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Hello, and welcome to Bob Spoo's legacy at EIU, 50 years coaching football.

The last 25 of those years was here at Eastern Illinois University for Bob Spoo.

Here at O'Brien Field, in Charleston, Illinois, countless players and coaches went to battle on this field, under the leadership of Bob Spoo.

As we embark on this program, I like to share the definition of the word legacy.

Several books and websites say a legacy is something that is handed or passed down to someone.

So what is Bob Spoo's legacy at EIU?

You will find out from family, colleagues at EIU, past assistant coaches and players, what Bob Spoo meant to them, EIU and Charleston.

We'll kick off this program on how Bob Spoo got to EIU, and was the choice to lead the Panthers, going into the 1987 season.

Katie: I think, as a family, we were always just so happy and so grateful for the community that Eastern gave us, and the home that Eastern gave us.

And it's always going to have a place in my heart.

This will always be home to me, no matter where I end, but I'm just very proud of him.

I'm proud of what he accomplished during his coaching career, and his playing career, even.

Football changed me.

It made me who I am today.

It's one thing to say, you're a fan of a sport, but to actually have it be part of you is different.

And that's what he gave me.

Dave: Well, as I think we know, from a coaching standpoint, they say, "Defense wins championships, but everybody else loves offense."

So the athletic director at the time was looking for somebody with an offensive background.

Of course, Purdue had great success and fame with their quarterbacks, and Bob had been the coordinator there.

Three guys that played in the NFL, their names might not mean much now, Scott Campbell, Mark Herrman, and Jim Everett, I think, people would remember, Bob tutored them.

So he had a great history there, and obviously that stuck out, and that's how he got here.

He was always looking for and somebody that they thought would move the ball down the field.

Bob: The things that appealed to me about Eastern Illinois was the overwhelming support and warmth and cooperation that I felt throughout the interview.

I just think, in order to go through two coaches that have both been successful, is a true indication of the commitment they made by a university, and it starts all from the top down.

Katie: In Charleston, probably my earliest memories were of a media day, that first season in the spring.

I always loved media days, anyway, because I got to come out and run around on the field.

But all the players were out given their interviews, and watching the pictures all up in the stands, with lining all the players up, I think I had a little football with me, and my little Eastern hat, and he let me wear his whistle.

Definitely, the media day was probably my first Charleston memory.

Dino: In 1987.

Bob Spoo gave me my first full-time job, okay?

I was coming off of a Rose Bowl win with Arizona state.

We beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

Some quarterback by the name of Harbaugh was their starter, okay?

Bob hadn't physically seen me.

The offensive coordinator, Kip Cartwright, went to the convention.

He interviewed a whole bunch of guys, and his wife said that I was the best.

I think he did what his wife, Dawn Cartwright, told him to do.

He recommended me to Bob, and Bob hired me.

I got in a car with a U-Haul, and was driving my stuff to Charleston, Illinois, where I had never been before, and went up through the mountains of New Mexico, and had ran off into a ditch into a ravine, because I had never driven in snow before, and it was snowing up in the mountains and got snowed in for three days in a town called Quemado, New Mexico.

Every day I talked to Bob Spoo on a public phone, outside in the weather, because they didn't have phones and cell phones and all that stuff.

On the third day, Bob Spoo said, "This is enough of this.

You drive back down to Phoenix.

You fly out of Phoenix, I'll pay for it."

I was the first coach that Bob Spoo probably had ever flown in after he hired officially.

Because I guarantee you, everybody else drove in, in 1987.

They didn't fly into Charleston, Illinois.

I love those times.

I learned so much from Bob Spoo, and being at EIU.

The first person I met as a full-time coach came and shook my hand with some quarterback by the name of Sean Payton, who wanted to come meet the new coaches before he went up to the Chicago Bears and became the scab quarterback during the strike.

But the first person I ever shook, hand I ever shook as a full-time coach, was Sean Payton's.

So yeah, I love that place, and that'll never change.

Dave: When he got here, there was no more Sean Payton at quarterback, so he struggled a couple years to get it going.

Of course, the culture under Bob's beliefs team first, all the way around.

But yeah, he had some great assistants, Brock Spack, now the head coach at Illinois State.

Mike DeBord eventually became the head coach at Central Michigan, had a great career in the NFL.

Kit Cartwright bounced around to a number of big schools, and was head coach at Butler.

John Smith stayed here a number of years as defensive coordinator, and John deserves a lot of credit, because our defenses was very, very good under his skills as a coordinator.

So yeah, Bob deserves a lot of credit.

But he'd be the first to tell you if he was here today, that the assistants, couldn't do it without them.

Matt: The biggest thing with Bob is the people he brought here as coaches, and you even think about, he sewed the seeds of his own succession 25 years before the fact, when he brought Dino Babers in, okay, and some of the other people.

And clearly the Wittkes, who, again, we go back to the loyalty factor.

And it was Spoo and Wittke working in tandem for years.

Katie: A lot of kids that grow up in football programs, whether it be college or high school, or even in the pros, they don't get to know their parents very well.

Because their dads are always on the road, or they're always with the team.

Especially once we came to Eastern, his big priority was always family, so he walked me to my first day at kindergarten.

He would come home from practices and read to me every night.

Matt: The Spoo world was the family, and the two parent Spoos were 110% behind Katie in everything.

Katie: He was also my first coach.

So he taught me swim lessons, from when I was three or four months old, all the way up until starting me in softball.

He took me to my first swim lessons, and he's a terrible swimmer.

My mom would always joke about that, that he would get in the water and sink like a stone.

But he took me to my first swim classes when I was a baby where, the water was only this high on him, and he could kind of guide me along, but it did develop a very strong influence of the water with me.

As a kid, I did swim lessons, and then I was on the swim team here in Charleston.

As an adult, he supported me in everything that I did, as far as going through vet school, and then moving to Rockford after I got my first job.

Matt: So three, probably, main things.

One, we were parishioners in the Charleston Catholic Community, so Bob attended church up at St. Charles Borromeo, but just as equally at the Newman Catholic Center, here on campus.

Number two, lived in the same neighborhood, and Bob Spoo was a neighborhood guy, just a run of the mill, very few pretenses, neighborhood fellow.

They lived in a ranch house across from Carl Sandberg for the first 15 years of their time here.

And I lived around the corner, and Roy Wittke lived down the street for me.

So we would always see each other walking, or around, and in the same locale.

Number three, I had the additional tick box of, I was a South Side Chicago guy.

So I could talk the same language, knew the same locales and the landmarks, and we knew we were part of the same tribe, although some 20 years apart in age.

Between the three, that allowed for a lot of socialization, which Bob didn't do a lot of.

Ray: In one word, incredible.

A Lot of fun, and I came in at a good time too, because when I came in there, we had guys who were just natural born leaders, guys like John Jurkovic.

We had Eric Arnold, the quarterback, we had Tim Lance back there.

We had an offensive line that included guys like Brad Fichtel, who went on to play in the NFL, so just a lot of quality players on there.

I didn't come in saying, "Okay, if I don't start right away," because I came in, I was a transfer from a junior college, and I was bound and determined to try to win a spot on that team, whether it was the backup kicker, whether it was doing kickoffs.

Everything just kind of fell into place, everything fell into place, and wound up winning the starting job.

Being able to play so close to home too, my hometown, Decatur, Illinois, I was only an hour away, so the parents could come and see me.

The Panthers did great that year.

We were just a well-oiled machine, as I liked to call it.

And we shocked a lot of people, and did a lot of damage, and had a lot of fun in the process.

Dave: Eric Arnold was a quarterback.

Eric had a strong arm, he was about 6'4", 6'5".

He could see the field.

A play that sticks in my mind, that we'd fooled people two or three times that year, and I never figured it out.

