Hey Bruins, This Bud's for You
Thursday, December 3, 2009
By JIM ELLIOTT- The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register
Hard to believe it's been 8 years and 3 weeks since Paul ''Bud'' Billiard yielded his post as the architect of what he called the Brooke Pride Football Program.
These days, he acts as a consultant to what was once the state's most proud firm, having been invited back after an extended absence by first-year head coach Tom Bruney.
The new coach wanted to pick the old one's brain, not just about Xs and Os, either.
''I think what he wanted to do was embrace our community, our school, and our tradition,'' Billiard said. '' 'Hey, this is Brooke, I want to be a part of the Brooke tradition, I want to make it what it was.' ''
It's been more than just the four fingers at the start of the fourth quarter or the economic-status ignoring green blazers on Fridays, more than just the dusting off of Billiard's famous line, 'we just want to be 1-0 this week,' and more than just the victories - a school record-tying 13 to this point with Saturday's noon title game to go against South Charleston.
The pride is back.
''The community is buzzing again,'' said Billiard, who has marveled at some of the old Brooke coats and jackets he's seen in the stands the last few weeks, even as he himself wears a toboggan that houses more than 25 years worth of memories and serves as symbol of simpler times. ''It's amazing. Talk about being in a throwback society, that was us.
''When times were bad, that football team kept this community going. Even when they felt like they had nothing, they'd call up and say, 'Hey, Budro, where are you playing and when?' This whole thing is built on pride. That was missing. (Bruney) has restored the pride.''
Billiard knew little to nothing about Bruney when he was hired back in May. He'd separated himself from Brooke the last few years and had been consulting former Bruin Brett McLean at St. Clairsville.
But it's clear Bruney, throughout all of his travels, was something of a secret admirer of the resume Billiard put together at Brooke.
And what a resume it is.
Billiard's teams won seven OVAC crowns and state titles in 1985, 1987 and 1990. Under his watch, Brooke ended three regular seasons undefeated (two seasons overall, including playoffs) and in 1987 and 1990, USA Today ranked his Bruins teams 25th and 23rd nationally, respectively.
When Bruney met with Billiard, he asked if he'd come back.
''I told him I can be a pest,'' Billiard admitted.
Bruney thought that was ridiculous. No way you restore this thing without knowing exactly what it is you're trying to restore, he thought.
To that end, Billiard has watched most games from the stands or press box and gone down to offer insights at halftime. He's given the pregame prayer for every game he's been able to attend - he missed three because of a trip to the Cleveland Clinic for heart trouble - and he's attended practices to make sure he gets a good grasp of what Bruney and the coaches are trying to do in a given week.
''He gives me the opportunity and I relish it,'' Billiard said. ''It's the same prayer I have said to every football team I ever coached.''
After Bruney was ejected against Musselman and was forced to sit out the first playoff game, Billiard stood on the sideline and helped out any way he could.
''It was a thrill being around the kids,'' he said. ''You're not going to replace Tom. We were just trying to keep the boat floating the way he wanted. That's the mark of a great coach. His planning, organization, and structure, prior to that situation, got us through that situation.
''The kids understood and went about it very businesslike.''
Throughout all of this, the admiration has turned onto a two-way street. Billiard credits Bruney for being an outstanding role model.
''They say he's a football man - Xs and Os. That's incorrect,'' Billiard said. ''He's making good citizens. What he has done, he's taken kids that are craving what he was selling. He's a good salesman at what he's selling, and they bought in.
''He thinks a lot like me. Regardless of what's going on in outside world, that's the outside world. They're focused on Brooke football.''
Believe it or not, seeing the way the kids respond to their new head coach has been as much a healer for Billiard's heart as the medication he picked up in Cleveland.
''I know the abilities of many of them,'' Billiard said. ''Seeing them look at Tommy with so much respect, it chokes me up. I love to realize the respect they have for this coach.''
Billiard once said, at Brooke the players used to run through walls if you'd ask them. Toward the end of his career, he said, they asked where the door was?
''These kids just need to be pointed to where to the wall is,'' he said of the current bunch. ''They're the kind of kids that are hand smackers. There's a lot of caring for one another, which is what teammness is all about. They have good focus, and they're maintaining that. It's a proud bunch of guys to be around. That's the mark of a winner.
''They have all the ingredients.''
Boy, does that remind you of anything?
''It's kinda strange,'' Billiard said. ''They have a good quarterback. When we won it, we had good athletes at the quarterback position. They're playing good defense. And we played good defense. They have an ability to put points on the board far greater than us. Their philosophy is different. This bunch will use the pass to set up the run. We were the opposite way.
''They've got the kids to make it happen, and just like we did, they're playing together.''
Billiard can take any of the current players and plug in a name of a guy he reminds him of from yesteryear, despite his favoring of an option offense that produced so many big plays under his watch.
Billiard has always said Jeff Sweitzer was the best to ever play for him, and it's unlikely he'll get any arguments from anyone who saw Sweitzer's exploits down behind Wellsburg Middle. Still, the coach sure likes what he's seen from current Brooke QB Cotey Wallace.
''This kid's got so many of (Sweitzer's) abilities,'' Billiard said. ''I'd like to have seen Jeff with Tom's offense. I'd also liked to have seen Cotey in our offense.''
He started to name a few others but stopped himself because he had so many good ones, he felt it unfair to leave someone out. And what kind of thanks would that be? He received so many well wishes during his stay in Cleveland from ex-players, it's impossible to measure what they meant to him.
Having said all of this, what does Billiard think of this game?
''The way I look at this game, if you get to the finals and you're 13-0, you have to be good enough to win it,'' Billiard said. ''They've played some pretty good teams along the line. When you get here, it all becomes a question mark. There are usually a lot of surprises in the playoffs. When 1 and 2 is there, there weren't a lot of surprises.
''How many times is there that much of a difference between 1 and 2? Not a whole lot.''
No. That's not an answer.
But it won't be tough to figure out who he'll be rooting for. After kickoff, just look up in the stands at the man sitting next to Carrol Billiard. He'll be wearing an old Brooke toboggan, rooting on not only the Bruins as a team, but specifically, his grandson Kyle Wales. And, of course, his new friend Tom, a man who restored the pride Billiard created.
