If Bob Spoo is the dean of the Ohio Valley coaches, then Tony Romo may be the face of the Football Championship Subdivision.
"Tony's kind of the poster boy for FCS quarterbacks," Eastern Illinois quarterback Jake Christensen said earlier this week. "I think more so these days it doesn't matter where you're playing, it's if you're a good player."
Although Eastern Illinois is a huge underdog against Penn State this weekend, the Panthers bring their fair share of rich history.
They have their own Joe Paterno in Spoo, who arrived at Eastern Illinois in 1987 and is the school's all-time leader in wins with 136.
Like Penn State and Tennessee Titans' veteran quarterback Kerry Collins, Eastern Illinois has a starting NFL quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys' Romo.
The Panthers even have a leg up on the Nittany Lions when it comes to NFL head coaches as Brad Childress of the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints' Sean Payton are former Panthers.
Payton led the team in passing for three seasons from 1984-86 and threw for as much as 3,843 yards and 28 touchdowns in a season.
He remains the school's leader in such categories as total offense in a career and passing yards.
Two-time Super Bowl champion head coach Mike Shanahan was also a quarterback, but he lost a kidney in the spring game before his junior year and moved on to coaching.
Eastern Illinois' quarterback history continues this season with Iowa transfer Christensen. Christensen's father, Jeff, started for three seasons from 1980-82 and ranks fourth in career passing yards at Eastern Illinois with 6,282.
But Romo is perhaps the most recognizable of the Panther alumni. The program's offensive coordinator, Roy Wittke, recruited Romo.
The signal caller played for Burlington High School in Wisconsin and Wittke brought back film for Spoo to watch.
"I don't think we can do anything for this young man," Spoo recalls thinking at the time.
But Spoo said Wittke convinced him to take the young quarterback and the Panthers didn't have to fight off big-name programs to get him. Wittke said part of the reason why Romo wasn't highly touted out of high school was he wasn't polished and that Romo saw himself as a basketball player as much as a football player.
"We took him on a partial scholarship, believe it or not," Spoo said. "History will tell the rest of the story."
And it has.
Romo won the Walter Payton Award in 2002 as the most outstanding FCS player by throwing for 3,165 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Although Wittke admits he had no idea Romo would become the player he's grown into, he did see his athleticism and ability to anticipate.
"He was very raw as a high school quarterback," Wittke said. "He was athletic and displayed a good arm. He displayed the ability to make plays in a spontaneous fashion to get you out of trouble."
