Tag: Howard Jones

Pac-12 goodbye tour: Remembering USC football’s unbeaten 1939 season

1939 was the last great Howard Jones-coached #USC team, with Sam Barry as his trusted assistant.

Howard Jones is the godfather of USC football. He built the first great dynasty at the school and developed the Trojans into a national brand. Jones got the Notre Dame rivalry off the ground, working with Knute Rockne to begin a stories series which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2026.

Jones won national championships and Rose Bowls at USC, but his influence and legacy greatly exceed his enormous football accomplishments. Jones, who came from Iowa to USC — as we noted in our Big Ten summer podcast series with Hawkeyes Wire — recommended that Sam Barry be hired as USC basketball coach. He was. Barry joined Jones on the football staff as defensive coordinator and also took charge of USC baseball, winning the program’s first College World Series in 1948 and handing the baton to legendary coach Rod Dedeaux.

Jones and Barry both did great things for USC sports. They are the two most important figures in the school’s history of team athletic competition. The 1939 Trojans were the last great Jones-and-Barry team, also the last of Jones’ five Rose Bowl champions at USC.

Let’s relive that 1939 season:

Former Tulane coach Bernie Bierman could be the greatest CFB coach no one knows about

Tulane’s Bernie Bierman vs USC’s Howard Jones in the 1932 Rose Bowl matched two of the most successful CFB coaches of all time.

When the turn of phrase “The greatest X no one knows about” is used, a lot of people might think that’s hyperbole and embellishment.

Come on: A lot of people know about X. To be sure, “no one” is a bit of embellishment. However, the larger point being made is that a really excellent professional or craftsman is known by a lot fewer people than he should be. A person who is elite in his profession and has achieved very richly on a larger, historical level is known by few members of younger generations of human beings.

Before we dip into sports, let’s take some non-sports examples of people who achieved on a remarkable scale in life but are not household names for younger generations of Americans:

Wright Patman.

Dorothy Day.

Marriner Eccles. (Yes, this is the guy whose name is on the Utah Utes’ football stadium, for reasons other than football.)

If you’re a younger person and don’t know who those people were, it’s not your fault at all. No one taught you about them. You had no control over that.

Yet, it is important that you know about those people. We should all try to keep the memory alive of important Americans and world citizens who did significant things in their lives.

You might wonder what Patman, Day, and Eccles have in common. Here’s one answer: They were all very prominent and active in the 1930s. Why mention the 1930s?

That’s when USC and Tulane met in the Rose Bowl, guided by two of the greatest and most successful coaches in college football history.

This leads us back to the “Greatest X no one knows about.”

USC fans know all about Howard Jones, the patriarch of the Trojan football program and the man who first made USC football a national household name. USC fans might not know about the Tulane coach who opposed Jones and the Trojans in the 1932 Rose Bowl.

Bernie Bierman, who coached against Jones 91 years ago in the first and most important USC-Tulane game ever played, really could be the “Greatest college football coach no one knows about.”

Let’s tell his story, so that younger college football fans will know about him and pass that story down to their children and grandchildren:

Full list of the Iowa Hawkeyes’ inductees into the College Football Hall of Fames

How many Iowa Hawkeyes have made the College Football Hall of Fames? Here’s a look at Iowa’s comprehensive list of inductees.

A pair of former Iowa Hawkeyes recently found their names included on the 2023 ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame. Former Iowa tight end Dallas Clark and Hawkeye offensive tackle Robert Gallery were listed on the National Football Foundation’s ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame.

Of course, Clark finished his career in 17th place on Iowa’s career receiving list with 1,281 yards on 81 receptions in his two seasons in Iowa City playing tight end. The Twin River Valley High School product from Bode, Iowa, helped the Hawkeyes to a share of the 2002 Big Ten title and the program’s first-ever 11-win season.

He also holds the record for the longest pass reception in school history, hauling in a 95-yard touchdown grab against Purdue during the 2002 season. In 2002, Clark was a consensus All-American and the recipient of the John Mackey Award, which is presented to the country’s top tight end annually.

Clark was selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the 24th pick of the first round in the 2003 NFL draft. In his 11 seasons as a professional, Clark reeled in 505 passes for 5,665 yards and 53 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, in 2003, Gallery was a consensus All-American and awarded the Outland Trophy, which is bestowed annually to the nation’s top interior lineman. He was a two-time first team All-Big Ten selection and helped anchor Iowa’s offensive line during its undefeated trek through Big Ten play in 2002. Gallery also helped lead Iowa to another 10-win season in 2003.

After being drafted by the Oakland Raiders with the No. 2 pick in the 2004 NFL draft, Gallery played eight seasons in the NFL and started in 103 of the 104 games he appeared in.

That duo will hopefully see their names called into the College Football Hall of Fame soon and join an illustrious list of former Hawkeyes that already have their seat at the table.

How many former Iowa Hawkeyes have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fames? Here’s a look at the complete list below of National Football Foundation and Helms Athletic Foundation College Football Hall of Fame inductees.