Villanova’s Talley goes for 200th win

Members of Villanova's football family, young and old, smile at the sight of the 66-year-old man.

Assistant coaches love the freedom to make decisions he affords them.

Alumni appreciate his dedication since restoring the program.

Players admire his sense of humor, and grandfatherly affection.

And 12,000 strong will be on hand Saturday at Villanova Stadium to see Wildcats coach Andy Talley go for a milestone in the homecoming game against Rhode Island.

Talley is one win shy of becoming the fifth active NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) coach to win 200 games. He will join Albany's Bob Ford, Florida A&M's Joe Taylor, Appalachian State's Jerry Moore and Penn's Al Bagnoli.

"We absolutely want to get it for him," backup running back Angelo Babbaro said of Talley, who compiled a 199-120-2 record in 30 combined seasons at St. Lawrence (N.Y.) and Villanova. "He doesn't come begging for anything. But we will definitely try to go out there and get it for him."

The milestone should come in tomorrow's Colonial Athletic Association game against the struggling Rams (1-5, 0-3 CAA). The fourth-ranked Wildcats (6-1, 3-1) are heavily favored.

While an upset is always possible, the one certainly is is what will come to Talley's mind when he reaches the milestone.

"There are three things I will think of," said Talley, who compiled 171 wins in 25 seasons at Villanova. "First of all, I had a lot of really good assistant coaches over the years. And that's critical in terms of winning and staying around as long as I stayed around.

"Number two, I've had a lot of outstanding football players. We've had some talent."

The third thing he will think of is Villanova's administration.

Talley is thankful for an administration that has "allowed us to do the things that we needed to do to become one of the better teams in the country."

When he gets to the 200 plateau, Talley will become the 30th Division I coach to make it. That's a major accomplishment. Late Grambling legend Eddie Robinson is atop the all-time Division I list with 408 victories. Penn State's Joe Paterno, who leads the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) in career wins, is second at 389. What makes Talley's milestone special is he resurrected a program that previously had been given up for dead.

"He is the program," said former Villanova three-year starting quarterback Tom Colombo, who will be on hand tomorrow. "He built it from nothing."

Citing financial reasons, Villanova's board of trustees unexpectedly dropped the program after 87 years on April 15, 1981.

But after three years, football returned to the Main Line.

Talley, who grew up three miles from Villanova's campus and played defensive back at Haverford High, was introduced on May 29, 1984 as the coach of the Wildcats' second go-round.

Villanova, which went 6-5 as a Division I-A independent in its final season, returned as a Division I-AA school in 1985.

"We went 13-1 . . . our first two years," said Talley, whose first campaign, in 1985, consisted of only playing five Division III schools. "And . . . we just had sophomores and freshmen."

In addition to becoming the Wildcats' winningest coach, he has the most career CAA wins (103).

Talley's most cherished accomplishment is his 100 percent graduating rate for players who have been in his program for four years.

"He's definitely a father figure to a lot of these guys," said assistant head coach Mark Ferrante, who coached at Villanova for 23 seasons and played for Talley at St. Lawrence. "And he has been a great mentor to a lot of these coaches that are not only here, but who have been here and moved on."