We'd open it with a flee flicker that would go 50 to 60 yards for a touchdown on the first play.

I never figured out how the opposing defenses are not seen now.

Maybe they didn't get the film of that game, but that sticks in my mind, that we would shock people right from the start.

Between the Eric's passing and that good defense, we got to the second round of the playoffs that year.

Ray: Of course, this happened before I got there, but had Eric Arnold not blown out his knee and suffered a knee injury during his playing days, we might be hearing talk of Eric Arnold that went on to the pros.

He was phenomenal, had a strong arm, one of I've ever seen.

Matter of fact, Eric lives here in Atlanta.

So I try to stay in touch with him occasionally, and just try to keep those lines of communication open.

But he was just, again, he was one of those natural born leaders that I talked about, could pick apart a defense, could read a defense for somebody, at that level.

And he was just was phenomenal, again, let us all the way to the quarterfinals.

Nobody expected us to make the playoffs, let alone get all the way deep in the quarterfinals.

Came within six points of moving on to the semi-finals.

I remember each and every field goal at Idaho.

I think it was a field goal that came in the third quarter, after I missed one.

Then, when we went to Montana the second week in the frigid temperatures, the original ... Well, not the original, of course, Green Bay is, but the frozen tundra of Missoula, Montana.

I think it was four below zero, something like that.

Wind chill factor that day, I think, 14 above, but about four below zero wind chill factor, frozen field, was fortunate enough to kick a field goal that day, as well.

I was personally recruited by Darrell Hazel, he was running backs coach at the time at EIU, and special teams coach.

He went on to coach at Ohio State.

Then he took over, he was the head coach at Purdue.

So you've got guys like him, that blazed the recruiting trail.

You've got guys like Brock Spack, Coach Spack up at Illinois State who, when I was there, was my special teams and kicking coach, and again, just strong leaders.

They took boys and made men out of us.

One of the things that I look back upon too, is, he stressed academics.

One way he did that is, and I don't know if it's still a policy today, you could not get a letterman's jacket, unless you had a 3.0 or above.

That was a huge motivator.

I wanted that letterman's jacket.

He was just a man of integrity, his character, his genuineness, and Coach Spoo had that ability to tell you what you needed to hear, not what you wanted to hear.

Him and I had a very, very good relationship.

He had a lot of faith and trust in me.

He saw something in me, and was willing to give me that shot, and he enabled me to live out my dream of playing Division I college football.

So I will forever be grateful with that.

Again, he just had this gentle off the field approach.

When he was on the field and in practice, look, he was a competitive as anybody, and wanted to win and expected a lot from his players.

If you messed up, he was going to let you know.

Chris: June of 1989, and I went to a camp that summer at the University of Illinois, and I met a guy named Brock Spack.

That started my relationship with Eastern Illinois University.

That led me to visiting campus in January of 1990.

I knew from the first time being on campus, and then, walking into the old O'Brien Stadium offices and seeing the differences, people on the wall, and meeting people, that Eastern Illinois university was the place for me.

It was an amazing experience.

I had lifelong relationships, I met lifelong friends, I got my education, I met my wife there.

I got my start in my coaching profession.

It was always about the relationships and the experiences that we had as teammates and members of the football family.

But it was an amazing, I guess, experience, to sum it all up, playing it, playing football at Eastern.

Roy: Integrity, humility.

He was a genuine man, who sincerely cared about the people that worked for him and the kids that he coached.

He was very demanding, he was very thorough, he was very detailed and expected you to be the same way.

And when I say, surprisingly demanding, he openly, both on the field, and maybe with the public, and so on, he didn't come across as a guy that was real demanding.

But he knew what he wanted.

There were certain things offensively, that he felt very, very strongly about.

And he expected us to feel the same way about him.

He was also a guy that, he lets you coach.

He was a head coach, that he had no ego.

He'd rather have the spotlight on other people, both players and staff wise.

Chris: Coach was like a second father to me.

I think his ability to genuinely care and connect with people was something special, and not just football players, anybody that he came in contact with, whether it was administrators, whether it was other coaches, whether it was parents, whether it was people in the community, and certainly, members of our football family.

But he always talked about certain things.

Accountability was big with Coach, but A&I is something that I remember him talking to the coaches about constantly or, or the players about constantly.

You'd hear him, "A&I, Roy," he'd be talking to Roy Wittke, our longtime offensive coordinator, and adjust and improvise, adapt and overcome, monitor and adjust.

To be honest with you, it's one of my core values of my program here at the University of Chicago, it's adaptability.

When I talk to the kids and the families and the prospects, it's about being able to adjust and improvise, adapt and overcome, monitor and adjust in any situation.

Willie: I actually remember the first time I seen Coach Spoo, was actually at one of my basketball games, high school.

Him and some of the coaches actually set behind our bench to one of our basketball games.

I still remember that like it was yesterday.

So I was always going to be grateful for him, for giving me the opportunity to come to Eastern and play football.

One thing I told coach Spoo, when I first got to school there was ...

I lived in Mattoon.

When I got to Eastern, there was a lot more on campus than I ever knew, even though I lived 10 miles away.

Being a student there, there's a lot more going on than you realize, just being someone from around there is passing through town.

Family or friends, people from high school, people I played against in high school from other surrounding towns, got a chance to come see me play and support me, so that made it a lot easier to transition.

So it made a lot more exciting for me.

So I got to play in front of people that I played in front of, for almost my whole life.

Tim: I didn't get any other, really, I didn't get any other offers.

For sure, no other Division I offers, and really, no other ...

I was either kind of here, or Division III, Simpson College, which is about 30 minutes south of Des Moines.

Those were my real options.

Coach was probably taking a risk with a 185-90-pound, six-foot linebacker from central Iowa that wasn't that fast, and whatever, but it all worked out.

And I know I'm not the only guy.

When Tony got inducted in the Hall of Fame, and we were spent some time with him that weekend and his buddies, and lot of them had that same story.

He saw somebody that he really felt like, "Hey, this is somebody that," and again, it's probably some of those things beyond just what we did on the field, that he saw, that he was willing to take that risk.

So thank goodness he did.

The one thing I would think about with Coach is how consistent he was, and how he just expected so much from us, from himself, from his coaches.

He had a very high character.

There was probably a time period where that became even more of a premium, in terms of guys that they recruited, and maybe sacrificed a little bit on somebody that maybe wasn't as big, tall or fast, people like me, but maybe that came from programs and embodied some of those same principles of living that Coach definitely embodied and lived.

When you get on the field, that was a great high level of intensity that came from him, that I think helped guys like me to know that, "Hey, that that's the expected level of that intensity and competitiveness."

Really, he embodied that.

He had core principles, "We're going to run the ball, we're going to be good in the special teams."

And all those things really held true.

Willie: He was very straightforward.

You knew where he stood, and you knew where you sit with him.

He was demanding, but he was fair.

That's all, I believe, as a player, you can ask from a coach is somebody's going to hold you accountable, pat you in the back when you do good, but also kick you in the butt when you're lacking, also.

But you always knew why, and what was trying to be accomplished at all times.

His coaching style fit my personality very well, because I was somebody who wanted to be pushed, who wanted to be coached hard.

We had, we had outstanding offensive lines when I was there, which makes your job much easier.

As you can see, no matter how great of a running back you think you are, if you don't have blocking for you, you're not going to have very much success.

I remember, we'd be in film session and he would always say, "Willie, you got to get there, you got to get there."

I used to just look at my running back coach, and say, Coach Garrison, I'd say, "Coach Garrison, you get Coach Spoo off me, I'm going to get there."

But it was one of those things.

He just reminded me what we were trying to do, and what we were trying to accomplish.

But it was one of those things that I always still laugh about now, today.

Tim: The turning the tide, and from a four years in a row of losing record.

