Interview – Chris Combs

Listen here.

Those of you who watched Duke football in the mid to late 90s know just how dominant of a force Chris Combs was. There’s a reason that he got drafted by the Steelers in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL draft. Well, there’s more than one. Those reasons include, but aren’t limited to, his work ethic, his leadership and his ability to dominate the game as a defensive tackle.

Chris Combs gets ready to make a play against the Lions.

Unfortunately, because of the era during which Chris played (Coaches Goldsmith and Franks), we sometimes forget just how great of a player he was. This interview is a perfect way to refresh our recollection of an all-time Blue Devil.

During our almost 1.5 hour interview, we covered a wide range of topics. These include Chris’ work as a strength and conditioning coach during the Ted Roof era. That gave Chris the chance to work with other teams including Duke LAX. Chris was there for the Duke LAX scandal which we talked about. In addition to that, we learned about Chris’ current career and how his playing days at Duke gave him the strength to persevere through a slow start. We also talked about how great Roanoke is, how much I continue to hate Maryland and one of the worst calls in the history of Blue Devil football. And for all you young fans, we’ve got a pretty good argument that the ACC refs have always been out to get us. Fun fact, I called Dad the day after the interview, mentioned the call and then listened to him get real, real upset at the officials when I brought it up. It’s been more than twenty-five years and he’s still mad about it. Safe to say, Dad is of the opinion that the refs made a horrible, horrible call. Which they did – there was no reason for the penalty flag on that play.

If all that weren’t enough, we also talked about the historic Flu Game against Florida State in 1998. For those of you who many not remember, pretty much every Duke player got a case of food poisoning and became violently ill during the game. Naturally, the team absolutely fell apart against the Seminoles. What I didn’t know is that the Flu Game resulted in a CDC and North Carolina Department of Health investigation. The Blue Devil players transmitted the Norwalk virus to Florida State players during the game which was the first time that mass transmission of a virus occurred on a football field. The New England Journal of Medicine published an article about it.

Here is what Coach Goldsmith had to say about how he felt during the game (this is taken from his book, “Comeback Coach“):

“I was walking around the FSU field when all of a sudden I felt the sickest I have ever felt in my life. I thought something was wrong with my heart and I was going to die right there in Doak Campbell Stadium.”

Now, you may question some part of Coach Goldsmith’s recount of his symptoms because he goes on to claim in that same paragraph of his book that the Blue Devils only lost to the Noles by a touchdown or two. That’s not remotely close to being accurate. The final score was actually a much closer than it looked, according to Coach Goldsmith, 62-13. However, after listening to what Chris had to say about the game, I’ve concluded that Coach Goldsmith’s memory of the final score is colored by the severity of his symptoms.

I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Chris and to talk to him about an era of Duke football that I spent a lot of time watching. It’s great to have guys like him be part of the Blue Devil family.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!