January 4, 1995 & 2000: The Jets Get Rich Kotite, Then Don't Get Bill Belichick

January 4 is simply not a good day for Jet fans.

January 4, 1995, 30 years ago: Rich Kotite, in spite of having cost the Philadelphia Eagles a Playoff spot by losing the last 7 games of the previous season, was hired as head coach of the New York Jets.

Kotite was a local guy, from Staten Island, and was a decent tight end for the New York Giants in the early 1970s. But he was already known as a bafflingly dumb coach.

Jets owner Leon Hess had his reason for hiring him: "I'm 80 years old. I want results now!" The assembled media laughed.

Hess got results, all right: 3-13 in 1995, 1-15 in 1996. To put it another way: From November 13, 1994 to December 22, 1996, as an NFL head coach, Rich Kotite was 4-35, for a "winning" percentage of .114. That is slightly better than the worst 39-game stretch any NFL team has ever had: The 2007-09 Detroit Lions were 3-36, .077; slightly better than the worst season in NBA history: The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers were 9-73, or .110; worse than the worst season in NHL history: The 1974-75 Washington Capitals were 8-67-5, or .131; and worse than the worst season in MLB history: The 1899 Cleveland Spiders were 20-134, or .149.

Two days before the 1996 regular-season finale, with Jet fans from Morristown to Montauk, from Bear Mountain to Cape May, wanting him fired or worse, Kotite resigned. The long metropolitan nightmare was over. For now. Kotite has never been employed, in any capacity, by another NFL team.

Hess begged Bill Parcells to come back to the Meadowlands, and the rebuild began. Parcells, head coach of the New York Giants from 1981 to 1990, and of the New England Patriots from 1993 to 1996, went 9-7 in 1997.

In 1998, he went 12-4, setting a new team record for wins in a season, and achieving the Jets' 1st Division title since the 1970 NFL merger. (They had won the AFL East in 1968 and '69.) They beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Playoff, and led the Denver Broncos at halftime of the AFC Championship Game, in Denver no less, before losing.

Then Hess died, close to the results he wanted. But Jet fans had hope. In the opening game of the 1999 season. quarterback Vinny Testaverde tore his Achilles tendon, and was out for the season. Somehow, Parcells squeezed an 8-8 season out of what was left. But he was 58 and tired, and resigned as head coach, vowing never to hold that job again (he later made a liar of himself), and stayed on as general manager.

Bill Belichick had worked with Parcells, as an assistant coach on the Giants from 1979 to 1982; an assistant to him on the Giants from 1983 to 1990, building the defense that won Super Bowls XXI and XXV; an assistant to him on the Patriots in 1996, winning the AFC Championship but losing Super Bowl XXXI; and an assistant to him on the Jets from 1997 to 1999. Parcells arranged for the team to select Belichick as his successor.

January 4, 2000, 25 years ago: One day after the arrangement is made, the press conference that was supposed to announce it ended with a napkin to owner Woody Johnson, on which Belichick had written, "I RESIGN AS HC OF THE NYJ." Not so abbreviated: Belichick spoke for half an hour, justifying his decision.

Just 16 days later, he was hired as head coach of the Patriots, the Jets' arch-rivals. (No, the Miami Dolphins are not the Jets' arch-rivals. Nor are the Raiders, regardless of what city they're in at any moment.) The Jets, to whom he was still under contract, demanded compensation. The NFL awarded the Jets the Pats' 1st round pick in the next NFL Draft, a pick they ended up trading, anyway.

Linebackers coach Al Groh was hired in Belichick's place. He went 9-7, just missing the Playoffs. Considering all that had happened to the Jets recently, this wasn't bad at all. Then he left as well, taking the head coaching job at his alma mater, the University of Virginia.

In the 1st 22 seasons after Belichick quit on the Jets, 2000 to 2021, the Patriots made the Playoffs 20 times, the Jets 6; the Pats won 31 postseason games, the Jets 6; the Pats reached 13 AFC Championship Games, the Jets 2; the Pats won the AFC Championship and reached the Super Bowl 9 times, the Jets none; and the Pats won 6 Super Bowls, the Jets none.

And there is this very telling stat: The Jets had 6 head coaches in that span, the Patriots 1.

Pictured: One smug, self-satisfied son of a bitch.

The Jets keeping Belichick would almost certainly have meant no dynasty for the Patriots. So, Belichick did the right thing, right?

Not by Jet fans, he didn't. It would have been bad enough had he left them for anyone else, but the Patriots? New England? 

Before 2000, Yankee Fans hated the Boston Red Sox, while Met fans mocked them over the 1986 World Series; Knick fans hated the Boston Celtics, and so did Net fans, to a lesser degree; Ranger fans hated the Boston Bruins, and so did Islander and Devils fans, to a lesser degree.

But Jet fans' hatred for the Patriots was minor, compared to what they felt for the Dolphins and Raiders. As Massachusetts native chef Emeril Lagasse would say, this abandonment kicked it up a notch! And that was before the Pats started winning -- dubiously, as we would later find out.

But can we really blame Belichick for this? Parcells looked like he was working miracles with the Jets, but he didn't get the team to the Super Bowl in his 3 years with them. And that was a good tenure by Jet standards.

The season after Super Bowl III, 1969, Weeb Ewbank got the Jets to the AFL East title again, the last AFL East title before the merger, and the Jets moving into the new AFC East. After that, though, he never had another winning season.

