Pirates found gold in Eureka
John Tully is reluctant to admit as much, but those who know him best – and who were around when he took over the Whitworth College football program 12 years ago – figure he had to be questioning the career decision he had just made after getting his first look at his returning players.
Tully, after a successful five-year run at Eureka (Ill.) College where his 1991 team went 10-0, replaced interim coach Daryl Squires at Whitworth in January 1995. The Pirates were coming off a 3-6 season, which was only a slight improvement over the 1-8 record they posted under Shorty Bennett the year before, and were in desperate need of new direction.
In the 11 years prior to Tully’s arrival, the Bucs had experienced only one winning season.
Whitworth athletic director Scott McQuilkin, who back then was an academic chairperson and a member of the school’s search committee that recommended hiring Tully, still recalls the first conditioning class Tully taught that spring.
The class was loaded with football players, and Tully put them through some agility drills.
“Once he saw those guys, he had to be thinking, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ ” McQuilkin said. “I’m sure John had no idea what little we had coming back.”
The undermanned Pirates finished 1-8 that fall, setting a dismal standard they equaled the following season. Relying primarily on underclassmen, they lost 23 of the first 27 games they played under Tully.
But over the last nine years the Bucs are an impressive 56-29 – a record that includes a 10-0 mark this fall. On Saturday, they will continue their wildly successful celebration of the school’s 100th season of football by hosting Occidental (Calif.) College in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Tipoff is set for noon at the Pine Bowl. When Tully leads his eighth-ranked Pirates onto the field, he will do as the longest-serving and winningest football coach in school history.
The former record-setting quarterback and four-year starter at Azusa Pacific is 60-52 at Whitworth, where he has developed a solid and well-respected program capable of challenging the best in the country.
Rather than think back on what he encountered during that enlightening conditioning class back in spring 1995, Tully prefers to discuss what he and his staff did to put the Bucs back on track.
“The important thing is to keep your eyes focused on what’s ahead, rather than what’s happened in the past, and continue to believe in the things you think are important in building a program,” he said. “Fortunately, we had very, very good coaches here who were willing to work hard and do the right things.
“And when you have that, good things tend to happen.”
Jason Tobeck, who played on Bennett’s last Whitworth team and served as a graduate assistant on Squires’ 1994 team, has been on Tully’s staff since the beginning and serves as recruiting coordinator, while also coaching running backs and receivers.
He still recalls the exhilaration he felt upon first hearing of Tully’s hire.
“He was a guy that was a proven commodity,” Tobeck said. “He was coming out of being 10-0 one year and Eureka, and we were excited for him to do that here.”
McQuilkin, who was transitioning into the job of athletic director during Tully’s first season at Whitworth, said the decision to offer him the job in the first place was a no-brainer.
“Just based on what he had done at Eureka,” McQuilkin said. “To take a program at a small institution in the Midwest, without a lot of resources, and take them to a 10-0 season is quite an accomplishment.
“I don’t know how far Eureka went back before they had had a winning season prior to that. I don’t think it was to when Ronald Reagan (Class of ‘32) went there, but it might have been.”
Tully claims his decision to leave Eureka and return to the western part of the country was made easier by his initial impressions of Whitworth.
“I knew it was a great academic school, I appreciated the Christian environment and I liked the freedom they give student here,” he said. “Obviously, I liked Spokane, I was impressed with our president and I really, really liked the people in the athletic department.
“I think all of those things need to be in place if you’re going to have a chance of moving a program forward, and they were. And because of that, we’ve been able – as a staff – to make a difference.”
Tully also credits his program’s recent success to the extra monetary resources he received to hire and retain assistant coaches. Three on his staff – defensive coordinator Kirk Westre, offensive line coach Jerry McCullough and Tobeck – have been at Whitworth at least 10 years.
“That kind of stability is unbelievable,” Tully said. “If you have that kind of continuity within a staff, and you have guys that get along and enjoy each other and are true professionals, you have a chance to create something special.”
Now that the Pirates have it going in such a big way, McQuilkin must consider the possibility of another institution – at a higher level, perhaps – trying to lure Tully away.
“Philosophically, John fits us,” McQuilkin said. “We want people who are so good they could be coaching just about anywhere in America, but who – for whatever reason – choose to be here.”
“John, I know, makes decisions on what’s best for his family, and he’s said Spokane is a good place for his wife (Debbie) and kids. He may choose to leave some day, but the major factor in that decision will be what’s best for his kids and what’s best for Debbie.”
Tully, whose oldest son, Jay, is a junior strong safety for the Pirates, refuses to speculate on what his future might hold.
“My only focus right now is on helping our kids be as successful as they can be this weekend,” he said.
“I have no other thoughts.”