Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 17, 1994 TAG: 9409270068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Now, as his home coaching debut on the Chestnut Hill campus comes today against a former employer, Virginia Tech, he really understands why he wanted to go to BC after graduating from St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn, the same school that graduated Vince Lombardi.
In a coaching career that has as many stops as the subway in his native New York City, Henning finally finds himself a big man on the BC campus.
A year ago, Henning was starting his second season as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator. In 19 seasons on NFL sidelines, including seven years as a head coach at Atlanta and San Diego, he worked for seven teams.
Surely then, even when he was fired at midseason, he didn't see himself in college football. As recently, as January, he spent a week in Florida with Bill Parcells, who wanted to know if Henning wanted to make the New England Patriots his eighth NFL employer.
A month later, Parcells was talking another job, one that Tom Coughlin was about to bolt from to become the first coach of the NFL expansion Jacksonville Jaguars.
``I told Bill the Boston College job, which wasn't yet open at the time, wasn't something I had an interest in,'' Henning said a couple days ago from his office. ``I had talked to several NFL clubs, that that was where I saw myself.''
Henning, however, was the short list of BC athletic director Chet Gladchuck, who knew his alma mater needed to continue the pro-style play started by 1984 Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie and passed down through former Parcells' aide Couglin to last year's Eagle quarterback, Glenn Foley.
When you've added 12,000 seats to a renovated stadium and your competition for season tickets is provided by Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins and the revitalized Patriots of Parcells, you don't hire a defensive coordinator. Gladchuck phoned Henning, who hadn't been a tough sell when he took the job March 2.
``I liked Chet's energy,'' Henning said, ``and I liked the college and what he was selling about the game here on this campus. It was still a high level of competition. I was intrigued about being the man who makes all of the decisions when it comes to football.
``I'm enjoying what I call the level of commitment. I enjoy the teaching. We are in the business of education and preparing people for the real world. In the NFL, the players have already passed through that part.
``This seems to fit with what I think the game should be about. On top of team goals at the pro level, you have individual goals that people are trying to reach, and sometimes that gets in the way. It grates on you after a bit.''
That sounds odd coming from a man who has coached in every NFL division, one who has two Super Bowl rings from separate stints on Joe Gibbs' Washington staff.
However, when Henning went to college at William & Mary - ``I wasn't accepted by BC or offered a scholarship,'' he said - he wanted to become a teacher. After becoming the starting W&M quarterback, he played for the minor-league Norfolk Neptunes and then briefly in the AFL for the San Diego Chargers.
He started coaching at Florida State in 1968. He moved to Tech in 1971, where under Charlie Coffey and Henning, Don Strock led the nation in passing. He left for a season with the Houston Oilers, returned to the Blacksburg campus in '73, then moved to FSU again in '74.
Until going to BC, he'd stayed in the pros, working with Strock again, Joe Namath, Joe Theismann, Bob Griese, Dan Pastorini, Jim McMahon and Doug Williams.
``I went to the NFL for money,'' said Henning, 52. ``I unabashedly say that. We had five children [son Dan was Maryland's starting quarterback several years ago], and they were starting to get up in age and what I was making in college wasn't enough.
``In 1973 at Tech, I think I made $17,000. Ten years later as an NFL head coach, I was making 10 times that. And three years after that [when he returned to the Redskins] as an assistant coach, I doubled that. Plus, there were bonuses for making the playoffs and Super Bowl, and the pension benefits.''
Henning said he will be surprised if his NFL coaching days aren't history. He sees himself finishing his career at BC. ``Let's just say I enjoy getting out of bed a heckuva lot more now than I did for the past two or three years.''
He hasn't had a recruiting class yet, because the signings were done before Couglin left. Spring practice was a virtual washout because of the weather, but Henning, who hasn't stayed in any job for more than four years, likes what he sees in more than the mirror.
``In college football, the head coach is the general manager, personnel director and coach,'' Henning said. ``There's a lot to be said for that.''
by CNB