The Oklahoma Daily (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 53, No. 120, Ed. 1 Friday, March 24, 1967 Page: 4 of 8
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GOMER JONES
'Need A Big Man
Who Really Moves'
ing. You have to work as many
hours then as you work during
the season. And then, of course,
during the summer, you do get
to relax a little bit. But you’re al-
ways thinking about the fall. You
try to get new ideas. You look
at films.”
DAILY — "Certainly the sys-
tems of coaching have changed
over the years. In what respect
have they changed, and why?”
JONES—"Well, when we first
started here at Oklahoma we had
five coaches including the head
coach. We played two platoon
football at the time but we
coached everybody to play both
ways. If an offensive man was
injured we would use the num-
JONES — "The area of the
country and the diet have a lot
to do with the style of football
that you’re going to play. For ex-
ample, the people from Ohio and
Pennsylvania are generally big-
ger than people from Oklahoma
and Texas. If you take the Big
Ten which is located in the mid-
section industrial area of the na-
tion, you find that these teams
are very big."
ber one defensive man to play
both ways. But football has
changed so much now that like
anything else, you need special-
ization. You have coaches for re-
ceivers and for the backfield.
You have coaches for the line-
men and the linebackers. But
what is equally important is re-
cruiting. If you don’t have men
to execute you won’t win no mat-
ter how good a coach you are.”
DAILY—"Along the line of re-
cruiting. the personnel of foot-
ball teams are often geared dif-
ferently. Such a team as Alaba-
ma has been successful concen-
trating on speed and agility
while seeming to disregard size
On the other hand, a team such
as Michigan State concentrates
on size and strength while not
relying a great deal upon speed.
More than two contrasting foot-
ball teams, these teams repre-
sent their sections of the coun-
try in style of play What may
be the reason behind this section-
alism’’ Does one style have any
definite advantage over the oth-
er?"
"When we first started at Ok-
lahoma we didn't have the larg-
er boys and so we depended upon
speed. I would say that a big
fast man is better than a small
fast man. but, by the same tok-
en. I would rather have a small
fast man than a big slow man.
The ideal situation, of course, is
to have a big man who can real-
ly move.”
DAILY — "This question has
been asked by many people,
again and again. Could a Blan-
chard, could a Davis, could the
Four Horsemen of Notre Dame
play as well today as they did
during their own playing days?
Could the teams of the thirties
and forties play with as much
success today, against the mod-
ern teams of the sixties?”
JONES — “I’d say that a real
good athlete could play today,
but football is so much more
open today that you have to have
speed. If you can’t run, well
then you can’t play football. I
don't think some of your greats
from the thirties and before
would be as great today, but
they could probably play. I know
that I played at Ohio State in
1935 and I played again in 1942
after a six year layoff and we
played against a T formation. I
would have been a linebacker
then and I was able to make a
few tackles during the ball
game. Well, I played that day
and I never got near the ball
carrier."
DAILY — "This year a new
punt rule was introduced. What
is this rule and what effect might
it have upon the game when it is
instituted next fall?”
JONES — “I think that there
will be more long punt returns
next season because of the new
rule. Since you can only send
down your two outside men or
backs I think the defense will
concentrate on the two ends and
not worry too much about the in-
terior linemen because those
men can’t go down until the thud
of the ball.”
DAILY — "What about Profes-
sional Football? What effect has
it had upon the college game?"
JONES—“Pro-Football has had
a great effect upon the college
1.
(Photo by Bob Wright)
f)
... 'My Memorable Moments'
now
of-
GLORY IS BUT a small fact of a head coach’s life. Coach Jones
returns from the Maryland clash in 1943. It was his first game at the
helm, and the Big Red. picked for top honors, was less than impris-
sive in pulling out a 13-3 triumph in the fourth quarter. The disap-
pointment is always there.
'They Like
To See Touchdowns'
game in that it has helped the
college game to be more open
People enjoy a high scoring
game. They like to see touch-
downs. Many teams now use
DAILY—"Which do you look
upon as your most satisfying
and most disappointing days?"
JONES—"We played Notre
Dame when I was at Ohio State
and we had them beaten 13-0
going into the fourth quarter.
Then we led 13-12 with thirty-
three seconds to play and they
came on to beat us 18-13. This
was one of the most disappoint-
ing things that happened to me as
a player.”
"As a coach at Oklahoma there
was a similar game against Tex-
as A&M in 1950 They were ahead
28-21 and we made a touchdown
but missed the extra point leaving
us one point behind Then we
scored with only twenty-four
seconds on the clock to win. Of
course we went undefeated that
year and won the national champ-
ionship. That was one of my
most memorable moments."
