Rob Ambrose is the son of a football man, but he is also the son of a farmer.
Though vastly different, both professions helped shape the life of Towson University's head football coach. They also offer the best explanation for why, twice a week this spring, you can find Ambrose standing on the turf of Johnny Unitas Stadium — arms folded, whistle clenched between his teeth — at 5:30 a.m.
That early in the morning, the Maryland sky is still pitch black. Normally the Towson University campus would be as quiet and as dark as an abandoned coal mine, but when Ambrose is there with his football team, the lights that tower above Unitas Stadium illuminate the field below.
On this day, sophomore quarterback Pete Athens, who looks like he rolled out of bed 10 minutes ago, zips a pass to wide receiver Wayne Hicks, who is immediately sandwiched by a linebacker and a safety. Senior guard John Esposito leads a group of offensive lineman as they sprint to the other end of the field second after the horn sounds. All the while Ambrose, dressed in shorts and a black visor, takes meticulous notes with a red pen, trying to figure out a way to turn around a team with only three victories the last two seasons into a consistent winner.
Welcome to spring football practice for the Towson Tigers.
Their workouts end today with the spring game, which has been dubbed the "Tiger Bowl," at 1 p.m. in Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Ambrose and his team held full contact, pre-dawn practices this year in part because it seemed more convenient and in part because Ambrose simply wanted to give it a shot. The genesis of the situation can probably be traced back to last April, when a 900 square foot sinkhole appeared one day on the Tigers' normal grass practice field. The sinkhole was caused by a cracked pipe buried deep beneath the field, and the field hasn't been used recently as new grass grows where repairs were made. That left Towson's lacrosse, soccer, football, and field hockey teams all jostling for the use of the one remaining field.
Ambrose, who in the fall wrapped up his second season as the Tigers head coach, was also fielding countless requests from his players about afternoon classes they needed to take in order to stay on track for graduation. At some point, it dawned on him that he could solve all his scheduling issues — and create a unique bonding exercise — by simply starting practice at "farm hours."
"Don't get me wrong," Ambrose said. "I would much rather practice at 8 o'clock in the morning or 9 o'clock in the morning. But when you have 20 Division I sports and one lit turf field, you need to plan accordingly. There are benefits to this too, though. It's not just suffering."
Changing the culture
Ambrose has some insight into the way hard work before the day's first light builds character. He grew up on a farm in Western Maryland, and his father, Tim — who coached football at Middletown High School and is a member of the Maryland High School Coaches Hall of Fame — would make him get out of bed every morning to corral and feed the horses, the cats and dogs, and the 25 head of cattle his family owned. He's a morning person now, often showing up the at the office somewhere between the hours of 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., but he certainly wasn't that way during his teenage years.
"My dad got me up before the crack of dawn every day, and I hated him for it," Ambrose said. "I love him for it now."
The lifestyle isn't without its challenges, though. The 40-year-old Ambrose, a married father of two, tries to get dressed in the dark every morning without waking up his wife, Melissa, which can lead to some interesting style choices. Even on his best days, he's been known to show up at the field wearing different color socks.
"If you don't walk in here like a color-blind idiot every day, then you're getting pretty good," Ambrose said.
When Ambrose informed his players of Towson's spring practice schedule during the first meeting after winter break, the reaction was, at the very least, mixed.
"The morale of the team was not great," said John Esposito, an offensive guard who will be a senior in the fall. "We really did not want to wake up that early."
But once practices began, many of the players started to see the benefits. They were done with football by 9 a.m., they always got a good breakfast — Ambrose makes them sign in at breakfast after practice and meetings — and they could use the rest of the day to focus on school.
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a challenge getting out of bed at 4:15 in the morning," Esposito said. "But once you're out of bed, once you're here in the locker room with all your brothers, it's not that bad. Ever since coach Ambrose got here, he stressed the importance of us being a family. We have to continuing acting like a family. I think it's starting to come around. We care about one another a lot more than we did in the past."
The idea of a successful, disciplined family working together is something the Towson administration was hoping for when it pitched the job to Ambrose — a Tigers alum who was the offensive coordinator at the University of Connecticut under Randy Edsall, now the coach at Maryland — two years ago. The Tigers football program has had a difficult time establishing continuity and building tradition over the years, in part because the university kept changing the program's classification and expectations.
From 1969 to 1979, the Tigers were a NCAA Division III program that found moderate success. From 1979 to 1986, the Tigers played Division II football and made the playoffs three times. Since 1987, the school has played in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly called I-AA), and experienced mixed results. In 1990, the school almost dropped football entirely over budget concerns.
But in recent years, Towson's administration has made it clear that athletics are going to be a major area of emphasis. For a school focused on growth, football can be a great marketing tool.
"That concept and that philosophy is a long time coming," Ambrose said. "Athletics was perceived as something you had to have as a university, with no focus or direction for it. It was good enough to just have teams. Somebody has decided finally to sweep that under the rug and move forward. If it was going to be business as usual, I wouldn't have come back."
Instilling 'a warrior code'
Ambrose's quest to rebuild the Tigers has been arduous. He went 2-9 in his first season, in 2009, and 1-10 in his second year. But the Tigers were more competitive in 2010. Recruiting has improved as well, and the Tigers have several high school seniors who graduated early so they could enroll in spring semester to begin practicing with the team. Jermond Bushrod, a Towson alum who plays tackle for the New Orleans Saints, has been helping coach the offensive line during the lockout. And former Ravens defensive end Michael McCrary has been hanging around practice as well.
"Rob is trying to build a warrior code in them," said new athletic director Mike Waddell, who was hired in October and often jogs past Unitas Stadium in the morning to show his support. "I like his energy. And the fact that he's stubborn. He doesn't accept the status quo. Too many times in sports, people get hung up about the past. Who gives a hoot about the past? It's all about right now."
During a recent morning practice, Ambrose, a fiery coach with a booming voice, was trying to get his players to understand why it was important to show some urgency coming out of the huddle. A group of bleary-eyed players ambled to the line, messed up the snap count, and fumbled the exchange. Ambrose was furious.
"Get your [butt] off the field," Ambrose roared. "You're not ready to practice, so we're going to sit here and watch you do up-downs."
The sun was just starting to creep above the horizon, and the darkness of the morning was receding. Ambrose scribbled down some notes, and ordered his team to line up again. There was still plenty of work to be done before the dawn officially arrived.
kevin.vanvalkenburg@baltsun.com
twitter.com/KVanValkenburg