At first glance, this interview just looks like some Texas high school committee huddling up with an accomplished alumnus on the occasion of that school’s 100th anniversary.
But look at little closer, and you’ll see it’s just one Roo chatting with another.
Texas A&M had their guy. After leading the University of Houston to a 12-0 regular season in 2011, Coach Kevin Sumlin had locked up the vacant head coaching position in Aggieland. One more win in the Conference USA championship game and the Cougars would be headed to a BCS bowl, an impressive feat for the one-time Southwest Conference member. Sumlin’s Cougars were led by quarterback Case Keenum, who had obliterated numerous NCAA records and was in the running for the Heisman. Most expected a coronation when Houston met Southern Mississippi to decide the conference championship.
But not Golden Eagles coach Larry Fedora.
Fedora had installed a “refuse to be intimidated” culture in Hattiesburg, which showed up in the C-USA title game. The Golden Eagles defense contained Keenum, and completely shut down the Cougars running game. Southern Miss also put up nearly 500 yards of total offense, pulling away in the third quarter to post a 49-28 win. Against expectations, it was Fedora and Southern Mississippi who lifted the championship trophy.
“Everybody thought Houston was just going to walk away with this thing,” Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said. “So our guys obviously took objection to that. They had something to prove. They were going to play with a chip on their shoulders. They wanted everybody to know that Southern Miss is a really good football team.”
The “spread offense,” long a novelty in the collegiate game, is now found at college campuses throughout the country. This offense, which spreads the field by combining speed, precise routes, accuracy, and a multi-tempo offense, has many American founding fathers over the past few decades. One of those fathers is an A&M Consolidated Tiger: Larry Fedora.
Before coaching receivers in the spread, Fedora was one himself. He caught passes for AMC Coach Bob Caskey at Tiger Field from 1977 to 1980; it was at Consolidated where Fedora first entertained the idea of a profession in coaching. He then took his services to D3 Austin College in Sherman, TX, where he earned All-American honors and was a member of the Kangaroo NAIA national championship team in 1981. Austin College was also his first job as a football coach; it would not be his last.
From 1991 to 2007, Fedora slowly became known as an offensive mastermind in an era when the spread was achieving a greater foothold in the game. After spending five years at Baylor under the legendary Grant Teaff, Fedora then moved on to offensive coaching positions at Air Force, Middle Tennessee, and Florida. His success in Gainesville caught the interest of Oklahoma State and Coach Mike Gundy, a former colleague at Baylor. Three strong years in Stillwater solidified Fedora’s reputation as one of the finest offensive coaching minds in the country. His first head coaching job, at Southern Mississippi, soon followed.
Larry Fedora is a member of a well-known A&M Consolidated family. His father has been active in AMC athletics and the College Station community for decades, and is familiar to Tigers for his barbershop. Larry and his three brothers (Bruce, John, & Lee) all passed through the hall of AMC and remain committed Tigers. Lee is the head coach of A&M Consolidated football; Coach Lee Fedora led his AMC Tigers to the playoffs in 2018 thanks in part to the quarterback arm of his yet another Fedora: Larry’s nephew. If you want to tell an AMC sports story over the past 40 years, it might be hard to do so without mentioning the name Fedora.
After 7 years at North Carolina, Fedora has returned home to Texas. He spent the fall of 2019 has an analyst for Tom Herman’s Texas Longhorns, and has returned to the coaching ranks in 2020 as the offensive coordinator for Coach Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears. Aranda, one of the top defensive minds in the game, recently helped LSU secure a national title. With Fedora on the offensive side of the ball, it’s a solid bet that the Baylor Bears will not be a team to be taken lightly.
A&M Consolidated graduates have achieved national recognition in numerous professional fields. In the profession of collegiate coaching, there is perhaps nobody who makes us prouder to be an AMC Tiger than Larry Fedora. Coach Fedora was gracious enough to agree to an interview with the A&M Consolidated Centennial Committee. Thanks Coach, for loaning us some of your valuable time.
