It’s homecoming of a different sort
PULLMAN – Day after day during the 1988 season, Jim Michalczik and Paul Wulff worked together.
Michalczik played a starring role, a senior starting for the Washington State Cougars at guard, opening holes for All-American Steve Broussard and protecting Timm Rosenbach.
Wulff was behind the scenes, rehabilitating a knee injury suffered the last play of fall camp, trying to recover at least part of his junior season.
Unlike his buddy Michalczik, Wulff played sparingly but, finally, at Stanford, Wulff returned to the starting spot at center.
It was already November. By Christmas the magical season was done.
It ended with a 9-3 record and an Aloha Bowl win, the Cougars’ first bowl victory since 1916. It also ended Dennis Erickson’s two-year tenure in Pullman. He left for Miami and national titles.
The two offensive linemen, who had sweated, bled and laughed together for three years, headed in different directions. Each eventually found their way to the National Football League, but that didn’t last long for either.
Their friendship has endured through the years of occasional on-field matchups, sporadic off-field connections and numerous long-distance calls.
“Jim Michalczik and I are very good friends and I’ve always stayed very close,” said WSU’s first-year coach Wulff this week, before recounting how their paths crossed in the Big Sky Conference and when Michalczik was at Oregon State coaching under Erickson.
“I’ll consider him a friend for life,” Michalczik added from Berkeley, where, as a long-time assistant, he’s busy preparing California’s offensive line for an early-season Pac-10 showdown with WSU Saturday at Martin Stadium.
Yes, the same Martin Stadium where Michalczik played his college football and where he was bitten by the coaching bug, although the bite wasn’t too noticeable then – on either him or Wulff.
“When you’re young, you’re just kind of living for the moment, you know,” he said. “I guess looking back now, I can see it. At the time I think we were too busy trying to win football games and make it to class and have a little fun.”
The bug must have been endemic to the Pullman-area apartments in the ’80s, because it didn’t just nip Michalczik and Wulff.
Bob Gregory, who graduated from WSU in 1986, got infected and is now Cal’s defensive coordinator. The bug also bit other members of the 1988 team, including Steve Broussard and Jody Sears. The latter two are on Wulff’s staff, making this week’s game Michalczik’s own little homecoming.
“It’s just a neat deal,” Michalczik said about getting together with his college teammates. “You always talk about, ‘Where’s this guy?’ and, ‘Where’s that guy?’ and, ‘Have you heard this or heard that?’ ”
Michalczik will get to reconnect even more Saturday, as WSU has picked the weekend to celebrate the Alaho Bowl team’s 20th anniversary. It’s all part of Wulff’s strategy to make the trip a tough one for Michalczik and the Bears.
“Absolutely, that’s the plan, to have a little corruption along the way,” Wulff said. “It’s part of the reason why I was pushing to have it for this weekend.”
Hearing that, Michalczik laughed, something he does often. Then he turned serious and talked about the rigors of coaching against his alma mater and against friends.
“That’s the part you’re always torn about,” Michalczik said. “There’s a part of you that’s going to cheer for the Cougs and I do every week, except this one.”
As an alum, he has some thoughts on the new coach.
“He’s going to get them playing hard, that’s just Paul’s nature,” Michalczik said. “He’s going to work hard, those kids are going to be tough and they’re going to play extremely hard. They’re going to be a reflection of him. The longer he’s there, his recruiting style and all that is really going to build that program.”
But not so it’s too good, right? Not better than Cal.
“I might have to get out of this league, somehow,” Michalczik said.
Does the former quick guard – Michalczik was listed at 6-foot-3 and 268 pounds as a senior in 1988 and played on the side away from the tight end – have any coaching advice for his old teammate?
“No blitzing,” he said, laughing once more.
Cougar notes
WSU is allowing liquor sales on campus in restaurants at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club and the remodeled Compton Union Building. But reports last month there would be anything other than wine and beer sales in Hollingberry Fieldhouse were incorrect. “That is not the case,” athletic director Jim Sterk said in a recent media release. “We are maintaining our practice in the fieldhouse and corporate tent area of making only beer and wine available to those 21 and older with valid ID.” … Receiver Jeshua Anderson was in a yellow, non-contact jersey Wednesday, and took part in every drill. Wulff said after practice that Anderson would not be cleared to play this weekend. … Starting left guard Andrew Roxas was at practice, on crutches and his left knee wrapped. He has a grade 2 sprain of his medial collateral ligament, suffered Tuesday, and is out 3 to 6 weeks. … Defensive tackle A’i Ahmu also missed practice with a shoulder sprain. … Starting right guard Brian Danaher did not participate in practice and it’s questionable if he’ll play. … The kicking battle is still ongoing, with Wulff saying, “No one’s won the job. To be honest, no one’s kicking good enough to win it,” after Wade Penner, Nico Grasu and Pat Rooney combined to miss 6 of 9 attempts.