PROVO — After inheriting one of the worst programs in college football, LaVell Edwards led the Cougars to a national championship just over a decade into his tenure.

For his career, Edwards racked up 257 wins, 19 conference championships and the before-mentioned national championship. I caught up with the coach recently, and he graciously answered my questions. The following is part two of a three-part interview I conducted with Edwards.

Dylan Cannon: David Watkins of Smithfield, Utah, asks: Do you think you could have been successful had you kept coaching past 2000?

LaVell Edwards: Yeah, but I don’t think we would have had quite the run we had there for a while because I was 70 years old and knew within myself that there were little things I let slip by that I normally would have taken care of. Things only I could know what they were. I never really verbalized them. But I don’t know if we could maintain what we did. The next year would have been good — that first year after. Because when (former BYU head coach Gary Crowton) came in, I think they won their first 12 or 13 games or something. I think we would have had a pretty good team, but after that, it was a little tough for a while.

DC: How did you know it was time to retire?

LE: I just knew within myself, like I said earlier, that I was letting little things slip. They weren’t necessarily discernible (to others) but in my own mind they were. I think it’s taking care of the little things that can really help you go on to have success. Conversely, not taking care of the little things and the little day-to-day activities and whatever (can hinder success). You have to maintain that state of mind that they, meaning the players, just can’t kind of do things the way they want to do it, how hard they want to work or miss practice or whatever else and still be successful. So, I think that’s probably it.

DC: So, you and Lee Corso are good friends. He’s known to be a little bit goofy. What is your favorite Lee Corso story?

LE: He was a lot of fun. He was a coach at Indiana and we were at a lot of different functions together. He’s just one of those guys that had a great sense of humor and had a lot of fun doing things.

One time, he was playing Notre Dame I think it was, and (Corso’s team) scored first and it was seven to nothing. Lee called timeout and got his team in front of the scoreboard and had the photographer come out and take a picture of them. I’ve heard him tell that story and he just has you really laughing. He tells those funny stories. You know, the thing about it, he was a great coach. Despite all his craziness, he was pretty successful. I thought he did a great job.

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Going long with coach LaVell Edwards, part 1

After inheriting one of the worst programs in college football, LaVell Edwards led the Cougars to a national championship just over a decade into his tenure.

DC: Finish this statement: If I had to do it all over again …

LE: I’d hope we’d be able to do the same thing because it really couldn’t have been a lot better. It’s unrealistic to think you’d have undefeated or great teams every year. It just doesn’t work that way. So, I’d be more than satisfied if we could just redo what we did.

DC: What do you miss most about coaching?

LE: I think relationships — particularly with the players and other coaches. I loved the challenge of going into spring practice not knowing who your players are going to be or who is going to fit in where and how you can take a group of individuals (and turn them into a team), because no matter how successful we were, you really lose a lot (of players) in college football and there was a big change from year to year. You’ve got to fill in the spots and bring the team together so they can be a unit. That’s what I miss most.

DC: What do you miss least about coaching?

LE: The press. (Laughs). And some fans. I never had much problem with either one but they, the ones that didn’t know what they were talking about, that you had to put up with at times. That’s what I miss least.

DC: Richard Keddington of Salt Lake City asks: What was the best excuse you ever got for a player missing practice?

LE: (Laughs). What happened is we had this kid that was on our team and (he and his wife’s families) got together and they had a party and I think they were Polynesian. There wasn’t alcohol involved; they were just having a good time. The police came to break it up because some neighbors complained or whatever. A couple of the girls tried to stand up to the police and told them what they thought. So, this kid came in and said, “I need to get my wife out of jail.” I said, “I think we can excuse you for that.” He was a great kid, good student, and a fun guy. So, it wasn’t that they were partying and out of control; it’s just those Polynesians get together and they know how to have a great time.

DC: Recently Brandon Doman offered his insights about why some highly touted high school players don’t cut it at the college level. What characteristics do you think kids need to succeed at the college level?

LE: I don’t know quite what Brandon said or what he was talking about. I’m not aware (of what he said). But, you know, it’s always somewhat of a gamble when you take a kid out of high school or junior college and bring him into the program. First of all, he has the athletic ability or you wouldn’t recruit him but how they make that adjustment and their thought processes and everything that goes into it, it’s pretty hard to tell sometimes. I’ve been fooled with people I thought couldn’t miss, and just didn’t pan out for some reason. Not that they were bad guys or made dumb decisions, it just didn’t work out. Whereas others come into the program and you weren’t all that sure about them. That’s why you see all these quarterbacks in the NFL that were drafted in the seventh round or something like that. You know, they weren’t a sure-fire bet but they come on. I think Tom Brady (was drafted) late. Probably the best quarterback in the NFL. It’s still a crapshoot in a way when you make that transition from high school to college and college to the pros. That’s a huge jump. That’s why, percentage wise, there’s not many that make it compared to players that start out playing in high school. And I would imagine from Little League to high school is a pretty good jump, too. But I think from high school to college, it’s a pretty big jump. But I think the jump from college to the NFL is probably the biggest jump of the bunch.

Dylan Cannon is a regular KSL.com contributor and can be reached at DylanCannon86@gmail.com or via twitter @DylanCannon11. Listen to his weekly podcast, "Cougar Talk," on iTunes.

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