‘He’s like family’: Rivalry game cements tight bond between former NFL teammates

Cris Dishman called a handful of people shortly after Texas Southern vice president for intercollegiate athletics Kevin Granger informed him in January that he would be named the Tigers’ new football coach.

On the immediate short list of people to tell was Prairie View A&M football coach Bubba McDowell, Dishman’s former NFL teammate.

“He [McDowell] was very instrumental in me getting this job,” Dishman said. “We’re not blood brothers, but he’s like family.”

When the close-knit former teammates became Southwestern Athletic Conference West foes in Texas Southern’s 27-9 victory against Prairie View A&M on Saturday in the Labor Day Classic, Dishman registered his first victory as the Tigers’ football coach – and his first against McDowell.

Texas Southern (1-0) snapped a nine-game losing streak to Prairie View A&M (0-1), bringing the Durley-Nicks Trophy back to Houston for the first time since 2014. Dishman became the second TSU head coach in 12 seasons to win the annual classic in his coaching debut.

He also scored the win in the old brotherly “hit the beach” competition, he said. The long-standing Oilers tradition was created by from former Houston defensive coordinator and head coach Jerry Glanville, who awarded players green army combat helmets in practice for delivering the premier special teams play of the week during games.

“One of my earliest touchdowns in the NFL was when Bubba blocked a kick and I scooped and scored,” Dishman said. “I get to keep the helmet here.”

Dishman, an elite cornerback, and McDowell, an astute safety and consummate player on special teams, were teammates from 1988 to 1994 for the former Houston Oilers’ secondary, a unit defined by its physicality. Houston selected Dishman, a former Purdue star, in the fifth round of the 1988 NFL draft and McDowell, a Miami standout, in the third round of the 1989 NFL draft.

Although Dishman, 59, nor McDowell, 57, didn’t suit up in a uniform like their days playing together in Houston, their coaching philosophies, which are rooted in their brotherhood and shared experiences, attention to details and football acumen were on full display Saturday.

“Coach McDowell told me it is not a rivalry until we win one,” Dishman told reporters after the game. “So, we won one, now the rivalry begins.”

Even with TSU earning the win against its division adversary, Glanville called the contest a true definition of brotherhood. 

Dishman and McDowell’s camaraderie originally began because of Glanville. As he was watching film of then-Purdue linebacker Fred Strickland before the 1988 draft, he noticed “this cornerback that kept making plays,” he said.

After viewing multiple flashes of Dishman’s skills in coverage, Glanville had seen enough.

“I shut off the film and said, ‘I don’t want the linebacker, I want the corner[back],’ ” he said.

The Oilers also were known for blocking kicks on special teams, and Glanville wanted to bolster the efforts in that unit. He drafted McDowell.

“When I first met Bubba, he could’ve passed for a teenager,” Glanville said. “He was a young pup but the best kick blocker in the country.”

Dishman agreed. “He knew how to slide under big offensive linemen and make plays. I always wanted to line up next to him. He was such a terror on special teams for blocking kicks.”

Although McDowell saw himself as a special teams superpower, he also wanted to be a starter in the Oilers’ secondary. But before earning his opportunity, the 6-foot-1 safety, who had played more zone coverage under then-coach Jimmy Johnson at the University of Miami, had to learn the ins and outs of playing in Houston’s defense. Dishman became his teacher.

By the 1989 season, McDowell was competing for a starting spot. McDowell often found himself sitting over the top of Dishman, who would “squat on nearly every play” in a Cover 2 style defense, he said.

“Cris would always tell me, ‘Make sure you deep’ and ask, ‘You got my back?’ ” McDowell said.

Although pure athleticism aided McDowell in making plays based on the advice he received from other veterans on the team, he quickly learned the importance of watching more film on coverages and his opponents.

“I was trying to do things my way,” McDowell said. “[Dishman] reminded me of three things: This is not Miami, the NFL will humble you, and that everybody was either on my level or better. How I chose to navigate that was on me.”

A young Nick Saban, who was the Oilers’ defensive backs coach from 1988 to 1989, felt the same way.

“He [Saban] kept telling me if I studied and watched more film, I could make so many more plays and potentially earn a Pro Bowl selection,” McDowell said. “I took it with a grain of salt initially because I wasn’t used to doing it.”

In taking Saban’s suggestions and the advice from vets such as defensive end Sean Jones, defensive back Richard Johnson and linebacker Robert Lyles, McDowell, despite never earning Pro Bowl status in his seven-season NFL career, became a starter in the Oilers’ secondary.

“They [Dishman and McDowell] played so well that a lot of people thought I could coach,” Glanville said with a laugh. “But they were more than just football players. With them coaching now, I’ll bet you all the money I got that those two are changing players’ lives every day.”

As Dishman and McDowell became bona fide stars in the Oilers’ secondary, their success was not solely a reflection of their individual skills, it was a testament to their commitment to remain students of the game. Dishman recalled how he and McDowell spent multiple summers in San Diego training for upcoming seasons in hopes of getting close to earning a Vince Lombardi Trophy.

While Dishman and McDowell never won a Super Bowl, the Oilers’ postseason resurrection was well documented. They played in five of Houston’s seven consecutive postseason appearances — 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 — that included two AFC Central division titles. However, their tenure also included “The Comeback” in the 1993 postseason, when the Oilers relinquished a 35-3 lead to the Buffalo Bills that resulted in Houston surrendering the largest comeback in NFL history at the time.

While there isn’t a football team without imperfections, Lyles knew that both Dishman and McDowell were going to be special. Lyles, who played for Houston from 1984 to 1990 and served as a captain, said the two were “class acts” and “real men” in life.

“When I came in, we were a couple years away from restoring the winning ways in Houston,” Lyles said. “Cris and Bubba took things to the next level and carried the torch. … They were locking them boys up out there. They were coachable, and they passed down the lessons to younger players that they were taught from watching us.”

Eddie George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State who was selected by the Oilers in first round of the 1996 draft, finished his first season as the NFL offensive rookie of the year. George, now the Tennessee State football coach, said his success as a pro wouldn’t have been possible if not for veterans such as Dishman.

“He’s one of my greatest friends,” George said. “He’d invite me to hang out with the fellas at this spot in Houston and showed me the ropes on what to look out for, who I needed to talk to and things I needed to stay away from.”

Dishman, who now has nearly 20 years of coaching experience, is instilling that same concept of brotherhood in his players at Texas Southern.

“Beyond us being better players, we go to church every Sunday and have team dinners that are catered for us to fellowship with our teammates,” said Texas Southern senior defensive back Javius Williams, who finished second in the Tigers’ defense in tackles (six) and one pass breakup in Saturday’s win. “These are mandatory. It’s helped us build bonds that aid us in the trenches.”

McDowell, who initially didn’t see a coaching career in his future because he didn’t believe he had the patience, is doing the same team building at Prairie View A&M.

“Trying to pour into players like Nick Saban did to me, I know what he went through with me,” McDowell said. “It’s a task.”

The last time Texas Southern logged a winning season was in 2000, the same season that Dishman retired from the NFL. But with TSU upsetting Prairie View A&M, last year’s SWAC championship runner-up, the dawn of a new chapter could be rising in Houston under Dishman.

Regardless of what the future brings on the field, Dishman and McDowell said, they will always be close.

“We both want to win,” Dishman said with a laugh. “The team who wins the red zone battle, converts the most third downs, wins special teams and remains cool when the pressure is on will win the game. … But through it all and going forward, he will always be my brother.”