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Show Page S2 Tuesday, October 12, 1982 WSC defensive coordinator Campo spreads enthusiasm by Lisa Wright Sports Editor A demand for excellence, a drive to win, enthusiasm, energy, fire-Dave Campo. In the words of Defensive linebacker Joe DiPaulo, "Campo... he's spunky. I like him." Dave Campo, the assistant head football coach and defensive coordinator, came to Weber State in 1981. In only one season he, along the other members of the defensive coaching staff, took the Wildcat defense to the top of the Big Sky Conference. The previous year the defense had given up 334 points and almost 400 yards a game in total offense. In 1981 the defense had halted the total points at 228, 106 fewer than 1980, and gave up only 313 yards per game. Campo explained their success in this way; "(Pete) Rheilman had a toughness. The men who made it through were strong so the base was laid Price and Campo talk over next weeks game Cover Photo by TL Kristie Jenson TR-Elizabeth Aikenhead BL Elizabeth Aikenhead BR-Elane Castt Signpost Fall Sports Spectacular produced by the Signpost Sports Staff Sports Editor, Lisa Wright philosophy is that now the fourth quarter belongs to Weber State. More often than not it pays off." Many adjectives have been used to describe Campo. He is energetic, emotional, fiery-but the one used most frequently is enthusiastic. Noseguard John Kavanaugh said, "Campo is always enthusiastic and fired up. He has a way of pulling the best out of his players. He talks right to your heart. You want to do your best for him." Price stated, "He's enthusiastic, he never stops. "He then added with a laugh, "I have put him in charge of worrying. It releaves me of that job." Campo has worked as an assistant coach at Pittsburgh, Washington State, Boise State and Oregon State. While .at Washington State Coaches Price and Campo met and developed a strong friendship. They then decided that if either one of them became a head coach, the other photo by Elizabeth Aikenhead Tomasini was a defensive line and linebacker coach for five years at Boise State. Mike Zimmer coaches the inside linebackers. He played in the position of quarterback and linebacker at Illinois State until an injury forced him to stop playing. Zimmer stayed on his junior and senior years as an assistant. After graduation, he was assistant linebacker coach for the Univiversity of Missouri. The outside linebackers are coached by Larry Lewis who was a 4-year starter at Boise State. He was a member of the 1980 BSU team that won the 1-AA championship. The newest member to the coaching staff is Cecil Stockdale. He works as assistant defensive back coach. Stockdale is from Kansas City, Mo. He played ball at Snow College and Colorado State where he earned Honorable Mention All WAC honors. Stockdale signed with the New Orleans Saints as a free Agent and played for a half season with the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL. In Early August of '82 Stockdale joined the Wildcat coaching staff. The players have alot of respect for their coaches. Mike Nichter said, "It used to be that the coaches had to be the authoritarians. Now they relate so much better to the players. The coaches really care about us." Campo discusses y I- Ia .-.y N i nf i t ' . Yak , - : " - :i j i . f i for a tough defense. " He added, "There are three main things that we (the defensive coaching staff) did. 1) We convinced the players that we were as good a coaching staff as there is . They needed to gain confidence in us. 2) We didn't tell the guys that they were the sh-s. We would improve upon what what's already done in the past. 3) WSC had a reputation for losing the fourth quarter. The would be his assistant. The outcome is obvious. When Price was hired as head coach at Weber the first person he called was Dave Campo. There are four other men who work with Campo coaching the defense. Claude Tomasini is in charge of the defensive line. He played ball for two years at UCLA, then transferred to Boise State. Before he came to Weber, The job of defensive coordinator is not an easy one. It not only takes physical preparedness to play defense and win, but a mental toughness as well. To prepare the defensive plays, the opponents game films are broken down and fed into a computer to determine the ten-dancies of that offense. Plays are then devised to stop the opponent. Much is preplanned, calculated, and discussed, but when it comes to the game many of the defensive plays are defensive strategy during l;T-..! ..I Pre-game planning is an "just done on feel". Campo stated that "there is a pride factor involved in defense. We have to be sound." When asked to share his feelings about coaching at Weber State, Campo said, "I really like Weber. Alot of people asked why I was going from a PAC 10 school (Oregon St) to a Big Sky school. It was in no way a step downward. The emotions of the fans and players are exactly the same whether there are 60,000 or 14,000 like at game. u'l.L- " I i I J . , Photo oy Elizabeth Aikenhead essential part of football. Weber. I have no feelings of being a Vince Lombardi. I enjoy young people, young athletes. I want to be able to call the main shots and make as much of a personal contribution to winning here as I possibly can." Coach Price summed up the feelings of many when he said, "Dave has the perfect personality for a defensive coach. He is aggressive and he is motivated. He does a tremendous job here." photo by Elizabeth Aikenhead |