Passed away at 91 years old.
HC at State from 1973-1978
Had some great teams when I really began to become a State fan.
HC at State from 1973-1978
Had some great teams when I really began to become a State fan.
Bob Tyler …
- Thread starter DAWGSANDSAINTS
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Bob Tyler made MSU competitive in football for the first time since before World War II. My first memories of following MSU football as a child were 73 & 74 seasons. RIP Coach Tyler.
I'm not asking anyone to agree with me but If I personally was picking the men to put on State's version of Mt. Rushmore for football he would be there. He came along at a time when things were as hopeless for us as I've ever seen them and showed us we could compete and how to do it. R.I.P. Coach Tyler
Hard to imagine just how bad it was back when he was hired. Previous 3 coaches over 17 years went 58-105-6, 22-84-6 in SEC. We were Vanderbilt. Actually a little worse.
Bob Tyler was the first guy to turn State football into a power team. Big players, who could play. He was the State coach when I showed up for graduate school. Rocky, Walter Packer, Harvey Hull (99) come to mind. We hired him when Ole Miss refused to hire him for the head coaching job. They hired a Vaught player; Tyler didn’t play college football. RIP Coach.
He was a very good one. Pulled us out of the dungeon.
For some reason, was thinking he had already passed.
For some reason, was thinking he had already passed.
And the story of how we got him was intriguing. Vaught wanted him to be HC at Ole Miss but the Kinards wanted Billy and got him. Tyler went Alabama and we got him a year later. To this day I don't consider it hyperbole to say if OM had hired him when Vaught wanted him, that I have my doubts we would still be in the SEC. It was that bad for us and OM would have never missed a beat.
Younger folks can’t even imagine how bad we were in the 1960’s.
Nice guy, he used to hit golf balls behind one of the Dorms at NWJC when I went to school there.
Tyler was a class act. I was a junior when he was hired and he elevated State to a respectable program. To show you how bad it was before him, during my freshman year we got curb stomped at home by VANDERBILT 19 - 49. VANDY for god's sake.
I still struggle trying to understand, out of all the SEC teams, why we were at the bottom. Everyone around us did well, yet we sucked at everything we touched in football.
I was born ''63 but don't knows off the top of my head what year Vandy absolutely skull drug us at Davis Wade. My Dad was so confident we would win he pumped a bunch of BS in me as we drove to Vegad saying it was for the Natty and I was super syked. That was my first time to cry over sports. My 2nd and think last was when the Colts beat the Boys in SB as States very own Tom Goode held the time running out winning field goal. I remember Dad being pissed as hell about how Bob was treated in the end. RIP coach Tyler.
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This question has been pondered over for years and I'm going to add my 2 cents as to why football fell from grace after the 1935 - 1948 glory years of Allen McKeen
1. The real fall began in the mid 50's after the departure of Darrel Royal (1955). For the next 16 years, 1956-1972, MSU had a .343 winning record. Prior to that time 1895 - 1955 State was a .537 team. After 1972, State's record is .503. (Note: adjusted up for the NCAA screw job on Bob Tyler)
2. State has had 36 head coaches in it's 127 year football history. Not exactly the way to build a dynasty.
3. The political, economic and social turmoil existing in Mississippi during the 50's and 60's is well known and the good ole boy network at the time favored Ole Miss and Johnny Vaught. MSU football was rendered inconsequential.
4. I think this says it all... “No one takes anything for granted in Starkville,” proclaimed a Newsweek writer in 1968, “because State is always capable of an all-out losing effort.”
Just an after note on the years after 1972, State's record wasn't helped much by Felker & Croom as their 10 years combined for a 42 - 72 (.368) record. Without those years, post-1972 has a .538 record.
Let’s Win Something Today… Bullet Bob had some studs at State. He taught us how to cheat and be very good at it. He and Wesley Reed were able to go get players we had no chance at before he got here.
His veer offense was something special to watch and also he defense’s were strong as could be.
His son Breck, a friend of mine, married one of my best friends growing up in Starkville. One of the best receivers we have ever had.
You can cuss Rockey all you want but he had some decent teams just couldn’t turn the corner. Jackie will be the first one to tell ya he won with Rockey’s players.
Coach Tyler was a fine man but should never have been made AD. But head coaches WERE AD’s in those days.
His veer offense was something special to watch and also he defense’s were strong as could be.
