The Cradle of Coaches, a feature-length documentary two years in the making, is about ready for Miami University fans — and the nation — to see finally.
Clips from the film directed by Scott Thompson will be shown at an invitation-only preview party Tuesday night Aug. 4 in Cincinnati. A distribution agreement and premiere date are expected to be announced that night.
For two years, staffers at RESLV (“resolve”), an Evanston video production and digital marketing company, have gone coast to coast to interview people connected to the famous Miami University football legends, some of whom have been enshrined with life-size bronze statutes at Yager Stadium.
New York Giants football coach John Harbaugh and Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, the only living members of the 11 bronzed Cradles of Coaches, sat down for extensive conversations with producer Jesy Herron. [Full disclosure: Jesy Herron is my niece.]
Among the 84 people interviewed were former Miami and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger; ESPN anchor Chris Berman; Super Bowl XLIV coach and former Miami assistant Sean Payton; and current Miami head coach Chuck Martin.
Producers also recorded interviews with Bob Trumpy and College Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz before their deaths in the past year. Trumpy, an NBC Sports announcer and an original member of the Cincinnati Bengals, played for Paul Brown, a Miami quarterback and 1930 graduate. Holtz was on Woody Hayes’ Ohio State University staff in 1968 when the Buckeyes went undefeated. Hayes coached at Miami in 1949-50 before going to OSU.
The Cradle of Coaches Plaza at Yager Stadium, dedicated in 2010, features bronze statues of 11 Miami coaches: Harbaugh, McVay, Brown; Earl “Red” Blaik; Cam Cozza; Paul Dietzel; Wilbur Charles “Weeb” Eubank; Ara Parseghian; John Pont; Glenn “Bo” Schembechler; and Thomas Van Voorhis. (Hayes and Payton have not be honored with statues because they’re not Miami graduates.)
The Cradle of Coaches features comments from players and coaches who trace their significant mentors to the Oxford campus.
For example, Bengals coach Zac Taylor was hired from the University of Cincinnati, where he was offensive coordinator, by McVay for the Rams. While in Los Angeles for McVay, producers also talked to his two assistant coaches who played at Miami: Chris Shula, grandson of NFL Hall of Famer Don Shula and son of former Bengals head coach David Shula, and linebackers coach Joe Coniglio. They talk about how they met at Miami 20 years ago.
Paul Brown’s football innovations are discussed by his son, Bengals owner Mike Brown, retired quarterback Ken Anderson; broadcaster and former Bengals defensive back Solomon Wilcots; and Trumpy.
Miami University Hall of Famer Joe Galat — who lettered in football and wrestling (1959-61) — talks about coaching under Schembechler, Cozza and McVay before working for the NFL’s New York Giants and Houston Oilers, and the Montreal Concordes of the Canadian Football League.
Pittsburgh Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi began his coaching career at Miami in 1990, where his father Bill Narduzzi played in 1957-58.
Bob Kurz, a 1958 Miami graduate and former sports information director, is credited with coining the “Cradle of Coaches” phrase in 1959 when he was impressed with the success of alumni Brown, Ewbank, Dietzel and former Miami coach Sid Gillman.
As I wrote last year, my favorite line in the film’s trailer comes from Roethlisberger: “I would tell guys I went to the real Miami, and they’d be like, ‘Oh yeah.’ And I’d say, ‘We were a school before Florida became a state. Like, how do you argue that?’ ”
Miami University opened in 1809, six years after Ohio became a state. Florida was granted statehood in 1845.
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