Lou Holtz, already a success at North Carolina State with an ACC title and 2 bowl game wins, was hired for the 1976 season, and he went 3-10 before being fired before the season's last game. To know what Holtz did later at Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina -- 9 Top 10 ranking finishes, including a National Championship; 10 bowl wins, including 2 Oranges, 2 Cottons and a Fiesta -- you might be shocked to know how badly he did with the Jets.

Charley Winner, Walt Michaels, Joe Walton and Bruce Coslet had all been good NFL assistant coaches, but all failed as Jet boss. Maybe that's a little unfair for Michaels: He took a really good Jet defense and a good-but-not great offense to the 1982 AFC Championship Game. In other words, he was as successful as any other post-Weeb Jet coach has been.

The aforementioned Rich Kotite had gotten the Eagles into the Playoffs, and was 36-21 over his 1st 3 1/2 seasons at Veterans Stadium. But I've already told you the rest: He seemed like a good hire at the start of 1995, but by the end of 1996, he had cemented himself as perhaps the worst NFL coach ever. So, 6 seemingly good hires turned sour for the Jets, and, having been around the team, and being a keen student of football history, Belichick surely knew the story.

And that doesn't even count Pete Carroll, who won National Championships at USC and a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks after leaving the Jets, but who had never had a head coaching job before the Jets gave him one.

Also, Belichick's only head coaching job until 2000 had been with the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to 1995, and he got them into the Playoffs just once, in 1994. After that, in just 1 year, he went from 11-5 to 5-11. Maybe he needed Parcells. (Or maybe he needed to cheat.)

There's an old saying: You don't want to be the guy who follows the legend; you want to be the guy who follows that guy. Both Parcells and Belichick first worked for the Giants as assistants to Ray Perkins, who had played for Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama. When Bryant retired after the 1982 season, Perkins was hired to replace him. It didn't work out, because everyone demanded that he become Bear II. And he never would.

(Perkins had been a receiver on Alabama's National Champions of 1964 and '65, and was with the Baltimore Colts when they lost Super Bowl III to the Jets, and when they beat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V. After 'Bama, he was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 4 years and Arkansas State for 1; served as Parcells' offensive coordinator on the Pats; and then served on the Oakland and Cleveland staffs. He died in 2020, having coached at a high school in Mississippi since 2014.)

If Belichick had stayed with the Jets, he would have been Parcells' man, but he would also have been expected to work miracles like Parcells had, both in East Rutherford and in Foxborough. And the pressure on him would have been tremendous, especially after his 1st season: In 2000, the Giants got back to the Super Bowl, although they lost it to the Baltimore Ravens.

Which leads to the New York media. Belichick is a grouch. Parcells can be pretty grouchy, too, but he also knew how to get the New York media on his side. The Boston media can be every bit as nasty, but Belichick toyed with them because the winning came first.

If the winning didn't come quickly in New York, how long would it have taken Steve Serby of the Post, Rich Cimini of the Daily News, Mike & the Mad Dog and their WFAN listeners, etc. to turn on him? Not long. Why would he have wanted to put with that? For the money that Woody Johnson would have given him? Bob Kraft was willing to give him more money and more control. As with NFL team owners, there's nothing an NFL head coach values more than control, and not having Parcells look over his shoulder may have helped.

But even if things had gone the Jets' way with Belichick in charge, they would have stopped. Because he would have been caught cheating. Spygate. Deflategate. Six players testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Spygate II. And that's just what we know about. Every single game the Patriots won under Belichick is suspect. Guilty until proven innocent.

Would Belichick still have done all this stuff -- or allowed others working for him to do some of this stuff -- if he'd stayed with the Jets? Would Parcells have put up with it (presuming he was still there the 1st time Belichick got caught, instead of going off to Dallas to coach the Cowboys)? I don't think so. Belichick wants to win in the worst way; Parcells wants to win in the best way. 

Maybe he wouldn't have done well with the Jets if he'd cheated. Certainly, not if he hadn't. Maybe we saw the real Belichick in Cleveland: A 36-44 coach. Or in Foxborough after Tom Brady left: A 29-38 coach. After all, his quarterback in East Rutherford would have been Chad Pennington. He was good, but not as good as a cheating-aided Tom Brady.

Let's face it: What good was taking the job for 24 hours, and then leaving it in a public way? He should have listened to the offer, said, "Give me 24 hours to think about it," and then made his decision, "No." If he had done that, it wouldn't have made a difference in either team's record since 2000, but at least his knife wouldn't have any back blood on it.

Instead, Belichick came into the Jets' house, ate their food, drank their liquor, watched their TV, slept in their guest room, and made a mess... and then walked out as soon as he got a better offer.

And he's never said he's sorry. But we wouldn't want him to lie to us, would we? Any apology he would give now would be as fraudulent as his 6 titles.

On January 11, 2024, Belichick left the Patriots' job -- officially, by mutual consent. He was 71 years old at the time, old by the standard of NFL head coaches, but, perhaps, not too old for a desperate team. But no NFL team would hire him for the 2024 season. Not counting the Patriots, 6 teams had head coaching vacancies at that point. And 3 others fired coaches during the season. That's 9 teams that could have hired him. None did. Perhaps none of them believed all that "greatest coach of all time" stuff. Or, perhaps they all believed he was too old.

