Kerwin Bell's Dolphins can complete turnaround with league title

JACKSONVILLE - Kerwin Bell's first season at Jacksonville included ridding the program of "dead weight" and dealing with a bizarre criminal case.

His second one has gone considerably smoother.

Bell, a former star quarterback at nearby Florida, has created a winning culture at Jacksonville University in just two seasons - a quick turnaround in his first college coaching stop. The Dolphins already have set a school record for victories and could make more history by winning the Pioneer League.

Jacksonville (8-3, 6-1) hosts Dayton (9-2, 6-1) for the conference championship Saturday, with a berth in the Gridiron Classic in Albany, N.Y., at stake.

It's a huge opportunity for the non-scholarship Dolphins and Bell, who took the job in January 2007 after building Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala into a state power in five seasons. Bell was 45-15 at Trinity, won a state title in 2005 and played for another one in 2006.

Jacksonville provided a much bigger challenge.

"You walk in here, you see the facilities, you see what else you got and it's been here 10 years and you say, 'Goodness,'" Bell said. "You could tell there was no commitment before because nothing had been done in 10 years really. It was like starting a brand new program from scratch, and that's how I approached it."

Bell refused to dwell on the past, instead focusing on his vision to revamp a program that's trying to make its mark despite being largely overshadowed by Florida, Florida State and the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

Obstacles were plentiful. The Dolphins had one .500 season (5-5) since 2001, and Bell got a sense that mediocrity was acceptable. His frustration grew "for six to eight months" as he tried to get his players out of that mentality.

"We had a lot of people who didn't stay around," he said.

Thirty players were cast aside.

"We did need to change the culture around here," athletic director Alan Verlander said. "That culture was built not just on one person, but on a sense that it's OK to be mediocre."

With the mind-set change under way, Bell's next move was to find more talent, especially after the Dolphins were 3-8 in his first season.

"I saw stuff I'd never seen on the football field," Bell said. "I've never been part of nothin' like that. It was very humiliating. We go to Dayton and were down 28-0 in the first quarter and I'm saying, 'Are we this bad?'"

Off-the-field issues were even more glaring. The most notable involved starting running back Rudell Small. Early last season, police received a tip that Small had marijuana in his dorm room. Small said officers also told him they were looking for a gun. He was arrested, handcuffed and humiliated.

Small also was suspended from the team.

Eventually, teammate and fellow running back Cecil Coltrane admitted to planting the drugs in a plot to take over the starting job.

Small was eventually reinstated, and Coltrane was kicked off the team.

"That was the last thing that I would think one of the players would do," said Small, adding that he's never owned or even shot a gun. "Some teammates told me he had a grudge against me."

Small has recovered from the setback. He leads the Pioneer League in rushing yards a game (112) and has 1,233 yards on the ground - more than any other running back in the Sunshine State.

Despite the arrest and some other growing pains, Bell saw signs of improvement on the horizon. He pins the turnaround on leadership from players who stuck around and assistant coaches who excel "for what we pay 'em."

Early losses at UNC-Pembroke and Davidson could have devastated the team, Bell said, but they didn't. The Dolphins regrouped, won six in a row and now have a shot at a championship.

"The biggest change here is the atmosphere," senior offensive lineman Mike Aguilar said. "In the past, it was, 'Let's hope we can get a couple of wins under our belts.' Now it's like, 'Let's go win some conference championships.'

"Coach Bell has brought the championship fire out of everybody. He knew there was a champion in every single one of us, but he actually was able to tap into us and find it."