A thread about Bobby Wallace made me think of Bob Tyler. Do any of you older guys in the pack know why Bob Tyler was fired? I was fairly young at the time but if I remember correctly, his contract was renewed at the end of the season and then he was fired in January, just a few months after his contract had been renewed. I have always been curious about what lead to his firing.
Bob Tyler
- Thread starter CoolDawg
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If I remember correctly we decided to split the HC and athletic director's jobs. Tyler was both and refused to go along with it.
That's about right
last two seasons 5-6 and 6-5...
Record book post 22 forfeit losses.
Tyler got a bit too big for his britches. Those is charge.. decided otherwise.
Good coach, just lost his head.
last two seasons 5-6 and 6-5...
Record book post 22 forfeit losses.
Tyler got a bit too big for his britches. Those is charge.. decided otherwise.
Good coach, just lost his head.
He was just wanting to be in charge of things like he saw it being done while at OM. One problem was that he learned how to play the game while at OM and of course they knew his every move. Once again, little ol' MSU was starting to beat some teams they weren't supposed to, so a stop was put to all of that.
I was in school at the time. I'll never forget the day he was fired, I saw him in a drug store buying some Preperation H. I thought to myself, I bet you need that today.
I was in school at the time. I'll never forget the day he was fired, I saw him in a drug store buying some Preperation H. I thought to myself, I bet you need that today.
He wasn't fired he was caught betetween the era between when the HC/AD deal was automatic vs the new era when the two were separated. Bear Bryant and Shug Jordan begged him to draw the line in an effort to keep it that way and Tyler says if he had it to do over again he would've stayed. It was his choice to leave under those circumstances or stay.
Tyler had (now don't know)a severe case or paranoia. It eventually affected his job, interaction, association with the people in the Ath. Dept and MSU in general. He wanted (had to have) the AD job and when he didn't get the job things escalated. 99.9% of the people in the AD hated him. Something has to happen/give and it did. (Ask Greene/Hatfield bout Tyler)
This was so Mississippi State. Tyler with the 1981 team just might have won a national championship.We were that good. But our coach has to go full nuts.
It's true that he had a choice and decided to quit rather than give up the AD job. At that time there wasn't a helluva lot of money around. He wanted total control of the purse and probably would have favored the football program over the others. It seems that Polk was in the background subverting Tyler because he felt the baseball program would probably suffer along with other programs but not certain of it. At any rate, McComas felt he was reaching for too much power and so it had to come to a head.
Just about everything in this thread about Tyler`s departure is correct. The man was many things and the sum of those things produced the enigma that was Bob Tyler. In my mine he is the father of MSU football in the modern era in that he showed us what could be done at State and how to do it. Before Tyler many of you just can`t imagine how bad it was. Since Tyler, although we`ve made a couple of tragic hiring blunders, most of our fans and alumni have kept the faith that we should be able to compete and be respectable in the SEC. Tyler also introduced a concept by which we could express our faith......the Bulldog Club. For all of his short comings, we were blessed that OM gift wrapped and handed him to us when they did.
'You can tell that the Bulldogs are back.' It goes something like '...Bob Tyler's got the train back on the track..they'll be rough and tough and mean when that crowd begins to scream you can tell that the Bulldogs are back..'
Bob was indeed the start of our resurgence from the abyss. Before that we had defensive minded coaches Bob install the veer offense and we were off and running.
Indeed run to perfection. I was at Memphis in 1974 when we had to drive 98 yards to win 29 to 28. Fantastic ball game excellently called and executed. I use to have Jack's call of the last drive on tape but over the years misplaced it.
Tyler Changed the Game for MSU
Tyler fought the NCAA over Larry Gillard. Gillard bought two pairs of pants and Two shirts at a 20% discount at Howard Miskelly's store in Okolona. { Mikelly was MSU man but all students got the 20% discount}NCAA declared Gillard ineligible. Tyler and Gillard sued NCAA. Local State judge found for Gillard. Gillard finished MSU career playing under injunction. NCAA appealed to Mississippi Supreme Court. That Court had 8 OLE MISS lawyers hearing case. The one Judge with An MSU degree recused himself. Supreme Court found against Gillard and for NCAA. The NCAA then made State forfeit all games Gillard played in. Thee NCAA investigator, Jim Delaney, who handled the MSU case is now the Commissoner of the BIG TEN. Was led around the State by our friend from TSUN. Tyler changed things for MSU.
