Houston Chronicle, Rice's Todd Graham raised over

OldTimer · August 8, 2006

It shows what a coach can do in fund raising...I immediately think of what Mike Price has done in El Paso...speaking to every type of civic club etc in turning a long time loser into a winner.

Graham era begins for keeps

with commencement of fall drills

Chase Clement started spring game as number one QB and went 32-of-43 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns -- but will be challenged for the starting spot by all comers, Coach Graham said.

HOUSTON (July 30) – You can put on your old grey bonnet with the blue ribbon on it, and we’ll hitch ol’ Sammy to the shay – because after seven months of hullabaloo and anticipation, now it’s time to start playing for keeps.

New head coach Todd Graham opens the field gates to newly-revamped Rice Stadium August 7 as he sends his Rice Owl team out onto the pristine new turf for the first of an NCAA-mandated 29 maximum workout sessions in anticipation of the season opener at home against the University of Houston Sept. 2.

A lot of off-field action has come down the pike since Coach Graham’s January 1 hiring, not the least of which emanated from the new mentor’s enthusiastic fundraising efforts over the past six months, which insiders say amounted to a haul of right at $4 million.

That’s a lot of dough for little ol’ school like Rice, but what the heck – it’s easy come, easy go, as the cash appears to have been invested immediately in a wholesale host of improvements to the physical plant.

Owl fans who make it out to Rice Stadium this fall will feast their eyes, and backsides, on a new field, new aluminum seating, a huge jumbotron scoreboard presently being mounted in the north end zone, revamped restroom and concession facilities, and the list goes on.

Anyone who’s ever been remotely witness to a Rice football game must know by now that the 2006 Owls will present an entirely new look on the field, as well, starting with a new set of color-coordinated uniforms and ending up with entirely new offensive and defensive packages.

UNTLifer · August 8, 2006

Richard Justice wrote this column on Graham in this morning's Chronicle:

Graham puts some pep into Rice's step

By RICHARD JUSTICE

Todd Graham didn't see Rice Stadium for the sad sight it had become. He saw it for what it could still be. He saw potential.

To Graham, Rice Stadium was symbolic of everything that had happened to Rice football. So that first day when he interviewed for the job, when he toured the offices, when he saw how rundown the facilities had become, when he realized that the business and public relations operations had fallen three decades behind the times, he was struck with an odd thought.

A master painter

Others who interviewed for the job didn't see what he saw. Indeed, had he not come from Tulsa, had he not been at programs where the stone is constantly being rolled up the mountain, he might not have seen it the way he did.

Yet on that first day, before he was even offered the job, before he knew all the negatives, before he had peers tell him he was going to ruin a promising career, he saw a Rice no one else saw.

"I saw a blank canvas," he said.

That's the analogy he used Monday morning as he described his first nine months as the new head football coach at Rice.

He's 41 years old, a bundle of energy and edge and optimism. He's convinced he can do for Rice football what Wayne Graham has done for Rice baseball.

"We have excellence in engineering, excellence in architecture, excellence in baseball and volleyball," Todd Graham said. "Why can't we have excellence in football?"

Go ahead and laugh at him. Tell him you've read the same story a dozen times before. Remind him Rice hasn't been to a bowl game since the Kennedy administration. Just don't expect him to buy in. In these first nine months, he has changed, well, everything. Beginning with a mindset.

$5.5 million and counting

To help that new mindset along, personnel in the athletic department have been changed. In nine months, Graham has done things no Rice football coach has ever done. Like convince the administration to allow him to do his own fundraising.

"I've raised around $5.5 million," he said. "I've spent all of that and maybe then some. I wanted people to see a visual change. I didn't want to tell a recruit, 'Son, it's going to get done in three years.' I wanted it done now. I want people to walk in that stadium and say, 'Wow.' We're well on our way."

He found there were people associated with Rice who still cared about football. He found there might still be an opportunity to do something.

"I had grown men get tears in their eyes," he said. "They'd tell me they wouldn't be where they are today without the Rice education. Rice people are passionate."

He constantly reminds visitors that the Owls still haven't won a game and that making progress in the office is not making progress on the field.

That said, the progress off the field has been stunning. He has taken a program that had come to accept losing, that had embraced the idea football at Rice was a hopeless cause, and at least changed the way things look.

Here's what $5.5 million buys: a spiffed-up stadium, complete with new turf, new seats and a giant video screen; a state-of-the-art weight room; a refurbished locker room; and digital technology in the staff offices.

"It's like we've finally arrived," offensive lineman Lute Barber said. "It's big-time college football."

Tight end Will Moss added: "We came here to play Division I football. Now this is Division I football."

The changes go deeper than brick and mortar. He put his players through a grueling weight-training program. For the first time, players remained on campus this summer to work on conditioning and basic football drills. He installed a pass-happy offense and a blitz-first defense.

"It's been physically demanding," Moss said. "It's been mentally demanding. Everyday, you're going to be challenged in a way you haven't been challenged before."

Graham believes he has a recruiting class capable of contributing immediately.

"We're going to be able to recruit," he said. "You can see that already. Everyone wants to make excuses for us for the schedule or whatever. I make no excuses. I'm not going to accept any from anyone else. We're going to build a winner."

As for academics, he intends to embrace them. He wants kids who understand what a Rice degree is all about. He wants to take advantage of their brains by running a system that's more complicated, more demanding.

He looked at last season's films and said: "You have

smart kids, but you run a simple offense and a simple defense."

Sobering times are ahead. Rice plays a ridiculous schedule. After opening the season with Houston, Rice plays UCLA on the road, Texas at Reliant Stadium and Florida State on the road.

The Owls play just four games at Rice Stadium. Graham talks to his players constantly about mental toughness. He'll find out early if they've got it.

Yet it's a beginning. It feels different. After years of accepting defeat, Graham is at least trying. His success may determine whether Rice continues to play Division I football. He doesn't believe he'll fail.

"There's no secret formula," he said. "It's the passion you have. It's the grind. I like the grind. ... I've worked hard to drive expectations up. If you keep expectations low, you have no chance."

richard.justice@chron.com

NT80 · August 9, 2006

Graham has done things no Rice football coach has ever done. Like convince the administration to allow him to do his own fundraising.
"I've raised around $5.5 million," he said. "I've spent all of that and maybe then some. I wanted people to see a visual change. I didn't want to tell a recruit, 'Son, it's going to get done in three years.' I wanted it done now. I want people to walk in that stadium and say, 'Wow.' We're well on our way."
He found there were people associated with Rice who still cared about football. He found there might still be an opportunity to do something.
←

Why can't we.......oh, never mind........