On December 11, 2024, he was finally hired as a head coach -- by the University of North Carolina.

January 3, 2000: The Bobby Bonilla Deal

January 3, 2000, 25 years ago: There aren't too many athletes who messed a team up, left, and was allowed to return to them, and ended up messing them up again. Bobby Bonilla is one of them.

In North American sports, July 1 means two things. One is Canada Day, the anniversary of Canadian independence, which means that Canada's one remaining team in Major League Baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays, not only plays an afternoon game at home, but, despite actually having "Blue" in their name, will wear red jerseys. The other is Bobby Bonilla Day.

Roberto Martin Antonio Bonilla was born on February 23, 1963 in The Bronx. Despite growing up there, in the home Borough of the New York Yankees, Bonilla was a New York Mets fan growing up, and became a star on the Pittsburgh Pirates' early 1990s near-dynasty, helping them to the 1990 and 1991 National League Eastern Division titles, and getting to Game 7 of the NLCS in '91. (They did it again without him in '92.)

He was about to turn 29 years old, and was one of the best players in baseball: An All-Star the last 4 seasons, top 3 in the NL Most Valuable Player voting the last 2 seasons, coming off a career-high .302 batting average and an NL-leading 44 doubles, and over the last 4 seasons had averaged 38 doubles, 24 home runs, 103 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 142. And he'd shown no behavioral issues that anyone knew of.

On December 2, 1991, the Mets threw money at him, and he took the deal. It was a disaster, as his hitting stats went way down, and the team had its 1st non-contending season in 9 years. The Mets had an even worse season in 1993, full of acts of carelessness that got people hurt, and, in 2 separate incidents, Bonilla threatened local reporters. 

On April 10, 1993, Bob Klapisch, then the Mets beat writer for the New York Daily News, and the author of The Worst Team Money Could Buy, a book about the previous Met season, tried to interview Bonilla in the Met locker room. Somebody grabbed a video camera, and showed Bonilla not merely taking exception to what Klapisch wrote, but telling him, "Make your move, 'cause I'll hurt you" and "I'll show you The Bronx." Instead of assaulting Klapisch, who stood his ground, Bonilla assaulted a microphone that was being held out, and walked away.

On August 11, 1994, the day before the Strike of '94 began, Bonilla tried to do the same thing to Art McFarland of WABC-Channel 7's Eyewitness News: Not only did he repeat the "Make your move" line, he said, "I'll shove that mike as far up your ass as I can stick it." McFarland, an older black man, wasn't having it: He not only stood his ground, but called Bonilla out, saying, "I'm a little more grown up than that."

The Mets finally traded him on July 28, 1995, to the Baltimore Orioles, along with a minor-league player named Jimmy Williams, for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa. Neither Buford nor Ochoa did much for the Mets, and Williams never made the majors. A bad trade? Not really: Call it "addition by subtraction."

Bonilla helped the O's reach the Playoffs in 1996. Of course, it helped that he was a lefthanded hitter, now hitting toward the short right-field fence at Camden Yards, instead of in a pitcher's park like Shea Stadium.

But it turned out that nobody could stand Bonilla. After the 1996 season, the Orioles, who came within 3 wins of an American League Pennant, didn't lift a finger to sign him to a new deal. The Florida Marlins signed him, going all out to win the 1997 World Series, knowing that they would be broken up to save money afterward, leading to the title of Dave Rosenbaum's book about the '97 Marlins: If They Don't Win It's a Shame. They did win the Series.

On May 14, 1998, as part of their "fire sale," the Marlins sent 5 players, including Bonilla and Gary Sheffield, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. This made it possible for the Mets to get Piazza and Zeile shortly thereafter.

After the 1998 season, the Mets sent relief pitcher Mel Rojas to the Dodgers to reacquire Bonilla. Getting rid of Rojas was a plus, but Bonilla was 36 and done. Although they made the Playoffs in 1999, Bonilla had almost nothing to do with it, making just 141 plate appearances and batting .160 with 4 homers and 18 RBIs.

They wanted to release him, but they still owed him $5.9 million. His agent, Dennis Gilbert, offered the Mets a deal: He would defer payment for 10 years, and the Mets would pay him $1.19 million every year from 2011 to 2035 -- or, if he died before 2035, they would pay that sum to his heirs. On January 3, 2000, the Mets took the deal.

Bonilla played 2000 with the Atlanta Braves and 2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and retired -- with respectable career stats of a .279 average, a 124 OPS+, 2,010 hits, 287 home runs and 1,173 RBIs.

Because of the Wilpons' financial woes, there were seasons when Bonilla was the Mets' 3rd-highest-paid player, meaning they were paying him more to not play for them than they were paying each of 23 players to actually play for them.

And the team's 2020 purchase from the Wilpons by Steve Cohen, allegedly the richest team owner in baseball, has no effect at all on the Bonilla deal: It's an annuity, locked in, meaning that Cohen cannot, for either financial or public relations considerations, simply pay the whole damn thing off at once: Every year, until July 1, 2035, either Bonilla or his heirs is going to get that payment.

By which point, if he's still alive, he will be 72 years old, he will have been retired for 34 years, and the Mets will have paid him $29.8 million to not play for them.

