FORT WORTH, Texas - It’s time to applaud Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh.

He played the role of commander — one of Mueh’s favored terms to describe himself — and placed his loyalty to the academy over his quarter-century friendship with Fisher DeBerry. He rescued the football program.

A year ago, Mueh made a promise to Air Force football players. His voice was shaky, and he battled tears as he faced the team a few minutes after DeBerry bid farewell.

“I will,” Mueh said, “find a coach who will take full advantage of your talents and your passion and everything you bring to the table.”

He kept his promise. He persuaded Troy Calhoun to leave a cushy job as offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans. He even persuaded Calhoun to take a hefty pay cut.

With this masterful job of salesmanship, Mueh led the revival of a tattered, tired program. He deserves, along with a surprising team, his day in the Texas sunshine. The Falcons play California on Monday in the Armed Forces Bowl.

“He’s such a great dude,” said cornerback Carson Bird of Mueh, “and for him to realize it was time for a coaching change was huge. He had to be the guy to say it was time for a change.”

Yes, Mueh faces a long list of projects.

The 2007 baseball team lost 23 games in the Mountain West Conference, won zero and might rank as the worst Division I squad in the U.S.

The men’s soccer team, which once featured a lanky goalie named Hans, kicked its way through a painful 5-12-1 season.

And it’s become a rite of spring for a men’s basketball coach to flee the academy.

But the school’s showcase program, thanks to Mueh, once again breathes.

“I’m way past needing any kind of pat on the back,” Mueh said Saturday as he watched practice. “I don’t need that. But I am so happy for these seniors. For the rest of their lives they can bury those three years.”

So can Mueh, who struggled through his own three-season losing streak. When he took over as AD prior to the 2004 season, the Falcons had roared to winning seasons nine times in 10 years.

Mueh’s eyes grow wide as he remembers gloomy autumn afternoons from 2004 to 2006.

“My first three seasons as a AD — boom, boom, boom. I wondered, ‘Am I unlucky for this program?’”

Yet Mueh declined to surrender. After each loss, he toured the locker room and talked with players.

“I don’t want to sound fruity,” Bird said, “but he was like my mother away from home. He cares about every one of us. You could see he felt every loss as much as we did.”

Mueh worked quickly after DeBerry’s resignation. Calhoun ranked first on his wish list, but Mueh employed a subtle sales pitch.

In their first meeting, Mueh told Calhoun all the program’s problems, including thin senior classes for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. At the end of the session, Mueh declined to offer Calhoun the job. He wanted to give Calhoun time, and room, to think.

“He was very candid,” Calhoun said. “He looks you in the eye. He’s absolutely honest. That meant a lot.”

Mueh is not a prototype athletic director. He’s probably the only AD in our land who boasts a doctorate in the mind-torturing realm of chemistry. He’s spent far more hours in classrooms than stadiums. He, by his own admission, has much to learn.

He knows his chemistry background leaves many AFA observers uncomfortable.

“They don’t think I’ve paid the dues to be a fully functioning AD,” Mueh said. “And they may be right, OK, but I’m doing the best I can.”

He paused to take a look on the field, where Calhoun stood at the 50-yard line, preparing the Falcons for their first bowl game since 2002.

The scene said everything. The scene said Mueh is doing just fine.