Remembering Richard Bell, Texas Tech football defensive coordinator
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The Texas Tech football team’s average yield of 10.92 points per game this season would be a school record for scoring defense in the modern era, defined by the National Football Foundation as 1950 and later.
Over the past 60 years, Tech’s next five stingiest defenses by average points allowed came in the five consecutive seasons from 1970-74. Those are the years Richard Bell was the Red Raiders‘ defensive coordinator, or head defensive coach, as he was commonly referenced.
“Oh, wow,” said Tommy Cones, a Red Raiders defensive end who lettered from 1972-74. “Well, that tells you a lot right there. Numbers don’t lie, right?”
“That’s amazing. That’s amazing,” said Gaines Baty, a defensive end who lettered from 1970-72. “Well, he was known across the country as a defensive expert.”
Bell died on Dec. 13 in Woodstock, Georgia. He was 88.
His passing prompted reflection among those who played under him.
“Richard Bell was the epitome of character, integrity, intensity, passion and excellence,” Baty said. “He set a high standard for the football team, as well as personally for every player on that team.”
Bell came to Texas Tech from West Virginia with head coach Jim Carlen in 1970 and followed Carlen to South Carolina after the 1974 season. Tech and Vanderbilt played to a 6-6 tie in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 28, 1974, before Vandy coach Steve Sloan switched programs. Late on New Year’s Eve, Sloan announced he was staying at Vanderbilt, but he changed his mind and accepted the Texas Tech job on New Year’s Day.
The next day, the Avalanche-Journal reported Bell, according to Texas Tech insiders, “would have landed the job had Sloan not reconsidered during the wee hours of New Year’s morn.”
Bell was a college head coach for only one year, going 4-7 in 1982 at South Carolina.
His long coaching career included stints as defensive coordinator at West Virginia (1968-69), Texas Tech (1970-74), South Carolina (1975-81), Duke (1983-87), East Carolina (1988), Georgia (1989-93), Navy (1994) and Air Force (1995-2006). The Arkansas native was a captain on Frank Broyles’ first Razorbacks team in 1958 and made early coaching stops at Virginia Military (1962-63) and Georgia Tech (1964-67).
He worked under College Football Hall of Fame coaches Bobby Dodd and Fisher DeBerry at Georgia Tech and Air Force, respectively, and alongside Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden when Bowden was offensive coordinator at West Virginia.
Before leaving Georgia, Bell recruited a young defensive back named Kirby Smart.
“He just knew how to get the most out of every player,” Cones said, “and he had some really, really good pep talks. He was such a professional in terms of communicating, and you’d get really pumped up when he’s your coach. He had a certain charisma about him. He would say the right thing, the things you wanted to hear before you went out to win a game for him.”
Former Tech defensive tackle David Knaus described Bell as calm, controlled, thorough and confident. Knaus, an all-Southwest Conference honoree in 1973, said Bell’s style was a polar opposite of Bill Parcells, who followed him as Tech defensive coordinator.
“Other than both of them being tremendous coaches, they couldn’t have been more different in their styles,” Knaus said. “As an example, I never heard profanity ever uttered from coach Bell. He barely ever needed to raise his voice. It was always controlled correction.”
Tech went 8-4 in 1970, holding opponents to 13.5 points per game. The Red Raiders slipped to 4-7 in 1971, though the defense yielded only 12.5 points per game, and defensive back Marc Dove was Southwest Conference defensive player of the year. Bell’s units held opponents to 14.2 points per game in 1972, 15.3 in 1973 and 13.8 in 1974.
The 1972 team finished 8-4 with a Sun Bowl loss to North Carolina. The 1973 team finished 11-1 with a Gator Bowl conquest of Tennessee.
While serving as the Red Raiders’ defensive coordinator, Bell was position coach for defensive ends and linebackers. End Bruce Dowdy earned all-Southwest Conference recognition in 1970, linebacker Larry Molinare in 1971 and Cones in 1974.
“He took a lot of running backs and good athletes,” Baty said, “and turned them into linebackers and defensive ends. That was kind of his way to do it. He liked a good athlete that would hit you.”
Baty came to Tech as a running back, quickly moved to linebacker and then played his entire varsity career at defensive end. Noseguard Don Rives was a second-team all-American in 1972. In the spring before that season, Rives called Baty “the best defensive end in this league” and “the most underrated player in this conference.”
To the extent that was true, Baty chalked it up to his coach.
“He made me as a player,” Baty said. “Not that I was anything special, but whatever I was is because of Richard Bell.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Remembering Richard Bell, Texas Tech football defensive coordinator
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