Shortly after arriving at the University of Texas, Major Applewhite understood his playing days were limited. Though the quarterback would rewrite the Longhorn record book in only three seasons, Applewhite always knew his lean 6-foot-205-pound frame was too small for the NFL.

Thus, his senior season in 2001 was supposed to be the coronation of his football career. He would be hailed as king of the first Texas team to win a national championship since 1969.

But as college football nation knows, he wasn’t invited to the ceremony. Texas head coach Mack Brown instead elected a young prince to the throne. Junior Chris Simms enjoyed a prototypical frame at 6 feet, 4 inches, 220 pounds and, perhaps most significantly, prototypical genes – his father Phil was an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and Super Bowl MVP with the New York Giants.

Simms played exceptionally, steering the Longhorns to a 10-1 regular season record and to the doorstep of a national title. Applewhite threw a meager 21 passes in those 11 games. Today, not a wrinkle can be found on Applewhite’s boyish face, but the pain clearly exists in his brown eyes. He is certain he could have done just as well, if not better.

‘The toughest thing about it was I couldn’t come to grips with it,’ Applewhite said. ‘I couldn’t reason it out in my mind. It was very difficult. I didn’t agree with it. I don’t think I ever will.’

That sorrow, and the sympathy it still generates, makes SU’s first-year quarterbacks coach one of the most recognizable coaches in college football at only 27 years old. While he knows his identity will in some way be forever linked to Simms, Applewhite is determined to establish a new identity in the field he’s always wanted – coaching.

It will take years. College football fans could never escape the seemingly endless quarterback controversy in Austin, Texas – which began during Applewhite’s junior year when he and Simms split time – and can’t even escape today. During ESPN2’s telecast of the Syracuse-Virginia game Saturday, cameras continually zoomed in on the former Texas star, prompting color commentator David Norrie to endorse Applewhite for a competition four years dead.

But it could happen. Applewhite covered his height and talent disadvantage with a work ethic like that of a coach.

‘He wasn’t the most gifted player,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘But he had to be the most fundamental quarterback. Those are the type of players I think make the best coaches.’

He signed with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2002, but described his stint in the NFL as ‘a cup of coffee.’ He quit Patriots camp after four days not only because the ax was inevitable, but his desire was gone. Growing up in the college football-mad South – specifically Baton Rouge, La. – and playing in the Big XII left him craving the fight songs, student sections, tailgating and tradition-laced atmosphere.

‘People don’t understand I felt I had accomplished all I wanted as a player in football,’ Applewhite said.

That Brown eschewed awkward personal relations and hired Applewhite as an offensive graduate assistant in 2003 was a testament to Applewhite’s potential as a coach. Potential quickly proved itself in 2004 when Applewhite psyched the Longhorn scout team, his responsibility, into believing it could defeat the first-team defense. Made of scrubs, the scout team helps the defense prepare by running plays of the upcoming opponent.

‘He was out to get us every day,’ said Robinson, the defensive coordinator at Texas last year. ‘He would coach them all up. I loved the way he was putting fire into the scout team.’

Applewhite’s eyes sparkled when reliving how Texas’ defense yielded just 12 points to Oklahoma last year after allowing 65 the year before. While the Sooners defeated the Longhorns 12-0 in what would be Texas’ only loss, Applewhite accomplished his job.

Considering Texas employed many assistant coaches worthy of higher positions during his two years as a graduate assistant, Applewhite knew he was interviewing for a real coaching position all along. When Robinson accepted the head coaching job at Syracuse in early January, Robinson hired Applewhite as quarterbacks coach immediately.

There may not be a quarterbacks coach in the country with a challenge as tough as Applewhite’s. He must convert SU starter Perry Patterson from an option quarterback to a dropback passer in new offensive coordinator Brian Pariani’s West Coast Offense. Applewhite played in a West Coast system at Texas and knows its precision passes are difficult to master.

‘He’ll tell me about games where he made six turnovers and how after the game they’d call him ‘apple turnover,” Patterson said. ‘He helps me keep that fire.’

The offense has struggled so far this season, but it started to click in the second half of SU’s 27-24 loss to Virginia on Saturday. Patterson finished 17-of-26 for 172 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran for two scores. But it is far too early to evaluate SU’s new offense.

There are no signs of a quarterback controversy at SU, but regardless of whether Patterson shines, struggles or suffers an injury in the upcoming weeks, there is no better coach to motivate backups Joe Fields and Matt Hale.

‘You don’t have to accept it,’ Applewhite said of being a backup. ‘If you accept it, you’re giving up. I didn’t understand it when it happened to me. Looking back, I think it was good I didn’t understand it.’

But Fields and Hale offer a different situation. Applewhite held so many Texas records, and though he said all the right things publicly, he was torn in the locker room.

‘When you’re that young, you can’t come to grips emotionally so you isolate yourself from your teammates,’ Applewhite said. ‘So my junior and senior years, I felt it was no longer my team. I lost a lot of good relationships and friendships.’

Ultimately, though, he was ready when called upon. That’s why it’s important to return to his playing days and the one game everyone remembers to understand the mentality he will have as a coach.

When Simms played poorly in Texas’ loss to Colorado in the 2001 Big XII championship game, throwing four interceptions and costing the Longhorns a shot at the national title, Brown picked Applewhite to start the Holiday Bowl against Washington.

Applewhite played inconsistently for much of the game, throwing three interceptions as Texas fell behind, 36-20, after three quarters. But Brown stuck with his gritty senior, and Applewhite cemented his place in Longhorn lore by engineering five fourth quarter scores – four of them touchdowns, the last with 38 seconds left – as Texas came back to win, 47-43. For the game, Applewhite threw four touchdowns and a career-high 473 yards.

‘That goes back to not accepting it,’ Applewhite said. ‘What if I said, ‘Yeah, you’re right, Chris is better, I’m just going to be prepared to do mop-up duty.’ I don’t think we would have won. I think they would have had an unprepared quarterback.’

Though Texas didn’t win the national championship, Applewhite proudly noted the Longhorns won 11 games in a season for the first time in 15 years.

‘For me going out as a senior, that was the main thing,’ he said. ‘I wanted to do something that Texas hadn’t seen in a long time. It wasn’t to prove the critics wrong.’

Now, as quarterbacks coach at Syracuse, he wants SU to accomplish something it hasn’t in a while, namely return to glory with a successful quarterback.

While he wouldn’t speculate on his future, Applewhite admitted coaching is a ‘nomadic’ lifestyle. Already talented at 27 years old, he should move up in the coaching ranks in the future. Though he might never shake the Simms name, it’s coaching, not playing, that Applewhite thinks can still shape his identity.

Dale Weiner, Applewhite’s coach at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, La., knew that before anyone else.

‘As far as knowledge and desire, Major was more advanced than anybody I’ve coached,’ Weiner said. ‘He would ask questions nobody else would ask about reading defenses. He would toy with defenses – call false signals – and nobody does that in high school. He’s definitely a student of the game. That’s why I thought he would always be so effective as a coach.’

Published on September 19, 2005 at 12:00 pm