BLUE-COLLAR BULLDOG FRESNO COACH SUSTAINS VALLEY ETHICS.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

FRESNO - As a young, unpaid assistant football coach at Valley College, Pat Hill slept in his van, set pins at an old Reseda bowling alley and worked as a doorman at Big Daddy's in Canoga Park.

Whatever it took to keep his dream alive of someday being a big-time football coach, Hill did it.

Now, 25 years later, the regular guy with the no-nonsense work ethic is head coach of the darlings of college football, eighth-ranked Fresno State.

Fresno?

That was the question posed on the cover of Sports Illustrated in a recent issue.

``Why not us?'' responds Hill, 49, a onetime student at Crespi High School in Encino and now in his fifth season as the head coach at Fresno State.

``I can just be a regular guy here. I don't have to act,'' Hill said in a recent interview.

``I'm not going to change who I am for anybody. I'm going to be me. My personality is going to be the personality of my team. That's really important. The personality of the team is more important than anything.''

Hill has brought his blue-collar attitudes to a blue-collar school, and his Bulldogs have responded with a 6-0 record, knocking off big-name programs Colorado, Wisconsin and Oregon State, giving them a shot at a major bowl game if they can go undefeated.

They still have to play Hawaii and softer opponents in the Western Athletic Conference. Yet, Fresno State seems destined to shake up the Bowl Championship Series.

The Bulldogs pulled off an improbable 25-22 overtime win at Colorado State on Saturday. Fresno State kicker Asen Asparuhov kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired to tie it and a 41-yarder in overtime to win.

``People ask me all the time, Are you surprised to be a top 10 team?'' Hill said. ``My answer is no. A lot of these guys have been here three, four and five years. They have the scars to prove it. We know we have a great chance to do something special.''

'Regular guy'

Canyon High coach Harry Welch coached Hill at Crespi and then with him at Valley College. He's not at all surprised Hill has led Fresno State to a 31-22 record in five seasons, a remarkable feat, considering the grueling nonconference schedule. And he's been to bowl games the past two seasons.

``He's a regular guy in the gifts that he's given,'' Welch said. ``But he's not a regular guy in what he's done with the gifts he's given. He's not ordinary. There's no one like him.''

Seems everyone likes him, even his players.

``I wouldn't play for anybody else,'' said Mike Stovall, a senior offensive lineman. ``I wouldn't. He's my type of guy. I try to be like him. I want to be like him. He was a fighter (as a player). He fought tooth and nail to the bone. He put a little bit of that in me. And I would hope that I hold up to that.''

Many of his players are now fifth-year seniors, including Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback David Carr. They all abide by Hill's simple philosophy: Play hard. The signs are on doors all over.

He has also three rules - be there, do your best and treat others as you'd like to be treated.

``He's a guy that would strap it on and play center for us tonight if he could,'' Carr said. ``He gets down and dirty with us. It's a lot of fun being around the guy. He's the best coach. He's awesome. He has some quirks but we all do. Fresno fits him.''

Despite his single-minded love of football, Hill knows how to have a good time.

``He was always a character, but always intense,'' Welch said. ``He has a terrific sense of humor. He would not use a bottle opener to open a bottle of beer. He would use his teeth. I've seen him bite a lit, 100-watt light bulb.''

Hill beams when he talks about breaking ground in January on the new team room, academic training room and locker room facilities. He waves to a busload of children who chant, ``Fresno State! Fresno State!''

He signed a new five-year deal in September, which pays him up to $350,000 annually - the most he can earn with incentives. It's about $650,000 less than that of men coaching other top 10 teams.

After struggling financially early in his coaching career - heck, he hauled in garbage at 4 a.m. as an assistant at Utah - he's not too particular about how many zeros are in the contract.

``I've taken a lot of grief for living in my van and working those jobs, but I had to make money and pay the bills,'' Hill said. ``I wasn't making money coaching. I love this job.''

Simple demands

Which is why you believe him when he says it's not about the money. His loyalty will be tested, maybe even by Cal when the season is done. He has some demands to stay at Fresno State but he's not asking for much. He just wants cars to stop parking on his practice field on game days. That is what really wears on him.

And he wants the stadium expanded. Let him see designs - which cost about $1 million - and he'll know there's a commitment. Fresno State had its largest crowd - 42,881 - for its most recent home game, nearly two weeks ago against Louisiana Tech. Save for 500 or so tickets here and there, the remaining four home games are sold out, too.

Fan Dan Green, 64, has been a season ticket holder for 20 years and has had the opportunity to chat with Hill at Rotary luncheons and other functions.

``He's pretty driven underneath. You can have a good conversation with him. He's a neat guy to be with and talk to. But he's got a purpose.''

He's not a guy who can charm the socks off a school administrator. It's just not his style. The only time he wears a tie is on road trips. He arrives to work on a Sunday in a T-shirt, shorts and a worn-out Bulldogs cap. On the inside of the bill, he writes each score and then the upcoming opponent to remind himself to take it one game at a time.

As an assistant to Jim Sweeney, Fresno State's coach for 19 years until 1996, Hill was involved in recruiting.

``Pat doesn't sell them on the social life,'' Sweeney said. ``He comes across sincerely. It's a blue-collar approach to get a white-collar result. He's excellent at projecting a young man's future and his education.''

Quarterback Carr's parents, Rodger and Sheryl Carr, recalled that Hill arrived at their Bakersfield home five years ago for a recruiting visit looking disheveled and carrying a suitcase held together by a bungee cord.

``You just get the feeling when you meet somebody,'' Sheryl Carr said. ``You can tell. You get a sense about what kind of person they are. We got that instantly.''

Hill promised to build the team around Carr, his first recruit.

``He said, 'We're going to play big-time football here,''' Rodger Carr said. ``And we are. He did it. He came through with what he said he was going to do.''

And he's done it without big-time money. Hill does much of Fresno State's fund raising himself. He does local commercials and charity golf tournaments to raise money for the program.

``He's such a down-to-earth superman,'' said Toni Watterman, 51, who's been attending Fresno State games with her sister for 14 years. ``The reason I know he's great for the team is because he wants them to become something other than football jocks. He wants them to get an education. He's a family man. He's got his priorities straight.''

Focus on education

Hill's priorities were set on education and football at Crespi his freshman, sophomore and junior years. He started as a 120-pound center on the freshman team. He was an undersized 150-pound junior center but he always got the job done and then played collegiately at the University of California, Riverside.

``My father thought I needed to get into a more disciplined situation, so they sent me to Crespi,'' Hill said. ``I had never played football. When I went to Crespi, there were 111 freshman kids and 103 were out for football. I thought I'd better do it. I missed all of two-a-days, so I didn't get off to a great start with the coaches.

``I learned a lot about discipline. It was a very good school. I've used the work ethic I developed at Crespi.''

Hill has worked as an assistant for the NFL's Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, his final job before returning to Fresno State. He still doesn't have a business card and isn't job hunting.

``This is a great job,'' Hill said. ``There aren't many jobs, I don't think, in this country that have as much going for it as Fresno State.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Fresno State coach Pat Hill shares the joy of victory with his wife, Cathy, after a recent win over Wisconsin.

John Walker/The Fresno Bee

(2) Fresno State coach Pat Hill, a former student at Encino's Crespi High School, shows support for his squad after a field goal. The popular football coach once worked at a Reseda bowling alley to make ends meet.

Tomas Ovalle/The Fresno Bee

(3 -- color) Considered to use a blue-collar approach to get a white-collar result, Fresno coach Pat Hill has found success with his eighth-ranked Fresno State Bulldogs.

Craig Kohlruss/The Fresno Bee