No one expected Bob Colbert to hang onto the title for very long, but he was once the youngest college football coach in America, at Gallaudet University, during the unlearned lessons of Vietnam.

That was 1970.

The older brother of Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert, Bob started his 42nd season of coaching this week at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and he's basically, well, madder than hell.

"I've never been as disgusted or embarrassed of my profession as I am now," is how he put it. "Your article of July 30 is right on the money regarding the state of big-time college football."

I had written something about the pungency of many of the country's legendary programs that day and the calcifying suspicion that, nearly decades after the academic and bureaucratic reforms of the early '80s, the game at the top levels is probably dirtier than ever.

But there is no reason that college football as Bob Colbert has long overseen should be caught in the toxic backwash of chronic mismanagement by people who should know better.

So Colbert got up at the annual Presidents Athletic Conference media day and, claiming the prerogative of advanced seniority, soap-boxed it unapologetically for about 10 minutes. He said there are places where college football still smells good, and the picturesque places in this conference -- from Crestview Hills, Ky., to Bethany, W.Va., to Latrobe -- are surely among them.

"Most of the players in this country are not involved with major college football," Colbert said. "NCAA Division II and III have many more teams than Division I, or whatever they call themselves. Our players have the same dedication and desire to compete as the major college players but face many more financial realities than their bowl-eligible brothers.

"When our players 'are hungry' or 'want to go on a date,' they use the money they have earned working. Or they may use some money from their student loans.

"Ask the Division I football coaches how many of their players work during the summer, and they will look at you like you are from another planet. I have about 20 players on my team that elected to stay on campus this summer. Some of them work two jobs to pay their rent to the college for their room, to have spending money or to pay for school in the fall. Oh yes, I forgot to mention they usually find time to lift weights and run conditioning drills unsupervised by a strength and conditioning coach.

"We hire our players to wash the football clothes worn by our team in practice. This usually takes place in the evenings after practice and before doing their academic work. Some of the players are hired to wash the game uniforms on Saturday night after a game. Many of them will graduate in four years with student loan debt averaging well over $22,000. Our players truly invest in a college education and the opportunity to play football."

If you ask St. Vincent senior Armando Fortunato about washing uniforms, he is actually a little sheepish about it. Fortunato is one of Colbert's starting linebackers. He's 5 feet 8, 205 pounds.

"Yeah, that's happens," he said. "But we'll do anything it takes just to be able to play. The only benefit I get from football is that I love to play it. It's a smaller school, so people on campus know I do it, but I just want to play and play well enough this year that the program really gets established.

"Last year, things finally started to pick up. I know 3-7 doesn't sound like much, but there were five games that we had a chance to win. We outscored Bethany in the second behalf [before losing, 35-28] and, against [three-time PAC champion] Thomas More, we were only down 10 at the half. To leave St. Vincent as a solid program, that would be a nice legacy."

St. Vincent mothballed football for nearly a half-century before rolling it out on brand new Chuck Noll Field in the fall 2007. Colbert signed on after 35 years at Galludet, Colgate, Dartmouth, Cornell, Ohio Wesleyan, James Madison, Bridgewater College and the NFL's Washington Redskins and then Baltimore Colts and re-founded a program that would command all the patience and understanding of his vast experience.

"We've certainly paid our dues," he said. "I remember that first year playing against W&J, they had something like 800 yards against us. They were kicking field goals on first down."

The Bearcats have won four of the first 40 games in this second incarnation, but they have a decent shot at .500 this fall and a roughly 100 percent chance of getting there without an NCAA violation.

And somehow-- and this is the truly unbelievable part -- these nine PAC schools and the 24 other Division III conferences manage to put together a championship tournament at the end of the season. They pick seven at-large teams in much the same manner of the Division I basketball committees, then they crown a real live undisputed national champion year after quiet year.

Saint Vincent's home opener comes Sept. 10. Kickoff is 1 p.m., when kickoff is supposed to be. You might stop by, just to see college football the way it is meant to be played. This is football for football's sake, and for no more sinister purpose.

I'm fairly certain nobody's victory will have to be vacated.

Gene Collier's "Two-Minute Warning" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.