Millennium: Region's coaches mold winners
By Terry Vandrovec
The Forum - 09/19/1999

A coach is the glue that binds a team together. Whether they are showing a player how to keep their elbows in while shooting a jump shot, or guiding a young friend through a difficult personal struggle, coaches solidify a team.

Throughout the past 100 years, North Dakota has produced an elite group of professionally and personally successful individuals who complete the team equation.

From helping Michael Jordan achieve his dreams to pushing women's basketball into the national spotlight, this group of coaches has seen it all.

Rocky Hager

As much as he coached winning football, Ralph "Rocky" Hager was a fierce believer in Bison Pride. Under his tutelage, NDSU ripped off a decade long string of domination that made Bison football synonymous with winning.

From his first year in 1987, Hager knew exactly what he was getting into, as showed in this pre-season interview.

"Fargo-Moorhead does have a lot of pressure. There are 80-year old ladies who know more about the program that I ever dreamt possible. There are first-graders who know who scores the first touchdowns. That high focus creates the pressure, but we wouldn't want it any other way.. Why would we want to change it?"

Hager responded to the pressure that comes along with one of the most winning football programs in the nation by becoming NDSU's winningest coach with a record of 91-25-1 over 10 years. Hager led the Bison to two NCAA Division II national titles, five North Central Conference championships, and six straight wins over the University of North Dakota.

The Hager era also produced several individual standouts including Harlon Hill winners Jeff Bentrim and Chris Simdorn and National Football League veterans Phil Hanson and Tyrone Braxton.

Sid Cichy

The high school coaching ranks are an anomaly. Unlike the collegiate and professional levels, advancement and lavish salaries are usually unattainable. As is fame. But, also unlike most financially motivated establishments, high school coaches have much more influence on and intimacy with their athletes.

Sid Cichy took advantage of his unique opportunity to produce one of the greatest football dynasties that North Dakota has ever seen.

During his 30-year tenure at Fargo Shanley High School, Cichy's football teams compiled a record of 231-38-3, including 15 state championships and a streak of 59 consecutive wins.

Cichy's accomplishments earned him countless coaching awards, including the 1975 National High School Football Coach of the Year Award and a place in the National High School Athletic Coaches Association National Hall of Fame.

The Cichy era took place in a different time, when football was still viewed as a game.

"It was their responsibility, we didn't have a summer program. I didn't want to ruin their summers. I felt very strongly about that," Cichy said.

After having his career as an offensive lineman at North Dakota State interrupted by a term as a navy pilot in World War II, Cichy finished school. His first job was as head football coach at Sacred Heart high school in Fargo. Cichy took over before there was a Shanley High School, but he remained a staple long after.

Cichy coached from 1948-77 at Shanley. Every year the players would change, but his ideals didn't.

"I never had a playbook in 30 years, but you've got to have a good time," Cichy said.

Whether he was barking out signals at a young Roger Maris or playing for the 1940 Breckenridge state championship basketball team, Cichy knew how to win, but he also knew how to be coached.

"There are lessons that you learn en route," Cichy said. "Things you learn from the kids. I found it to be a very interesting 30 years. Some wonder if I miss it, but I can't say that I miss coaching. Plus, when you get older you don't have the emotional stability (to be coaching now.")

Amy Ruley

North Dakota State women's basketball coach Amy Ruley credits her athletes for her success.

"We've had some outstanding athletes," Ruley said. "Their commitment and effort has given me many opportunities."

As she approaches 500 career wins, Ruley is more than deserving of a round of applause for her role in the rise of women's basketball.

Since coming to NDSU from Western Illinois in 1979, Ruley has been a model of consistency - and winning. Her Bison squads have compiled a record of 484-122 in her 18 years, including five NCAA Division II national championships and eight North Central Conference crowns. Other schools have been courting Ruley since 1982, but she found a way to remain head of the Bison.

Throughout the progression of her career, Ruley has found her coaching philosophy remains constant.

"My coaching philosophy is a reflection of my personality to a certain extent," Ruley said. "If you want to be a success, you have to be yourself."

As the millennium approaches, women's athletics are picking up steam and Ruley is proud to be a large part of the still youthful expansion.

"If I look at the last 20 years I've been coaching, my role has changed," she said. "There were no scholarships before Title IX in 1972. I don't know where we'll be going from here, but we've kind of paralleled a men's model."

Ruley hopes to continue her influence far into the next century, thanks in part to the expansion of women's basketball.

"(The WNBA) provides opportunities for women to stay in states and play," she said. "It creates a realistic goal for young women to go on and compete professionally."

Ron Erhardt

While leading North Dakota State to two NCAA Division II national football titles, Ron Erhardt developed a winning strategy - run first, then run some more.

Erhardt was a key figure in implementing the vaunted NDSU veer-option offense.