Chris: My senior year, it was an interesting time during the program, and we had struggled during my playing career.

Dave: Within the staff, it was common knowledge, Bob was going to have to have a winning season.

We started out 2-5.

We lose at Western Illinois, the fifth loss, and I'm thinking, as they walk off the field, "That's it.

We're not going to win another game, or we're not going to get the six wins."

My understanding was, I was not in the locker room, and Chris Wilkerson gave a little pep talk that, "Guys, we aren't quitting."

Chris: Coach had, again, part of his transparency with players, recruits, administrators, he never wanted to mislead anybody.

He knew that if we didn't win more than we lost that year, that there was a good chance they weren't going to renew his contract.

This is in the fall of '94, and we're sitting there at 2-5, and we have only got 11 games.

So you got to win out.

And we're playing Indiana State University, and we're down 21-0, or 21-7, in the first quarter.

Lo and behold, we came back and won that football game.

We had to go on the road and play a tough Illinois State team the next week, and we had some off the field stuff that had come up.

And as a captain, I had to talk with Coach the morning before.

And he stood by his firm commitment and beliefs in doing things the right way, and we didn't take a player that we thought could help us win, even though he knew his possible career was on the line.

And we won that game, and we won the last two.

Tim: When we went out that next week, and we were playing at Illinois State, and we'd beat Indiana State, so we were 3-5, and we needed to win.

And Illinois State on the road was going to be really tough.

There's a downpour the night before the game, and we're in the hotel, and he's talking about, it's going to be a predicted dreary, kind of a day, the next day.

His message was, and I will never forget this .

.. And we all knew, if we lose that game, well, Coach is going to be on moving on.

But he said, "Regardless of what happens that game, the sun's going to come up on Sunday.

We're going to move on, and every one of us is going to take our next step."

So the fact that, just that he had that kind of a life perspective, that it wasn't all life or death, winning or losing.

But at the same time, it was more about who you are, and doing the right things.

That's one that I'll never forget.

He was good at evaluating.

He could be decisive, as well about, we needed to make it an adjustment or a change.

I think back to that year, there had been a quarterback change midway through that '94 season.

Dave: Bob put in Pete Mauch, who was a junior at the time, Pete's about 5'9", probably dripping wet, he was about 160.

He comes off the bench, moves the team down the field for a score.

We're still behind, but we catch up, and beat Indiana State, and go on a run and win the last four games, highly improbable, but an amazing rebound.

We go 6-5, Bob has a winning season.

Chris: You know, he got a one-year extension, and the next year we go 10-1 in the regular season, and win the old Gateway Conference Football Championship.

Dave: To this day, whenever I see Pete Mauch, and he comes back periodically, I tell Pete, "Pete, you saved Bob's job."

Now he shrugs.

But nonetheless, he was the spark that came off the bench, and I give him a lot of credit for.

He and Chris Wilkerson that held that team together and saved Coach's job that year.

Chris: It is a profession, and there are times when administrators may ask you to make tough choices, and make changes.

And Coach never once would succumb to that pressure.

He was going to do things the right way, with firm conviction and belief, and that's the stuff that I'll take with me forever.

I mean, just an outstanding man, an amazing football coach, but just, even a better person and man.

Tim: The next season, then it was, "Man, now you've got ..." Again, this goes back to Coach Spoo, recruiting and bringing on guys that were ... One of my favorite pictures, and it's a picture right up the middle.

You can see our center, quarterback, fullback and tailback, and it's the '95 season now.

Those guys are Chris Anderson, Pete Mauch, Chris Hicks, and Willie High, and all of them fifth year seniors, all of them in tremendous character, to high character, great men, and successful.

I think Chris is an orthopedic surgeon now, Pete's very successful in his sales business that he's been involved with, for many years.

Chris, of course, Hicks is on the board of trustees at EIU.

And Willie not only served in the military, but now is very successful in construction management.

Willie: The thing I remember by that team is how close we are, and we were.

Not only were we at practice together, but we was always hanging out with each other off the field too.

I think it started our freshman year when we got there, and it continued until, actually, today.

We're all still very close now.

I think that was the missing ingredient, or an ingredient that actually made us successful, is how close we were, and how we trusted each other.

Tim: When I go back to coaches, Clancy Barone, who's now the tight ends coach for the Bears, he had been brought on, I think, two years before that.

Clancy came in, and his connections to the West Coast, and the junior college, we have a whole bunch of great guys that became very successful guys, Travis Hunterberg and Terry Butler, Tom Hess, Bob Rosenstiel, I mean, guys that were also ... Chris Zarka, or John Moyer.

Some of these guys are Hall of Fame in Arena Football, or Canadian football, and it was because of Coach Spoo expanding his scope with his coaches, and bringing in Clancy.

To go out the way we did, we were glad that we went out on top, winning the conference title.

And that was a real highlight, so ... Chris: At the end of my senior year, Coach had approached me and said, "Hey, have you ever thought about coaching college football?"

And I said, "No, Coach.

I've already passed the state of Illinois examination, I've got reciprocity in Indiana.

I'm finishing my student teaching over at Mattoon Junior High School."

Anyway, he said, "Hey, why don't you come over the spring and try it?

I think you'd have a bright future as a college football coach."

Again, things happen for a reason.

I haven't done anything other than coach college football since graduation.

This is my twenty-seventh season, coaching at the college level.

I stayed on staff, obviously, in Charleston for seven years, immediately, starting with the fall of '95.

We had some amazing teams and some great times, six winning seasons in seven years, two conference championships in two different conferences, four NCAA playoff appearances.

It didn't hurt that Tony Romo was our quarterback those last four seasons that I was on staff at Charleston.

But my time there established my firm philosophical foundation of how to coach a football team, and how to build relationships with players.

So it was an amazing experience, and one that I'll never, ever, ever be able to repay Coach and his family for, those opportunities.

Ryan: Well, Rameen, for me, going that far away from home...

I grew up outside of Dallas, Texas, in a little town called Flower Mound, a suburb of Dallas.

Going away to Eastern that far away from home really forces you to grow up.

So I really think the foundation to who I am, it kind of starts, a lot of it at Eastern Illinois.

I met my wife there, she's from Charleston, she was a cheerleader at Eastern Illinois.

But then, a lot of the friendships that I still have today, a lot of my closest friends were guys on the football team, and students at Eastern Illinois, so, just a lot of fond memories.

For me, it's really neat to be back in the state of Illinois, where a lot of those where a lot of those friends now currently live.

Our tight ends coach here, Clancy Barone, was with me at Eastern Illinois.

He recruited me there, and now he's on our staff, so talk about a small world.

We were talking about Coach Spoo this morning, as I knew you and I were going to be talking Rameen, and I just think integrity, honesty, discipline are all traits that he had.

Coach Spoo, he had this big booming voice, right?

In front of the team, it could be a little intimidating, and he was very consistent.

He was always consistent.

But whenever you would be with him, oh, behind closed doors, or one on ones, he had the sweetest, kindest heart.

And I just remember that, the ability for him to be a little bit intimidating in front of the team, and maintain that discipline that was necessary, but one on one, and for me being that far away from home, and not really knowing anybody, almost like a father figure, in some ways.

There's probably not a week goes by, that I don't think of him.

It's something that's just naturally in me, from those impressionable years at Eastern Illinois.

There was a moment, I think it was in the off season, where I'd had a knee scope, and it was from a meniscus surgery.

So we were doing winter conditioning, and it was early in the morning, 5:30 in the morning.

It was the first time I'd really been hurt like that.

So the guys were out there doing their winter conditioning, and then I was off with the injured players, doing my rehab or whatever.

Coach Spoo called the team all up afterwards.

And I had already kind of felt bad, because I was hurt, and I was trying to come back from this injury, and he complimented the guys that were out there working hard, and he should have.