His son Breck, a friend of mine, married one of my best friends growing up in Starkville. One of the best receivers we have ever had.
You can cuss Rockey all you want but he had some decent teams just couldn’t turn the corner. Jackie will be the first one to tell ya he won with Rockey’s players.
Coach Tyler was a fine man but should never have been made AD. But head coaches WERE AD’s in those days.
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Relic from the 70’s.
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I was a freshman that year too and attended that game. It was not a pleasant afternoon.
Bob Tyler was my dad's high school football coach at Water Valley back in the late 50's. I had just asked him about how Coach Tyler was doing this weekend. My earliest memories of being a Bulldog were of games coached by Bob Tyler in the early to mid 70's. RIP Coach Tyler.
Bob Tyler is a legend.
so True. He stood up to the Rebs and got recruiting going. Hired some good coaches too.
Same here. My much older brother was a State guy and he influenced me early but that began to falter a bit with Archie who and the awful teams MSU put on the field around the late 60s early 70s. Bob Tyler's teams forever established me as a mississippi rebel hating State diehard.
RIP coach.
Bob Tyler was brought down by NCAA probation for ONE PLAYER who got a discount on clothing that was given to all students and had to forfeit every game he played in. Think about that in today's college football world. His son Breck went to the dark side and transferred to mississippi. Sorry but that makes him the worst sort of traitor.
Bob Tyler was brought down by OLE MISS just like Jackie Sherrill was 20 plus years later.
I graduated in '79 and enjoyed going to games. He set the bar for State in my mind because we were winners when he was our coach.
Was being named AD what lead to his demise ? I can’t remember the details of why he was fired . We had some fun games with him as our head coach .
Where is Breck now? He was in my class when I did my student teaching at SHS in 1976. Good guy .
They hired Billy Kinard. Big mistake. It was all political on their part. Tyler was clearly the best coach on that staff. It took an Ole Miss coach to show MSU how to beat Ole Miss regularly. In my 4 years between 1974 through 1978, Tyler beat Ole Miss 3 out of those 4 years.
He wanted total control of the athletic department so he could direct most of the money toward football only. Same thing Bear Bryant had in Tuscaloosa. Our Admin. wouldn't give it to him, so he eventually left. I think we hired Carl Maddox as AD, but not quite sure about that. Then we hired Emory Bellard as football coach.
Tyler got into it with Ron Polk. Polk was pissed that Tyler made his players run wind sprints on the baseball field without his ok.
Breck and his wife Denise live in Brandon. Their son was a hell of a player at Arkansas State and his oldest daughter played soccer at Ole Miss.
Breck & Mardye McDole were 2 STUDS on the field at the same time.
Coach Maddox came out of retirement and worked for State for 10 years. He is the reason we got the west side deck in 1986.
Coach Maddox was a hell of an AD for us. He re retired and moved back to Baton Rouge and he was responsible for them getting Joe Dean as their AD.
Breck and his wife Denise live in Brandon. Their son was a hell of a player at Arkansas State and his oldest daughter played soccer at Ole Miss.
Breck & Mardye McDole were 2 STUDS on the field at the same time.
Coach Maddox came out of retirement and worked for State for 10 years. He is the reason we got the west side deck in 1986.
Coach Maddox was a hell of an AD for us. He re retired and moved back to Baton Rouge and he was responsible for them getting Joe Dean as their AD.
When I was a student at State I had a great one on one conversation with Coach Tyler in his office one day. He was considering hiring a non-football player to work as an office assistant and "general flunky" but it did not materialize. Truly a fine person and most respectful of me, a lowly non-football player student. Watching his teams was great fun, especially with a backfield of Walter Packer and Terry Vitrano. Those guys could put up some numbers.
Breck is building a home near Oxford. Most of their family will be close there.
The forfeits came about because we got a court injunction to allow a player that had been declared ineligible to play. He played, but when we lost the case in court, every game he played in was forfeited.
It hasn't been mentioned here yet, but Breck finished his career at Ole Miss. Our defense lit him up in 1980.
Several of our receivers gave Breck hi fives when he came running out on the field. Also, when he was injured, our DBs were the ones that helped carry him off the field. He was well by his former team mates.
He wasn't well thought of in the section of the student section I was in. That was my first Egg Bowl. I was still in high school.
