Bell Has Opportunity To Rebuild JU Program
Published: Jul 30, 2007
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TAMPA - Kerwin Bell had his own Billy Donovan moment in January.
As Bell drove home to Mayo after meeting Jacksonville University athletic director Alan Verlander in Gainesville to sign a contract to become the second football coach in the school's history, a feeling washed over the former Florida quarterback. He wondered if he'd made a mistake leaving Ocala Trinity Catholic, the high school program he'd built from scratch, to take over a Division I-AA program that doesn't offer scholarships.
"I just felt a sickness in my stomach," Bell said Sunday at the Florida Sports Writers Association media days. "I knew I was excited about Jacksonville University but when you put so much time, when you invest so much of your energy and your life into a program. … It hit me that day when I drove away. Did I really make the right decision? Should I have not done that?"
Unlike Donovan, the Florida basketball coach who spent one day in June as the Orlando Magic's coach before changing his mind and returning to Gainesville, Bell didn't talk himself out of the job. Instead, he convinced himself he couldn't pass up the opportunity Jacksonville offered.
And just as he did when he told a ragtag group of ninth-graders at Trinity Catholic that they eventually would compete for the state title (they won it as seniors in 2005), Bell, 42, provided the Dolphins with a short list of expectations. He expects them to compete for a Pioneer Football League title. Anything less, he said, is a failure.
"Somebody said, 'Why don't you just try to be the best program that's ever been here?' Who cares? That's too complicated," said Bell, who left Florida in 1987 as the school's all-time leading passer. "I'm a country boy from a farm in Mayo, Florida. I like to keep things simple."
Florida coach Urban Meyer appreciated the difficulty of Bell's choice. Meyer said the decision to enter college coaching turns a man into a "vagabond," but Meyer believes Bell will succeed at the college level.
"No. 1, he's got a great work ethic," Meyer said. "No. 2, he's very intelligent. No. 3, we've talked football many times. He doesn't have to do that. He's got a great mind. He's always willing to talk football and study the game."
The man nicknamed "The Throwin' Mayoan" inherited a program with an all-time record of 36-55 and only one winning season in its nine-year history. He immediately began the overhaul, starting with the way the Dolphins recruit.
In the past, Jacksonville waited until after National Signing Day and picked players who didn't sign scholarships. Bell went head-to-head with scholarship programs, working with JU's financial aid office to assemble packages that could help defray the $30,000-plus annual tuition.
Bell lost most of those battles, but the reputation he built at Trinity Catholic made players and their parents stop and think. He believes success this season will help him win similar players next year. He also has used his Florida connections and the skills he learned as Trinity Catholic's chief fundraiser to build a donor base. He hopes to raise enough money to build a new stadium and to eventually offer scholarships.
The man whose team lost to Bell's Gators three out of four times thinks Bell can do all he has promised and more.
"I just can't see Kerwin Bell not doing good," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Sunday. "He's got that great personality. … If they'll give him what he's got to have, he'll succeed. He'll move up in the [coaching] ranks if he keeps working at it."
Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.
