As we take a hard look back at the weeks leading up to this much anticipated 2014 season, there has been one thought on the minds of Memphis fans across the nation: it’s time for results.
It all began with what we’ll refer to as the Bill Murphy era. Coaching for 14 consecutive seasons at what was then Memphis State University in 1958-71, Murphy compiled a 91-44-1 record while being praised as “Coach of the Year” for his ’63 undefeated Tigers team. However, following his retirement in 1971, the program began to see evidence of a looming downfall.
Fred Pancoast coached toward a 20-12-1 record before continuing his coaching career as the head coach of Vanderbilt for a number of years.
Then came Richard Williamson (1975-1980). Starting off his first season as the commander-in-cheif of a 7-4 Memphis squad, his situation rapidly declined in the years to follow, leading to an overall 24-31 legacy.
From here we jump to the short tenure of head coach Rex Dockery (1981-1983), who boasted back-to-back 1-10 seasons at the beginning of his short term at the helm of Memphis.
Then, one after the next, the Memphis football program was badgered by ineffective head coaches.
First there was Rey Dempsey (1984-1985) who, after commandeering an unimpressive 7-12-1 record in his first two years, was relieved of his position. Then came Charlie Bailey (1986-1988) who resigned after just two seasons due to allegations that a few of his athletes lied about illegal contact made with school boosters. The list goes on and on, with the likes of Chuck Stobart, Rip Scherer, Tommy West, and Larry Porter failing to turn this aching program around to its former glory. This legacy, however, was about to change for the better (or so we thought).
After the firing of two-term Porter following a disappointing (yet expected) 2011 season, sources confirmed that Justin Fuente was to be ushered in as the next head coach of the Memphis football program.
Since he began coaching in 2001 at Illinois State, Fuente’s career climbed to the heights of being named co-offensive coordinator of the TCU Horned Frogs in 2009. It was a surprise to many that Fuente would then leave his success behind in pursuit of the head coaching position with the Tigers. Throughout his first two years, just like with countless coaches before him, his coaching style failed to make a difference on the scoreboard.
Let’s talk for a moment about rebuilding this Memphis football program. When Fuente first began coaching these Tigers, he quickly identified 25 areas in which his team was struggling. But instead of focusing on these 25 improvements that desperately needed to be made to the institution of Tiger football, Fuente emphasized a pair fundamentals on which he began developing the future of his program.
“So I basically asked them to do two things: one, to buy into what we were saying, and two, to be accountable to each other in everything that we did. And that’s how we started, with two things.” Fuente went on to explain. “When we started we were basically void of all the fundamental concepts of a team, from pride to ‘job well done’ to work ethic, dedication.”
Part-way through its third season under a new head coach, Memphis has not been grading its progress on the basis of wins and losses, pass completion percentages or turnover counts. Rather, it has been defining its progress by the development it has witnessed within its young roster and the acclimation of the team as a whole to the life-altering concepts of pride, dedication, and work ethic.
The values and traditions Fuente has introduced to the Memphis program are starting to produce concrete results out on the field, which leads readers, fans, opponents and analysts to collectively pronounce an end to the once-anticipated “rebuilding phase” of Fuente’s tenure; and based on the 2-2 start that features competitive losses to No. 11 UCLA and No. 10 Ole Miss (along with impressive wins over Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee), they may be right.
However, whether this is true or not ceases to matter. With the foundation laid and the pieces of the Memphis program – both on and off the field – slowly coming together, we will all simply have to wait to see how the remainder of the Tigers’ season unfolds, and whether or not they can reach a bowl game for the first time since 2008.
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