Diggs
May-24th-2006, 02:34 PM
Interesting take from an ESPN Insider blog by Bruce Feldman. It's cool to see Rich Rod and Beamer at 1 and 2 respectively. Note: No sign of strength of schedule argument in this article. Just respect given where respect is due.
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Ten innovative college coaches
The focus of this week's list is the most innovative coaches working today in 1-A football. I've limited this to head coaches, and this one has been shaped on a poll of voters. I tabbed a dozen folks whose expertise and insight I respect a lot and had them offer up suggestions. Each expert's opinion focuses on intangibles as well as Xs and Os. The list is heavily slanted to the offensive guys. I didn't want it to come out that way, but it is what it is.
1. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia: Morgantown was THE hot spot for football coaches this offseason. I think he had almost 1,000 coaches come to one clinic this spring.
Seemingly every other coach wants to sample just how WVU employed its talented, but green freshman QB (Patrick White), sparking an offense that broadsided everything in its wake. It was only the latest example of Rodriguez' savvy.
Long before the spread became trendy, a couple of years ago, he was carving up defenses with a different set of QBs, ranging from Tulane's Shaun King to Clemson's Woody Dantzler to WVU's Rasheed Marshall. Rodriguez is big on side-stepping the praise ("Schemes are sometimes a little bit overrated. It's still more about execution and talent."). But the guy certainly deserves his due. He almost always seems to be ahead of the pack, tweaking to suit his personnel and stay out in front of the masses.
2. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech: The godfather of special teams play. Dozens of coaches have made a pilgrimage to Blacksburg over the years to get a better handle on Hokie magic. I remember talking to one coach who was down at Tech for a few days trying to learn Beamerball and he said his program went into games with two or three punt block (plays), whereas Tech could have three times that many. I'd also argue Beamer helped make the kick block the most exciting moment in college football because it's such a momentum swing.
3. Pete Carroll, USC: The long-time NFL coach drew raves from several panelists for his ability to dial up new pressure looks late in the 4th quarter that he hasn't show before in the game. (until Vince Young came along.) Carroll also gets extra points for his high-tempo practices which stress competition in every imaginable way (starters vs. starters, extensive one-on-ones, etc.). A technique rival coaches are scrambling to implement into their own programs.
4. Mike Leach, Texas Tech: A blend of the old BYU pass-happy attack that went on to morph into mentor Hal Mumme's frenetic system, Leach isn't afraid to try anything at any time. That's an attitude that permeates his program now. Players will come up to him with stuff they've worked up on PlayStation and he has no qualms about seeing what happens with it on the practice field. Line splits big enough to drive a Hummer through? No problem. Baylor's new offensive coaches are banking on the Leach wizardry to enable the Bears to go from mediocre to bowl bound.
5. Bobby Petrino, Lousiville: His rep really grew when the upstart Cardinals went into the Orange Bowl on a Thursday night and sliced up a supposedly invincible defense two years ago. Pro scouts rave about his varied protection schemes and the run-pass balance. Says one panelist, "he's innovating in sort of a throwback way."
6. Urban Meyer, Florida: Added a twist to the spread game with the shovel option that has kept defenses on their heels for a couple of years now and became the rage in the summer of 2005. His Gator offense didn't sizzle though. Maybe his QB Chris Leak isn't an ideal fit for the system. Maybe the SEC defenses are too nasty for it. Maybe his players just weren't ready for it. Year II in the Meyer program has signaled the break-out at his two previous stops (Bowling Green and Utah), and don't be surprised if it happens at UF now. That is what many are expecting.
7. Rocky Long, New Mexico: A while back I used to feel like the blitz-loving Long was the Joe Lee Dunn of the Pac-10. I'm not sure how apt that description really was, but he certainly has had an impact. His 3-3-5 pressure scheme has spread throughout the west (even to BYU) and the east (West Va. has run a lot of it). The reason: get more speed on the field because it is is better suited to addressing the spread option.
8. Paul Johnson, Navy: Refined his triple option while as an assistant at Division I-AA power Georgia Southern in the 1980s. He has seemingly perfected it at Navy where he has transformed one of the worst programs into a legit bowl team. In 2004, he won the Bobby Dodd Award, honoring the nation's top coach
The key to the Navy resurgence is simply to do what they do better and more efficiently than anyone else. Last year the Mids converted an eye-popping 83 percent of the time in the red zone.
9. Randy Walker, Northwestern: What doesn't he let his QBs do? Walker's ever-expanding package is part Run N' Shoot, part West Coast Offense and part zone running scheme, all working from the shotgun just so he can get his quarterback involved in the run game. It seems, to make defenses think that much more and play just a little slower. Jeff Tedford even brought on Walker's old coordinator Mike Dunbar to spruce up Cal's offense this offseason.
10. Dan Hawkins, Colorado: The former Boise State coach has drawn a lot of attention for what gets labeled as "team building." Hawkins' methods sound new age. Every week of the season, while at Boise, Hawkins built a different theme from the biographies he read, ranging from Einstein to Malcolm X. I'll quote from Ivan's story from Boulder earlier this spring:
"He will take suggestions from wherever he can get them, which surely makes him the first football coach to quote "Zen in the Art of Archery" and longtime NFL coach Chuck Knox's autobiography in the same lifetime, much less the same conversation."
