People: Tyrone Willingham

COACH OF THE YEAR

Last year, Stanford University faced a major challenge--to replace the legendary Bill Walsh, a football 'genius' who won three Super Bowls. Stanford tapped a 41-year-old who had never been a head coach, not even an offensive or defensive coordinator. But Tyrone Willingham, '77, running backs coach with the Minnesota Vikings and a former quarterback at MSU, promptly proved that skill is more important than career path.

He led Stanford--picked by experts to finish last in the conference--to a stunning 7-3-1 record and was named the PAC-10 Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches. 'I had hoped that my path would some day lead to being a head coach, but those are things you can't control,' says Willingham. 'What I can control is the job that I do day to day. So when I was at Michigan State, I worked as hard as I could to be the best I could. And at every university or pro team, I have used the same work ethic, the same mentality.' Indeed he has.

At MSU, he won six letters in football and baseball. He started five games at quarterback after Charlie Baggett, MSU's associate head football coach, was injured. In his senior year, Tyrone won the Big Ten Medal of Honor as the conference's outstanding scholar-athlete. 'It was exciting,' he admits. 'But, no, I don't reflect back. I keep in looking forward.'

As a youngster in North Carolina, where he competed against Baggett, Tyrone saw fellow stater Jimmy Raye lead MSU to the epic 10-10 tie against Notre Dame. So he came as a walk-on. 'MSU was a great learning experience,' he recalls. 'I got away from home and had an opportunity to grow. It's a wonderful place with tremendous resources, but if you don't extend yourself, it will pass you by.'

When asked to describe himself as a coach, he responds with a chuckle, 'I don't describe myself. However, I think of myself as a winner. That encompasses a very wide territory--you must have the ability to be flexible, to lead by example, and to verbalize.' If Tyrone continues to succeed, he could wind up in the Rose Bowl. 'We would love to be there,' he says. 'And if MSU is there too, that's even better.'