling at a 9:30 a.m. practice.

“I do have something to say, however,” he would admit.

The forces that brought White into view for Parcells and the Dolphins are fragmented coincidences, at best, yet we all are what we are because of such seemingly unconnected events in our lives.

With Parcells it begins back during his high school days at River Dell High in northern New Jersey.

Parcells came along in the late 1950s and early 1960s and was a high school star in basketball, baseball and football, playing football for Tom Cahill, who went on to become head coach at Army. Parcells turned down a contract offer from the Philadelphia Phillies, which put him on the same athletic path White would follow, White having turned down an offer from the California Angels.

Parcells was a fullback in the single-wing offense they ran at River Dell, which gave him a background in this adaptation called the Wildcat that his coaches came to him with a year ago.

“You have to credit our coaches for having the mental flexibility to try to implement something that unorthodox,” Parcells said.

While it was being praised as this great offensive innovation, Parcells knew better.

“The similarities go back to the original single wing (which was perfected by Knute Rockne), while elements of it evolved from the old Delaware Wing-T of Davey Nelson,” Parcells said.

Oh, yes, there was one more thing that Parcells had to offer on this offense that he credits his coaches with devising.

“We practiced it a little when I was coaching with the New York Jets. We had player named Leon Johnson, who was a high school quarterback, and we liked the idea you could get another blocker on the field.

We were looking at it as a goal-line offense, but never used it in a game,” he said.

Having used Ronnie Brown as the tailback in the Wildcat last year with some success, the coaches wanted to expand on the offense and maybe get a more dangerous passer into the mix. One of the players who caught their eye, obviously, was White.

Why, though, did they settle on White, who many NFL people felt could not play quarterback in the NFL?

Enter blind luck.

“I was at a spring training baseball game and was seated next to Dan Jennings (the Marlins’ vice-president of player personnel and assistant general manager). We got to talking, and he told me he was from Daphne, Ala., and he asked if we had any interest in the kid from West Virginia,” Parcells recalled.

He told Jennings that they were thinking about Pat White, although at the time White wasn’t a large blip on their radar.

“He spoke really highly of him,” Parcells said. “His father was a football coach there. We talked at length about him. Funny, isn’t it? I was just taking in a baseball game. You never know.”

Parcells put that information into his onboard computer and, of course, along with what he had seen of White in the Senior Bowl. When White was still there with the 44th pick in the second round of the NFL draft, the Dolphins snatched him up.

“We don’t know where it’s going,” Parcells said of White and the “WildPat.” “He demonstrated qualities that are rare in a collegiate player. I don’t know what it was, but at the end of the day it seemed his team wound up winning.

“Physically, he is not a prototypical NFL quarterback. His height is not prototypical of an NFL quarterback. His weight is not prototypical of an NFL quarterback. But his athletic abilities are superior.”

Parcells knows it won’t come easily for White. He’s watching him struggle early.

“The first steps are difficult,” he said. “He’s swimming in information a little now.”

But the Dolphins plan to be patient, and, as Parcells says, White has something extra going for him.

“He is very fortunate to come here,” Parcells said. “We have another quarterback from West Virginia – (Marshall’s) Chad Pennington. You can’t get a better role model. He’s an astute, bright, professional guy who is very demanding upon himself. Just watching how he goes about things will help Pat.”