Coach Rob Ambrose and the 2011 Tiger football team are well into training camp as they prepare for the upcoming season. One of the most asked questions is who will be the Tigers' quarterback? But, for seven of the last 20 years of Tiger football, no one was asking that question.
From the seventh game of the 1991 season through 1994, it was Dan Crowley. From 2005 to 2008, it was Sean Schaefer.
If you look at the Tigers' all-time records, Sean is number one in passing yards with 11,644. Not only is that the Tigers' record, but it's also the State of Maryland college record for yards in a career. Right behind Sean on that list is Crowley with 8,900 yards.
All-time record for touchdowns in a career? Dan ranks at the top of the list with 81 while Sean is second with 76.
Needless to say, they are the Tigers two most prolific quarterbacks of all time.
But, we also should mention that Towson has had a few other fantastic signal callers in their history. Go back to the mid 1970s and Dan Dullea was the Tiger QB that led them to the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in 1976. Ron Meehan, who led the Tiger offense for four years and graduated as their all-time leading passer with 6,164 yards, followed him.
Kevin Smith was the Tiger QB from 1995-1998 and led Towson into the Patriot League era. The man with the greatest single season in Tiger football history was without a doubt Joe Lee.
Joe played behind Kevin Smith for three years. But, his one season as the Tigers' starter was amazing. In 1999, he threw for 4,168 yards and led the Tigers to their only winning conference record in the Patriot League. If not for a 44-39 loss against Lehigh, which was ranked in the top five, the Tigers would have been the first school in college football history to go to the NCAA playoffs in Division III, Division II and Division I-AA (or FCS as it is known now). But, let's get back to our story.
Gordy Combs was the one constant with Crowley and Schaefer, but there was another man behind both of these great QB's coming to Towson - Don Zimmerman. Donnie was one year ahead of Crowley at Dematha. A defensive back for the Tigers, he helped convince Crowley to come to Towson.
Flash forward 14 years and it was then assistant coach Zimmerman who recruited Schaefer to the Tigers.
I had a chance to talk with Coach Combs and asked him to talk about the Tigers' two greatest quarterbacks. He says they had many similarities, but there was one big difference that stood out.
“Dan was much more vocal than Sean,” Coach Combs said. “Dan was a real 'rah-rah' kind of guy while Sean was a quiet leader.”
Crowley's nickname was Shooter. Combs says he never asked why but he speculates it was either because of his strong arm or because Dan liked to drink them.
Crowley came out of Dematha High School and Combs thinks the reason Division I-A colleges weren't looking at him was because he was a tad short.
Schaefer came out of Southern Maryland which Gordy says wasn't being highly recruited.
“Sean had a terrific high school coach in Jerry Franks,” explained Coach Combs. “As a matter of fact, Franks was the quarterbacks coach at Uconn and his replacement was Rob Ambrose.”
In 1991, the Tigers tried what turned out to be a brutal experiment in going to an option offense. It was much different for a team that had become known as “Air Albert” under their longtime head coach, Phil Albert.
In the sixth game of the season against Northeastern, the experiment came to an end in the second half. Coach Albert decided to go back to a conventional offense with a true freshman at the helm – Dan Crowley.
The Tigers lost 50-13, but Coach Albert decided to stick with the freshman.
The following week, the Tigers traveled to Lynchburg, Va. to take on Liberty. As the Tigers were about to begin their practice, someone noticed that the Liberty coaches were having a dinner in the pressbox.
Coach Combs says, “We decided to run our option offense with Gary Worthington to try and throw off the Liberty coaches. We didn't want them to know we were going to be running a traditional offense with a true freshman at quarterback.”
It worked because the Tigers put up 28 points, their second best output during a dismal 1-10 season.
Going into 1992, the Tigers went with the sophomore in Gordy's first year as head coach. The Tigers went 5-5 and pulled off two of their most memorable wins in the program's history. They rallied from a large deficit in the final quarter to beat a very good Indiana of Pennsylvania team and followed that up with a 33-32 win over Northeastern. In that game, Crowley hit Mark Orlando in the corner of the end zone on the final play of the game that came after a Northeastern unsportsmanlike penalty on the final timed play of the game.
Crowley would lead the Tigers to back-to-back 8-2 records in his junior and senior years, highlighted by a 32-30 win over fifth-ranked Delaware up in Newark.
Dan's improvement from his freshman year to his senior season were remarkable. As a freshman, he threw 27 interceptions, including a school-record 7 interceptions against Maine. In his final two years, he threw just 15 interceptions COMBINED.
Oh, and by the way, he ONLY threw 52 touchdown passes those two seasons.
After leaving Towson, Dan went to the Canadian Football League where he played eight seasons, getting a championship ring with the Baltimore Stallions in 1995. Dan is back in the Tiger family as a member of the Tiger Club staff.
Meanwhile, Sean redshirted his true freshman season. In the spring of 2005, Coach Albert, who was the team's offensive coordinator, told the Tigers' coach that Sean may be the guy over then starter Andrew Goldbeck.
“We went into training camp and it became obvious that Sean was the guy,” Coach Combs recalled. “Andrew handled it beautifully. He became a great mentor to Sean and deserves a lot of credit for that.”
“When we recruited Sean, I noticed that his wristband had like twice as many plays as we had,” added Coach Combs. “So, I knew he could handle the offense.”
The Tigers went 6-6 that year and 3-4 in just their second season in the Atlantic 10, but Sean threw for 2,772 yards and 20 touchdowns.
In 2006, the Tigers would have their only .500 conference record in the A-10 or what is now the CAA. Towson finished 7-4 with a 4-4 conference record.
In one of the finest performances of any Tiger quarterback in school history, Sean went 27-for-37 with 435 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions en route to a 49-35 win over a highly-ranked Delaware squad at Delaware Stadium. Who was Delaware's QB that day? Current Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Anyone who watched that game would have thought the Tiger signal caller would be the one to go on to the NFL.
“Sean was tremendous that day,” said the Tiger coach. “Every one of our scoring drives were at least 60 yards. He was as accurate as any quarterback I have ever seen on that afternoon.”
The Tigers would not have a lot of success in Sean's junior and senior seasons. But, one position the Tigers never had to worry about was quarterback.
When Coach Ambrose came back to Towson in 2009 as the Tigers' head coach, I remember our first discussion. He had just gone through looking at game tapes from the previous year.
“They should erect a statue of that kid,” Ambrose said about Schaefer. “The things I saw were just amazing. I wish I would have had a chance to coach him.”
As the Tigers' radio voice for every one of Dan and Sean's games, I can say that getting to know them both was an honor.
In 2005, the Tigers played a road game at the University of Rhode Island. I was flying back separate from the team.
Sitting in the terminal, I noticed a woman sitting across from me wearing Towson gear. We introduced ourselves and it was the first time I met Sean Schaefer's parents. You couldn't find nicer people than his mom and dad.
It's no wonder their son turned out to be a great young man. Sean is now following in his father's footsteps and is living his dream of being a fireman.
Let's hope that in the near future, I can write a blog saying (insert future Tiger quarterback's name here) has to be ranked right up there with Dan Crowley and Sean Schaefer as one of the greatest Tiger quarterbacks of all time.
Postscript: The genesis of this blog came when I saw Sean and Dan at the Joe Vitt Crab Feast in Ocean City back in June. For those who have never been, it is one of the best and enjoyable fundraisers Towson has.
