By Larry Little
Baylor Bear Foundation

In 226 games prior to the 2016 season, Jim Grobe-coached teams scored at least 48 points in a game eight times. Friday night, in the 2016 season opener against Northwestern State at McLane Stadium, Baylor accomplished that feat in the first half en route to a 55-7 romp.

Welcome to Baylor, Coach. Welcome to Baylor.

Grobe was on the sideline for the first time in 33 months. His last game was as head coach at Wake Forest, a 23-21 loss to Vanderbilt that ended the 2013 season and his 13-year stint as the Demon Deacons' head coach.

"It's fun being back on the sidelines again," Grobe said. "It's fun working with players and coaches. I love coaching, but I think that more than anything else it was a treat for me to watch our guys fly around and have fun."

The Bears did plenty of both against Northwestern State, pulling away throughout the second quarter and all but icing the victory nearly before sunset.

After the most tumultuous offseason in program history, the 2016 opener was as much salve as it was sensational.

"What I sensed when we first started practice, there was a great sense of energy," said Grobe, who was named Baylor's acting head coach May 30. "You could tell the kids were having fun being back together and practicing again. But, after a couple weeks, practice gets old."

At first glance, it's almost difficult to not view Grobe as a bit of an outsider. After all, he's virtually the only member of the program who was not already at Baylor or making plans to be a Bear when the spring semester concluded in early May.

But, according to senior quarterback Seth Russell, the Bears' new head coach is firmly a part of the family.

"We love him. I love him. He's been everything everybody said he was," Russell said. "What you see is what you get. He's been positive, but he'll tell you what you need to hear not what you want to hear. That's what I really respect about him."

When he was informed that the Bears' 55 points were the most a Grobe-coached team had ever scored, Russell said his new coach should expect it to happen again.

"Hopefully he can get used to it," Russell said. "We're going to play Baylor football, and we like to put a lot of points on the board."

Senior center Kyle Fuller said the team has taken to Grobe well.

"He came in here and told us what his purpose is," Fuller said. "We've really established a lot of trust between (the players) and him. He's here to help us get better."

One area in which Grobe's influence was immediately apparent was in special teams. The game's opening kickoff saw Drew Galitz' boot corralled at the 4 and returned only 10 yards.

"He hit the ball great every time kicking off, and he punted with a little bit of pressure pretty well," Grobe said of Galitz. "We had some good hang time on our punts. If we don't get it in the end zone, the hang time we get with Drew, both on his punts and on his kickoffs, I think will be really good."

Fans also saw the debut of punt returner Tony Nicholson, who averaged better than 20 yards on four returns and looked like a legitimate threat to score each time. In fact, he did score on one of them, but a questionable holding call negated the score. Nicholson later returned one to the Northwestern State 5, and the Bears scored two plays later.

"Tony did a nice job, and I feel like the special teams was pretty good tonight," Grobe said. "But, we have a lot of room to improve."

Overall, Grobe was pleased with the way the Bears played, calling Friday night's game a personal learning experience.

"I really felt good about our players, and I felt good about our coaching staff, but I wanted to see us put it together," Grobe said. "I wanted to see how we reacted as a team. I was very pleased. There are certainly a lot of things that we can work on and improve, but I liked the cohesiveness of our team and how hard we played."

That cohesiveness now includes Grobe, who went through a summer crash course unlike any he'd ever taken in more than 40 years as a coach.

"It took us some time just to get to know each other," he said. "When I first got here, there was a lot of doubt. The kids were in shock, coaches, too. After a while, the kids started feeling comfortable that I was here to help. And I started feeling like a coach after a while, because I got to know the players better and had a sense for their abilities. More importantly, I got to know our coaching staff. I have been really, really impressed."

Grobe inherited a program that-in football terms-is in as good of shape as any he's ever coached. His biggest influence on the program likely has been and will continue to be keeping everyone focused and in line.

"We tried to become a good football team and focus on that right now," he said. "The key for us going forward is these guys need to make really good decisions off the field. That's the way we stay focused on football, and that's what we're trying to get our guys to do."

Grobe and the 23rd-ranked Bears (1-0) will host SMU (1-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at McLane Stadium in a game that will be nationally broadcast by FS1. SMU opened with a 34-21 win on the road at North Texas, with the Mustangs rolling up 572 yards total offense.