When the Mets closed Shea Stadium in 2008, and when they opened Citi Field the next season, Bonilla was not among the former Met players invited to either ceremony. After all, as a Met, he was neither a great player nor a good person.

January 3, 1985: DC Comics Begins Publishing "Crisis On Infinite Earths"

Issue #7, featuring the death of Supergirl

January 3, 1985, 40 years ago: DC Comics celebrates its 50th Anniversary by rewriting its history, beginning its 12-part series Crisis On Infinite Earths, with an issue dated April 1985.

Essentially, it eliminates Earth-One (which features the current heroes) and Earth-Two (which features the heroes introduced before and during World War II), along with every other "alternate Earth" they'd ever depicted, and combines them into a single narrative.

This provides an explanation of why the WWII-era heroes can still be fighting for justice when they should be elderly -- in many cases, as mentors to the younger versions of their characters, i.e. Jay Garrick, the 1st Flash, doing so for Wally West, the 1st Kid Flash, who becomes the 3rd Flash after the 2nd, Barry Allen, sacrifices his life to save the universe in issue #8. (Barry would later be brought back to life in 2010's Blackest Night, DC's insane attempt at a zombie story.)

It also enables a reboot of the origin stories. Among the notable changes: Clark Kent was never Superboy, his parents Jonathan and Martha Kent are still alive as he begins his career as Superman, and, as Clark, he's not pretending to be the mild-mannered milquetoast he's usually seen as, making him seem more believable as a big-city reporter -- and, in hindsight, resembling George Reeves' 1950s TV Superman more than Christopher Reeve's then-current movie Superman.

Batman's origin is also slightly tweaked. Originally, his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, had worked at Wayne Manor for Thomas and Martha Wayne, then left before they were killed, with Bruce raised by an uncle and his housekeeper; and returned many years later to work for Bruce Wayne, who had already adopted Dick Grayson. He soon found out the hard way that Bruce was Batman and Dick was the 1st Robin.

In this new version, Alfred never left Wayne Manor, raising Bruce after his parents were killed, and assisting him in becoming, and then being, Batman every step of the way.

Not all the changes were popular: In addition to the death of my generation's Flash, Superman's cousin Supergirl, known as Kara Zor-El on Krypton and Linda Danvers on Earth, was killed in issue #7, producing a shocking and oft-imitated cover. And all the other Kryptonians were eliminated, making Superman truly "the Last Son of Krypton." This was dropped in DC's next reboot, the 1994 series Zero Hour.

In 2019, TV network The CW, having done several superhero shows in their "Arrowverse" series, crossed them all over, adapting Crisis On Infinite Earths. In this case, though, not only did Supergirl, now known as Kara Danvers, and the Barry Allen version of the Flash survive, but Barry proves pivotal in developing the final weapon, and Kara is the one who delivers it. In this version, the one who sacrifices himself for the greater good of the multiverse was Green Arrow, who, in order to do it, becomes that universe's version of the Spectre.

The original series was written by Marv Wolfman, and drawn by George Pérez. In the Arrowverse version, Wolfman makes a cameo appearance in the 5th and final episode. Pérez was dealing with serious health issues, and was unable to appear, so he was honored by the writers placing the final showdown with the Anti-Monitor takes place in Pérez Square.

In 2024, a 3-part animated film, Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths, premiered, as part of the DC Animated Universe. It is yet another variation on the story, but it is closer to the original comic than to the Arrowverse version.)

January 2, 1950: The Fall of J. Parnell Thomas

January 2, 1950, 70 years ago: Representative J. Parnell Thomas resigns his seat in Congress. He had little choice.

He was a phony from early on. Born on January 16, 1895 as John Parnell Feeney Jr. in Jersey City, New Jersey, and raised Catholic, he believed his political ambitions wouldn't be realized if people knew that. So, after serving in World War I, he changed his named to John Parnell Thomas, and became an Episcopalian -- Protestant, but often considered "Catholic Lite."

He was elected a Councilman in the Bergen County town of Allendale in 1924, Mayor in 1925, and to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1934. In 1936, he bucked a Democratic tide to be elected as a Republican to the open seat in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, and was never seriously challenged for re-election. (This District, roughly, corresponds to the current 5th District, whose seat has been held by Josh Gottheimer since 2017.)

Thomas was a staunch anti-Communist, opposing Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman at every turn. In 1947, with the Republicans having gained control of Congress, he was named Chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), one of the most un-American things America has ever produced.

His investigations into the American film industry led to the imprisonment of the screenwriters known as "The Hollywood Ten." But some actors stood up to him, including a pair of married couples: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, labor-supporting Democrats, and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, staunch Republicans, basically told Thomas to stick it.

In 1949, Thomas called Secretary of Defense James Forrestal "the most dangerous man in America," and said that if Forrestal were not removed from office, he would cause another world war. Truman already had problems with Forrestal, and fired him on March 31. On May 22, Forrestal died, probably a suicide.

Washington Post columnists Drew Pearson (no relation to the later football star of the same name) and Jack Anderson uncovered Thomas' corruption: They received documents showing that, on New Year's Day of 1940, he placed Myra Midkiff, niece of his secretary, Helen Campbell, and Arnette Minor, Campbell's maid, on his payroll, as clerks. They earned about $1,200 a year, and kicked their entire salaries back to the Congressman. Through this practice, he would also evade a tax bracket increase. Once this was exposed, Thomas and Campbell were summoned to answer to charges of salary fraud before a grand jury.

