Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude— however short-lived it may be— but it’s also a time of football and storytelling. The final edition of Coach’s Corner with SJSU football head coach Brent Brennan pays tribute around exactly that: football and storytelling.
Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy
SJSU football (6-4, MW 4-3) and Hawaii (3-9, MW 2-5) will be playing for the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy this Saturday afternoon to conclude the regular season.
Tomey lives in lore for these two programs.
He exited Hawaii in 1986 after nine seasons as the winningest coach in Rainbow Warrior history and won more games in his five seasons at SJSU than anyone who’s filled the head coaching role since 1989.
SJSU head coach Brent Brennan was one of Tomey’s assistants during his time in San Jose and Brennan relied upon his former boss’s wisdom when he was named head coach in 2017.
“I talked to him a lot those first few years when we were really struggling,” said Brennan. “He always had a good ear for me. He would always listen, he would always talk me through a challenge or a situation.”
There was a noticeable gratitude in Brennan’s voice when he spoke of Tomey.
As wisdom from an older mentee goes, some of it was passed down through tough love.
But football tough love is a different kind of tough love.
The prelude
It was a Saturday in October and SJSU football had just lost to the Rainbow Warriors. That was nothing new. They already had done that six times in 2017, losing by an average of 35 points.
But on this occasion the game was in SJSU’s hands.
SJSU’s Rahshead Johnson danced his way through Hawaii’s special teams unit for a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown to cut UH’s lead to 28-66 with eight minutes left.
It was Johnson’s third touchdown of the day (had two receiving touchdowns) and gave teammate David Williams a high-five on the trek to the endzone.
That was just the opening act.
WIlliams crouched and pretended to snap pictures of Johnson in the end zone like they were posing for Vanity Fair.
The referees weren’t pleased with their photoshoot.
“Every official threw every flag on the field. There were no more flags left,” said Brennan.
The extra point attempt was moved back and the Rainbow Warriors took full advantage of the Spartans’ shenanigans by blocking the attempt and returning it for a touchdown.
Meeting his maker
“So after the game I was waiting to talk to the media and I was standing in the tunnel in Aloha Stadium,” said Brennan. “I saw coach Tomey walking at me and he was like walking down the football field and he was like 50 yards away.”
Tomey might’ve hung up his cleats, but his ability to make a grown man quiver in fear hadn’t taken a day off.
“When you were in trouble with coach Tomey he had this walk and this lean and this stare and he’s staring at me,” said Brennan.”I know what’s coming because of the penalty and so I started to retreat up the tunnel because I didn’t want the media to hear what coach Tomey was going to say to me.”
Brennan failed to retreat. He had to face the music.
“He says, ‘What was that? What is that? How little discipline does your team have?’” said Brennan, who replied by trying to place the blame on the officials.
“He said, ‘BS. That’s on you.’ I said, ‘OK, coach I need to go talk to my team’ and he said, ‘You need to go talk to your team and the first thing you need to do is apologize because you’re either coaching it or allowing it to happen and tonight you allowed that to happen and that’s on you.'”
Tomey’s truthful, but emotionally-abrasive message punched Brennan in the gut and swam north for his tear ducts.
“I wanted to cry. Like I literally wanted to cry,” said Brennan.
Like I said before, football tough love ain’t your average tough love
But it is still love and made Brennan realize everything falls on his shoulders.
Since that moment he’s become the second coach in SJSU football history to clinch bowl eligibility twice in the span of two years.
“I’m very thankful for the influence and the impact that he had on my life and on my family’s life and on so many thousands of men all over the world.”
Matt Weiner hopes you enjoyed reading Coach’s Corner half as much as he enjoyed writing it. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you’re still not satiated, catch up on this week’s Water Cooler Talk.