As college football shifts to a playoff system, the tradition surrounding the Coaches' Trophy is history. No longer will coaches hoist the sport's most coveted prize right after the title game.
Phil Fulmer didn’t know what to do. The Tennessee head coach stood on a podium having just won the first Bowl Championship Series national championship game in 1999.
He held the Fiesta Bowl trophy for all of 10 seconds and answered a few questions before gazing at another trophy on the podium, the American Football Coaches Association Coaches’ Trophy — the Waterford Crystal football.
“I don’t think anybody really expected anyone to pick it up,” said Fulmer, now a special assistant to the athletic director at East Tennessee State. “But I did. I raised it above my head and got a big roar out of our crowd and our players.
“They had another trophy there and tried to hand it to me, but I didn’t think it was as significant as the crystal ball.”
A tradition was born.
Since 1999, the winner of the BCS national championship game has received the AFCA Coaches’ Trophy in an on-field ceremony after the game. However, with the new College Football Playoff system being introduced this year, the AFCA Coaches’ Trophy will no longer be hoisted during the on-field celebration — ending what has become a symbolic image of college football.
“The reason for a new trophy is simple,” said Bill Hancock, the College Football Playoff executive director, in an email. “The crystal football was a beautiful award for the BCS champion. With the playoff coming next year, we felt it was time for a new trophy — a clean break from the past.”
Now, just as it was done from 1986-98, the coaches’ trophy won’t be presented to the national champion until a few days after the title game in that team’s home stadium.
The trophy is the symbol of supremacy in college football. It is the emblem that every coach and every player ever wants to hold up and kiss.AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff
When Miami won the 1983 national championship, all head coach Howard Schnellenberger received was an upgrade to his office bathroom. Despite an enrollment spike that year of 13 percent in Coral Gables, Fla., UM administration still believed athletics and education had no correlation.
Patrick Gerrits, a Miami businessman who started Gerrits Construction in 1954, believed otherwise, so he presented an idea to his friend Schnellenberger.
“My dad’s theme was, ‘Athletics giving back to academics,’” said David Gerrits, Patrick Gerrits’ son. Patrick Gerrits died four years ago.
Schnellenberger agreed, and the two took the trophy concept to Tiffany & Co., which designed the now-well-known Waterford Crystal football. Patrick Gerrits and Schnellenberger took the design to Bobby Bowden at Florida State, who got his good friend Lou Holtz at Notre Dame to join in. Soon, Georgia Tech and East Carolina were in as well.
United Press International — the main competitor of The Associated Press ranking — agreed to present the Gerrits Foundation trophy, in association with the AFCA, to its national champion.
The breakthrough moment came after Penn State won the national championship in 1986. After head coach Joe Paterno saw the trophy at a celebratory banquet, he invited Patrick Gerrits and the trophy to ride in a car with him during the victory parade.
“It was cold, so my dad bought us these Burberry jackets,” David Gerrits said. “We were walking behind the car and these kids go, ‘Hey, are you guys Secret Service guarding that thing?’ And we look at each other and go, ‘Yeah, we are!’”
The Gerrits Foundation owned the trophy for eight years. The AFCA became part of the new BCS national championship configuration in 1998, and the crystal football began to be awarded after the BCS title game.
“It’s a beautiful trophy,” Fulmer said. “(But) the fact that it represents the coaches makes it special.”
No one has spent more time with the coaches’ trophy than Charley Green and Ray Mallouk, its former managers.
The two traveled roughly 20,000 miles with it every year, staging the Waterford Crystal football at events from Washington and Oregon to Florida and Massachusetts.
We realized early on that what we were doing wasn't just some routine job. A lot of people make jokes, 'Can we throw the trophy?' or ask if we take it out to bars. That's fine to be joked about, but for us we took it very seriously. We knew we were protecting an item that was coveted by every player, coach and fan in college football.Charley Green
Green, Mallouk and the trophy flew commercial from its home base in Dallas to appearances and games around the country. The two discovered that, unlike hockey’s Stanley Cup, they didn’t need to wear white gloves when handling it. The Waterford Crystal was of such quality.
From Fulmer at Tennessee to Bowden’s successor Jimbo Fisher and Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, the coaches’ trophy became what the AFCA calls the “symbol of supremacy” in college football.
“It didn’t look like Jameis Winston wanted to give it up,” Teaff said. “He held on tight and hugged it. It was a great sight to see the joy on his face.”
But now, Green and Mallouk will travel with the College Football Playoff trophy, while two new managers will oversee the coaches’ trophy.
One new college tradition may emerge, but another one has been laid to rest.
“We’re kind of sad to see it change,” David Gerrits said. “We had a good run with it. It’s been fun.”
See all stories in the 2014 Syracuse Football Guide →
In The Daily Orange’s 2014 Football Guide story, “New Hardware” Charlie Green’s name was misspelled. The Daily Orange regrets this error.