Irony #1: Thomas pled the 5th Amendment, to protect himself from self-incrimination in legal proceedings, just like the Hollywood Ten did. On January 2, 1950, just 38 days before the "I hold in my hand" speech that allowed Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin to succeed him as the leading anti-Communist in Congress, Thomas resigned.

Irony #2: After being convicted of fraud, and being sentenced to 18 months, he was sent to the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, then "home" to 2 of the Hollywood Ten: Lester Cole and Ring Lardner Jr.

Although politically opposed to him, Truman pardoned Thomas, as a measure of goodwill, on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1952, with just 27 days left in his term. Thomas tried to regain his seat in 1954, but couldn't even win the Republican nomination. He retired to St. Petersburg, Florida, and died there on November 19, 1970.

McCarthy and Richard Nixon rode television to become famous, and infamous. Parnell resigned at the dawn of the TV era, and, despite appearing in many a newsreel in the late 1940s, has largely been forgotten.

January 1, 1995: Nebraska Redeemed

January 1, 1995, 30 years ago: The World Trade Organization (WTO) begins operation. The History Channel is launched.

And the Orange Bowl is played in Miami, at the stadium of the same name. It was also the home field for the football team at the University of Miami, who were ranked Number 3 in the country, and invited to play in it.

The Number 1 team in the country was also invited to play in it. This was the University of Nebraska.

In spite of Nebraska being ranked higher, all signs pointed to a Miami win.

Since winning back-to-back National Championships in 1970 and 1971, Nebraska had won 12 Big Eight Conference Championships, 3 Sugar Bowls, 2 Orange Bowls and a Cotton Bowl. But they hadn't won another National Championship. They only lost 1 game in 1982, by 3 points, away to Penn State. They put up one of the most stunning seasons in college football history in 1983, but lost the Orange Bowl to Miami on a missed 2-point conversion.

That started Miami on a quasi-dynasty that saw them awarded that season's National Championship, and win it again in 1987, 1989 and 1991, and just miss it in 1986, 1988 and 1992. So in a stretch of 10 seasons, they reached an official or unofficial game for the National Championship 7 times, winning 4 of them. In those 10 seasons, they ended up Number 1 in the final poll 4 times, Number 2 twice, and Number 3 3 times.

But Nebraska couldn't get over the hump. Head coach Tom Osborne had been an assistant to Bob Devaney on those early 1970s titles, but since taking over in 1973, he couldn't win one himself. From 1982 to 1993, 12 seasons, the Cornhuskers had regular seasons of 11-1, 12-0, 9-2, 9-2, 9-2, 10-1, 11-1, 10-1, 9-2, 9-1-1, 9-2 and 11-0. They lost 3 Orange Bowls to Miami. And just 1 year earlier, on New Year's Day 1994, they thought they had the National Championship won with a last-minute field goal over Florida State. But they gave up a field goal, and then missed one on the last play.

At this point, the Chicago Cubs hadn't won a World Series in 86 years, the Boston Red Sox hadn't won one in 76 years, the New York Rangers had just ended a Stanley Cup drought at 54 years, and Nebraska football, while their drought was a much shorter 33 years, it was similarly tinged with painful close calls.

So when football fans found out that Nebraska's opponents for the de facto National Championship game were the Miami Hurricanes, it seemed like, as baseball legend Yogi Berra would have said, "Déjà vu all over again."

This was a typical Nebraska team, pounding weak opponents and doing enough, sometimes just enough, to beat the stronger ones. They opened the season ranked Number 4, and beat Number 24 West Virginia in the Kickoff Classic at the Meadowlands. They hung 70 points on the University of the Pacific, 49 on Number 13 UCLA, 45 on Kansas, 42 on Texas Tech, 42 on Wyoming, 42 on Missouri.

Kansas State was ranked Number 16 when Nebraska went there and won, 17-6. The 'Huskers essentially wrapped up the Big Eight Conference title when, ranked Number 3, they beat Number 2 Colorado at home, 24-7. And they went to arch-rival Oklahoma and beat them, 13-3.

Miami were 10-1 under head coach Dennis Erickson. Their only loss was to Number 17 Washington, but it did come at the Orange Bowl. They did manage to beat Number 3 Florida State, Number 10 Syracuse, Number 13 Virginia Tech, and Number 25 Boston College, winning the Big East Conference title.

Cliché Alert: In football, home-field advantage is said to be worth 3 points. The Las Vegas oddsmakers took that into account, and installed Miami as favorites by 1 point.

Midway through the 1st quarter, Dan Prewitt kicked a field goal to put Miami on the board. At the end of the quarter, Frank Costa threw a touchdown pass to Trent Jones, and now the Hurricanes were up 10-0. It was looking like another bad ending for Nebraska.

But the 'Huskers made the only score of the 2nd quarter, as Brook Berringer threw a touchdown pass to Mark Gilman. The teams went into the locker room with the score 10-7 Miami, and the game still either team's to win.

Early in the 3rd quarter, Costa threw to Jonathan Harris, who ran 44 yards for a touchdown. It was 17-7 Miami, and with 28 minutes to go, it looked like Nebraska were beaten. Within 2 minutes, Nebraska had to punt the ball away. But with 11:35 left in the 3rd, Dwayne Harris sacked Costa in the end zone for a safety. The 3rd quarter ended 17-9 in Miami's favor.

