SAN DIEGO — "There's no written paper. I'm telling you what happened. I got fired."
Those are the words of Dale Lindsay who was called into his boss's office last month and seriously caught off guard with the news that he would no longer be head coach of the Toreros.
I asked Lindsey if they asked him to resign.
"John, I resigned from only one job at Warren Central High School in 1979," Lindsey said. "I was fired. I don't know why. I know how you're supposed to win (games) and graduate (students). We have done both of those. Our players are averaging 92-95% graduation rate, and I think we've won a few games."
For the record. Lindsay is the school's all time winningest coach with a record of 80-30. In his 10 years as head coach at USD, his team's won seven pioneer league football championships.
"Most of the time when you're asked to leave, you either haven't won or you've broken some rules or you done both?" Lindsey said. "And that's not been our case."
The school is keeping a tight lip. We requested an interview with Executive Director of Athletics Bill McGillis. McGillis declined the request asking us to refer to the press release from March 21, which, in part, quotes McGillis saying: "Coach Lindsey will retire as one of the greatest head coaches in our university's history and one of the elite head coaches in college football. Tremendous man. Tremendous coach. Tremendous leader. Coach Lindsay led our program with great integrity, and he has built a model program and every sense of the word we have been blessed."
Despite the nice words, Lindsey is left without answers. The unexpected sendoff is not befitting a man of Lindsay's accomplishments. He played nine years in the NFL, then devoted his life to teaching others the game. He was Junior Seau's linebacker coach for five years in the 1990s, including the Super Bowl season of 1994. He later served as Chargers defensive coordinator for two years under Marty Schottenheimer. He was a coach for 21 years in professional football, 16 years in the college game, including the last 10 as head coach at USD, during which he was named PFL Coach of the Year three times, a National Coach of the Year finalist four times and taking the Toreros to the FCS playoffs five times.
Lindsey says he is not considering legal action against the University at this time, but would still like to coach.
"I don't use the word retire. I'm not ready to do that. I'm able bodied. I can get up and go. Truth is, I'm 80 years old but I'm not ready to sit in the rocking chair by the pool and waste away."
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