Dave Levy

The temptation is to say Dave Levy has had a great career in coaching, but that sort of assumes that his career is over.

At the age of 75, the Long Beach native, former Poly football coach and long-time USC assistant is still working football fields like someone warmly tending to his beautiful garden.From his sophomore year as a player at Poly in 1947 to his role as an assistant at Harvard-Westlake High in 2007, Levy has had a 60-year career that rivals most anyone in the sport.

Few have been as successful or as well traveled, too.One Junior Rose Bowl and national junior college championship, a Rose Bowl as a player, two CIF titles as coach at Poly, four national championships and eight Rose Bowl trips at USC, three conference title games in 16 years in the NFL, the only league title in the history of the XFL, and stops in Amsterdam and Calgary for the fun of spreading American football in Europe and playing with just three downs and 12 players across the border.
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Long Beach was lucky to have Levy.The resurgence of Poly football more than

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decade after Orian Landreth's heyday can be pegged to the hiring of Levy at his alma mater in 1956.

Levy was introduced to football while at Franklin Junior High by legendary youth sports organizer Buck Catlin, "who did that for hundreds of young people for years," Levy said.
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Levy was hired as an assistant coach at Poly in 1956 and wrote the script for the Jackrabbit renaissance.

Levy introduced Poly's first-ever spring practice in 1956.He created continuity by installing the same coaching system for all levels of Poly football.He developed a weight-training program.He found an old log sled, found some canvas and padding and built the school's own seven-man blocking sled.

He also redesigned the uniforms, with bright gold and green replacing drab olive and flat gold."We looked like bumblebees," he laughed.He also began the practice of filming games, expanded the annual awards banquet into a dinner/dance, and began scouring the junior high schools for recruits.

"I don't think I had as much to do with it as Neil Phillips, Poly's principal," Levy said of the man who was known as "Big Daddy" among his colleagues."Neil was aggressive and thought having a good sports program was integral for the school, and he backed me up on everything I suggested.

"Regardless of who was hired as head coach, they were going to have a chance to be successful because Neil would back you.If I ever had a problem, Neil would take care of it."

Levy said the programs he installed were just unique to high school football.The decision to change uniforms, he said, was based on the fact that he had a lot of fast players."We had speed and I wanted is to look like we had speed with flashy uniforms," he said.

Poly was nothing if not flashy under Levy.
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When McKay was named head coach, Levy expressed interest.
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McKay hired Levy and began a 16-year relationship that defined college success, the Trojans winning nine conference titles, going to eight Rose Bowls, and winning four national titles.
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When McKay left USC for the pros, Levy had a chance to go with him to Tampa Bay but decided to stay at USC as an assistant athletic director.
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Levy joined Detroit in 1989 and was Barry Sanders' first pro running back coach and the Lions, with former Trojan Rodney Peete at quarterback, made the playoffs four times in his eight years.He was ensconced in retirement in 1999 when he was given a chance to take some unique jobs - as an assistant coach for Amsterdam in NFL Europe; an assistant on the first and last XFL championship team, the L.A. Xtreme, in 2001; a year as an assistant in the CFL with Calgary; and then the last three years back to his roots as an assistant at Harvard-Westlake High.

"Each time, I'd get the call and my wife and I would say `that could be fun,"' Levy said.

ICSA/Ronstan Honorable Mention Coed Skippers: Ted Conrads (Greenwich, Conn.) - Stanford University '03 David Levy (Newport Beach, Calif.) - USC '03 Peeter Must (Toms River, N.J.) - US Merchant Marine Academy ,05 Ed Norton (Fair Haven, N.J.) - Hobart and William Smith Colleges '04 Joey Pasquali (Santa Cruz, Calif.) - University of Hawaii '05 John Pearce (Ithaca, N.Y.) - Hobart and William Smith Colleges '04 Dave Phillips (Clearwater, Fla.) - Stanford University '04 Sam Rogers (Excelsior, Minn.) - Hobart and William Smith Colleges '03 Matt Schubert (Annapolis, Md.) - US Merchant Marine Academy '04 Henrik Wennerstrom (Miami, Fla.) - Boston College '03

9. USC: Colin Campbell, Dave Levy, Harrison Turner

Dave LevyAs the world watched O.J. Simpson's bizarre, surreal, slow-speed white Bronco chase down a California freeway, police cruisers trailing like defensive backs and helicopters buzzing overhead, one TV viewer was more transfixed than most. As a coach with the USC Trojans in the 1960s, Dave Levy had a front-row seat for Simpson's glorious college career, slipping tackles and evading defences en route to the '68 Heisman Trophy.

Coach Spotlight: Dave Levy
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O.J. Simpson leads Levy's extended highlight reel of football memories
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As a coach with the USC Trojans in the 1960s, Dave Levy had a front-row seat for Simpson's glorious college career, slipping tackles and evading defences en route to the '68 Heisman Trophy.
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After returning to Los Angeles in 1997 after an eight-year stint coaching with the Detroit Lions, Levy went for his daily walk from his home to Sunset Blvd. for coffee.

The white Bronco, which by then had been wheeled into the American lexicon of the absurd, turned Levy's way again.
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Levy is an offensive guru who was recently named running backs coach by Stamps boss Jim Barker, a friend whose relationship dates back some 25 years when Levy taught Barker football theory at USC.
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Levy is an offensive guru who was recently named running backs coach by Stamps boss Jim Barker, a friend whose relationship dates back some 25 years when Levy taught Barker football theory at USC.
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Now 70, Levy is at an age when most men dream of a quiet day at the golf course or a sandy beach enjoying life as a gentleman of leisure.But Levy is again ready to break down game films, oversee helmet-smacking two-a-day workouts at training camp and be a football coach.

Clearly, retirement just wasn't in his game plan.

"I did it and it just got a little boring," he said, taking a few minutes away from his duties in his McMahon Stadium office.
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Levy has coached some of the best players to ever pull on a pair of shoulder pads.
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Levy grinned.

Are there any negatives? , USC assistant Dave Levy was asked.Yes , his feet aren't as fast as O.J. Simpson's..

"Are there any negatives?," USC assistant Dave Levy was asked.