He kind of threw a shot at us that were over there being injured, and it bothered me, because I didn't like it.

I remember, I went to his office later that day, and I was nervous.

I went in there, and I knocked on his door, and I nervously went in there, and I said, "Coach, I know you know that's not me."

And I kind of want, "I don't want to be lumped in with those guys, you know what I mean?

You know that's not me."

He could have ripped my head off and told me to get out.

Instead, he let down his guard, and very compassionately, he said, "Ryan, I know that's not you, and I don't want you ..." And I don't know Rameen...

I mean, there was just a moment where, that's the human side of him.

He has this rough, rough, booming voice, but that's a moment where it was just him and I, one on one in his office.

I don't know, that's a story that comes to mind.

I just appreciated the way he handled that moment.

Chris: To be able to work side by side with him, you knew as a player that he cared about you.

But you really didn't have that great understanding, until you got behind the curtain and worked side by side with him, just how passionate he was about trying to help players be the best versions of themselves that they could be, help them ultimately reach their potential.

He was just an amazing man who impacted so many people, in so many different ways.

All the different guys that have gotten into, I think, coaching as the years have gone by, or who have wanted to continue to give back to the game that had given so much to us.

Ryan: I remember, Clancy and I were talking about this this morning, too.

There was a sign, I believe there was a sign somewhere in the office that Coach had up, and it said, "People make the difference."

And I think he understood that.

And it all starts with your culture.

And we had that here in Chicago.

But it's not just the players, it's the staff, it's the coaches, it's the support staff, it's the trainers, it's the strength coaches.

There was just really, really good people in that building, so it doesn't surprise me that a lot of them have gone on to have future success.

Because I think Coach Spoo had an eye for talent, not just the physical talent, but the type of person you are, and what you stand for.

There was a lot of really, really good people in that building.

And it started with him, and the example he set, who you brought in there.

Dave: No question, that you could see the future they were going to have.

Now, I don't think anybody's going to predict they're going to be a head coach at a college, and they're general manager of the Chicago Bears, but because of their character and their leadership, it was pretty obvious these guys were going to go on to great careers in whatever they chose.

So yeah, we had some good, strong quality people on those teams, and Tim Carver was another one, was a great, great defensive player, Willie High, carrying the ball, Willie's had great success since he's left here.

So there isn't any question why and how we had winning teams there in the mid- to late '90s ... Rameen: The nineties came to a close.

And what followed to start the beginning of the 2000 s was one of the most entertaining teams to dawn the blue and gray at EIU.

A quarterback from Wisconsin named Tony Romo would lead the Panthers to three consecutive postseason appearances from 2000 to 2002.

And the north end zone behind me is where Romo had his signature moment as a Panther in 2002.

Mike: Well, for me, Tony Romo would be number one because the first game I broadcast was Tony's first day as a full-time starter at Indiana state in the fall of 2000.

And I remember Eastern had not had a very good year the season before and Indiana state went right down the field and scored on a long drive to start the game.

We had seven nothing, and you're thinking, here we go again.

And then number 17, ran on the field and everything got better.

He had a terrific night and the Tony Romo era was underway and it was a lot of fun for those three years.

Dave: Tony was everything revolved around him, at least from the media publicity standpoint, the fan interest, his first game as a starter was the Indiana state.

And I think he completed like 15 out of 16 passes.

And I'm thinking to myself as I walk out, oh boy, what do we have here?

Because we had no idea how good Tony might be, unheralded coming in on a part scholarship, actually had more fame in Wisconsin playing basketball and he did football, but Roy Wittke saw something that he really liked in Tony, his competitive spirit and he did have a strong arm and boy took off for three straight years and how can you not say that Tony Romo is one of the all-time greats here, if not the all-time great.

Tony: Coach Wittke, Coach Spoo, these guys have great, they have a number one, they have a great work ethic.

They understand what it takes to be successful at whatever it is that you do.

So they instilled that in me pretty early on and I think, another area was their ability to motivate an individual and the ability to comprehend it to the individual, when I say that, I mean, basically the best teachers are the ones that can tell you something in four words where other people it takes 24.

So I was able to they're very good at when they wanted something done to get it across to you in a very short manner and quick manner that you were able to use quickly.

And I think that's something that is meaningful as a teacher as a coach.

Dave: Well, things look pretty bleak and without remembering the exact details, Tony moved us down the field with just, a few ticks left on the clock.

Roy: Coach was someone who had a tremendous amount of confidence in Tony and even though Tony, if you go back to it, I believe struggled a little bit earlier in the second half, in the third quarter, fourth quarter, there was never any doubt that we had what it took to win that game and finish it off.

I don't ever remember feeling any type of panic or concern.

Dave: He got us down to the 15 yard line, there was going to be one play left.

Nobody was open and Tony starts to scramble.

Now Tony could scramble, but his strength was not his speed and I think he ran about 30 yards east and west rather than north and south, but somehow he alluded the Eastern Kentucky tacklers dove into the end zone and hit the pilon on the last play of the game.

Unbelievable.

[NAT Sound] Tony: I can just remember the euphoria and the guys in the team run, everyone's sprinting down to the endzone and going crazy, getting the win and I think things like that's stand out when you look back on your career and when you look at the times that you really enjoyed and the reasons why you work as hard as you do.

Dave: And again, it was that Tony was not going to quit unless somebody brought him down and he reached that pilon before it happened.

So that was a great, great win.

Rob: How much does it mean to give COach Spoo this victory?

The way you guys came back and won?

Tony: It means everything, I mean, you can't have a ask for a better way to get his winning record.

And that's, I don't kind of loss for words right now.

It's a great feeling.

Bob: Well, I don't know it's just a great feeling to be able to come away after something like that when you, it's almost a lost cause that to be able to win it, like that is just a great feeling I'm just so happy with our guys.

I'm sure they're proud too Dave: That also gave him the most wins in school history coaching here.

So Bob loved to win.

It was never about him, but that one had to be a little bit special.

Matt: So we talk about homecoming 2002 with Tony Romo, taking the ball from the 25 yard line with less than a minute left.

It's Bob Spoo's hundredth win in his career here.

It's homecoming, and you already have a party atmosphere going, and everybody's going nuts.

Bob Spoo decides that how is going to celebrate this is to head to Mattoon after the game and have a spaghetti dinner with his wife and daughter and me, because I just happened to cross paths at the right place.

It was just a reflection of his simplicity of what was important and what was frivolous.

he's with family, he's with friends and he's enjoying an Italian dinner alone.

Didn't need anything else in life?

Dave: We had a really a good season that year I think we'd won about three in a row and after that we ripped off another three or four, I think we were eight and three going into the playoffs Rameen: After a pair of losing seasons in 2003 and 2004, Bob Spoo and the Panthers bounced back in the latter half of the decade with four of the next five seasons resulting in post-season appearances.

Mike Bradd: Those teams were a little more, I would say, defensive oriented, they didn't have a star quarterback so they had to have a little bit more depend on the defense and have the offense manage the game.

The defense was really strong though.

They played smart football they didn't turn it over they didn't beat themselves with penalties and they were very opportunistic and just kept on rolling there, even though they didn't have the all American quarterback anymore.

The special teams struggled for one year in there and then he fixed that the next year and the special teams went from poor to great and that really played to their style as well.

I think it really kind of hurt him to have a bad year in special teams.

This was in the middle two thousands and he brought in a special teams coach for the first time in his career, Jeff Choate who went on to be a head coach and a big time college assistant still active.

And Jeff did a great job and Bob fixes special teams that way.

Mike Lynch: He'd had so many great coaches there he had so many great people that he mentored and came through there and went on to do big things.

And I knew that when I got there so just for the fact that he gave me an opportunity to coach on his staff, meant the world to me and knowing what he had done and what he had accomplished I never took that for granted.

