seniors from both the offensive and defensive units to see what the men who were graduating had to say about him. I knew he was popular and respected by the players but I never expected the consistently strong endorsements I got from the seniors. Not one of them talked about anyone else as a possibility for my job. Looking back on it, this, more than anything else, influenced my decision to recommend Bud for the job without reservation." Hearing Dodd talk like this brings back a conversation with Sammy Burke, the top defensive safety on last year's squad. "Coach Carson," said Sammy during a road trip, "knows more about football than any coach I have ever been around. He knows every move that every man on the defense should be making under every conceivable circumstance. How he keeps all of that in his head and then communicates it to us is a mystery to me. I wish I had another year to play under him." The day after Carson was named head coach, Burke said in a half-kidding manner, "I have a good notion to change my name, dye my hair, and come back and try it for another three years." Carson's life-long love affair with defense is not about to come to an end now that he is a head coach. The new men he has hired for his staff reflect his philosophies, and the fact remains that every one of the four has had most of his coaching experience on the defensive side of the ledger. The new head of the offense, Dick Bestwick, who played at North Carolina during the Carson era and who coached with him at South Carolina, has been a defensive coach until this year when he was elevated to head of the offense at Pittsburgh just before he left there for the Tech job. Vince Carillot, the
architect of the Michigan State backfield defense, originally took the head defensive job, but suddenly returned to East Lansing to be an administrator after the second day of practice. Dub Fesperman of last year's staff was then named head of the defense. Bob Thaiman, who also coached at North Carolina with Carson, was for four years head of the Tarheel defense and two as chief of the offense. He will be the defensive backfield coach. Bobby Franklin was a defensive backfield specialist with the Cleveland Browns and at Tech he will be offensive backfield coach. The rest of the staff after realignment looks like this: Lew Woodruff will become head freshman coach relieving John McKenna whose assistant athletic director duties combined with the responsibilities as head of the physical training department made it imperative that he give up his coaching duties. Jack Griffin will stay on to coach the offensive ends with Bestwick doing the offensive line of scrimmage as well as the overall offense. Bob Thalman, Bill Fulcher, and Richard Bell will work with Fesperman on defense. Jesse Berry and Jim Luck will continue as scouts and B-team coaches, and Spec Landrum and Dynamite Goodloe will continue recruiting. This seemingly over-emphasis on defensive experience does not mean a lack of attention to the offense. Carson intends to take the responsibility for the offense himself and along with Bestwick and the rest of the offensive staff he wants to build a multiple offense for the coming year. "I believe that a team must establish its running game against the best teams it must face during a season," he says. "And that is what we intend to attempt to do. We will throw the ball often but
we do not intend to live by the pass. No team can in today's college football and survive. We are planning our offensive attack for the maximum use of the element of surprise and we think that the multiple system, which encompasses the best concepts from formations varying from the pro set to the I, is the best for our needs. "Building an offensive line of scrimmage and replacing our departing three defensive backs and two of our linebackers are our major problems. Our assets are a strong, experienced defensive line and the offensive backfield." As a start in solving these problems and others Carson thinks are just as important in the long run, the new head coach has been meeting with his entire staff every day for the past three weeks. The meetings are long and tiring and it is likely that some members of the staff have never quite seen anything like them. During the first week, Tech's new recruiting program was developed and new assignments made in this area. The second week was spent on breaking down personnel and making new assignments for the start of spring practice. It would be ridiculous in the light of past experience to hazard any guesses as to how the Jackets will line up next fall. Carson is an experimenter, as he showed during last spring's practice sessions. He is going to change people around until the best 22 men are on the first units. It might be safe to say that right now very few of last year's starters beyond Lenny Snow, Bill Eastman, Tommy Carlisle, Eric Wilcox, John Lagana and Randall Edmunds are sure of a starting berth this season. It is a new era and the boys are going to have to battle for their jobs all over again. (Continued)
Top assistants and new staff members are (I to r) Dub Fesperman, Dick Bestwick, Bob Thalman, and Bobby Franklin.
MARCH 1967
23