What he did: Bobby Ross arrived at Georgia Tech and, well, pulled off a miracle on The Flats. He took a program that was 2-9 in its first season and won a national championship in his fourth, the Yellow Jackets only modern-day title.
However, it would have never happened if not for the tragic death of University of Maryland superstar Len Bias … but more on that later.
Born in Richmond, Ross went to a military high school before going to play college football at Virginia Military Institute. His father had been offered an appointment at West Point, but it came during the Great Depression and he had to go to work to support his family. A military theme ran deep in the Ross family, and at VMI he started at quarterback and defensive back for two seasons for the Keydets and was a captain as a senior. He played for the popular John McKenna, who behind his parents Ross considers his biggest mentor.
From there, Ross went into the Army, serving as an executive officer in Germany for three years during the Berlin Crisis.
He then came back home and worked as a teacher and coach at Colonial Heights High (Va.). He was an English teacher and coached football, baseball and track.
Then he headed back to VMI to rejoin McKenna as an assistant before going to William & Mary and coaching two years under Marv Levy and another two under Lou Holtz.
Ross went to Rice for a season in 1971 and did a season at Maryland before getting his first head coaching job at The Citadel in ’73. The schedule was loaded with strong teams, but he managed to go 24-31 in five years. He then rejoined Levy, who was the head coach in the NFL in Kansas City and spent four years as an assistant there.
Maryland came calling in 1982 and Ross became a household name among coaching circles as he led the Terrapins to three consecutive ACC titles from 1983-85. But then came the death of Bias in June 1986 and the entire Terrapins’ sports program was in turmoil, and Ross was unsure where things were headed. So he resigned and began looking elsewhere.
Ross had an in at Tech as McKenna had worked there as an assistant athletic director during the 1970s. Ross met with AD Homer Rice and on Jan. 5, 1987, was introduced as the Jackets’ new head coach. He replaced Bill Curry, who left to become head coach at Alabama. But while Curry had had success at Tech, Ross inherited a program that lacked depth as well as the fact that many of the players resented him and his coaching staff.
The first two seasons were terrible, with a 2-9 record in ’87 and 3-8 the next season. But something special happened in ’88 and that was a 34-0 win over an eighth-ranked South Carolina team. Tech didn’t win an ACC game that season, but the turnaround had begun and the next season, with many of his recruits on the field, Ross and the Jackets finished 7-4 before winning the national title in 1990 as they were the only undefeated team in the country at 11-0-1.
Tech split the national championship with Colorado as the program was on solid ground with the help of defensive coordinator George O’Leary and offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen. Ross would stay at Tech one more season, going 8-5 before making his foray into the NFL.
He was one of the few coaches to make the jump from college to pro to have immediate success, going to San Diego in 1992 and taking the Chargers two years later to what is still their only Super Bowl appearance, a 49-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. In his five seasons in San Diego, he won two divisions titles and was 47-33, 3-3 in the playoffs. But after going 9-7 in 1996, Chargers management wanted him to fire a few of his coaches, and he chose to resign instead.
Ross then took a large offer to coach in Detroit, where he also had control of all player-personnel decisions. But unlike San Diego, the team didn’t have the same success on the field, having two winning records in four seasons, and he became frustrated with both the players and ownership. Then in November 2000 after a game against Miami, he quit, a decision he said he still regrets.
Ross stayed out of the game for four seasons, until Army lured him back in 2004 with a $600,000 per year contract, a huge salary for a service academy. The team had gone 0-13 the previous season, and Ross was able to get the program going in the right direction, going 9–25 in three seasons. But after a whirlwind recruiting trip in late 2006, he decided to retire for good.
Ross finished his career with a 103-101-2 record in college and 74-63 record in the NFL. In 1990, he won both the Walter Camp and Bear Bryant coach of the year awards.
Where he lives: Ross, now 78, lives with his wife, Alice, of 57 years in Richmond. They have five children and 17 grandchildren. The couple lost both a child and a grandchild.
What he does: Ross says he has a big honey-do list and is on a couple corporate boards and still does some speaking engagements.
On playing football at VMI: "It was a tough place. At first I didn't want to stay there. I knew I was going to need extra help academically. But I loved my coach (McKenna). He became a very special person in my life. He ended up going down to Georgia Tech to become an assistant AD so we had a long relationship. What I was most proud about VMI was we went 18 games without losing one. We were playing all the big schools like West Virginia and Virginia. We ended being ranked 13th in the country which was the highest ranking for the school since the 1920's.''
On his first head coaching job at The Citadel: They had an opening and my name was thrown in the pot. I loved the town (Charleston) and it is a wonderful school. I was lucky to get the job. The biggest thing in five years was we never lost to our rival which was Furman.''
On his success at Maryland: "The school wanted someone with pro experience. We had a lot of talented players and I probably would have never left if it had not been for the death of Len Bias. All hell broke loose at the school when that happened and I had no idea what direction the school was going in. So I resigned.''
On winning only five games his first two seasons at Tech: "It was extremely difficult. I don't think we were accepted by the players. I felt that was a big part of it. They loved Bill (Curry). But I did things a little different than Bill. The first year was toughest because we lost (running back) Jerry Mays in spring practice. Pound for pound, and Jerry was 157 pounds, he was the best player I ever coached. But that first year was brutal. Then the second year we started to come around because our defense was good. We just couldn't score points.''
On Tech's Shawn Jones, who was the quarterback on his national championship team: "He was excellent. He really is what colleges are looking for now, a good thrower but some one that can run and is good at play action. He made some great throws that year.''
On former Tech players: "I really liked Tech and they had the best alumni or former players of any of the schools I was at. They loved Bobby Dodd and you could tell how much the football program meant to them. And the student body was great. I remember when we beat No. 1 Virginia and came back and all those kids were waiting for us. It was quite a reception.''
On why he left The Flats: "It came down to wanting another challenge. That was it. I always liked San Diego and I liked coaching in the NFL. I wanted to see if I could do it at that level. I know we lost the Super Bowl, but there are only two other coaches other than me that have coached a national championship team and in a Super Bowl. Of course Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson won their Super Bowls. And that San Francisco team we lost to in the Super Bowl was damn good.''
On the experience with the Lions: "San Diego wanted me to fire coaches and I wasn't going to do it. So I resigned and talked to Detroit and also was talking with the Rams. I thought things would really work out in Detroit. We had Barry Sanders and Scott Mitchell was a good quarterback. We also had Herman Moore but he was hurt a lot then. But we had so much money tied up on the offensive side of the ball and the cap in the NFL was coming in them. I quit after a November game and I should have never done that. I should have finished out the season.''
On finishing his career at Army: "I always had a lot of respect for that place. I was on the committee to pick a new coach and one of the guys asked if I wanted it. I said no but he said why don't you watch the Army-Navy game and see what you think. I still said no but my wife hit me with it was my patriotic duty to take the job. I inherited a 19-game losing streak and we won a few good games. We didn't beat Navy but got the first win in a while over Air Force. But at the end I was on a long recruiting trip and just realized I couldn't do it anymore."
On his legacy: "I don't worry about legacy, never have worried about it. I look back on my career and thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the players. I recently got an email from a player that was on my freshman team at VMI in 1965. It is so nice to get things like that. I coached for 43 years and there were a lot of good times and tough times. I did the best I could. I remember twice when I was in San Diego pulling into the parking lot at the stadium and having to pay to park. They thought I was lying when I told them I was the head coach. Oh well.''
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