Portfolio at NYU

Posted 03.30.03
COLLEGE FOOTBALL; The Division III Title Is Mount Union's Goal

By Erik Boland

ALLIANCE, Ohio, Dec. 14 -- Larry Kehres, the coach with the highest winning percentage in college football history, becomes noticeably uncomfortable when asked to discuss his accomplishments at Mount Union.

Kehres has won five Division III national championships in the last eight seasons, but he fidgets and looks away when asked to talk about Mount Union's championship run, which began in 1993.

A natural storyteller, ''he's the funniest guy I know,'' Alex Grinch, a senior safety, said. Kehres stutters when asked about his role on a team that has won 81 of its last 82 regular-season games and 99 of its last 100 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. And forget about getting Kehres to discuss his part in the Purple Raiders' current 27-game winning streak or his astounding record -- 177-17-3, a 90.5 winning percentage -- since becoming Mount Union's coach in 1986.

Mount Union, a liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,200, heads back to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the championship game in Division III, Saturday in Salem, Va., the first time the game will be played at night. The Purple Raiders (13-0) will play Bridgewater (Va.), which has won all 12 of its games this season.

Kehres's record suggests that the Mount Union campus, tucked in Ohio farm country an hour southeast of Cleveland, might be decorated with tributes for the coach. A street named Kehres Avenue, or maybe a statue in front of Mount Union Stadium. At the very least, Kehres's picture adorning the cover of the football media guide.

But that is not his style. ''Oh, we'd never put him on the cover of the media guide,'' said Mike De Matteis, Mount Union's sports information director. ''He'd never go for that. He likes to keep a low profile, so the kids get a ton of attention.''

John Gagliardi, whose record in 53 years as the coach at St. John's in Collegeville, Minn., is 388-112-11, has brought his team into the Division III playoffs the past two seasons, only to lose to Mount Union each time. Last year Mount Union defeated the Johnnies, 10-7, in the Stagg Bowl. Last Saturday Mount Union beat St. John's, 35-14, in the semifinals here. Gagliardi joked after the game about the Mount Union football machine.

''I think Kehres should be outlawed,'' Gagliardi said. ''Once you have a certain number of wins, you should be outlawed.''

Kehres said there was no secret to Mount Union's success. ''If there's one common thread between the teams over the 16 years, it's that we've had good players,'' he said. ''I've had two men who have been with me the entire 16 years. One is the defensive coordinator, Don Montgomery, and the other is the recruiting coordinator, Jeff Wojtowicz. They are every bit as responsible for our football team as I am.''

That is typical Kehres self-effacement, his players said. Kehres was a Mount Union quarterback from 1968 to 1971 and still has the team record for the longest touchdown pass, 95 yards. When players speak of their coach, they do so respectfully.

''He knows so much about the game,'' said running back Chuck Moore, who won the Gagliardi award this season, given to the top player in Division III. ''I love going to scouting reports on Mondays just to listen to him talk.''

Rob Adamson, a junior quarterback, said Kehres's practices are one of the reasons his teams are so successful. The pressure of game day, even a national semifinal, pales compared with the pressure of practice.

''I don't know how to explain it, you just don't want him mad at you,'' Adamson said. ''He'll give you that look that he gives; you just don't want it. It's silent intimidation. He puts so much pressure on you in practice, you can handle it game day.''

Kehres conducts himself with similar stoicism during games. He showed no emotion after each of Mount Union's first three touchdowns Saturday against St. John's. Instead, lips pursed, he turned and walked back toward midfield as if everything had happened exactly as he had planned.

''I take the same approach during games he does,'' Grinch, the senior safety, said. ''I see how businesslike he is. That rubs off on the rest of the team.''

Despite the victories and titles, Kehres said he had been offered only one Division I coaching job; Kent State University, which is less than an hour from Alliance, tried to pry him from Mount Union before the 1998 season. Kehres said he was tempted but turned down the offer. That season, a young and inexperienced Purple Raiders team won the college's fourth national title. Kehres said the coaching job that would lure him from Mount Union does not exist.

''I don't have that ultimate job in mind,'' he said. ''I feel like I have my ultimate job and I want to keep it.''

And if Mount Union wins a sixth Division III title Saturday, expect Kehres to again deflect attention elsewhere.

''You can't let the past influence each day, except to learn from it,'' he said. ''So there isn't any real value in dealing with how many games we have won or lost. If I thought there was any value in talking about it, I would do it, but I really don't think there is any.''