Wyatt eager to get BCU back on top

Heath A. Smith, DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

The tailor-made khaki jump suits. The linen outfit with the shirt unbuttoned at the top so the gold chain will show off his chest.

The sunglasses in the day or night, outside or inside. He's been called the "Gucci of Coaches."

He is Bethune-Cookman University head football coach Alvin Wyatt or "Hollywood Alvin Wyatt" to his fellow head-coaching colleagues in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

You could probably say Wyatt brought to head coaching what Deion Sanders brought to the cornerback position - flare.

Name another coach who would appear on the cover of a media guide wearing a pin-stripped silk suit, pink tie and Stacy Adams.

Go ahead. Name one. I dare you.

Wyatt didn't just bring a heightened sense of fashion to his alma mater, however. He also breathed new life into a down-and-out program.

Wyatt led the Wildcats to eight consecutive winning seasons, including the school's first-ever trip the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs in 2002.

Wyatt and the Wildcats fell on hard times in 2006 finishing the season with a 5-6 record, including a second consecutive loss to rival Florida A&M in the annual Florida Classic in Orlando.
The news turned from bad to tragic this summer when former Bethune-Cookman and Florida cornerback Avery Atkins, 20, was found dead in his car in the garage of his aunt's home. Wyatt's former assistant coach J.D. Hall also died of a heart attack this summer at the age of 35.

Wyatt has decided to channel the frustration of last season and the hurt of the losses he has suffered this summer into a new attitude that he hopes will return the Wildcats to the top in 2007.

Wyatt spoke to the Tallahassee Democrat last week at the 2007 MEAC Preseason Football Press Luncheon in Virginia Beach, Va., about last season, this summer and the team's outlook this season.

The following are excerpts from that interview:

So after the season your team had in 2006, what do you think about being picked to finish fourth in the MEAC this season?

"How did we do that? I'd thought we'd be at the bottom of the barrel the way we played last year. We're honored to be in the top five. That's always great. That tells you what other people are thinking about us. We do have some kids that can go out there and compete. We just don't have an abundance of them.

"After eight consecutive winning seasons, what was it like to go through last season?"

The one thing about it is that we know what happened. We know we could have done better, but that did not happen. We have made the corrections and we have a nucleus of ball players that will help us be very competitive. I don't think our kids were competing at the level they should have been last year. I feel the type of atmosphere that we had with our 2002 team, it started in the spring and carried over into the summer. I'm not saying that we are going to do that, but the attitude is headed into that direction.

"The death of Avery Atkins was shocking news. What effect did that news have on you?"

That was tough because I had one of the most satisfying relationships with that kid that I had with a lot of athletes. I knew him from when he was a little kid. For that to happen really, really shook my world. It just turned me differently on the inside. It just made me respect life more. Plus the fact that we had one of our former coaches J.D. Hall pass away too. That was just devastating. In fact you are the first one I've ever talked about this with because I refused to talk about it in the Daytona paper. This kid was like a son to me and it hurt me. It was crushing.

"What was your relationship with Atkins?"

I've been knowing Avery since he was seven years old. He had been in my fold for that long. This was a kid that had expressed to us that he truly wanted to go to Bethune-Cookman College out of high school. That didn't happen, but even during the time that he had signed with Florida, we had trouble trying to keep him off our campus telling us he didn't want to go.

"It got so bad where I got a call from Urban Meyer saying that I was tampering with one of his players. He found out that wasn't the case and that I was really pushing the kid in his direction. We ended up calling the high school coach to find out where that information came from.

"I used to come off some spring ball and he would be out there for every practice. Coaches used to warn me he was in my office so I would have to go in another direction. The kid really, really wanted to come to Bethune, but he went to Florida. He had a great year that first year, then he decided he wanted to get out of there. Urban Meyer released him to me. He hung around for three ball games and then boom! He was gone. The next thing I heard from him was what you heard about him.

"Coach, you are as known as much for your flamboyant clothing as you are for the success you have brought to Bethune-Cookman's football program. So what gives with the new image?

"In the past I may have come in with something pink. I had a nice outfit I wanted to wear, but I'm not doing that this year. I'm going to be more on the conservative side. I get a lot of praise, but I get a lot of flak. You have people that are envious and turn things the wrong way.

"Does this new look only pertain to your clothing?

"I just decided that our entire attitude has changed from a football aspect, getting our kids in a different frame of mind, I need to get myself in a different frame of mind. I want to do things differently than we did before and get back to the basics. It's time to get some football going again because we have to turn this thing around. One thing I hate is losing, in all phases of the game. I want to stay on top of my game dress-wise and on top of my game in anything I do.

"I always had that attitude and confidence about myself. When these guys put on their suits, they wear their suits. When I put on mine, I play mine. That separates me from the others. That is why you have seen me with such a flamboyant look. I call myself getting more business-like this season."