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Craft Gets The Call
The San Diego Union-Tribune Feature Story
Dec. 7, 2001
By Tom Shanahan SAN DIEGO - San Diego State football built its reputation for throwing the ball -- a storied history the Aztecs cling to only tenuously -- with community college transfers under Don Coryell and Claude Gilbert. Now SDSU is turning to a community college coach to right a sinking ship. And not a name coach or a coordinator from a major program as was expected -- as athletic director Rick Bay himself said he would find -- when the hiring process began following Ted Tollner's dismissal Nov. 12. Palomar College coach Tom Craft was introduced yesterday as the Aztecs' 15th head coach, making the rare jump directly from the community college level to head coach of a Division I-A school. He's an SDSU alumnus, the Aztecs' starting quarterback in 1975-76, and he recognizes he could be the last Division I-A coach at the school if he doesn't turn out to be the right man for the job. The Aztecs need to win and draw fans to relieve the financial pressure on the athletic department. "It hurts me when people talk about San Diego State not having football anymore like Long Beach State or Cal State Fullerton," Craft said. "This is a university where football players should be able to come back to. I have strong feelings for this place." Craft, who was SDSU's offensive coordinator from 1994-96 under Tollner, sat in the Aztecs Athletic Center with his wife, Kathy, and Bay. Craft and Bay talked about the task ahead for a program coming off a third straight losing season with dwindling attendance. "Some people ask me why I didn't hire a coordinator," Bay said. "Well, Tom Craft was a coordinator and he has the additional experience of being a JC head coach. He's been a head coach at a reasonably high level, which others have not. That was part of my logic." Craft was awarded a four-year contract with a one-year rollover that pays him $400,000 a year, but only the base of $130,000 is guaranteed. Craft, 48, talked about the future just 18 hours after he told Bay he would need to find another man for the job. Craft sent a statement by fax that said he wasn't "100 percent excited about the commitment," but he had a change of heart later Wednesday night. "Later, I started thinking about it seriously, and I knew I wanted the opportunity," Craft said. "I called Rick to see if there was still a window. I'm very excited." In the end, it was Craft sitting on the podium and not one of the other five interviewed candidates -- Oregon offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford, Texas A&M offensive coordinator Dino Babers, Denver Broncos receivers coach Karl Dorrell, former Oregon and St. Louis Rams head coach Rich Brooks and former Arizona and Hawaii head coach Dick Tomey. Craft was the quarterback when the Aztecs posted seasons of 8-3 in 1975 and 10-1 in '76 under Gilbert, now retired but the SDSU defensive coordinator when Craft was on Tollner's staff. "When I heard the news, I was pleased," Gilbert said. "I feel he's ready. I was a bit surprised when he left before. I thought his future was at the four-year level. He has a good football mind." The Aztecs' last high-powered offensive teams were those in 1995 and '96 when they had seasons of 8-4 and 8-3 with Craft calling plays. In Craft's three seasons as an SDSU assistant, Will Blackwell set a school record for career receptions (197, 1994-96), George Jones set a school record for yards rushing in a season (1,842, 1995), and quarterback Billy Blanton had a school-record passing efficiency rating (169.6, 1996). "People who think he can't do the job as a junior college coach don't know him," said Blanton, a financial planner in San Diego. "Anybody who comes in contact with him enjoys being around him and believes in what he's trying to do. Players like to play for him." Craft cited Jones, Blackwell and Blanton when asked if he could spark SDSU's stagnant offense -- which averaged just 16.7 points and had five touchdown passes for the season -- with the returning roster. "Marshall Faulk is the most impressive player in San Diego State history, but he doesn't hold the single-season rushing record -- George Jones does," Craft said. "Darnay Scott was a very talented receiver and still is in the NFL, but Will Blackwell holds the receiving record. Billy Blanton wasn't drafted in any round, but he has the highest passing efficiency in school history. "We were able to do things in the structure of our offense. I believe we will be able to do those things again." But Craft also recognizes he must bring better talent to SDSU. He will start out relying on community college players who can help the team immediately. "We're going to put the ball in the air," Craft said. "We'll evaluate the players we have here and add to it on the community college level. But philosophically we want to recruit the high schools." Craft is in his 16th year and second stint at Palomar as a head coach, having returned to the JC to spend more time with his family after his three seasons at SDSU. He has one more game to coach tomorrow when the Comets (10-1) face City College of San Francisco in the state championship game in Visalia. Craft's career record of 113-56-1 includes mythical national JC titles in 1991, '93 and '98. "When I first took over at Palomar, they had won only one game in three years and were thinking of dropping the program," Craft said. He has another sinking ship to save.
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