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Musser hopes to be a Giant in Graz By Tim Trower Midway through his college football career, Curt Musser�s interest in playing waned so severely he considered hanging up his cleats. Now that his eligibility has run its course, he can�t get enough of the game. So he�ll keep playing. In Austria. Musser, a South Medford alum who resurrected his Linfield career to such an extent he earned all-conference honors, will play quarterback and help coach the Graz Giants this spring and summer. The head coach of the team is Doug Elam, who also serves as the wide receivers coach at Southern Oregon University. Elam got the position because of his association with two other members of the SOU staff � Matt Sayre and Gerald Breymann � who played for Graz in the 1990s. When the team sought a new coach for this season, they recommended Elam. It will be the first head coaching position for Elam, 31, who graduated from South Medford in 1988. He and Musser leave for Austria Sunday. "It will be a lot more low-key than I�m used to," says Elam. "They only practice three times a week and play once every two weeks. I was told not to expect them all to show up at practice. The thing I�ve been told is to make sure they have a good time, make sure it�s fun. "They�re paying us to come over and play, so they expect us to give a good effort and do our best to win. But they also want us to enjoy the camaraderie and enjoy the chance to see Europe." Musser will enjoy strapping on the equipment again. He was first approached by Elam last September after Linfield, on the strength of three Musser touchdown passes, beat SOU 23-11 in Ashland. Elam, a family friend of the Mussers, made his pitch, and Musser asked him to call after the season. By year�s end, Musser had led the Wildcats to an unbeaten regular season and into the playoffs, where they suffered a bitter loss on a fluky play. When Elam revisited the idea of playing in Austria, Musser jumped at the chance. "I definitely want to play some more football," he says. "I had a lot of fun this last year, but the way it ended was kind of disappointing. I haven�t had enough yet, I guess." Linfield lost in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs, 20-17 in overtime, to Central College of Iowa. Central muffed a game-tying field goal in the extra session, but the ball was picked up by the center, who handed to the fullback, who scored from 20 yards out. The officials huddled for two minutes before deciding the score would stand, ending the Wildcats� season at 9-1. Musser was named first-team all-Northwest Conference, no mean feat given he nearly left the program after two years. Musser redshirted in 1998, largely to concentrate on baseball. A catcher, he hoped to parlay his skills into a pro career. "Nothing really worked out, so I decided to come back and play football," he says. Rather than ride the bench, as he�d done before his hiatus, Musser earned the starting job as a junior. "I�ve always been confident in my ability to play," says the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder. "I just needed to get the chance at Linfield. When they saw what happened, I think the coaches regretted not playing me sooner." Musser, the son of former Medford High coach Norm Musser, is both accurate as a passer and athletic. "I can improvise pretty well if something goes wrong," he says. "If everyone is covered, I know how to make something happen." He had to do that a lot as a junior getting his feet wet, less so in his banner senior year. For his career, Musser completed 56 percent of his passes (325-for-582) for 4,867 yards and 40 touchdowns. Elam couldn�t be happier to have him aboard. "Curt�s perfect for the job to be a coach, a player and a diplomat," he says. "You can�t have players getting in trouble over there and causing problems." Musser and Elam will both earn a little more than $1,000 per month, plus their housing and a car are provided. Elam has incentive clauses that could earn him another $3,000. The Giants, sponsored by the Levi Strauss Co., among others, have been in existences since 1981 and are Austria�s best team. They�ve won nine Austrian International Football League championships since 1986, the last coming in 1998. Elam hopes to continue the success. "To be honest, it hasn�t been my career goal to be a head coach," says Elam, who played and coached at Puget Sound, then was an assistant at Montana State and San Diego before returning to the Rogue Valley. "I�m much more interested in the coordinating aspect of it. "This looked like a good way to go over, learn a lot about football and maybe make some mistakes and not have it ruin my name. If you take a coordinator position here and you�re not successful, you might not get another one for a while. This gives me a chance to try my own stuff and see if it works." Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.