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How MoonDog Became MoonDog
By MoonDog | April 25, 2008
If you read my bio, and it’s doubtful you have unless you’re one of my three loyal readers, I made mention of the nickname I use. Ever since I wrote my first blog back in October, millions of people have flooded my in-box haranguing me to please tell the tale of how I came to be known as MoonDog.
Many years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I played college football at Murray State University. On the surface that doesn’t appear to be a big deal and in reality it isn’t. However, tiny Murray State had one of the best coaching staffs ever assembled in college football history.
Our head coach was Mike Gottfried who many of you probably came to know when he worked as a color analyst on ESPN college football telecasts. Coach Gottfried led Murray State to the Division 1-AA playoffs in 1979 and we finished 11-1, losing to Lehigh in the semi-finals. The next year we didn’t make the playoffs but finished the regular season at 9-2, including a marquee win against Louisville.
Coach Gottfried left after the 1980 season to take the head coach’s job at the University of Cincinnati. He later would take the University of Kansas head coaching job and ultimately ended up as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers.
Coach Gottfried was a nice man and very even tempered. He seldom if ever raised his voice and when he admonished you, it was over and done with in an instant. He wasn’t a pushover though, far from it in fact.
I recall after the first week of two-a-days being at a frat house with a handful of my team mates. I was just as quiet, shy, kind, loving, gentle and angelic as I am to this day, but my team mates had a few beers and all hell broke loose. I stood behind the juke box and watched in horror (if you believe this I have some land I want to sell you) as my fellow football players engaged in a shock and awe campaign before my eyes.
Coach Gottfried got wind of the frat house massacre and on Monday morning those of us present where awakened at 0530. We marched over to the stadium and were made to run the steps until we either died or wished we were dead. Despite my protests of being innocent, there I was running those steps – wishing I was dead.
The defensive coordinator was Frank Beamer, the current and long-time head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies. Beamer was a bit odd and unfortunately, he and I never got along. But the man could coach and he employed the 60 defense, also known as the wide-tackle six, and we were one of the best defensive units in 1-AA.
I know exactly what caused Beamer not to like me, and it didn’t have anything to do with the frat house incident. My first year at Murray we started fall practice and as part of those early drills, everyone was required to run a mile in a certain time. I ran the mile and just missed making the allotted 5:45 to complete it. As a result, after the end of the second practice that day, those of us not making our times had to run another un-timed mile.
I swear to you I speak the truth. I ran the mile - all four laps around the track. After I completed the mile Beamer approached me and asked if I ran all four laps. I told him I did but he looked at me inquisitively, suggesting he didn’t believe me. I told him I ran all four laps but if it would make him happy, I’d run another lap to appease him. He told me not to worry about it but from that day forward he never liked me or trusted me. I didn’t play defense so it wasn’t that big of an issue, but after Gottfried left to take the Cincinnati job, Beamer became the head coach at Murray. Then it became a problem.
Our offensive line coach was Ralph Friedgen, the current head coach at the University of Maryland. Friedgen wasn’t anywhere near as fat then as he is now, but from what I’ve gathered he’s just as bombastic today as he was then.
Most of the coaches I played for fell into one of two categories: cerebral or fanatical. Friedgen fell into the former which was rather strange because usually it was the defensive coaches that were crazy. In fact I can honestly say Friedgen was a man that needed to be sent to Vienna where a team of Freudian disciples could study him at length. The man was off-the-charts crazy.
One of our offensive tackles was a guy named Vernon – that was his last name – and his nickname was “Mount” Vernon. The guy – and I swear I’m telling you the truth –was 6’6” and weighed 410 pounds. When we lined up, Vernon played right tackle. He was so big and took up so much space, the distance between the guard’s right foot and the tight end was about eight feet. We looked like we were running an unbalanced line, and to some extent that was true.
But as you can imagine, Vernon was slow. One quick step and you were around him. God help you if he got his hands on you though, because if he did, it was pancake city. Friedgen was on Vernon’s ass constantly about being too slow, this coming from a man that needs to lose 300 pounds as we speak. One day at practice Friedgen had everybody on the team line up opposite Vernon. If we got around him, Friedgen made Vernon run 20-yard grass drills.
I don’t recall anyone not making it around him and by the end of that practice, poor Vernon was spent. The guy had run so many 20-yard grass drills he could barely walk. But as the year progressed, Vernon lost some weight, improved his foot speed, and was a better player because of Friedgen.
Our defensive secondary and special teams coach was Ron Zook, current head coach at the University of Illinois. Zook has been much maligned throughout his coaching career, especially during his time as the head coach at the University of Florida. Gator fans that had become accustomed to winning when Steve Spurrier was the head coach at Florida never took a liking to Zook. But keep this mind – when Florida won the BCS championship a few years ago, it was primarily done with players that Zook recruited to Florida.
Zook was the most tireless and energetic coach on our staff. He cared very deeply for the players and was the best recruiter of any coach we had. He loved the game and it showed in his coaching style. He spoke loudly but didn’t berate you and reinforced his belief in you as a player. I always liked Zook and never imagined at that time he would go on to become one of the more recognizable coaches in college football.
You may be thinking all of this is fine but what about the story behind him naming you MoonDog. Hold your horses I’m getting to it.
We had a guy on our team – and I believe this was his first name – Randy Gardner who was a complete loon. He was once interviewed for a segment on the “Mike Gottfried Show” in which he uttered the phrase “you know” 67 times in three minutes – I’m not kidding.
Now Gardner was a throw back, or actually at that time was what I viewed as a typical football player. He wasn’t stupid, he was just crazy. You had to be a little crazy to play the game because no one in their right mind puts themselves through that kind of punishment purposely, unless something really is wrong with you.
Gardner had an accident in his youth that caused him to have his right ring finger amputated at the second knuckle. He would sneak up on you in practice and give you a wet willie through your ear hole using that cut off finger. One day he snuck up on me and gave me a wet willie. I was in a bad mood so I ran over to the sidelines and picked up a metal folding chair and chased Gardner around the field. He was a defensive lineman and I was a tight end so I eventually ran him down and proceeded to smash him over the head with the chair – he had his helmet on so it was OK.
Back in the day there was a professional wrestling tag team known as the Moon Dogs. You can view a profile on them by clicking here. One of the Moon Dog’s staples was using a metal folding chair in most of their matches, chasing their competition and smashing them over the head with the folding chair. When I started chasing Gardner around the field that day, folding chair in hand, Zook told me I looked like one of the Moon Dogs in action.
So there it is. From that day forward, I was known as MoonDog. And nobody ever gave me a wet willie again either. I know how happy all of you must be, finally getting to the truth, the real story, the story that I’ll perhaps tell to my grandchildren some day. But for now the real story will be limited to you, my three loyal readers and a few passing ruffians that happen to land on this blog.
Tags: General Sports Topics, university of cincinnati, Frank Beamer, NCAA Football, division 1 aa playoffs, murray state university, General Sports Topics, Virginia Tech, mike gottfried, Ralph Friedgen, MoonDog, college football history, head coach, espn, pittsburgh panthers, General TopicsRelated posts
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