Portland State Magazine Spring 2007

goes low and slow as he holds the vibra– tion of the final syllables for effect. Glanville smiles and hits the return key again. And again. Some people start their day repeat– ing affirmations. Glanville blows his Viking horn. Glanville-known as football's Man in Black, remembered for his successas an NFL coach in Atlanta and Houston, regarded as at least a little bit crazy-has PSU fans buzzing. His deci– sion to leave the defensive coordinator job at Universiry of Hawaii in February The football team's first home game in PGE Park is September 8 against UC Davis. For tickets call 1-503-725-3307 or 1-888-VIK-TIKS. and become the Vikings' head coach changed PSU athletics overnight. More than 500 season tickets were sold in just two days after Glanville's hiring, and sales are expected to triple or quadruple over last year before the home opener game September 8 against Universiry of California, Davis. And Glanville is ready for it. He is 65, with the drive, zest, and swagger of a teenager. The man is different. "Very different," he says, sitting up straight and immediately slipping from singular to plural. "That's the way we are. We're not going co change. This is who we are and what we do." TERI MARIANI, WHILE she was interim athletic director, was the first Portland State official to contact Glan– ville and check him out. When PSU head coach Tim Walsh left to become offensive coordinator at West Point, Mariani called former Viking coach Darrel "Mouse" Davis and half-joking– ly asked if he would be interested in the vacancy. Davis, who was an assistant coach at Hawaii, cold her no, but said he knew someone who might be. A couple of days later, a resume arrived by fax from Glanville. "I thought maybe Mouse was play– ing a joke on me, so I actually waited a couple of hours until I called Jerry," Mariani says. "Jerry assured me that he was really interested, that his wife wanted to get off the island, and that he'd heard a lot about Portland and PSU. "So we arranged for him to come interview. I met him at the airport and stuck out my hand. He gave me a big bear hug like we were old friends who hadn't seen each other in years. Right away, I knew he was my kind of guy." She also quickly discovered that Glanville loves to talk and tell stories from his anything-but-rypical life. For instance, he's driven on NASCAR cracks against the big daddies of stock-car racing. "Got a photo of me and Dale Earnhardt, Sr., coming SPRING 2007 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 11