Just missed the cut: Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; Steve Kragthorpe, Tulsa; Jeff Tedford, Cal; Gregg Brandon, BGSU.
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Ten innovative college coaches
The focus of this week's list is the most innovative coaches working today in 1-A football. I've limited this to head coaches, and this one has been shaped on a poll of voters. I tabbed a dozen folks whose expertise and insight I respect a lot and had them offer up suggestions. Each expert's opinion focuses on intangibles as well as Xs and Os. The list is heavily slanted to the offensive guys. I didn't want it to come out that way, but it is what it is.
1. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia: Morgantown was THE hot spot for football coaches this offseason. I think he had almost 1,000 coaches come to one clinic this spring.
Seemingly every other coach wants to sample just how WVU employed its talented, but green freshman QB (Patrick White), sparking an offense that broadsided everything in its wake. It was only the latest example of Rodriguez' savvy.
Long before the spread became trendy, a couple of years ago, he was carving up defenses with a different set of QBs, ranging from Tulane's Shaun King to Clemson's Woody Dantzler to WVU's Rasheed Marshall. Rodriguez is big on side-stepping the praise ("Schemes are sometimes a little bit overrated. It's still more about execution and talent."). But the guy certainly deserves his due. He almost always seems to be ahead of the pack, tweaking to suit his personnel and stay out in front of the masses.
2. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech: The godfather of special teams play. Dozens of coaches have made a pilgrimage to Blacksburg over the years to get a better handle on Hokie magic. I remember talking to one coach who was down at Tech for a few days trying to learn Beamerball and he said his program went into games with two or three punt block (plays), whereas Tech could have three times that many. I'd also argue Beamer helped make the kick block the most exciting moment in college football because it's such a momentum swing.
3. Pete Carroll, USC: The long-time NFL coach drew raves from several panelists for his ability to dial up new pressure looks late in the 4th quarter that he hasn't show before in the game. (until Vince Young came along.) Carroll also gets extra points for his high-tempo practices which stress competition in every imaginable way (starters vs. starters, extensive one-on-ones, etc.). A technique rival coaches are scrambling to implement into their own programs.
4. Mike Leach, Texas Tech: A blend of the old BYU pass-happy attack that went on to morph into mentor Hal Mumme's frenetic system, Leach isn't afraid to try anything at any time. That's an attitude that permeates his program now. Players will come up to him with stuff they've worked up on PlayStation and he has no qualms about seeing what happens with it on the practice field. Line splits big enough to drive a Hummer through? No problem. Baylor's new offensive coaches are banking on the Leach wizardry to enable the Bears to go from mediocre to bowl bound.
5. Bobby Petrino, Lousiville: His rep really grew when the upstart Cardinals went into the Orange Bowl on a Thursday night and sliced up a supposedly invincible defense two years ago. Pro scouts rave about his varied protection schemes and the run-pass balance. Says one panelist, "he's innovating in sort of a throwback way."
6. Urban Meyer, Florida: Added a twist to the spread game with the shovel option that has kept defenses on their heels for a couple of years now and became the rage in the summer of 2005. His Gator offense didn't sizzle though. Maybe his QB Chris Leak isn't an ideal fit for the system. Maybe the SEC defenses are too nasty for it. Maybe his players just weren't ready for it. Year II in the Meyer program has signaled the break-out at his two previous stops (Bowling Green and Utah), and don't be surprised if it happens at UF now. That is what many are expecting.
7. Rocky Long, New Mexico: A while back I used to feel like the blitz-loving Long was the Joe Lee Dunn of the Pac-10. I'm not sure how apt that description really was, but he certainly has had an impact. His 3-3-5 pressure scheme has spread throughout the west (even to BYU) and the east (West Va. has run a lot of it). The reason: get more speed on the field because it is is better suited to addressing the spread option.
8. Paul Johnson, Navy: Refined his triple option while as an assistant at Division I-AA power Georgia Southern in the 1980s. He has seemingly perfected it at Navy where he has transformed one of the worst programs into a legit bowl team. In 2004, he won the Bobby Dodd Award, honoring the nation's top coach
The key to the Navy resurgence is simply to do what they do better and more efficiently than anyone else. Last year the Mids converted an eye-popping 83 percent of the time in the red zone.
9. Randy Walker, Northwestern: What doesn't he let his QBs do? Walker's ever-expanding package is part Run N' Shoot, part West Coast Offense and part zone running scheme, all working from the shotgun just so he can get his quarterback involved in the run game. It seems, to make defenses think that much more and play just a little slower. Jeff Tedford even brought on Walker's old coordinator Mike Dunbar to spruce up Cal's offense this offseason.
10. Dan Hawkins, Colorado: The former Boise State coach has drawn a lot of attention for what gets labeled as "team building." Hawkins' methods sound new age. Every week of the season, while at Boise, Hawkins built a different theme from the biographies he read, ranging from Einstein to Malcolm X. I'll quote from Ivan's story from Boulder earlier this spring:
"He will take suggestions from wherever he can get them, which surely makes him the first football coach to quote "Zen in the Art of Archery" and longtime NFL coach Chuck Knox's autobiography in the same lifetime, much less the same conversation."
Just missed the cut: Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; Steve Kragthorpe, Tulsa; Jeff Tedford, Cal; Gregg Brandon, BGSU.