He was really really good about that, letting you coach letting you manage your position group and do what you needed to do, but then also he would come to you with constructive criticism in a way that that was really easy to take like he would sit back and observe and watch you.

And then he'd come back in with some critiques, after practice or when you guys getting ready, when we're getting ready to watch film, he'd have something to say and obviously when he did, it meant a lot.

He would interview three people for an open position, he'd bring guys in, we'd spend a day with them, he'd interview them all day, we'd be in there as a staff during the interview, you'd have lunch with them, we'd have dinner with them and he'd send them on their way and he hired some great coaches that way, just because he spent time there's a lot of guys out there who will hire their friends.

People that maybe work with, coach wanted to hire the best coach and he would do a thorough, thorough search every time there was a position on his staff.

Dave: I think when people were interviewing somebody coached for Bob Spoo they already recognized what kind of a person that had worked here, the experience they had the mentoring from Bob so they didn't have to check a background to know the type of person they were getting.

I'm guessing he never once talked a coach out of leaving.

If he thought it was a better situation for him and his family, he just recognized the situation that we were in here at Eastern.

He was going to get them, mentor them, and they were going to move on.

Mike Lynch: Mark Hutson left after the 2006 season I believe and went to Tulane.

And so we're looking for an o-line coach and coach put me, he wanted me to help lead that search for him.

And I mean we had a book full of resumes and him and I we went through them.

We called resources, excuse me, references.

And we did our diligence we brought three really good ones in and interviewed him and ended up hiring Jeff Hoover.

And he did a phenomenal job until his unfortunate passing, but that was was just the way he did it.

So I'm not surprised because he was always thorough with his searches and he brought in great coaches and great people too.

He didn't, he wasn't going to bring bad people onto the staff.

Roy: He had a very good eye for people.

And I think he hired outstanding people.

And that's where it started.

He wanted to hire the individuals on his staff that were good fathers, good family men and then you go back to his willingness to allow you to coach.

I think that also allowed individuals to grow and develop it.

Matthew Smiley: The biggest thing that I learned from him is to be confident in who you are, be yourself, and be honest with who you are and trying to do your best.

I never saw him put on airs around anybody.

I never saw him try to belittle anybody.

I never saw him try to use his position to leverage somebody, to get them to do something.

He was honest in who he was.

He was complimentary and the people around him and he was the same guy every day in and out of the building.

And that's a challenge for young coaches to do.

But I think to myself, using his example and how successful he was and saying, nope, it can be done the right way and you can keep the same principles with being humble and being loyal and still be able to be successful in this profession.

Bob: All right, right.

Let's go.

Let's go.

It's our time guys, lets go.

Mike Bradd: As I recall, Jacksonville state was ranked in the top 10 Eastern was in the teens.

Jacksonville state was definitely the favorite.

That was a year where they were not eligible to win the OVC championship because they had NCAA sanctions against them.

So they sort of were basically saying, well, we can't win the league, we're the best team and we're showing everybody that.

They had a transfer quarterback, Ryan Perrilloux, who was a really highly recruited kid out of high school, went to LSU everybody knew him.

And now he's at Jacksonville state, kind of the big man on campus.

Mike Lynch: Down there they had a lot of good athletes, a lot of transfers from power five schools.

And it was a great game and our whole deal was we had to keep that quarterback off the field.

We converted a fourth down to Danny Vehovic on a power pass and ended up scoring a touchdown.

Ran a fake PAT and then onside kicked it and recovered the onside and went down.

I believe we kicked a field goal, but it was, we kept, I don't think he touched the ball until the very end of the first quarter.

And that was huge, because he was a special player and we needed him to not be on the field.

Coach made a big emphasis of it that week.

Mike Bradd: Eastern were definite underdog went down there and had a game that everything just went right.

It was just a great game plan going in.

They intercepted a pass, they returned to kickoff for a touchdown.

A lot of things went right, but it was just a really smart game plan.

I think EIU felt like they needed to kind of steal a possession to win that game.

And they were able to do that.

Jake Christensen was, the quarterback, had a good day, the defense did just enough to win against a really strong Jacksonville State offense.

And that was a big win at the time because it kind of knocked Jacksonville State down a notch or two.

Mike Lynch: I remember he said the whole week, it's not the best team that always wins the game it's the team that plays the best on that particular day that wins the game.

And he said that the whole week and, and he kept saying, and he tried to get the guys going a little bit by saying, arguably Jacksonville State's the best team coming into this game.

And I mean, he, you know, he got the guys going, but he was so pumped in the locker room after that game, you could see the fire in his face, he was so excited cause he knew that was a huge win and it was.

It was a great win.

Players: Let's go.

That's what I'm talking about boys.

Have a good homecoming.

That's what I'm talking about boys.

Have a good homecoming.

[NAT Sound] Jake: We got that one.

Bob: Thanks.

They, they were arguably the best team in the OVC... [Applause] You did it men!

You did it!

It's a great win.

You did it, you did it!

It's a great win for Eastern Illinois... We're going to win the conference championship.

[Applause] Mike: The Garoppolo era, the team's record wasn't that good but you could see Jimmy Garoppolo was an up and coming talent, had a lot of upside to him and Bob did a great job handling him and his first couple of years at Eastern.

I always considered Bob to be a quarterback whisperer, he was really good at working with quarterbacks, picking the right one, mentoring them, helping them along, helping them grow.

There was a time when Jimmy Garoppolo was a freshman.

Jimmy wasn't playing very well and got pulled out of a game and it was really kind of questionable if Jimmy should still be the quarterback going forward or if he should maybe be replaced and I remember Monday of the next week, one of the first things Bob said was Jimmy Garoppolo is the starting quarterback.

He stood behind him and certainly that was the right choice.

PA Announcer: Please join Northwestern athletic director, Dr. Jim Phillips, and the Northwestern football program, and saluting Eastern Illinois Head Football Coach, Bob Spoo.

[Applause] Katie: It was just incredible, his tree of coaching, He's been coaching for so long and in so many different places and with coach turnaround and player turnaround and GA turnaround, it's just amazing how many people he had worked with and how many people he had influenced.

Just to think about, it's kind of like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, except for, with my dad.

He knew so many people and worked with so many people that almost everyone has a connection to Eastern because of him.

Mike Bradd: In a remarkable run we were just counting five EIU presidents, with Bob Spoo, five athletic directors, five US presidents, Reagan was the president when you were hired, there's no way in 87, you could begin to foresee a run like that.

Bob: No, I in fact, I remember with the, the interview process, we went out to dinner and Dave Kidwell was amongst that group and asked me if I, what my plans were for staying.

And I told him, I said, I think this is where I want to be able to finish up.

I had no idea that it would last this long though Mike, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity.

Been some remarkable players that I remember probably more than games.

Tim Carver comes to mind immediately.

A guy that I recruited out of Iowa, who nobody wanted, he wasn't the right size and yet became one of probably, I still think one of the best linebackers we've ever had here at, at Eastern Illinois.

Mike: Yeah leading tackler in school history.

Tim: Super humbling, I don't know what else to say.

I mean, I think maybe, I don't know, I know he took a big risk.

I know there, like I said, I was probably not a big, very popular decision in that coaching room to take on this guy from, central Iowa that nobody really knew and didn't really jump off the page probably to a lot of people.

And so the fact that it worked out the fact that we turned things around, I think all those things probably, and then just that, I think we hopefully embodied, I sure hope that I can come close to doing and embodying some of those qualities that Coach Spoo did in his time.

Anyway, it's super humbling and great people and I that is really a nice thing.

And I miss him a lot I'll be honest and say, we miss him.

Rameen: November 5th, 2011 here at O'Brien field in Charleston was Bob Spoo's final home game at Eastern Illinois.

