Men of Miami

Many U.S. football fans never heard of Miami University of Ohio (enrollment: 6,000). Tucked away in the little (pop. 9,000) town of Oxford, it is far from a national power, remains content to produce a middling-good football team that winds up near the top of the middling-strong Mid-American Conference each year. But on the coaching lines, Miami alumni assume more stature. In 1958 Miami can boast that it has produced the most glittering roster of winning football coaches in the U.S. The record:

Paul Ditzel, Miami '48, guided Louisiana State from mediocrity (5-5 in 1957) to its first unbeaten, untied season in half a century, got for L.S.U. everyone's rating as the nation's best college team, for himself most people's nomination as Coach of the Year.

Earl Blaik, Miami '18 (and West Point '20), developed brilliant but thin material into a powerful, razzle-dazzle Army team that went through the season unbeaten, compared favorably with the Blanchard-Davis powerhouses Blaik produced more than a decade ago.

Ara Parseghian, Miami '49, transformed Northwestern, the 1957 door mat of the Big Ten, into a spirited team that upset Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State, threw scares into Iowa and Wisconsin.

Wilbur ("Weeb") Ewbank, Miami '28, molded the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League into a devastating outfit that waltzed away with the league's Western Division title.

Paul Brown, Miami '30, has the Cleveland Browns out ahead in the battle for the N.F.L.'s Eastern Division championship, may find himself matching Miami-molded brains with Ewbank at year's end in pro football's world series.

Miami could also take pride in two men who had coached there and gone on to bigger things. Ohio State's Woody Hayes, who coached at Miami in 1949-50, made his team a season-long threat in the Big Ten. Sid Gillman, Miami's coach in 1944-47, has steered the Los Angeles Rams into second place in the N.F.L. Western Division.

Such group success is hardly coincidental. Miami believes in putting its football coaches to work in the classroom. The current head coach, John Pont (Miami '52), teaches 45 hours a year in football fundamentals. Every coach on the Miami staff takes a hand in formal instruction sessions. After they graduate, Miami alumni form a close-knit group, and they help one another along. Ewbank formerly served on Brown's staff. Parseghian got the job at Northwestern through Athletic Director Stu Holcomb, himself a former Miami coach (1942-43). Ditzel assisted Blaik at West Point, was hired by L.S.U. with a strong recommendation from Blaik.

Many other Miamians are active in coaching. At least 17 are serving as assistant coaches in the college and pro ranks. At last count, 37 were football coaches in Ohio high schools, and 31 were serving as athletic directors or coaches of sports other than football in the state's school system. In little Oxford, Miami is proud of them all.

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