Tyler fought the NCAA over Larry Gillard. Gillard bought two pairs of pants and Two shirts at a 20% discount at Howard Miskelly's store in Okolona. { Mikelly was MSU man but all students got the 20% discount}NCAA declared Gillard ineligible. Tyler and Gillard sued NCAA. Local State judge found for Gillard. Gillard finished MSU career playing under injunction. NCAA appealed to Mississippi Supreme Court. That Court had 8 OLE MISS lawyers hearing case. The one Judge with An MSU degree recused himself. Supreme Court found against Gillard and for NCAA. The NCAA then made State forfeit all games Gillard played in. Thee NCAA investigator, Jim Delaney, who handled the MSU case is now the Commissoner of the BIG TEN. Was led around the State by our friend from TSUN. Tyler changed things for MSU.
Thank you! He was then and will always be my favorite Mississippi State Football Coach for all of the reasons you listed below. He is without a doubt the most charismatic individual I have ever met and make no mistake about it, he still has the magic in his personality. Had he survived until 1982 (Bryant's departure), he would have built an empire at Mississippi State and as another poster wrote, likely won a National Championship. He still lives in Water Valley and is a great person to talk with.
Yep and I also have a VHS tape (that I can't find) of the 1974 highlights, narrated by Jack that begins with an interview in the locker room between he and Coach Tyler after the Battle for the Golden Egg.
Some Bob Tyler era trivia: Some of the older guys likely know but the younger guys might not. Who created the Bulldog Club, take a look at the address to find out?
Where was the Golden Egg the night before the 74' game in Jackson (it wasn't in Oxford, nor Jackson and certainly wasn't in Starkville)?
Where was the Golden Egg the night before the 74' game in Jackson (it wasn't in Oxford, nor Jackson and certainly wasn't in Starkville)?
Well....can't say we didn't offer inducements...not the story... the story is that the (now) bearsharks offered as much/more but he was influenced more by MSU folks (he really did have a more understandable relationships with the MSU side). When we "stole" him from uofm, and that is how they then and now think, people who did the offering that he turned down were ,understandably upset-if you were an arrogant ******* uofm fan- contacted the AD at uofm and they turned us in for him accepting our "stuff" instead of their "stuff". That is when I really and fully understood what low life ******** the bearsharks really, really were/are.
What I have just posted is the real story....from his father no less. Heard him describe the situation in a small service station in Tiplersville one day. He may have been lying but I don't think so.
What do you mean when you say "when he didn't get the job", which job are you speaking of?
He went to work for Bryant for one season after he was shown the door by the Kinards. Then he was hired to work for Shira (one season) before getting the HC job in 73'.
OC for Shira for that one year. The following year Shira was kicked up to AD and Bob took over as HC. Shira commenced to die later on and Bob got the AD job as well as HC. Back in those days, it was common to hold both positions but not real common. Regardless of what happened in the final, Tyler was a hero to a lot of people including me. The old farts who drank coffee in Jackson decided to can him and one thing led to another...he gone
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I'm right there with you! There was the faction in Jackson and a group in Starkville that hated the fact that he wouldn't jump every time they called (so to speak). He wanted everyone to have a place in the program, not just a small handful that were more concerned with control than winning! Unfortunately, for us one of those ******** later became our A.D.
Bob Tyler was HC at Meridian High in 1966-67
He wasn't even Head Coach during Spring Practice his first year. He came in with a passing offense years ahead of its time. They had some speed burners who were faster than anybody the other teams had.
Another thng- Mac Barnes (who was a Sophomore on is 1967 team) said they would run 36 round trip wind sprints at the end of every practice. Those made Meridian one of the best-conditioned teams in High School football.
Those Meridian teams went 20-0-1 his two seasons.
He wasn't even Head Coach during Spring Practice his first year. He came in with a passing offense years ahead of its time. They had some speed burners who were faster than anybody the other teams had.
Another thng- Mac Barnes (who was a Sophomore on is 1967 team) said they would run 36 round trip wind sprints at the end of every practice. Those made Meridian one of the best-conditioned teams in High School football.
Those Meridian teams went 20-0-1 his two seasons.
Old guys help me out here...his 1977 recruiting class. It turned out to be really good even after losing Hugh Green and Rooster Jones to the Kang when he was at Pitt. If I remember correctly we also lost an outstanding OL recruit to one of the Texas schools that year. If he had been able to hold that class together...would it have been our best ever ?