By Jonathan Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

In the hours leading up to Saturday's Homecoming game against Kansas, a coach stood in front of his players and delivered a speech to inspire and encourage them to victory.

But this wasn't in the locker room at McLane Stadium, it wasn't Art Briles and it wasn't to the defending 2013 Big 12 champion football team.

Legendary Baylor coach Grant Teaff stepped to the podium, in the shadow of the statue of his likeness, and addressed his team - the 1974 Southwest Conference champions.

The day was earmarked to be a rededication of the plaza that carries Teaff's name. When the new stadium was built, one of the few carryovers from Floyd Casey Stadium was the Teaff statue and plaza.

"When Jay Allison informed me that the Board (of Regents) and the administration wanted to move the plaza over at Floyd Casey over to here, I was excited," Teaff said. "They asked where I would like to have it placed, and I immediately said on campus, because we represent on campus. I didn't realize what a great lead-in it would be to the future, but it's fantastic, and it's in the right place."

With Phase 2 of the plaza set to be unveiled at the ceremony, the disappointment of a missed deadline could have scoured or canceled the event.

"As in football, sometimes things occur that will cause a setback," Teaff said. "And what we have to do in life is to turn setbacks into comebacks. As disappointed as we are that you do not see the total, finished product, I'm going to tell you about it, and then I expect you to come back. That will make it a comeback, when you come back."

Teaff and Baylor officials had hoped to unveil two prominent additions to the plaza at Saturday's ceremony. And while they were not completed in time, they will be in place in the near future.

But on a weekend that saw all but four of the living players from the '74 team make it back to Waco to celebrate with their former teammates, Teaff turned the attention of the ceremony not on himself but the players that figuratively and literally carried him to that moment.

"It wasn't that we were a bunch of all-stars. I sure wasn't; they weren't," he said. "But when you accomplish something, you become all-stars, and many of your teammates (were). This, of all the teams that I've coached, has stayed together the closest. I think it's because they really believed they were a team and not just a bunch of individuals. That's a real key."

As Baylor Director of Athletics Ian McCaw pointed out, the '74 team didn't enter the season with many believers.

"This 1974 team was special," McCaw said. "They were picked to finish last in the Southwest Conference in 1974, and they went on to show Baylor Nation and all the Southwest Conference fans that they were champions."

The special bond between the '74 teammates and coaching staff is obvious.

Neal Jeffrey, the quarterback of that '74 team who recently celebrated his 30th year of ministry at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, addressed his former team before offering a prayer.

"I'm just honored to be here, I really am," he said. "I want you to know, team, how much I love you and love you guys. I think of my whole life, it's a great example of the grace of God. That God let me come to Baylor University at just the time that we got Coach Teaff to come be our coach, and all the things that happened, it's just been truly a fulfillment of a dream."

Also brought over from Floyd Casey was the concept of the "I Believe Walkway." At the Case, the walkway was simply the sidewalk that wrapped around the stadium.

Just like the plaza, the "I Believe Walkway" got a significant upgrade with its new home.

The "I Believe Walkway" is not just the physical sidewalk connecting campus to McLane Stadium, but the action and tradition of Baylor Nation backing its team and carrying the traditions of the past over the river to cheer the team on to victory.

At the start of the ceremony, Baylor President and Chancellor Ken Starr gave the official welcoming to the team and coaches.

"Coach Teaff, we believe. Do we believe?" said Starr, stirring a boisterous response from the crowd and team. "I believe, you believe, we believe. You had a dream. And Neal, you knew you had the (Texas) Longhorns exactly where you wanted them," referring to the "Miracle on the Brazos," when the Bears overcame a 24-7 halftime deficit to defeat Texas, 34-24.

"Nobody else did, but Neal believed and Coach Teaff believed."

The respect between Teaff and the current Baylor president is obvious.

"I want to take this time to thank this great man, who is humble," Teaff said. "Who comes in here, and he changes the whole mentality. You sit down and calculate what's been done just in terms of growth since this man has been on this campus, and it staggers the imagination.

"We made Ian an honorary member of the '74 championship team last year. And now, we're going to make our President an honorary member; and he can tell everybody he was on the '74 championship team. He's not that old, but he can play it."

After Teaff presented Judge Starr with one of the new, remodeled rings that were given to honor the '74 team this year on its 40th anniversary, the proud Baylor president stepped back up to the podium donning his new hunk of hardware and flashed it out to the team and gathered crowd.

"You know, pride precedes the fall," he said. "However, if you've got it, flaunt it."

Just like the plaza had a setback and looks forward to many generations of comebacks, the '74 teammates looked forward to cheering on the 2014 team to another victory on Saturday.

"I've been a Baylor fan all of my life, which means I've suffered most of my life," Jeffrey said. "But these last few years have been incredible, and we're enjoying it. Of course, I just love the whole idea that Coach Teaff is being honored the way he needs to be honored.

"Putting his statue here is perfect. The `I Believe Walkway' and the story about what we did walking on the field, and walking across that, it just all meshes perfectly."

On Friday night, Teaff was the emcee for the annual Hall of Fame Banquet at the Ferrell Center, which honored the '74 team, along with inductees Jeremy Wariner, Yulanda Nelson, Adrian Robinson, Richard Stevens, Jon Topolski and Ted Uhlaender and Wall of Honor recipient Mike Bourland.