"There have been many of
those games won and lost at the
last minute but those two games
stand out in my mind because
they were so similar. The loss to
Notre Dame was our only loss
that season at Ohio State and of
course that’s the only one I ever
hear about ”
DAILY—"Coach, not only in
this writer's opinion but in the
opinion of those who have been
associated with you throughout
your career, you are a man of
sport. Not just Oklahoma sport.
Not only of Ohio State sport. But
of sport as an institution One
final question. Where is sport in
America going’’ What is it’s fu-
ture’”
JONES— "Well you have more
people participating in sports
than ever before and I think that
tins is a good thing. I feel that
the more participation in athletics
the less problems we will have
with such things as delinquency.
Every boy has a certain amount
of energy and if he can work off
that energy in the right way. why
he’ll stay out of trouble "
"Athletic programs are grow-
ing and I think they will continue
to grow The big problem is finan-
cing these programs. I feel that
athletics are an integral part of
an education and athletic depart-
ments should be supported by the
states as part of the curriculum
of the University. Get that plug
in there ’’
your high scoring pro - type
fense. It’s like baseball It's fine
for a pitcher to throw a no-hitter
but most people would rather see
an eight to five game than a one
to nothing game.”
DAILY — “It has been pretty
much accepted that the one way
player is superior to the two
way player because the former
is a specialist and the latter is
a jack-of-all-trades When did
this trend begin and who were
the men most responsible for
taking the initiative?”
JONES—"It seems to me that
right after the war there were
a great many football players.
Certainly there were more play-
ers than before or during the
war. Consequently then, in order
to play more men the two pla-
toon system went into effect.
Now we had twenty-two players
in the game while back in the
days of one platoon football you
would have sixteen or seventeen
men and a man could play fifty-
five of sixty minutes. And It
bears out that if a man plays
one way he will be better at his
position than he would be had
he been a two way player.”
DAILY—“Does being a one
way player have any disadvan-
tages’”
JONES—"Only in the fact that
if you're going to catch I think
it’s better if you are a two way
player because this way you can
learn more about the entire
game But I don't think you can
be as good playing both ways
Getting right down to it, it's
what you said before. It’s
specialization. If you're going to
do one thing, you're going to be
better if you practice at it."
DAILY—"Looking back over
your long career, what has been
your most memorable day in
sport’”
JONES—"Do you mean my
most satisfying or most disap-
pointing’"
r
'I Have Gotten
A Lot of Satisfaction'
i
A*
team And at the far end of the
hall is the office of the man who,
as a line coach for the Bud Wil-
kinson powerhouses, developed
at least one All-American every
year for nine consecutive years,
the former head coach of the
Oklahoma Sooners and now ath-
letic director, Gomer T. Jones.
You find him sitting at his desk
— fortunate to have caught him
in a free moment. He looks to
be much the same man as he
was when he came to Oklahoma,
20 years ago But now his hair
is grey.
Gomer Jones has been active
in intercollegiate football since
his playing days at Ohio State
in the mid-1930’s. Certainly one
of the most experienced and
most knowledgeable men in foot-
ball, he has dedicated his life to
the sport which he loves best.
He has come a long way
A recent talk with Gomer
Jones brought out his views on
coaching and on the everchang-
ing football scene. The resulting
interview follows:
DAILY—"You have been in the
field of sport and in football
coaching in particular for many
years. And there is little doubt
By STEPHEN CHARLES GROLL
On the second floor of the
north side of Owen Stadium is
a door which reads: "Intercolle-
giate Football—Come In.” Inside
are film rooms and the offices
of the men who comprise the
coaching staff of the OU football
but that you have done a great
deal for your profession. What
has sport, what has coaching
done for you?”
JONES — "I have gotten a
great deal of satisfaction out of
watching a boy start out, young,
immature, and seeing him grow
and develop. Naturally, if he's
an exceptional athlete he may
become an All • American. And
that is very satisfying But the
greatest satisfaction is when that
boy comes back to visit you and
he has made a success in his
life's work. And you get to feel
that perhaps through athletics
and football he has learned what
it takes to be successful. That is
the greatest reward."
DAILY—"It takes a great deal
of devotion to be successful in
coaching.”
JONES—“Yes it does. I used
to get up at five - thirty in the
morning and not get to bed un-
til about midnight during our
pre - season practice and during
the season when we played our
games. Also a great deal of time
is spent during the winter and
the spring when you are recruit-
>
Former Coach Looks Back
On Long Football Career...
THE OKLAHOMA DAILY, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
PAGE FOUR
FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1987
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Waltz, Susan. The Oklahoma Daily (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 53, No. 120, Ed. 1 Friday, March 24, 1967, newspaper, March 24, 1967; Norman, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1828987/m1/4/: accessed June 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center.