McCoy Reverses No-Win Future : Ex-Long Beach St. Quarterback Leads Utah to Freedom Bowl

ANAHEIM —  Mike McCoy couldn’t get a scholarship to Long Beach State, which didn’t bode well for his future as a college quarterback. He went there anyway.

George Allen gave McCoy a scholarship after he made the team as a walk-on, but Allen died soon after. McCoy was grateful for the scholarship but tearful about the coach.

When he got a chance to play the next season, McCoy had the dubious honor of leading the 49ers into no-win situations at Miami, Arizona, Fresno State, San Jose State and Nevada Las Vegas. He was happy.

That done, the underfunded, unappreciated 49er program was dropped after season’s end.

But childhood dreams die hard. And when your childhood idol is Joe Montana, you vow never to quit no matter how long the odds. McCoy knew he would play again.

It turned out he was right, too. On the day Long Beach dropped its program, a Utah assistant coach, who happened to be recruiting in L.A., stopped by to offer McCoy a scholarship. As quick as that, he became a Utah Ute.

Thursday, McCoy leads Utah against USC in the Freedom Bowl, marking another giant leap in his resilient college career.

After so much disappointment, failure and frustration, McCoy is simply happy to be here. Besides, he insists he wouldn’t have wanted things to unfold any other way.

McCoy, a junior from Novato, Calif., isn’t the best quarterback in the country, but he doesn’t care.

He has passed for 3,860 yards and 21 touchdowns this season, averaged 407 yards in the Utes’ final six games and thrown for more than 430 yards in three consecutive games. But he said statistics don’t thrill him as much as simply playing well and, of course, winning.

Utah Coach Ron McBride, an assistant at Long Beach in the mid-1970s, likes McCoy’s thoughtful, studious approach to the game.

“The nice thing about Mike is that he keeps getting better,” McBride said. “He’s putting up some incredible numbers.”

McCoy completed 34 of 46 passes for 470 yards and one touchdown in a 41-30 loss at Hawaii on Nov. 6 that almost ruined Utah’s hopes for a bowl bid.

A week later, he completed 29 of 39 passes for 459 yards and two touchdowns, rallying Utah to a 41-24 victory over Air Force.

In the regular-season finale, he completed 29 of 48 passes for 434 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Utes to a 34-31 victory over Brigham Young, their first at Provo in 22 years.

What makes McCoy such a proficient passer?

Raw talent plays a key part in McCoy’s success. He also refuses to leave any angle to chance, studying game films until he’s bleary-eyed. History plays special role, too.

“If you looked at me after high school and then after Long Beach, I was a completely different player,” McCoy said.

Allen’s influence is still stamped on McCoy and probably always will be.

“The fortunate thing was that I got to play for Coach Allen,” he said. “Unfortunately, they dropped the program. We had a lot of good athletes there. It was all about lack of money and support. It was tough playing in front of 4,000 people.”

Tougher still was playing Miami, the eventual 1991 national champion. Heck, San Jose State was no picnic.

“My first game was at San Jose State and we came out in a no-huddle offense,” McCoy said. “It was a good experience.”

He threw for 938 yards, completing 52.7% of his passes in ’91.

In his first season at Utah (he was immediately eligible because Long Beach had dropped its program), he was the backup to Frank Dolce. He started one game, a sputtering offensive debacle that resulted in a 20-13 loss to lowly Texas El Paso. But the Utah coaching staff didn’t hold that against him.

True to form, McCoy had a few more bumps and bruises to endure while leading the Utes to the Freedom Bowl this season.

In fact, the Utes were in terrible shape in mid-October. They were 2-4, coming off a loss to New Mexico, which followed a loss to Division I-AA Idaho, which followed a loss to Wyoming.

“The fans hated me at certain times of the year,” McCoy said.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the scrap heap. McCoy rallied the Utes to victories in five of their final six games, averaging more than 400 yards passing per game.

“It was disappointing because we wanted to win the WAC championship,” McCoy said. “(But) the last six weeks, I don’t think we could have played any better.”

He quieted the skeptics, too.

Utah was picked for sixth place in the WAC and, until its late-season comeback, seemed destined to finish as predicted.

But McCoy helped Utah beat UTEP and Colorado State, rallied the Utes past San Diego State on a touchdown pass in the final seconds. Next, he threw for a season-high 470 yards in the loss at Hawaii, then led the Utes to victories against Air Force and BYU.

“A lot of people don’t respect us,” McCoy said. “We taught some teams a tough lesson.”

The BYU game ended with the Utes and Cougars squaring off in a number of fights and near-fights after Chris Yergensen’s 55-yard field goal with 25 seconds left gave Utah the victory.

“It was big for the entire state of Utah,” McCoy said.

So big that the Utah players tried to tear down the goal posts at Cougar Stadium. When was the last time you saw players ripping down goal posts?

A 129-yard passing performance with zero touchdowns and three interceptions in a season-opening, 38-0, loss to Arizona State seemed like ancient history for McCoy.

“I proved myself this year,” McCoy said. “Playing against USC makes it even better. I can prove myself just a little more.”

As usual, it figures to be a difficult task for McCoy.

USC is a 17-point favorite over Utah. Don’t count McCoy out, though. He’s made a career out of beating the odds.

Better and Better

McCoy’s progression in 1993:

Opponent Att. Cp. Yds. Int. TD Arizona State 33 12 129 3 0 Utah State 38 20 261 0 3 Kansas 30 22 322 0 2 Wyoming 37 23 238 0 0 Idaho 35 23 197 1 0 New Mexico 35 21 271 1 2 UTEP 31 21 313 1 2 Colorado State 25 21 377 1 3 San Diego State 34 21 389 0 3 Hawaii 46 34 470 1 1 Air Force 39 29 459 0 2 Brigham Young 48 29 434 2 3