Theoretically, it was now a one-score game. Quarterback Tommie Frazier drove the 'Huskers down the field. With 7:38 left in regulation, running back Cory Schlesinger scored on a 15-yard run. Frazier threw to Eric Alford for the 2-point conversion, the play that had doomed Nebraska on that very field 11 years earlier (and had helped to do so 1 year earlier). This time, it was successful, and the game was tied, 17-17.

Miami could do nothing with their next possession. Nebraska got the ball back, and Frazier drove them again. With 2:46 left, Schlesinger broke off a nearly identical run, and rumbled into the end zone. The extra point was good, and Nebraska led. Their defense held, and they were 24-17 victors.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers were redeemed. Tom Osborne had his National Championship. And his greatest victory had just been won on the site of his greatest defeat.

Two weeks later, Erickson resigned from Miami, to become head coach of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. He did not do well there. In contrast, Osborne won another National Championship in 1995, and another in 1997 (albeit with the polls split, one poll choosing Nebraska, the other choosing Michigan).

Schlesinger played 12 seasons in the NFL, mostly as a blocking back for the Detroit Lions, making 3 Pro Bowls. Despite quarterbacking the 'Huskers to back-to-back National Championships, Frazier was not drafted, because NFL teams were afraid of his history of blood clots. He played 1 season with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes, but his illness took hold again, and he had to retire. Like Turner Gill, the quarterback on the 1983 Nebraska team that crashed through everybody before losing the title to Miami, he went into coaching. He was still better off than his backup, Berringer, who was killed in a plane crash in 1996.

Only 1 other bowl game was played that New Year's Day: Number 23 North Carolina State beat Number 16 Mississippi State in the Peach Bowl, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

The rest of the major bowl games were played the next day, January 2 -- and it could have been argued that Nebraska still didn't have the National Championship won. Penn State was undefeated, and playing in the Rose Bowl. They beat Oregon, 38-20, and their fans still claim the 1994 season as a National Championship.

But both the final AP poll (the Associated Press, the sportswriters) and the final UPI poll (United Press International, the coaches) gave it to Nebraska. I guess they didn't want to take Osborne's great moment away. Or maybe they already knew about the harm that was being caused in Joe Paterno's program.

The reason there were comparatively few bowl games played on New Year's Day is that it was a Sunday, and it was the 1st round of the NFL Playoffs. Two games were played in those Playoffs. The Cleveland Browns beat the New England Patriots, 20-13, in what turned out to be the last postseason game, in any sport, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Browns didn't win another Playoff game for 16 years. And the Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 35-18 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

January 1, 1955: Georgia Tech Complete the New Year's Day Circuit

Bobby Dodd

January 1, 1955, 70 years ago: The Cotton Bowl Classic is held at the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas. The University of Arkansas, Champions of the Southwest Conference, take on the Georgia Institute of Technology, the 2nd-place team in the Southeastern Conference. (Georgia Tech left the SEC and became an independent in 1964, and joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1983. Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992.)

The Arkansas Razorbacks, coached by Bowden Wyatt, came into the game 8-2, and ranked Number 10 in the country. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, coached by Bobby Dodd, were 7-3 and unranked, but were coming off a big win over arch-rival Georgia.

The game was scoreless until right before halftime, when Arkansas quarterback George Walker completed an 80-yard drive by scoring himself, but he missed the extra point. Georgia Tech dominated the 2nd half, holding the Razorbacks to only 8 yards rushing, and scoring touchdowns with Paul Rotenberry in the 3rd quarter and Wade Mitchell in the 4th. The Yellow Jackets won, 14-6.

By winning this game, Georgia Tech became the 1st school to win all 4 of the major New Year's Day bowl games. They had previously won the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in 1929; the Orange Bowl in Miami in 1940; and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans in 1944.

Entering the 2024-25 bowl games, there have since been 8 other schools to turn the trick: Alabama, completing the circuit with the 1962 Sugar Bowl; Georgia, with the 1967 Cotton Bowl; Notre Dame, with the 1975 Orange Bowl; Penn State, with the 1995 Rose Bowl; Ohio State, with the 1999 Sugar Bowl; Miami, with the 2002 Rose Bowl; Oklahoma, with the 2003 Rose Bowl; and Texas, with the 2005 Rose Bowl.

Prior to the start of major conference realignment in the 1990s, winning all 4 was really hard, because, from 1947 onward, the Rose Bowl had been between the Champions of the leagues now known as the Big Ten and the Pacific-Twelve.

Also, until 1975, the Big Ten and the league then known as the Pac-Eight had a rule that the Rose Bowl was the only bowl they would send a team to. And Notre Dame did not accept any bowl bids between their 1925 Rose Bowl win and their 1970 Cotton Bowl loss. Notre Dame have overcome this, but Ohio State are the only team that was in the Big Ten prior to Penn State's arrival in 1993 to overcome their league's issue.

Michigan, the Big Ten's other previous major power, have never played in the Cotton Bowl, although they've won the other 3. A few other schools have won 3 of the 4, including Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Oregon and Washington.

