Monte Johnson calls him Val. Mike Gottfried calls him Val. Everyone in the Kansas football office calls him Val.
Doesn’t anybody use Bob Valesente’s first name?
“Oh, yeah,” Valesente smiled during the Friday afternoon press conference that introduced him as Kansas’ 34th head football coach, “my mother.”
After two decades as an assistant coach – including the last two as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach at Kansas under Gottfried – Valesente has his first head job and he’s overjoyed.
“This is probably as fine an honor,” he said, “as I’ve ever had in my life.”
Johnson, KU’s athletic director, tapped the 45-year-old native of Seneca Falls, N.Y., less than 36 hours after Gottfried had been named head coach at Pittsburgh.
“We had three years of continuing to improve,” Johnson said, “and Val was a key part of that. That meant a great dealthe continuity we could have. It was just a matter of good timing for us, and great timing for Val.”
VALESENTE WAS given a four-year contract at $70,000 a year, the same salary Gottfried was making when he left. Gottfried had a five-year contract, but Johnson said, “I think the standard here has been four years and, if anything, that’s a compliment to him (Valesente).”
Valesente was recommended “very strongly” by Gottfried, according to Johnson who added: “But I think Mike knows me well enough that if I didn’t feel that strongly, it would have been just a nice gesture.”
Contacted in Pittsburgh, Gottfried said, “When I got the news about Val I almost had tears in my eyes. He’s like a brother. He’s very deserving. I’m very happy for him.
“I think he’s the best coach in this situation and he’s paid his dues. He’s really paid his dues. The biggest feeling I have is I see a deserving person accomplishing a goal and a dream.”
Valesente, who served as an assistant coach with Gottfried on staffs at Cincinnati and Arizona in the late 70s, called Gottfried “my best friend.
“What I want to do is continue what coach Gottfried has done. I feel positive about this program. His work is something I hope to carry on.”
Popular with the players and the staff, Valesente was Gottfried’s right hand man. For instance, while Gottfried called all the offensive plays, it was Valesente who helped formulate the game plan and who served as Gottfried’s eyes in the press box.
“COACH GOTTFIRED,” said Johnson, “did us a big a favor as any coach could have done in brining Val here two years ago.”
Valesente was secondary coach of the NFL Baltimore Colts at the time.
“They were in the process of sneaking outuh, I mean leaving,” Valesente grinned, “and I was going to Indianapolis with them when Mike approached me, and I thought it was an attractive offer.”
Gottfried needed a quarterback coach after Mike Sheppard, who had served in that capacity during the 1983 season, left to become head coach at Long Beach State.
On April 5, 1984, two days after Valesente arrived here, he felt ill and entered the KU Medical Center to take some tests. While there, he suffered a mild heart attack and underwent emergency triple bypass surgery.
At the time, he carried 175 pounds on his 5-10 frame. Today thanks to strict dieting and walking, he weighs 20 pounds less. He and his wife Joan – they have three children – walk twice a day for a total of four miles.
“We always find time” Valesente said, “even though 6 a.m. is one of the times.
“I know there’s added pressure (being a head coach), but there are some things I’ve used to help myself in that area. You learn that diet and exercise is important, and that there are only so many things you can do in a day so you have to make them quality things.”
CONSISTENT QUALITY is not a hallmark of Kansas football but, like his 33 predecessors, Valesente thinks the ingredients are here.
“Naturally there are some thins we have to improve,” he said, “but the tradition is here. It’s an outstanding university and I’m proud to be part of it.”
Does that mean, a media-type asked, that Kansas can compete consistently with Big Eight powerhouses Nebraska and Oklahoma?
“Heck,” he answered, “I think it’s possible for Kansas to do anything.”
Asked about the pre-season academic woes that have struck the program each of the last two seasons, he said: “I know all the problems aren’t totally ironed out, but I know those things are being worked on, and what more can you ask?”
Kansas will have a favorable schedule during Valesente’s honeymoon year. The Jayhawks will play at home during the first five weeks of the ’86 season. They have only four contests on the road.
