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Wyatt takes full control of B-CC defense

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 6, 2001

This season, Alvin Wyatt is all over his Bethune-Cookman defense like, well, any of the numerous receivers he smothered during a three-year career as a Wildcat defensive back.

"I've been with B-CC for 27 years now, and I've always been on the defensive side of the ball," the coach said, "And the last time we whupped (Florida A&M coach) Billy Joe I was defensive coordinator."

That was in 1994, Wyatt's last season as defensive coordinator under coach Jack "Cy" McClairen.

Wyatt has known success at B-CC since he lined up in the backfield in 1966. By 1969 he was an All-American, was named Athletic Conference defensive player of the year and left with a school-record 34 interceptions.

After a brief pro stint, he returned to Daytona Beach in 1975 to start his coaching career as a defensive assistant under Larry Little. In 1983 he was named defensive coordinator. A year later, B-CC won its first Mid-Eastern Athletic title.

To duplicate that success, Wyatt took over as defensive coordinator at the end of last season and this year gave up his offensive coordinator role to dedicate himself full time to defense.

"The one thing that I will never do as a head football coach, and I tell my coaches this all the time, I will never sit back and be a figurehead," Wyatt said. "I'm not going to do that. I'm going to coach. I'm never going to let the game pass me by."

If rival FAMU is best known for its prolific offense, and Joe best known as a coach who can find his way into the end zone, Wyatt figures his team needs an identity as well. He decided that identity would come from a defense built to stop FAMU.

After all, to win the conference championship, to get to the Division I-AA playoffs, the Wildcats have to beat the Rattlers in their annual Florida Classic showdown -- and they haven't done that in seven years.

Of course, beating FAMU is its own reward.

"We can be 0-10," Wyatt said. "But if we whip FAMU we're 11-0. It's just like a national championship for us."

Wyatt expects specific results from his move to the defensive side, and not just in the present. The defense is second against the run in the MEAC, giving up 100.8 yards per game. But Wyatt also is laying the groundwork for future defenses.

"I wanted to stay in house and groom the coaches I have here to do the type of things I want do as a coordinator," he said. "I think with me doing the things we did back in the '70s and '80s when we had a lot of success at Bethune-Cookman College, I think it will really, really help our football program."

Toward that end, Wyatt is personally coaching two defensive backs who remind him of himself. All-America free safety Rashean Mathis, whose 11 interceptions led the nation in 2000, is the team's top candidate for the 15th annual Walter Payton Award, given to the nation's top I-AA player. Strong safety Tor-El Robinson is another prodigy of whom Wyatt is extremely proud.

"I said to Billy that Rashean Mathis would be an All-American," Wyatt said. "If he could catch every ball that touched his hands, he'd lead the country in interceptions. The reason I can make that statement is because I don't let anybody coach my safeties. I bet you all didn't know that.

"And you haven't seen the likes of To-El Robinson. This kid can flat out fly. Tor-El is a great football player.

"Those guys are sacred to me."

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