FanHouse John Robinson

Should Kansas State coach Bill Snyder go searching for a sure sign college football hasn't stood still in his brief retirement, all he has to do is look at "this Blackberry thing" that is usually attached to his hip.

For a coach who can remember when handwritten letters were the must-have tools of recruiting, Snyder's newly issued BlackBerry seems to always be vibrating or making a noise or doing both. In the morning when Snyder awakens. In the evening when he's ready to turn in.

Sometimes, the 69-year-old coach can't help but feel like a victim of information overload.

The National Football Foundation has announced 16 players and two coaches have ascended to the College Football Hall of Fame. Its not the sexiest list ever, but whatever, its got John Robinson and a pair of Heisman Trophy winners among the honorees.

Notre Dame receiver Tim Brown and (snicker) Miami quarterback Gino Torretta are joined by notables like Arizona's hard-hitting safety Chuck Cecil, Ohio State linebacker and ESPN analyst Chris Spielman, and West Virginia's Major Harris -- who was Pat White before there was a Pat White.

Ohio State is scheduled to travel out west this fall to play USC in a much-anticipated contest between national powers.

This won't be the first go-round between the teams, as the two played in the 1980 Rose Bowl. USC ended up winning that matchup 17-16 thanks to a game-winning late touchdown drive punctuated by tailback Charles White going "over the top" of the pile and into the end zone.

Smart television executives will be sure to make a play on all these 28 weeks/months later films, and note that USC/Ohio State '08 marks the 28-year anniversary of the 1980 Rose Bowl.

Notable:

Frank Sinatra (RIP) made the official coin toss. Heisman Trophy winner Charles White was named game MVP rushing for over 200 yards. Future Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen paid his dues as a fullback until White graduated. Current USC coach Pete Carroll was a defensive assistant for Ohio State in this game (related video here). O.J. Simpson conducts the postgame interview of Trojan coach John Robinson.

Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles is expected to step down this week. His departure is yet another symbol of the passing of one of college football's greatest generations, the great coaches who presided over the game from 1960 or so until the mid to late 1970's. Broyles coached the Razorbacks from 1958 to 1976 helping them win a championship and competing nationally in a great era against powers like Alabama, USC, Notre Dame and Michigan.

Another giant of his time has left us in the mortal sense: Bo Schembechler. Schembechler coached Michigan from 1969 to 1989 becoming the face of the program until his death just before the Michigan/Ohio State game last year.

The only giants of that era still with us are Broyles, former Texas coach Darrell Royal (1957-1976) and former Notre Dame coach Ara Paraseghian (1964-1974).

Among the magnificent but dead is Alabama's Bear Bryant (1958-1982) who retired at the end of the 1982 season and promptly checked out of mortal existence. Ohio State's Woody Hayes (1951-1978) hung around until his death in 1987. Nebraska's Bob Devaney (1962-1972) checked out in 1997 and USC's comedic John McKay (1960-1975) lasted a little longer, passing away in 2001.

All those giants left the coaching ranks long ago, but each stewarded elite programs for a decade or more. To this day most of them remain the standard for which current coaches aspire to at each of their programs. Schembechler's death and Broyles' departure signal the end of their collective direct involvement in the college game.

As that great generation fades further into memory we must now also begin to take stock of the succeeding generation of coaches. I'm talking about guys like Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, John Robinson, Vince Dooley, Don James, Hayden Fry, Pat Dye, Lou Holtz, Lavell Edwards and Barry Switzer here.

They are the ones who were the game's caretakes from the mid to late 1970's until the late 1980's, an era of great transition and upheaval due to parity measures such as scholarship limits, the completion of racial integration and the rapid and dramatic death of plodding, run-heavy conventional offenses such as USC's "Student Body Right/Student Body Left" approach.

We'll save that analysis for another day, another time. Until then it's one final embrace of perhaps college football's "greatest generation" of coaches. Thanks for the memories, fellas.