Being Gerry DiNardo

This Saturday, Gerry DiNardo will take the field in his first game as coach of the IU football team. While he's not likely to drive the team into Memorial Stadium on a double-decker bus a la Lee Corso, DiNardo's road to Bloomington has been a wild one. He's seen Heaven, Notre Dame football, and the other place, Vince McMahon's folly, the XFL. Now he's here in Bloomington trying to lead the Hoosiers from football purgatory. \nIn the beginning\nThe road begins in Brooklyn, New York. Four years after the Dodgers pulled out of town, nine-year-old Gerry DiNardo discovered what he would be forever attached to organized football. Like countless numbers of kids, he got his first experience playing in a Pop Warner league.\nDiNardo's love for the game carried over into high school, where his play stood out enough to capture the eyes of a man who knew how to assess talent -- legendary Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian.\nParseghian had already scooped up DiNardo's older brother, Larry, who was an All-American offensive lineman in 1969 and '70.\nDiNardo followed suit, starting at right guard from '72 to '74 and winning the National Championship in 1973. He was named an All-American his senior year.\n"I really enjoyed Ara," DiNardo said. "(Playing for) Notre Dame was a special experience for me, and a lot of the reason was because of him."\nFittingly enough, DiNardo's last game was also Parseghian's last -- a 13-11 Orange Bowl victory over Bear Bryant and Alabama.\nDiNardo and Parseghian still correspond regularly. Parseghian wished his protégé luck at IU, though he also noted it would be a tough job.\n"All of the easy jobs were taken," DiNardo said.\nA different path\nChances are DiNardo will argue a call or two with officials at some point this season, but he had originally pictured himself arguing in a much different setting -- the courtroom. DiNardo had intended to go to law school upon his graduation from Notre Dame, but decided his senior year he didn't want to give up the game.\nHe aspired to get a job as a high school teacher and coach somewhere in the New England region, but unlike today's burgeoning market for teachers, there were few positions available when DiNardo searched for a job in 1975. \nSo he decided to stay involved at the college level and looked for a position as a graduate assistant. \n"I wanted to coach in the northeast, so I talked to the (Notre Dame) coach who recruited out there," DiNardo said.\nA few phone calls later, he landed a spot as a graduate assistant on the staff of Walt Abbot and the University of Maine. "If I went any further northeast, I would have been in Europe," DiNardo said.\nAfter stints at Maine and Eastern Michigan, DiNardo joined Bill McCartney's staff at Colorado University in 1982. At the time, CU was a dweller in the then-Big 8 cellar. By 1990, DiNardo and the rest of the staff had turned the Buffaloes into national champions.\n"It was terrific," said DiNardo, who was the offensive coordinator for the national champions. "To go from a bad team to national champions is excellent."\nThe next year he was in Nashville, Tenn. looking to turn around a declining Vanderbilt program in his first head coaching job. By guiding the Commodores to a respectable 5-6 record in his first year, DiNardo was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year.\nAfter four years at Vanderbilt, DiNardo moved on to Louisiana State University, where he led the Tigers to three bowls in five years. Despite a 32-24-1 record at LSU, DiNardo was fired, for two mediocre seasons at the end of his time at LSU. \nHe now found himself somewhere he hadn't been since his childhood -- out of football.\nOpportunity knocks\nAfter getting fired, DiNardo focused most of his time on his Italian restaurant in Baton Rouge, La. He also spent spare time substitute teaching. Finally, opportunity came knocking. It came in the form of wrestling mogul Vince McMahon, who was starting a new football league called the XFL. \n"I didn't know much about it," DiNardo said. "But it was the right thing at the right time, and I really enjoyed it."\nHe was originally offered the Chicago job, but was displaced when Dick Butkus was hired. He then chose to take a position as the coach of the Birmingham Thunderbolts.\nHis XFL experience allowed DiNardo to see the vast differences between college and pro football, though he is concerned about the difference "getting closer than any of us would like."\nWhile McMahon has been much-maligned for the XFL experiment, DiNardo defends his actions.\n"I really like Vince and respect him," DiNardo said. "He stood firm on issues that he gave his word on. He didn't let TV take over (changing the rules of the game)."\nA day in the life\nNow, DiNardo is back where he wants to be -- the coach of a Division I school. While he has no plans on opening another restaurant, DiNardo does plan to build a winner in Memorial Stadium.\nDiNardo will be rebuilding the program on a schedule that will require some patience and a lot of coffee. He wakes up at 4 a.m. Monday thru Thursday every week so he can make it to the office by 5 a.m. From there, the work day goes until 11 p.m., except on Thursdays, when he will "only" work a 12-hour day.\nIn addition to coaching on game day, DiNardo will also grade the tape of the game about two hours after the final gun has sounded.\nOffensive coordinator Al Borges said he was immediately sold upon DiNardo's leadership ability when first meeting him.\n"He's been around winning programs," Borges said. "He knows what it takes to win. He isn't guessing."\nThe daily routine can include anything from looking at tapes of the last game, preparing for next week's opponent, visiting high schools throughout the state (DiNardo hopes to visit every high school in the state) and the actual running of practice itself. \nUnlike many other teams, IU will also work on recruiting players throughout the season.\nSo far, his style has received rave reviews from some players.\n"He's very enthusiastic about what he's doing," said Kris Dielman, senior defensive lineman. "He wants to win the Big Ten."\nA life in football\nMuch has changed in football since DiNardo played in South Bend. Players have gotten so much bigger that he would be dwarfed as an offensive lineman. Athletic departments are more prone to the alumni and outside influence than in the past.\n"The athletic department was run more like the history department back then," DiNardo said.\nDiNardo's biggest thrill about coaching hasn't changed, and it doesn't just come from winning games. It's seeing a first generation college graduate from a winning team, like he was in 1975, holding a college degree. \n"Seeing a high school kid come to a university and benefit academically and socially -- that's really special," he said.