Last November, just a few days before his team took a five-game losing streak into the stadium of the No. 1 college football team in the country, Bobby Johnson cracked a joke.
Just as he had after every mid-week evening practice ended, the Vanderbilt coach walked over to a small circle of reporters to take a few questions about his preparations for the game that Saturday against Florida. The first question was a relatively standard one, addressing one of the many anticipated mismatches between the two teams, and it received a relatively standard answer in the eyes of the man who gave it.
“Coach, your thoughts on blocking a couple of pretty good defensive ends this Saturday night,” said the reporter.
“Well, I don’t think they’ll be able to block Stoney or Broderick to tell you the truth, but they may, and I’m sure they’ll give it a try,” Johnson said.
Stoney and Broderick referred to Steven Stone and Broderick Stewart, Vanderbilt’s defensive ends — not the Gators’ all-SEC, NFL-bound duo of Jermaine Cunningham and Carlos Dunlap. Stoney and Broderick, on the other hand, were the guys who had taken turns battling injuries late in their Vanderbilt careers and would go on to finish the season with just three sacks combined.
The flawless deadpan, the seamless promptness with which that answer was delivered said everything about the eight seasons Bobby Johnson spent with the Vanderbilt Commodores. His sudden retirement this July left his players, his coaching staff and the athletics program that employed him little choice but to maintain Johnson’s calmly defiant attitude and ambitious expectations to win consistently. And that is for the better.
Whenever pressed to comment on the obvious challenges of pulling off an upset eight weeks a season in the SEC, Johnson would allow only a half-smile and a few words on the strength of the league and the talent of every player in it.
But when it came down to it, Coach Johnson sincerely believed that his football team wouldn’t be outplayed by anyone. If getting that across meant catching a few writers off-guard with a confident statement about the capabilities of his players every once in a while, that is what would have to be done.
He beat back the pall of impending defeat that hangs over the school’s athletics program as the helmsman for its most prominent team, and for his efforts he accomplished things that no one can take away from him.
So who can blame Johnson for walking away the moment he realized those 26 losses by seven points or less had gradually chipped away at his resolve over eight seasons? And who can argue that any team in the SEC, let alone Vanderbilt, stands a better chance to be competitive in the conference with a coach who is no longer completely committed to the values most important to the direction of his football program?
So begins the transition from Bobby Johnson to Robbie Caldwell, the former offensive line coach who has swept media and fans alike off their feet with his direct responses and infectious humility in his first month of public appearances. Caldwell’s transcendent press conference at SEC Media Days in July drew a standing ovation from the journalists in the room and earned him a glowing follow-up interview on ESPN Radio with Jim Rome.
But while analyses of Caldwell’s sense of humor and lumbering comedic timing have subtly overshadowed the obstacles awaiting the team, it’s almost time for Coach Caldwell and his players to take the field.
The conspicuous physical mismatches between Vanderbilt and the rest of the SEC that Bobby Johnson addressed a few months ago were not at all leveled by his retirement; however, Caldwell has worked hard enough to sober up his players, just as his predecessor did, for the challenge of a schedule that features ten teams that went to a bowl last year.
Don’t think the “hayseed act,” as Bobby Johnson described Caldwell’s southern nuances in his retirement press conference, won’t take a backseat to the voice of a fiery leader when the stadium fills up and the lights turn on every Saturday. But don’t count out the idea of this team stepping to the line against a heavily favored SEC powerhouse and cracking a collective smile at the thought of causing some mischief in the most powerful conference in the nation.
