Toop created the best defense in the nation

The man who presides over the nation's top-ranked defense was presiding over his dinner table. The epitome of blood-and-guts football who idolized players like Jack Lambert and Dick Butkus was treating some of his favorite players to a meal. It was two days before the 17 seniors at defensive coordinator Mike Toop's house would play in their final game at Franklin Field. They joined the varsity program three years ago, the same year he did. After all the on-the-field yelling and off-the-field barbs that have taken place during the years, he wanted them to know how much he appreciated them. If only they had a way to communicate the same thing to him. "What I'll take away more than anything is the relationship we had," senior co-captain Michael Turner said. "When the season ends, we're all sick of seeing the coaches, just like they're probably sick of seeing us. But with the last game coming up, you really start to get a sense of what they meant to you. And he's such a big part of it all." Al Bagnoli knew exactly what he was getting when he asked Toop to come with him to Penn in 1992. Toop had coached the defensive line and secondary under Bagnoli at Union in 1985 and 1986, where the two laid the foundation for the 5-2 defensive system that has terrorized the Ivy League during the past three years. When Bagnoli came to Penn in January 1992, he needed a core of assistants before he filled in the remainder of his staff. Toop was one of the first people to come to mind. "One of the reasons I wanted him so badly is that he and I think alike," Bagnoli said. "He just has a lot of traits that you look for in a coach. He's got a good rapport with the kids. He's very demanding, which I think you want. He has a good presence and he's very hard working." If you weren't all of these things, you weren't going to last very long on the United States Merchant Marine Academy football team. Toop not only survived, he prospered, earning an honorable mention All-America award as a linebacker in 1976, his junior year. But coaching was in his blood even more than playing. After graduation, Toop got his first coaching job working under his dad at a high school in New York state. Years later, one of his fondest memories in coaching remains the time he and his father went up against a team coached by Toop's older brother. Having been bitten by the coaching bug that had been chasing him his entire life, Toop decided to pursue a career at the collegiate level. He went to SUNY-Albany for two years before joining Bagnoli at Union. When Bagnoli called about coming to Penn after Toop had enjoyed five successful seasons as an assistant coach at Colgate, Toop jumped at the chance -- mostly because of Bagnoli. "The best thing for me in my role as an assistant on this staff is that coach Bagnoli lets you coach," Toop said. "If there's something he feels we should be doing, he'll mention it to me, but by and large he lets us coach and that's what you want to do." Toop takes full advantage of the leeway Bagnoli gives him. His players talk about his intensity, the incredible energy he brings to the practice field, and how that inspires the same sort of disciplined energy in them. He shows up at the crack of dawn to work out with defensive line coach Jim Schaefer before settling in for a full day of watching films and preparing practice and game plans. It is this energy that has taken a group of talented players and cultivated them into a nearly invincible unit. Toop and the other defensive assistants execute a near-flawless system that takes players with all-league potential and puts them in the best position to excel. Secondary coach Rick Flanders sits in the press box every game, and he and Toop have a great deal of give and take before each call Toop sends in. Schaefer and defensive ends coach Ray Priore also add their input, usually between series. "It's complicated," Toop said, "but by the same token, I think it runs really smoothly." Two years ago, the first season for the Bagnoli regime, safety Nick Morris had to sit out the season with a hand injury. He spent the year on the sidelines charting plays for the offense, but he could not help but be struck by the defensive play calling. Morris, now a senior, estimates 90 percent of the signals Toop sent in matched the sets and formations of the opposing offense. "I said, 'Wow, these guys are good,' " Morris said. "This was their first year together. They are always so well-prepared. They are never outcoached. That's our advantage going into every game." For their part, the players are ready to listen to Toop's every word because he treats them the same way he wanted to be treated as a player. Above all, he gives his players honesty, fairness and respect. "If the kids believe you have those elements," Toop said, "they're going to respect you. And I don't think you can ask for more than that." Off the field, he is a friend to the players, but he has his own way of never letting them forget who is in charge. Each week the defensive players go into his office to pick up films to watch individually. Everyone knows there is no way to avoid the cutting remarks emanating from his desk in the center of the room. It's all in good fun, of course. The most fun for everybody comes on the field as the defense leads the team to yet another victory. The Penn offense has been inconsistent at times. When it has faltered, the defense has been right there to preserve the Quakers' 20-game winning streak. The first-team defense has given up 24 points this season -- total. Toop's success has raised some obvious questions about his future. If Bagnoli happens to move to a different job, would Toop want to be the man to replace him? Or say a head-coaching job opened up at another school? Bagnoli himself called Toop "the complete package." "I'd like to be a head coach," he said. "Do I worry about being a head coach? No. I'm extremely comfortable here as an assistant. I don't know that I could have a better job anywhere else." If Toop ever does leave, he promises to remember the players and fellow coaches who, he said, have made all his success possible. "One thing my dad has taught me is that you always remember where you came from," he said. So he takes his seniors home for a farewell dinner. In the end, he said, this is what everything comes down to. Not games won nor milestones reached, but people.

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