The Panthers were unable to produce a victory in coach Spoo's final home game.

Following the game, a ceremony was held to honor Bob Spoo's 25 years at EIU.

Katie: It was, it was a very rough day for me personally, because I was very connected to Eastern and football in general.

So to have it be the end for my dad, but also the end for me it was very emotional.

I think I was crying for most of the time.

My dad was very stoic and he held it together, but it was difficult for my mom and I for sure.

Bob: Thank you very much, everyone.

25 years ago, I came to this great university and I want to thank this students, faculty and staff for your support all these years.

To the current and former players, many of them traveled great distances to be here, I thank you for your dedication.

I think our goal was once you entered here, you left a better person.

I hope that's the case, if so, we succeeded.

The current coaches and you know you got to so around yourself with some great people.

I thank my current coaches, my former coaches, for their loyalty and dedication in mentoring these young men.

To the Charleston community in general, again 25 years ago I never know I'd lasted, but you've helped me grow as a person.

Most of all, I want to thank my wife and daughter for their love, patience and sacrifice, all these years.

[applause] The opportunity to coach and live here in this community is something I'll never forget, I will always be a part of it.

I have no plans on going anywhere else.

I will dedicate whatever you'd want me to do and just to paraphrase, General Douglas MacArthur's speech to the joint house of Congress, "Old coaches never die, they just fade away".

[Applause] Mike Bradd: Very classy speech by Bob Spoo, What else would you expect?

William: You're leaving a university in better shape than when you came because of your effort.

Thank you very much.

You know, the fight song says we are loyal EIU, we are loyal and true.

No one is more loyal to EIU than you.

Thank you coach Spoo.

And so on behalf of a very grateful university, faculty, students and staff, thank you coach Spoo for 25 years of loyal service, excellence and the building of citizens of the future.

Thank you very much.

[Applause].

Dave: Thank you Dr. Perry.

Now, will everyone please direct their attention to the east side of the stadium and the Lantz Fieldhouse wall.

Being unveiled as a banner celebrating coach Spoo's 25 years of service to Eastern Illinois University and the coaching profession.

Dave: Boy 25 years at the same place that does not happen, rarely in college coaching, any level, really, but particularly in college coaching.

So yeah, very emotional turnout from all the players here to honor him.

So he went out with sincere thanks from all the players that returned.

[music playing] Dino: I had just got to a point where I really didn't think I was going to become a head coach.

And in my mind, I had to stopped chasing worldly dreams and just wanted to be spiritually the best person I could be, the best coach I could be and I was going to be comfortable in my own skin and I was just ready to be an assistant coach forever.

And when Bob Spoo decided to retire after 25 years, and I got the call from Barbara Burke and John B. Smith, if they were interested in me, the first person I called was Bob and I wanted to talk to him to see if how he would feel about something like that.

And the ironic thing is I can still remember when I rolled in 1987 and Bob and Sue was taking care of me because at the time I was still single and feeding me once a week.

I remember Bob was 50 years old he had to be 50 years old in 1987.

And then 2011, when I came in I was 50.

And when I took the job, I really believed, I said if I could stay here for 25 years, like Bob Spoo and retire at 75, I'd be a happy man.

It was big, I started with him and now I started my assistant coach journey with Bob Spoo was my first head coach.

And now I started my head coaching journey with Bob Spoo at that press conference and that embrace and that man means a lot to me and that program means a lot to me.

And I mean that sincere and it meant a lot and one of the things I did when I took the job that I told coach Spoo, I said you're going to be my reference, you're going to be, I said I need to have contact with you, this is not a thing where you go away and I can't talk to you.

I said, I'm not taking this job.

I said, I'm going to come to you with questions and I need you to be open.

And he was all those things for me.

My man.

Bob: Congratulations.

Dino: I was looking at that picture up in your office and Mark said, that was your favorite picture and I could never have it.

And I said, I want one of those pictures up in my office.

So either I want to duplicate or I want another one, right.

It's not going anywhere.

It's right behind me.

And I like the Panther, the big Panther up here.

I want to keep that they were trying to take it down.

Are you going to take that home?

[crosstalk] I know.

I love the Panther.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

If you put this guy next to me, you're going to get me to smile, I normally don't smile this much.

I normally keep it down, but I can't.

[crosstalk] I can't help myself too.

I can't help.

Thanks coach.

Thank you sir.

Mike Bradd: I think that was pretty fitting that kind of continued to lineage, now in a way, it wasn't because Dino had been gone quite a while and when Dino came back, it was a totally different style of play.

There's the snap, here comes the blitz.

Jimmy's going to throw it deep down the middle.

Lora's out there, got it!

And he's on his way... Garoppolo burns the blitz!

Touchdown Eastern Illinois!

But yet it was still kind of a link to Bob.

And so I hadn't thought about it very much, but yeah, looking back, it was kind of unusual, you would think that if it was going to be a one of his assistants, it would've been a active assistant who would've just moved up to head coach.

That didn't happen.

But yet they were still able to keep the connection by going back and of course Dino did a great job and it really worked out well.

Jimmy: Number one baby.

Matthew Smiley: There was a little thing that we had to sign in when we first got here and a little canvas that we wrote, the guys that coached for him the years we coached for and I just put underneath my name and the years I was here, that he changed my life.

The trajectory of my coaching career after being mentored by him was 180 degrees different than beforehand, everything that I get to do now and the fun things that I get to be a part of on Sunday afternoons in the NFL are a big part because I got the opportunity, I was fortunate enough, I was lucky enough to work for coach Spoo.

He saw something in me and hired me on the staff and that really did change my life.

Brian: Well, I think there's no doubt his influence on me is tremendous.

I mean, more, not necessarily about how to coach offensive line, but just how to, what kind of person to be, how hard you need to work.

Just, he was just such a selfless guy, it was all about other people and serving other people and being at this event today was really evident, if that's the case but coach Spoo gave me so many chances more than I deserved.

I mean, he really believed in us, he helped tremendously, at the end of his coaching career when I was his offensive line coach he told me that continue to grind and to keep working hard and I told him, I thought that he was the best football coach we had on our staff by far and I thought he did a great job of just really developing a culture here that was about doing things the right way.

And you knew that you were going to be loved, but we were going to do things the right way.

Matthew Smiley: Well Coach Wittke was up talking about coach Spoo it's so heartwarming to hear how many people coach Spoo influenced.

And there's a part of me as a coach that I love the profession I love the juice on game day but I want to be an influence to people too, but it's not something that happens overnight.

He was never just like coach Wittke said, he never told you what to do or what job to take and after I left his staff, I called him all the time, telling him about different opportunities I had and he was so humble in just talking me through the process, asking me what my wife thought about it.

And it really struck me listening to everybody today.

What he was able to accomplish was because he was so patient and so humble.

Adam: Well, this is a program built on the shoulders of giants, right?

When you, when you look at the names and the tradition of this place, Spoo to start with, but Payton, Romo, Jurkovic, all you could go for a while here.

And so when I got approached about the opportunity and I'm an Illinois in myself it's the right fit.

And you want to go to a place that has that strong football tradition that is, has the expectation of winning.

Guys that built a program, not just came in to win and, and get out of here, just truly built a program, do the right thing for young men over a long period of time, especially like coach Spoo did.

That's what I love about coaching football, is being able to do the same thing that coach Spoo did.

We talked to our guys all the time about a critical part of building a true program is connection.

It's connection player to player, player to coach, player to athletic trainer, everyone that touches the program, but also player to the tradition of here.

You have to, what, what I want and what we all as coaches want that are in this thing for the right reasons is that when they walk out of here that they've left the place better than they found it.

And they have tremendous pride and they want to come back and you can't have tremendous pride in EIU without knowing all of those incredible names, all those incredible people that were here before them.

