Coach Bob Spoo has spent many hours on the football field during his lifetime. To be exact, he has spent the past 62 years of his life around the gridiron, 48 of them coaching and 23 with Eastern Illinois University. As arguably the most successful coach in EIU football history, we were forced to ask him: Who influenced you and how did you establish your coaching philosophies? 

Without hesitation Coach Spoo answered: Bob DeMoss. DeMoss was Spoo's coach while he was playing at Purdue University. “[DeMoss] was well grounded with football fundamentals and really drove the point home to me and our players.”

 

Today, if you were to attend one of Coach Spoo's practices you would see him driving the same idea of solid fundamentals home to his players. According to Spoo, football comes down to who can block and tackle better because if you do those two things well, you will put yourself into position to win every game.

 

Although Spoo has been a cornerstone to the EIU program, there has been a revolving door of players just like at every other school. And with the ever-evolving technology of texting, Twittering, and Facebook, we asked Spoo what strategies he employs in connecting with his players. His response was not that surprising.

 

“I try to have a lot of personal interaction with my players, but not to talk football. I check in on their lives such as school work, family, and girlfriends.”

 

This personal attention transcends into Spoo's tactics for integrating incoming freshmen: “I understand the emotions that a freshman feels since I was there once.”

 

As Spoo looks to the transition from summer workouts to preseason training, he has high expectations yet is “cautiously optimistic,” meaning that with high expectations he has to continue to push his team to make the players reach their highest potential.

 

Spoo also mentioned that he is looking forward to the road trip to Penn State this fall. He expects it to be a great honor and challenge to match up with one of the most respected coaches in the game today, Joe Paterno.

 

Although they coach at different levels (BCS versus FCS) both coach Spoo and coach Paterno handle their players in similar fashion, demonstrating rigor and diligence in disciplining their players but, in the same vein, not being too ruthless.

Always aware that it takes more than coaches and players to ensure a successful season, coach Spoo made it a point to say that the EIU program could not survive without the generosity of the Panther Club. As he gets ready to challenge his players in camp, he wanted to challenge the Panther Club as well: come out to a game this fall and help build an atmosphere that will intimidate any opponent.