The Sickos Committee explores Journeyman Coaches - Part 1 - Bart Andrus

At the Sickos Committee, we tend to find ourselves digging through Wikipedia looking for weird and niche information. One of our favorite past times is to look at Journeyman coaches and just go through their stops in their careers while trying to figure out how and why they took this path in their playing and coaching careers. We will do this all throughout the college football off-season, so come along with us on this Wikipedia journey. Also, we will try to map out the path on Google Maps (if at all possible) and track the mileage each coach has journeyed. Follow us on our many deep dives where we try to find “Where in the world is this coach??”

The first one in this however many part installment is current coach of the USFL Philadelphia Stars - Bart Andrus. 

Bart Andrus - Playing Career

Bart’s playing career was an interesting one as he was both a Quarterback and a Punter with four different stops in his playing career. His first stop was at Los Angeles Valley Community College. Then he moved to the College of the Canyons in nearby Santa Clarita, CA. Then he found his way to Corvallis to try to play for Oregon State. Due to an alleged lack of playing time, Bart then transferred to Missoula, Montana to the Grizzlies. As a senior in 1980, Andrus shared starting quarterback duties with future Detroit Lions head coach Marty Mornhinweg. He completed 69 of 118 attempts for 688 yards and also punted 61 times for a 40.0-yard average. He was also selected to the Big Sky All Academic team. 

Mapping out a drive through all his destinations in his playing career, it would be a 23 Hour and 39 Minute drive of 1,523 miles. 

Now for the really fun part. 

The Bart Andrus - Coaching Journey

In 1981, he started as a Head Coach at St. Patrick High School in Vallejo, California for three years. Then hopped over to Provo, Utah to be a Graduate Assistant at BYU in 1984 - 1985 and won a National Title there.  Then he went to be an offensive coordinator at Humboldt State (1986–1989) in Arcata, CA, then back up to Bozeman at Montana State (1990–1991). We hope he enjoyed his one year break in 1992. Then he went down to Cedar City, Utah at Southern Utah University (1993–1995).

In 1996, Bart landed his first collegiate Head Coaching gig at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT, where he won NAIA Coach of the Year. He turned around a program that had not won a game for 4 years and went 6-4. He also had the 1st ranked offense in all of NAIA in 1996.

(Not many chances to bevel the Rocky Mountain College logo)

Then Bart then moved on down to Memphis, TN to land his first NFL job with Jeff Fisher and the Tennessee Oilers. The Oilers were in the middle of a move from Houston to Nashville but played in Memphis for two years 1997-1998. They finally completed the move to Nashville in 1999. He stayed with the Titans through their Super Bowl run in 1999. 

In this segment of his coaching career, you’d have to drive 90 hours and approximately 5,916 miles. 

Bart Andrus goes Coaching Abroad 

After his successful Quarterback Coaching the Tennessee Titans, Bart went out to Dusseldorf, Germany. He flew 4,462 miles from Nashville to become the Offensive Coordinator of the Rhein Fire and NFL Europe. (Pretty affordable flight, thanks Google for letting me know)

Then after one year with the Rhein Fire in 2000, Bart landed a Head Coaching gig in Amsterdam with the Admirals and was there for seven years (2001-2007) and he won the World Bowl in 2005. 

After NFL Europe folded in 2007 and only traveled 140 miles in coaching stops, Bart returned to the United States where Jeff Fisher had a job lined up for him with the Titans as an Offensive Analyst. He flew 4,355 miles back to Nashville. 

The Bart Andrus Coaching Adventure - Part 2

Upon returning to the Titans for one year in 2008, Bart then branched out and headed up north to the Canadian Football League (CFL) to become the Toronto Argonauts Head Coach in 2009. The Andrus CFL experience didn’t go well and he was let go after one year and a 3-15 record.

Bart Andrus rested in 2010.

Then he found another coaching gig as an Offensive Coordinator for the Omaha Nighthawks in the United Football League (UFL) in 2011. He was then named Head Coach of the Nighthawks in 2012 but the UFL folded halfway through the season in 2012. Bart bounced back and found his way to the St. Louis Rams in 2013 with his old friend Jeff Fisher as an Offensive Analyst in 2013. Then in 2014, Bart went back west to Quincy, CA to be the temporary Head Coach at Feather River College for one year, where he went 2-8.  

Bart Andrus then rested for four years.

In this segment of his coaching career, you’d have to drive 61 hours and approximately 4,074 miles. 

Bart Andrus returns…

In 2018, Bart returned to coaching and he was then affiliated with something called The Spring League from 2018 - 2019 which was a developmental league around Austin. Then he moved up to Arlington, TX to become coach of Team 9, the farm team for the 8 teams in the XFL in 2020. The Covid Pandemic struck and shut down the XFL in March 2020. Bart then resurfaced in Ottawa, Ontario as the Quarterbacks coach of the Ottawa Gee-Gees which represent the University of Ottawa.

(This was likely the only chance I’ll have to bevel the Ottawa Gee-Gees logo). 

Then in 2022, Bart landed as Head Coach of the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL played out of Birmingham, Alabama where he is currently located. 

In this last part of Bart Andrus coaching journey, you’d have to drive 74 hours for approximately 4,893 miles. 

Bart Andrus Journeyman Totals

(Just to and from destinations, not the actual travel during each job) 

Playing Career

• 23 hours and 39 Minutes driving for 1,523 miles. 

Coaching Career

• Drive 90 hours and 5,916 miles. 

• Flew 4,462 miles.

• 2 ½ Hours and 140 miles.

• Flew 4,355 miles.

• Drive 61 hours and approximately 4,074 miles. 

• Drive 74 hours for approximately 4,893 miles.

Journeyman Travel Totals

• 250 ½ Hours of driving and 16,546 miles driven. 

• 24 hours of flying and 8,817 miles flown.

Just legendary Journeyman Totals put up by Bart Andrus. What an absolutely fascinating career.

We will keep this going throughout the off-season as we have a few lined up and please submit some crazy coaching journeyman careers to us and we will map them out just like this!

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,

Commissioner Escalante