Once the Bowl Championship Series kicked in for the 1998 season, conference tie-ins were no longer written in stone, making cross-league bowls more common. You'll notice that Penn State, Miami, Oklahoma and Texas did it after the Big Ten Champion could have gone to a de facto National Championship Game in a year when it wasn't the Rose Bowl. Prior to the 1946 season's lock-in for the Big Ten, Penn State had played in the 1923 Rose Bowl, but lost to USC; while Miami, Oklahoma and Texas had never previously played in it.

The Fiesta Bowl, in the Phoenix suburbs, in Tempe from 1971 to 2006 and in Glendale ever since, became a New Year's Day bowl game in 1982. Notre Dame first won it on January 2, 1989, making them the 1st team to have won all 5. Penn State won it for the 1st time in 1982, so they completed all 5 in 1995. Ohio State won it in 1984, so they completed all 5 in 1999. Texas won it in 2009, and Oklahoma in 2011, completing all 5. So that's 5 schools that have won all 5 major New Year's Day bowl games.

Oklahoma (in 1976) and Penn State (in 1977 and 1980) had won the Fiesta Bowl before it was a New Year's Day game. Alabama, Georgia and Georgia Tech have never won it: Alabama have lost their only appearance, in 1991, while the 2 Georgia schools have never even been in it.

Since 1913, Georgia Tech have played their home games at Grant Field. In 1988, it was officially renamed Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field. In 2024, the Grant name was removed, and the naming rights sold: It is now Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field.

Having been a star player at Tennessee, Dodd is one of the few men to have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.

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January 1, 1955 was a Saturday. In the other New Year's Day bowl games:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Number 17 University of Southern California, 20-7 in the Rose Bowl, in the stadium of the same name in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California. Ohio State had won the Big Ten. USC had finished 2nd in the Pacific Coast Conference, the forerunner of the Pac-12, but, like the Big Ten, the PCC had a rule that no team could represent it in the Rose Bowl in back-to-back years, so their intra-city arch-rivals, the University of California at Los Angeles, ranked Number 2 in the country, were out, and USC took their place. As a result, the polls ended up split on the National Championship, between Ohio State and UCLA.

* Number 5 Navy beat Number 6 Mississippi, 21-0 in the Sugar Bowl, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. "Ole Miss" had won the SEC title, beating Georgia Tech.

* Number 14 Duke beat Nebraska, 34-7 in the Orange Bowl, at Burdine Stadium in Miami. (The stadium was renamed the Orange Bowl in 1959.) Duke were the Champions of the ACC. Oklahoma had won the title in the league then known as the Big Seven Conference (Oklahoma State would soon join, to make it the Big Eight), but the league had a rule that no team could represent it in the Orange Bowl in back-to-back years, so 2nd-place Nebraska did, with poor results.

* Texas Western University beat Florida State, 47-20 in the Sun Bowl, at Kidd Field in El Paso, Texas -- TWU's home field. They were renamed the University of Texas at El Paso in 1967. Kidd Field still stands, but was replaced as their home field, and as the home of the Sun Bowl game, by the adjacent Sun Bowl stadium in 1963. Burt Reynolds was on FSU's roster, but was injured and didn't play in the Sun Bowl. His football career over, he turned to acting. His roommate was Lee Corso, who would later become a college coach and ESPN's top college football analyst.

 

January 1, 1935: The 1st Orange Bowl & the 1st Sugar Bowl

January 1, 1935, 90 years ago: The 1st Orange Bowl is played, at Miami Field in Miami. Unlike in a few later appearances, having the home-field advantage did not help the University of Miami, as they lost to Bucknell University, 26-0.

The Bison defense held the Hurricanes to just 4 1st downs and 28 yards total offense en route to the victory. The Bucknell offense gained 278 yards, and earned its 6th shutout of the season.

The Orange Bowl was pattered after the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, with its pregame Tournament of Roses Parade. The Fiesta of the American Tropics parade was held in 1926, but there was no game. Then came the Florida land bust that year, and then the Great Depression in 1929, killing Florida tourism.

In 1932, trying to revive Florida tourism, Miami was ready to try again. A parade was held on January 1, 1933, and a Festival of Palms Bowl was played at Moore Park on January 2, with the University of Miami beating Manhattan College, 7-0. In 1934, again at Moore Park, Miami lost to Duquesne University of Pittsburgh. For the following season, the organizing committee received official sanction from the NCAA, and, for that reason, the 1935 edition was not only the 1st to carry the Orange Bowl name, but is recognized as the 1st Orange Bowl, rather than the 3 earlier Festival of Palms Bowls.

And so, every year, from 1936-37 to 2001-02, the King Orange Jamboree Parade would be held in downtown Miami on New Year's Eve, and the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day, except when January 1 fell on a Sunday, moving the game back to January 2. Traditionally, NBC televised both. The Parade's attendance dropped, and it was canceled in 2002.

Bucknell, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, downgraded its football program in 1948. In 1973, with the NCAA reclassifying, they were put in Division II. In 1978, they were promoted to Division I-AA, which was renamed the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2006. They have played at the same stadium since 1924. In 1989, it was renamed Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, in honor of the school's most famous graduate, the New York Giants pitcher who was 1 of the 1st 5 players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Clarke Hinkle, star running back for the Green Bay Packers in the 1930s, before this Orange Bowl, remains Bucknell's greatest football player. They have never again appeared in a bowl game, and have never won a conference championship.