=============================================
A&M Consolidated Centennial Committee: Coach Fedora, you played four years of A&M Consolidated (AMC) Tiger football from 1977 to 1980. Which Consol coaches had the biggest impact on your development as a player and future coach?
Larry Fedora: Oh, there were so many. Head Coach Bob Caskey was a big influence, but so were his assistants. Guys like Terry Miller, Danny Clover, Dennis Lane, and Jim McManus. John Cook had the biggest impact on me. He was one of my coaches in Junior High who followed me to High School. Coach Cook was a role model off the football field and encouraged my lifelong association with FCA. The coaching staff at Consolidated laid the foundation.
AMC: What are some of the highlights from your AMC athletics career?
Fedora: The bonds I made with teammates and friends remain the most important memories from those years. We didn’t have the championship-level teams that Consolidated enjoys today (Consol football went 24-16 during Larry Fedora’s four years), but the experience was just as personally rewarding as you’d find in any program. The late 1970s were a great time to be in College Station.
AMC: Your father is a well-known member of the Tiger community and was a coach in College Station youth sports during the 1970s and 1980s. What impact did your father have on an early love of athletics?
Fedora: Dad (Herb Fedora) was active in my life and the lives of all three of my brothers. He stayed busy and was there for every one of our sporting events no matter how large or small. He was passionate about athletics in College Station, coaching little league for many years. He was also active in the Tiger Club for a long time, just like my brothers (Bruce, John, & Lee) are today.
AMC: The 1970s were a time of change in the Brazos Valley. A&M Consolidated was growing dramatically, Bryan was a state athletics power, and Texas A&M was emerging as a large, national university. What are some of your fondest memories of Brazos Valley athletics (AMC, Bryan, or A&M) from the 1970s?
Fedora: We had this incredible experience during my years in Consol. Kyle Field was undergoing renovations to add a third deck, and the Aggie football team often practiced near us during construction. Sometimes, Aggies & Tigers would stay late just to toss a ball around. I was a young Consol receiver catching passes from guys like Gary Kubiak, Mike Moseley, and David Beal. It was a thrill. We also attended a lot of Aggie camps, crossing paths with some of our heroes like Lester Hayes, Ed Simonini, and Bubba Bean. Just as exciting were the AMC trips to watch track & field; we got to see Eric Dickerson, Curtis Dickey, and Johnny Lam Jones. Texas A&M was beginning an athletic resurgence in the 1970s, and we got to be a part of it.
AMC: You earned All-American honors as a wide receiver at Austin College, an NCAA Division 3 school in Sherman, TX. Austin College was also your first job as a football coach. Did your decision to pursue coaching as a career occur in College Station, Sherman, or both?
Fedora: My initial interest in coaching came during my freshman year at Consol, but it strengthened dramatically at Austin College (AC). Larry Kramer (AC Head Coach and former All-American at Nebraska) was a force of nature my freshman year when the Kangaroos won the 1981 NAIA national championship. Mel Tjeerdsma (AC Head Coach recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame) had a big impact on my decision to return after my senior year as a Graduate Assistant coach. Bob Mason (AC Athletic Director) gave me my best advice as I transitioned from player to coach. Mason said to focus on coaches instead of job openings. “Pick 5 coaches you admire, whom you want to work for, and keep calling ‘em.”
AMC: Your first Division 1 offensive coaching position came in 1991, when you were hired by Baylor coach Grant Teaff. Teaff now sits in the College Football Hall of Fame. What was the experience like working with Coach Teaff at the end of his career?
Fedora: I was fortunate that Coach Teaff and his staff were my first introduction to coaching at the D1 level. He’s obviously a coaching legend, but he’s also an incredible human being. Teaff was the first to stress a need to balance family & football, which has served me well given the long hours of this profession. Coach Teaff is also the best storyteller I’ve ever been around. We still keep in touch, and I saw him and his family recently. Now that I’m back at Baylor, I hope to pay more visits.
