Roll Call Tribute

From Tulsa (OK) World January 12, 2012

Former OSU coach Jim Stanley dies

BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Thursday, January 12, 2012
1/12/2012 12:04:28 PM

Jim Stanley, who coached Oklahoma State University to a share of its only Big Eight football championship in 1976, has died.

Stanley, 77, was OSU’s head coach from 1973-78 and posted four consecutive winning seasons, including a 9-3 campaign in 1976, when the Cowboys shared a conference crown and beat BYU 49-21 in the Tangerine Bowl.

Stanley was tough enough to play for Paul “Bear” Bryant at Texas A&M and that toughness proved contagious when Stanley was at OSU, first as a defensive coordinator (1963-68, 1972) and later as a head coach.

“Coach Stanley redefined the word tough by introducing a work ethic that made sure you left it all on the field,” former player Russ Farthing once said. “His defenses at OSU were legendary both in the 1960s and the 1970s.”

Farthing organized a reunion for Stanley that was attended by many former players in 2010. Virtually everyone who spoke at the reunion broached the subject of the coach’s toughness.

“When coach Stanley got down on all fours and turned his hat around, you better watch out because he was going to demonstrate how you do something,” Larry Elliott said.

“Nobody challenged him,” Craig Carter said. “He was tough as nails. He gets the best out of you when you are playing and even more in life.”

Former OSU and NFL running back Walt Garrison once said OSU head coach Phil Cutchin and Stanley were so hard on players that it made his first practice with the Dallas Cowboys seem like a “walk in the park.”

Garrison got choked up at the reunion and thanked his former coaches for being a “hard (butt) on me and I mean that sincerely.... I can never repay you for what you have given me.”

Former players also told stories at the reunion to illustrate that Stanley was a coach who cared about his players.

After a team coached by Stanley earned an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl, it was brought to Stanley’s attention that budgetary issues would prevent everyone on the team from making the trip. Stanley “stood up for his guys” and every player made it to the bowl game, according to Thomas Wolf.

After graduating from OSU, Kent Shirley got a job on a drilling rig. A “blowout” landed Shirley in an Ardmore hospital for a week and he couldn’t see because both eyes were bandaged.

During the hospital stay, he heard a familiar voice. The voice was Stanley’s. Shirley, because his playing days were over, expressed surprise that Stanley came to visit. Said Stanley, “Son, I keep up with my boys.”

Said Shirley, “It dawned on me that he was not just in the business of making football players. He was building men.”

Said Gary Darnell, “Coach made it tough to be a player, but he made it easier to be a man.”

OSU’s sports information department issued this quote Thursday from defensive coordinator Bill Young. Said Young, “Jim Stanley is the reason why I have a job in college football. He gave me my start. He was the defensive coordinator here at Oklahoma State when I was a player and then he became the head coach. He was an extremely tough individual and very hard-nosed -- an unbelievably good football coach who had one of the best defensive minds I have ever been around. He will be missed.”

Former OSU coach Pat Jones came to Stillwater as part of Jimmy Johnson’s staff immediately after Stanley’s tour of duty ended. Jones called Stanley a good man and a very good football coach.

“We sensed early on that the players we inherited from Jim Stanley had been very well coached,” Jones said.

Stanley coached the Cowboys from 1973-78, and compiled a record of 35-31-2. Eight Cowboys were named All-American under Stanley, including Heisman Trophy runner-up Terry Miller.

Stanley went on to a lengthy career in professional football as an assistant with the Giants and Falcons. He coached the USFL’s Michigan Panthers to a championship in 1983. He later returned to the NFL with Tampa Bay and the Houston Oilers. He served as director for player personnel with the Arizona Cardinals for 12 years before retiring in Arizona.

Earlier this month, Stanley was presented a football autographed by current OSU players, who were in Arizona for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Stanley, who died of cancer, is survived by his wife, Sylvia, and four children.

Said former quarterback Charlie Weatherbie, “Coach Stanley is a man that I believe stood for what football is all about and that is being tough and fighting until the very end.”

(DOD was January 11, 2012, per tributes.com)