Miami, on the other hand, would have a decent football history until the 1980s, when they became a bit indecent, but also one of the best programs in the game. In 1937, they moved into Burdine Stadium, built on the site of Miami Field, named for the late Roddy Burdine, department store owner and major booster of the City of Miami. The stadium was renamed the Miami Orange Bowl in 1959, and would host 5 Super Bowls, including the New York Jets' famed upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

The Miami Dolphins played at the Orange Bowl from 1966 to 1986, then moved into Joe Robbie Stadium in suburban Miami Gardens in 1987. The Orange Bowl game was first played there in 1997 and 1998, moved back to its namesake stadium in 1999, and has been played at the Miami Gardens facility, now named Hard Rock Stadium, from 2000 onward. The University of Miami last played at the Orange Bowl in 2007, and moved to Miami Gardens. The stadium was demolished in 2008, and the new home of the Miami Marlins, now named LoanDepot Park, opened on the site in 2012.

From 1968 to 1996, the Champion of the Big Eight Conference was officially awarded a berth in the Orange Bowl, something that had unofficially been done since 1954. It was accepted all but twice, by Nebraska in 1974 and 1975, in favor of a better shot at the National Championship. They paid dearly for this, losing both times. Since the 2014 season, the Champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference has been guaranteed a berth in the Orange Bowl, unless it qualifies for the National Championship Playoff.

The Orange Bowl has featured 16 teams that won the National Championship for the preceding calendar year: Miami in 1988 and 1992; Oklahoma in 1954, 1987 and 2001; Nebraska in 19871, 1972, 1995 and 1997; Georgia Tech in 1952; Alabama in 1965; Clemson in 1982;  Notre Dame in 1990; Colorado in 1991; and Florida State in 1994.

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January 1, 1935 was a Tuesday. This was also the day the 1st Sugar Bowl was played, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Tulane University beat Temple University, 20-14.

The most notable play of the game came in the 2nd quarter, when Tulane's quarterback, John McDaniel, caught a Temple kickoff, ran to the right to draw tacklers, then threw a lateral pass to his teammate Monk Simons, who ran 75 yards for the touchdown. Two more Tulane touchdowns in the second half outweighed Temple's early lead.

Tulane had been built on a sugar plantation, and sugar was long the leading crop in the State of Louisiana. Hence, the game was named for a local crop. New Orleans civic leaders wanted to copy Pasadena, California's Rose Bowl for a few years, and finally got it set up for 1934-35. There was no pregame parade, however.

Tulane had been one of the South's leading football schools, winning titles in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1920, and the Southern Conference in 1925, 1929, 1930 and 1931. That league was the forefather of both the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

In 1933, Tulane was a founding member of the SEC, and won the title in 1934, giving them the credibility to host the bowl game. They would win the SEC again in 1939 and 1949, but went into decline, and left the league after the 1965 season, surpassed in football importance in their State by Louisiana State University (LSU), and even by the black college rivalry between Grambling State and Southern University. They would later win the title in Conference USA in 1998, and are now members of the American Athletic Conference (AAC), having won the AAC title in 2022.

The game was held at Tulane Stadium from 1935 until 1975. In 1975, the Louisiana Superdome opened, and the game has been held there every year since, with the exception of 2006, when it was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, due to repairs on the Superdome from Hurricane Katrina.

Tulane Stadium

Temple have also never again reached the football heights they reached in the 1930s. They devalued their program in 1958, but began moving back up in 1991, becoming members of the Big East Conference. In 2013, they joined the American Athletic Conference (AAC), winning it in 2016.

After the inaugural Sugar Bowl, they didn't go to another bowl game until the 1979 season, and then not again until 2009. They won the Garden State Bowl in 1979, the New Mexico Bowl in 2011, and the Gasparilla Bowl in 2017. But they've never been to another traditional New Year's Day bowl game.

Tulane Stadium hosted Super Bowls IV, VI and IX, and was home to the NFL's New Orleans Saints from 1967 to 1974, before they and the Green Wave moved into the Superdome for the 1975 season. Tulane Stadium was demolished in 1979, the 1st of the 4 classic New Year's Day bowl game facilities to go. (The Orange Bowl followed in 2008, while the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl stadiums still stand.) In 2014, Yulman Stadium was opened on the site of Tulane Stadium.

The Superdome

The Sugar Bowl has usually invited the SEC Champion, although this was not made official until the 1976 season. With the advent of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in the 1998 season, hosting the SEC Champion was no longer a given. Given the success of the SEC since the start of the National Championship Playoff in 2014, it's been almost impossible.

The Sugar Bowl has featured the National Champions of the preceding calendar year 23 times: Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1959 and 2007; the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in 1960, 1961 and 1963; Alabama in 1962, 1979, 1980 and 1993; the University of Miami in 1990 and 2001; Texas Christian University (TCU) in 1939; Texas A&M in 1940; Oklahoma in 1950; Maryland in 1952; Georgia Tech in 1953; Notre Dame in 1974; the University of Pittsburgh in 1977; Georgia in 1981; Penn State in 1983; Florida in 1997; Florida State in 2000; and Ohio State in 2021.

Also on this day, the Rose Bowl was played at the stadium of the same name, outside Los Angeles in Pasadena, California. Alabama completed an undefeated season, ruining Stanford's, 29-13. The Cotton Bowl debuted on New Year's Day 1937.