AMC: After successful stints as an offensive coordinator at Florida & Oklahoma State, you landed your first Head Coaching position at Southern Mississippi in 2008. What were the biggest challenges transitioning from the assistant coaching ranks to Head Coach?
Fedora: My time at Florida & Oklahoma State helped a lot to prepare me; I also worked hard to get ready for the jump. The biggest challenge is the huge amount of time one loses to study and analyze football. You are managing people to a greater degree and relying more on the analytical skills of your coordinators. That’s not necessarily a bad thing and mastering the delegation of tasks is something to which I adjusted fairly well. But for those of us who love the x’s and o’s of football, it is a difficult adjustment to make.
AMC: Your Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles won a Conference USA Championship in 2011, defeating Coach Kevin Sumlin’s Houston Cougars in the championship game. That year, Southern Miss secured its most prolific offensive season in history and graduated its players at an all-time rate. To what do you attribute your program’s success at Southern Miss?
Fedora: We had a great culture at Southern Miss. I was surrounded by a tremendous coaching staff and a supportive Athletic Director. Our players were a family that refused to be intimidated; teams we faced couldn’t distract our guys from their focus and drive to win. Our motto that year was “they don’t know,” as in our opponents don’t know what struggles they are about to face after kickoff. Hattiesburg was an enjoyable time, especially that championship season.
AMC: You are known as one of the fathers of the “spread offense” at the collegiate level. Can you tell us a little about how that evolved, and what are some of the basic variations of the spread offense?
Fedora: Back when I first became an offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee State in the late 1990s, the spread was just beginning to be widely utilized. Rich Rodriguez was implementing at Tulane, and Hal Mumme was doing the same at Kentucky. Mumme is famous for his “air raid” scheme, which is a version of the spread relying almost exclusively on the passing game. I’ve placed a bit more emphasis on including the running game as an option, especially with a mobile quarterback. Still, all the variations fundamentally involve the same fast paced tempo and reliance on the passing game. I favored a no-huddle, up-tempo scheme early in my career, which we implemented at Florida, Oklahoma State, and later Southern Miss. 20 years later, the spread has become much more commonplace and can be found in many college programs.
AMC: After 7 years at North Carolina, you are now back home in the Lone Star state. In 2019, you were an analyst for Tom Herman’s Texas Longhorns. In 2020, you’ll take over offensive coordinator duties at Baylor. Have you enjoyed the return home to Texas, and have you been able to make many trips back to College Station?
Fedora: It’s been great to get back home. Football is a time-consuming profession, so I don’t get back as much as I’d like. Still, I’ve made many trips back to College Station to see my Mom, Dad, and my brothers. Dad has long since retired from his barbershop, but we kept one of his chairs and gave it to him as a gift. He still uses it from time to time to give the occasional haircut to some of his longtime clients.
AMC: Your little brother Lee Fedora is now the Head Coach of A&M Consolidated football. Coach Fedora has led the Tigers to 30 wins and 3 playoff appearances over the last 3 years. What is the feeling watching Lee Fedora lead the Tigers today, knowing that he watched you play at the old Tiger stadium when he was a kid?
Fedora: Pride. I can’t tell you how proud I get watching Lee coach at Consolidated. He’s had a lot of success in his career, winning district championships at Rogers and state championships at Navasota. The last three years have been exciting for AMC fans; I’m obviously one of them.
AMC: Your brothers Bruce, John, & Lee are all Consolidated graduates who played AMC football and are members of the Brazos Valley community today. You also have a few nieces and nephews who are A&M Consolidated Tiger athletes. Of all the Fedoras, which one is the best athlete?
Fedora: Not gonna answer that one! It depends upon who you ask. My Dad would probably pick one of his grandkids, just to annoy his sons.