"My philosophy is you pass to score touchdowns but you run to win," Erhardt said in a 1995 interview.

A fondness for the ground game carried Erhardt to the NFL, but the results didn't change from his days in Fargo. His years as the offensive coordinator of the New York Giants brought him two Super Bowl rings.

"You start out at New England, N.D., and end up getting two Super Bowl rings - you feel pretty good," Erhardt said in 1991.

In all, Erhardt coached for 25 years in the NFL, serving as head coach of the New England Patriots for three seasons, and as offensive coordinator for the Giants, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New York Jets.

"The people of Fargo and the success we had at NDSU helped me get where I am today, helped get me to the NFL," Erhardt said in 1986. "I will never forget that. The downtown boosters, the administration, the community support made that program and still make it today."

Erhardt is the second winningest coach at NDSU, with a 67-7-1 record that included six North Central Conference titles to go along with the two national titles. Erhardt retired from coaching after the 1998 season.

Phil Jackson

With six NBA titles under his belt as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson is one of the most successful coaches to come from North Dakota.

Borrowing heavily from the Zen philosophy, the Williston, N.D., product somehow orchestrated an arrangement in which Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman could not only coexist, but could thrive despite their individual uniqueness.

"I encourage freedom," Jackson said in a 1994 interview. "What I believe in is harnessing a certain amount of discipline so that the players can have freedom within parameters."

Jackson entered the coaching ranks after putting together one of the finest basketball careers North Dakota has ever seen. "Bones," as he was called in high school, led Williston to the 1963 state championship before becoming a three-time all-American at the University of North Dakota.

A career as a player for the New York Knicks, several NBA assistant coaching jobs, and a stint as coach of the Albany Patroons of the CBA served as sidebars on the way to fulfilling his destiny as coach of one of the greatest teams of all time.

Jackson and his peaceful resolve will take on a new challenge in the new millennium. He is the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lute Olson

As the year 2000 approaches, there is no usual route from college basketball to the NBA. Some players transfer, some players leave college early, some players don't go to college at all. This makes Lute Olson's recruiting philosophy a rarity.

Olson, formerly of Grand Forks, N.D., coaches the University of Arizona men's basketball team and he has only two recruiting rules: 1. We want you from high school. 2. We want you to graduate.

"All except one of our players were recruited as high school seniors," Olson said of his 1988 squad that went to the Final Four.

Olson was able to convince then-Arizona star and current San Antonio Spur, Sean Elliott, to stay for his senior season instead of immediately pursuing a career in the NBA.

Recent years have seen an occasional Wildcat leave Olson's program a year early. In 1998, star point guard Mike Bibby left after his sophomore year for the professional ranks. But Olson sticks by his guns and even implements the issue of character into his recruiting.

"Good kids attract other good kids. Jerks attract jerks," Olson said.

Since his days as a star basketball player at Grand Forks Central High School, Olson has been a success. He played three sports at Augsburg College (Minn.) and graduated in 1956. Stints at the high school and college level landed him the head coaching position at the University of Iowa, where he led the Hawkeyes to a Final Four appearance, before jumping to Arizona.

Olson led the 1997 Wildcats to the NCAA championship. From 1987 through 1997, Arizona had more wins than any other program in NCAA Division I.

Dale Brown

Dale Brown is a coach ahead of his time. Contemporary collegiate athletics are often marred by scandals, rules violations and NCAA-imposed sanctions. In 1976, Brown began speaking out against the "silly rules" that the NCAA imposes on players and coaches.

"Most coaches are honest and honorable men," Brown said in January of 1976. "Sure, there are some pirates. But until the system becomes honest, a coach almost has to find ways to beat it."

Although much has changed in the game of college basketball from Brown's early days at Louisiana State University, some things remain the same.

"We are permitted to purchase $300 contact lenses for athletes and pay for $3,000 shoulder operations, but we can't pay for dental surgery," Brown once said. "There is so much hypocrisy in the system. College athletics make a lot of money - but we overlook the kids so much in the rules."

Times have changed throughout the course of Brown's 25 years at LSU. In 1986, Brown signed a contract that paid him $100,000 per year for his services at LSU. Although that was a far cry from the salaries of today's coaches that often include shoe contracts and other endorsements, it is also a long ways from where Brown started his life in Minot.

After his family was abandoned by their father, the Browns lived off a $42.50 per month welfare check. Brown went on to lead North Dakota in scoring in his senior basketball season at St. Leo's (now Bishop Ryan) and was a three-sport star at Minot State University.

Brown remained proud of his North Dakota roots after moving on to the elite level of coaching.

"We have a proud heritage in North Dakota. We don't have to look up to anyone," Brown said.

His 25 seasons at LSU produced a record of 426-264, including two Final Four appearances, one national coach of the year honor, and the discovery of Shaquille O'Neal.