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Thursday, March 20, 2003

Gooood morning, Vermont. You're tuned into the "Corm and the Coach Show" on The Champ (as in Lake Champlain), WCVP-FM 101.5 on your dial. You're tuned into the morning radio show that not only beats Howard Stern and Don Imus in its market ratings, but also sent its colorful co-host into the NCAA tournament.

That would be Tom Brennan, the coach in the "Corm and the Coach" and the ring leader of the University of Vermont Catamounts.

In that order.

Because radio pays him more than coaching. Or, as he jokes when the subject of this 10-year-old gig arises, "Being the lowest-paid coach in America, I couldn't turn it down."

The land of Green Mountain skiing, syrup, Ben & Jerry's and only one Division I-A program is going radio ga-ga over the co-host coach and his Catamounts, who, if they ever escape Denver's snowstorm, are supposed to play Arizona at 3:10 p.m. today in Salt Lake City. Brennan, one of college coaching's most beloved fraternity boys, always had a quick wit. After nine seasons without a tournament victory, after suffering through more losing seasons than winning seasons in his first 16 years, he has them 20-11, champions of the America East Conference and playing in their first NCAA tournament in the program's 103-year history.

"You take the politicians out of this state," on-air sidekick Steve Cormier said, "and he's the most recognizable guy."

Let's see, besides Howard Dean, the former governor running for president, the rest are hitching themselves to Brennan's bandwagon. Sen. Patrick Leahy telephoned his congratulations Sunday, after the Catamounts toppled Boston University, 56-55, in Boston. Gov. Jim Douglas saw off the NCAA-bound team at the Burlington, Vt. airport just after dawn Tuesday.

Not too shabby for a guy better known for waking up opposing conference coaches on the air, live, with "Corm and the Coach."

Take the Tuesday before last. Please, Boston University Coach and Brennan's pal Dennis Wolff might add. Brennan spent most of the morning's wee hours returning from an America East semifinal victory in Boston, so he went to the Clear Channel Burlington studios at 4:50 a.m. and waited for the start of his 5:30-9 a.m. show. He could hardly wait to call Wolff, whose team his Catamounts would face five days later in the championship game for the NCAA berth.

He waited as long as 40 classic-rock minutes, until 6:10 a.m.

Coach: "I think we should call Dennis. Let's call him right now. Give him a jingle."

Corm: "Let's play one more song first."

Coach: "Nah. He's going to be thrilled. 508 ..."

Corm: (dialing) "I feel sooo bad. He's waking up looking at the clock going, 'Freakin' Brennan.' "

Coach: "He doesn't play for four days, five days. What's the big deal?"

Wolff: (softly) "Hulloh?"

Coach: (screaming) "Hey, we beat Hartford. Did you win? It's 'Corm and the Coach,' live." (As if Wolff didn't know.

Wolff: "Corm, is there an FCC rule about being drunk on the air?"

Coach: (laughing) "I need tickets."

Wolff: "He had guys planted in my press conference last night ... like I'm some sucker. If they don't win the game Saturday, it'll be all coaching missteps. When I woke up this morning and looked at The Boston Globe and saw that God was with Tom Brennan, I knew the world was in trouble."

Coach: "I said, 'We're on a mission from God.' That's different."

You have to love a coach who quotes the Blues Brothers.

Brennan used to tickle my ear once a year or so. The Post-Gazette would dial up Vermont for stories about all the local kids who played for him: Erik Nelson and Dave Ostrosky from Fox Chapel, Eddie Benton of Perry. The coach was always a hoot. That's how he got into radio originally.

The station's general manager heard him speak at a Rotary Club luncheon and told his director of operations, Cormier, that this was a fellow who could bring listeners to their station. Brennan went from crossover dribbles to crossover audiences. The way it started, in November 1992, Brennan read the sports updates and conversed with the host.

"I remember thinking three days into it, 'This is magical.' There was a tremendous chemistry, I knew there was something special," Cormier said. "Three days into it, I started calling it 'Corm and the Coach.'

"Here we are, 10 years later."

They go on remote broadcasts to Burlington eateries. They go to the world bobsled championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. They have a yearly golf tournament. They ask listeners in the mornings to translate Ozzy Osbourne or name this classic-rock tune remade into -- ugh -- a polka.

"We open the mike, and wherever we go, we go," Cormier said.

Brennan only does the show about 175 days a year, missing turns during recruiting season and summer vacation and overnight road trips. He won't be broadcasting this morning, won't be dialing up Arizona's Lute Olson, something I'd love to hear.

"I only do it to guys that I know," Brennan said. "I always give them a 10-after-6 wakeup call when they come to Burlington."

Wolff is a constant target. Villanova's Jay Wright, when he coached Hofstra, after a while tried to seek refuge.

"He hid in a hotel in Hartford once," Cormier recalled. "We found out where he was, called and woke him up. He said, 'I can't believe it, I can't get away from you guys.' "

Ostrosky told them a story. Howard Stern is dating his sister, and one night over dinner, the syndicated radio and TV host told the former Catamounts playerI hear they have a really good show up there.

"Everbody in Vermont listens to them in the morning," said Ostrosky, who is a Boston resident. "Coach, he's a trip. He makes life interesting for his players and everybody else in the state."

"As Tom says," Cormier added, referring to the ratings victories against Stern and Imus, "that's like going to Rupp Arena and beating Kentucky all the time."

If only it would help him get to Salt Lake City and beat Arizona.