University of California Los Angeles - Bruin Life / Southern Campus Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 29 text:

When James Thompson Prothro came to UCLA in January of 1965, many sounded grave doubt as to his ability to make UCLA a big winner again on the gridiron. By January I, 1966, no one doubted Prothro any more. The big man and his superbly gifted staff had brought UCLA back to football majesty—the AAWU championship, number five national ranking and a Rose Bowl bid. When Prothro arrived from Oregon State—where he had just produced the AAWU ' s Rose Bowl representative—he said he had come south because, there was more potential for fine here. That potential, it turned out. lay dormant within the men he inherited and a couple of key defense men he had brought in from the local junior colleges. In the spring, Prothro and his staff built the base for a season on teaching their charges fundamentals and hard-nosed football. In the fall days before the opened, the Bruins were taught the system , a shifting I-formation attack front which some of the most football seen anywhere during the 1965 season was to spring. Finally, as the began, Prothro and his staff instituted in the team a stirring confidence which carried them through more than one dark moment. It by this formula of soundness, offensive explosiveness and abiding confidence that Prothro built UCLA into a football power by performing the coaching feat of the year.