Matt: Bob was, if something went by him and he didn't think it was important, just sort of go out the window, Susie picked up on everything.

She's the one who brought that back to ground zero.

The Tony Romo wedding, Tony is going to get married now and the Spoo s get an invite.

And Bob is like, because he wasn't a socializer.

He didn't like to be in crowds like that.

And what have you and he was ambivalent about it and Susie says, "pack a bag.

We're going to this, you are going to this and you will not miss up on this opportunity".

That was that dynamic.

Okay.

The two of them together were wonderful compliments for each other.

Tony: You kind of would joke once in a while just because anytime you have a head coach, you get to know the intricacies of his personality sometimes.

And they're always very tough in their own way.

And you know, we always would have one thing we'd do with some of my friends and we'd be like sitting there.

And it's funny because we were going to run a surprise on side one day and you know, Coach Spoo gets up there and he just starts screaming he's like, "Surprise on side" And it's really not a surprise anymore.

Now that you sat there and yell it to everybody.

So we throw that out there every once in a while.

Katie: Well, football was pretty all consuming for him.

So he didn't have a lot of hobbies.

Pretty much all of the coaches and players will attest the fact that he was an avid crossword puzzle guy.

He loved music.

So he always had his iPod on.

I think that was one of the greatest gifts my mom and I ever thought to give him was his iPod.

So he could listen to all of his music.

And then he was very involved in the church choir.

Matt: For many years, other things people may not have known to Bob.

He loved music.

He loved to sing and he spent more than 20 years in the church choir at St. Charles Borromeo.

Okay, so we have the Easter Vigil and there are people who have been candidates to come into the church, and that's when they're initiated.

One of the initiates this particular year, which wasn't that long ago was a fellow named CJ.

And he was a player on this team.

He didn't know that Bob was in the choir.

And so CJ's up there with the rest of the candidates and we go through various scripture reading and on one of them, Bob was going to speak from scripture.

CJ didn't know it.

And suddenly when Bob steps to the microphone in the middle of this passage and goes "Abraham, Abraham," CJ about fainted.

He did not expect that voice.

He did not have any idea that Bob was in the room and Father John, who was in charge that night said that, "You saw CJ's eyes" and his whole body tenses up.

And he thought that he was going to faint right there.

So from that point on, Bob was always known in the choir as the voice of God.

Dino: I've been in it 35 years.

And I know who has the second best voice as a coach I've ever heard.

And I've told that guy repeatedly, you got the second best voice I've ever heard as a coach.

And he's like, "Who's number one?"

I said, the scariest voice I've ever heard as a head coach is Bob Spoo.

And it will always be Bob Spoo.

When he took that voice and came from the gut, from the diaphragm and he wanted to project and then he could make everybody, what their pants all the way across the football field, but he was a big, big.

Golly!

I can't even think of the word just to seeing him on the field and what he meant to team and what he meant to other men.

He was a gracious person.

I miss him dearly.

Mike Lynch: There's a lot to be said about the loyalty that Coach Babers has showed us.

I know coach goes back to his tree and back in 87, he was on that staff coach Spoo but he, I mean, he's been very loyal to me and Coach Wittke and our families.

And it's really neat, and just other guys that I've coached with him.

There's so many that came through there.

I mean, he got Bobby Babich with the Bills right now and he had a great season.

Matthew Smileys with the Bills, Jeff Choate DC at Texas.

He did a great job at Montana state the last couple years.

I mean, there's just, that could go on, on and on.

There's so many great guys that have been through there.

Dave: I was blessed because I heard war stories from a lot of other colleagues at schools where it's tough to work with the head coach and football and basketball.

And I had it so easy, I can't even believe it with Rick Samuels and basketball most of those years.

And then Bob Spoo also.

Bob would be willing to do anything I would ask with the media.

Now I'll qualify that by saying that after football losses, if I had to ask him to go any distance to meeting room, he would rather have crawled on his belly through broken glass and fire to go meet with the media after losses.

But that was the only time I ever really tiptoed in to ask him to do anything.

But whether it was, he would always find time during the week willing to do the coaches show.

We did that at 7:00 AM on Monday at WEIU whatever kind of social engagement.

He wasn't happy.

I shouldn't say wasn't happy.

He didn't enjoy playing golf, but he went to all the golf outings shook all the hands.

He was a great ambassador for Eastern.

Whenever he was asked, can't say enough good things about him in that regard.

Ray: If I ever was a head coach, I would probably follow the same model that he did and hope that he would be looking down from above going "Ray, that's the way I like it.

That's exactly how I taught you."

And that's soft Coach Spoo voice that he had.

So he was just, like I said, he was just, he was a great role model and a great mentor for whether husband, supervisor, coach, whatever.

He's definitely somebody to fall back on and look back upon and say, I wish I could do it just like him.

Ryan: When I was with the New Orleans Saints, a lot of these guys didn't overlap with Coach Spoo, but they knew him well, from Sean Payton to Greg McMahon, to Brad Childress, to, there's just a lot of guys that have come through that university that have achieved a lot of great things in the NFL.

But when I think about Eastern Illinois, and I think about what I learned and kind of some of the things that are instilled in me, it starts with coach Spoo.

Tim: Having the same coach during that long of a period of time.

So to connect from guys going back to the late 80s, mid to late 80s, really 86, 87, all the way up through Jimmy Garoppolo and guys that play into the 2010s.

It's pretty awesome to have all a common thread being coach Spoo.

Matt: And as we would do the introductions and make note of who the head coach was on the other side, because Bob would never let me go if I didn't say who that person was, but then I'd make sure that I'd get into the right mood.

And I'd say, and for Eastern Illinois, from Purdue, Bob Spoo and over time, the crowd joined in as a sort of an echo to that.

And I got to do that for what, well, over 15 years, I believe in the time from 87 to 2005.

And you know, it meant something that a fellow that I knew was successful, succeeding here, true to what he believed in and made the place better.

Katie: Yeah.

It's really nice to be able to stay in touch.

The Wittkes of course, were a major part of our family for a very long time.

So they are probably still the closest to us or to meet this point now.

But, Roc Bellontoni, Steve Farmer, Dino Babers, I've occasionally talked to, all those guys and all the players are really very supportive, especially now that both of my parents are gone.

They're always checking in on me, making sure that I'm doing okay and interested in what I'm doing.

And I try to do the same following.

A lot of the players have kids of their own now that are coming up and playing football and playing other sports softball and things like that.

So it's neat to see how far we've come in the last 20 or 30 years.

Mike Bradd: I think it's a legacy of success on the football field, but also this kind of understated high character off the field.

Just a relentless worker who had a lot of character, a lot of class wasn't really trying to grab any spotlight.

It was substance over style, which is somewhat unusual in today's world.

Bob was very much all about substance and really wasn't all that interested in the style part of things.

He didn't really care what the uniforms looked like or anything like that.

He just wanted to go out and win football games.

Ryan: And beyond football players, he made us better men, and I think that's his legacy and that's long lasting.

I mean, because that's, there're tentacles all over.

Like you've referenced it throughout the NFL.

Beyond that, I have friends in the business community that are successful because I think a lot of the things that coach Spoo instilled in them.

So I think making people better around them making us better men making us better husbands.

Those years, you're still growing and developing a lot of the traits that are going to make you successful later in life and coach Spoo had a huge, huge part of that.

A lot of me and a lot of my friends.

Willie: I got to meet a lot of guys from other areas.

If you look at the success they've had outside and once they left EIU, I think that's going to be his legacy.

I know football only last for so long, but the education that you get there, the lessons that you learn while you're there, those want to stay with you for a lifetime.

I think that's going to be his legacy is who, who the people do we became after we left EIU.

Mike Lynch: He is EIU football.

I mean, he was there for 25 years.

