How many of these long time college coaches do you remember?

With so many coaches switching schools these days, it makes me think back to my youth. In the "olden" days it was much more common to have a successful coach remain at the same university for many years. That doesn't seem to be the case today. But then again, the definition for successful seems to have changed.There are a few coaches in today's world of sports that have spent a long time at their school, but most seem to move on to other opportunities. In the interest of nostalgia I am going to list 15 coaches from three different sports. You can try to match them up with the school that made them famous and then I will provide some information on each later in this column.Here is the list. Tom Izzo, Bud Wilkinson, Skip Bertman, John Thompson, Lou Carnesecca, Darrell Royal, Fred Taylor, Cliff Gustafson, Branch McCracken, Bear Bryant, Gene Keady, Frank Broyles, Augie Garrido, John Wooden and Gene Stephenson.I'm guessing that you have heard of most of these fellows and I will give you a few seconds to recall the school that they toiled at for many years.Time's up. Here are the answers and a few tidbits about their legendary careers.I chose to start the list with Tom Izzo. He is the only current coach on the list and still patrols the sidelines as head basketball coach at Michigan State. He has been there for 32 years, compiling a 755-303 mark that includes a national championship in 2000. He also has won coaching awards named for John Wooden, Henry Iba and Clair Bee. Surely you remember those famous names from the annals of basketball.Bud Wilkinson coached football at Oklahoma before I even started following the sport. In 16 years at Norman he won 14 conference championships and three national championships. He is best known for having won 47 consecutive games, a record that still stands today and may never be broken.Skip Bertman was the baseball coach at LSU for 18 years. He was a regular participant at the College World Series where he won five national titles.I have to put the next two coaches together for a singular event that I watched many years ago on TV. John Thompson was the head basketball coach at Georgetown and Lou Carnesecca was his rival at St. John's. They were not just rivals but close friends. Louie was well known for wearing some bright and often gaudy sweaters while coaching.At one game he came out in one of those multicolored sweaters. When Thompson entered the arena he had on his sport coat with the traditional towel draped over his shoulder. When he moved the towel aside, he removed his coat and was wearing an identical sweater as Carnesecca. The crowd howled, the two men embraced with smiles on their faces, and I sat at home and laughed. It was a cool and memorable moment.Darrell Royal was the long-time football coach at Texas. He coached there for 20 years and won three national championships.Fred Taylor was the basketball coach at Ohio State during the Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek era. He took the Buckeyes to the Final Four three years in a row winning the title in 1960 before losing two consecutive titles to the University of Cincinnati. I remember those games vividly.Perhaps you also knew that Fred Taylor had previously played major league baseball for the Washington Senators.Cliff Gustafson was the baseball coach at Texas for 29 seasons. He tallied 1,466 wins in his career there.Before Bobby Knight tossed that chair at the referee, Indiana was coached by Branch McCracken. He walked the sidelines for 25 years and won two national championships.Paul "Bear" Bryant is often considered the best college football coach of all time. His record at Alabama suggest that this praise might be warranted. In his 25-year career the Crimson Tide won the national title 6 times.Gene Keady had won of the most prominent scowls you ever saw when things were not going his way as basketball coach at Purdue. He also had a 25-year coaching career with the Boilermakers and won national coach of the year awards 6 times.Frank Broyles coached Arkansas football for 19 years and won a national championship in 1964.Augie Garrido was a baseball coach who had the distinction of coaching at two different schools for 20+ seasons each. He first came to fame at Cal State Fullerton where hetook teams to the College World Series. He then moved to Texas where he finished his career with 1,959 wins. Oh by the way, he won five national titles.The Wizard of Westwood was a nickname for John Wooden who has to be considered the best college basketball coach of all time. At UCLA he won 10 national titles in 12 seasons including 7 straight. Do you think that kind of track record will ever be equaled? Neither do I.If you think I included the last coach just because of his name it's not true. Though I do like the name Gene (he he he) Gene Stephenson, the longtime baseball coach at Wichita State has a record worth noting.In 35 years there he led the Shockers to 1,837 victories that included 20 regular season Missouri Valley titles and 18 MVC tournament championships.By the way, he does spell his last name correctly. Not everyone does.