He won multiple conference championship games.

He set us up for success with his retirement.

There was good players in the program.

Obviously getting Jimmy Garoppolo was very great.

He means the world to EIU football.

I mean, there's so many great people that have come through there under his watch had so many great players under his watch.

He never made it from the course of doing it the right way.

And for that, he'll always be remembered as one of the best ever.

Chris: I think his legacy is one that's going to continue to live forever through generations.

He gave to me, I'm trying to give to players.

He gave to Roy, Roy's continuing to give to players.

He gave to Dino as an assistant coach, he gave Brock Spack as an assistant coach.

He gave to Randy Melvin as an assistant coach, he gave to Bill Leg as an assistant coach.

He gave to Clancy Barone as an assistant coach.

He gave to Ryan Pace, the general manager for the Chicago Bears as a player.

So many people were impacted by coach and they continued to be ambassadors for the game and try to give the back to others.

So it just never stopped.

And again, like I said, coach has a special place in my heart and will forever.

He and his wife, Susie and his daughter, Katie obviously coach has passed away and Susie has passed away, but Katie, we still stay in touch with, but they were very, very, very special people.

And they touched hundreds of them and hundreds and hundreds of people.

Katie: I think he was very proud of the legacy that he was leaving behind the success that his players and coaches that he had worked with went on to, that was his legacy, not just in football in life.

I mean, that was his big thing was they were all good kids and he definitely recruited for character as much as athletic ability.

So that was very important to him to make sure that these guys could leave Eastern, even if their football days were over at that point and be good upstanding members of the community and good family men and things like that.

Dino: I can't remember the last time Bob actually went to the AFCA convention, but when his staff members came to the AFCA convention, I used to take them out to dinner.

We used to have an EIU night and we're either sharing the check or if somebody's doing really well, they're picking up the check, but we had a point of EIU was family, okay.

Coaches were going to take care of each other.

And that all started with Bob Spoo because Bob Spoo was the father, the grandfather and the great-grandfather.

And one of the things we used to do at this dinner is that, and I remember I used to do a lot, but I'm not going to say I was the only one is that at once we got together, we were having the dinner.

We would call Bob and we'd pass the phone around because we're all at the convention and he's normally home with Sue, but just Bob has that way with people that you just, that connection was going to stay together forever.

And if you were trained under him, if you worked for him, you were trained the right way.

You treated players the right way, and you were going to coach the right way.

Matt: Bob Spoo's legacy is everyone who came through here to play football for him and what they became.

I touched bases with a former athletic from here, and he wanted to make that point that the type of person who left here after they were with Bob and his staff, will pay dividends to this place, just in reputation for years upon years, from this point.

Ray: If they had to put his legacy, on a building or something like that, it would have to be a pretty big building to write everything out.

But a again, he was a man of integrity, honesty, his character was just off the charts and he will just, to me, will go down as one of the greatest men in the history of Eastern Illinois.

And I'm not being biased because I played for him.

I'm just saying, if you knew coach Spoo like we did as players, there's that special club that we all have, all of us who have played for coach Spoo.

I know we all feel the same thing.

When you think of coach Spoo, you don't think of the football player or the football coach, coach Spoo.

It hits you right here.

You think of the man and just how incredible he was and caring he was.

And I think that's going to be his legacy that he's a man who cared about his players, expected the best out of him and wanted them to go on and be successful in life.

Roy: Tim Carver, as a principal of a large high school in Iowa, look at Chris Anderson, who's an orthopedic surgeon for the women's U.S.

Ski Team.

And you just look at all those, you look at Rick Mullen and Antoine Emmanuel guys who are in the state police, state trooper, all of those individuals who have enjoyed success have developed and they've raised great families.

And then they're just, I think all that's what coach Spoo's legacy is.

It's not about wins and losses on the field.

It's about the wins he's created on the field with all the successful guys that who've gone out there.

And, I truly believe this, and I know it happens with me, but there's a little bit of Bob Spoo in me with every decision and every major decision that I make in my life.

And I'm just I, can't be more thankful and more grateful to have had the opportunity to spend as much time as I did with him.

Tim: When I look at Adam right now, Coach Cushing, and the way that he's leading the program, I see, and I've shared that with him, a lot of what coach Spoo did and how he ran things is the way I see Adam doing that, which is, I think is really great because ultimately it's about community.

And it's about something beyond just winning games.

I mean, obviously you got to win and coach wanted to win as fierce and as badly as anybody.

And we won a lot, but there's a way to do it and do it the right way to get there and not cut corners and also go to class and also support the community.

So, anyway, those are things, I mean, I think that that's part of what he carries on.

I know it doesn't capture it in order to, but hopefully gets that essence of doing things the right way.

Adam: And didn't have a good fortune to actually meet him in person.

But just sitting here in this office and spending the time that I've spent here and getting to know the people that he's coached, I mean, we've got a staff member on here that is, was coached by him.

And then, for those so many generations before that, so many generations of EIU football players before that, getting to know them and understanding, again, their connection to this program is because coach Spoo tried to make them better men.

He wanted to see them succeed in life, not just in the football field.

He was from what I've heard, he was a pretty hard nose coach.

And he got after pretty good, but it was all to see them succeed in their life.

And that's why they truly love coach Spoo that's why they love each other.

Because when you go through those hard things and when you're pushed to your limits, that same way they become brothers.

Right?

And so coach Spoo's legacy is he built this band of brothers, this incredible program that is going to so far outlive, anything that he ever did here.

Right?

It's going to be all the people truly spreading it throughout the country.

Dave: 25 years is a long time.

More wins than any other coach, all the playoff teams, but doing it a right way, being part of the community.

Great.

As I said, a great ambassador, I think that I hope that everybody would say the people they have the most respect for are their parents.

It's getting a little tough now... Next to my parents.

I have no more respect for anybody than Bob Spoo.

He's my friend and I miss him.

Rameen: And there you have it.

Bob Spoo's legacy at EIU was the people around him, how he impacted them here at EIU and prepared them for their next journey after EIU.

It was an honor to talk to all these people that appeared in this program and hear stories, moments, and how they were impacted by Bob Spoo.

As a kid growing up in Charleston, going to school here at EIU, and to coming back to work here at EIU and WEIU.

I was blessed to have witnessed many of the 25 years of coach Spoo.

His kindness and respect for the game are what I take from being around coach Spoo.

As we close this program, I'd like to give special, thanks to all the staff and students at WEIU who helped out with EIU sports productions through the years and their contributions to this program.

Thanks for watching Bob Spoo's legacy at EIU.

This Bob Spoo documentary is brought to you in part by the Pilson Auto Centers, in Mattoon, Charleston and Clinton, Indiana.

Pilson Auto Centers are proud sponsors of EIU athletics, and numerous programs in Coles County.

More information on all things Pilson Auto Centers is available at pilsonauto.com.

Enjoy the documentary, from the staff at the Pilson auto centers.

Arby's, with locations in Charleston and Mattoon, are loyal supporters of Eastern Illinois University, and this Bob Spoo documentary.

Arby's menu include the Classic Roast Beef, and French dip, to the deli-style market fresh line of sandwiches and salads.

Arby's, with drive-thrus at all locations.

Arby's, we have the meats.

[music playing] Bob: We want the members of our team to be highly motivated competitors who are successful and have been labeled winners who are willing to be coached to maximize their potential and to envision themselves only as champions.

We believe the next few years at Eastern will be the most important of your young lives.

We also believe we can make them the most rewarding.

[music playing] Bob: You did it men!

You did it!

It's a great win.

You did it, you did it!

It's a great win for Eastern Illinois.

[music playing] Bob: We competed.

We competed hard... Won some, and lost some.

But, the players, I thank them for their loyalty, their dedication, and their committment... over these past 25 years.

Its been a great run.