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New Coaches Hope to Upgrade College Football Programs by Jim Feist
Football head coaches get all the glory, but top assistants can be extremely important in a team’s success or failure. Offensive and defensive coordinators have great influence on game plans and a unit’s effectiveness. There was no better example than former NY Giants’ defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, now with the Rams. He came over from the Eagles under outstanding DC Jim Johnson and was a key cog in their amazing 2007 Super Bowl run. Notre Dame overachieved and made a bowl last season (and won as a dog) under first-year coach Brian Kelly.
Assistants are often the NFL star head coaches of tomorrow, as well. A former defensive assistant, Lovie Smith, took the Bears to the Super Bowl. Bill Parcells lost one of his top assistants five years ago, Sean Payton, who went to New Orleans and helped lead the Saints Super Bowl title turnaround.
Competent football assistants can be huge assets. Buddy Ryan was the principle architect of the Bears’ 46 defense that led the way to the 1986 Super Bowl. He left the team after that victory and the Bears were never as dominant defensively. Let’s look at some key coaching changes in the college and pro ranks.
Florida Gators: Coach Urban Meyer stepped down for health reasons, so for 2011 Will Muschamp is the new coach. Muschamp spent the past three seasons as defensive coordinator at Texas. Muschamp has a defensive background and he brings in offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who adds a pro-style attack. That is better suited to junior QB John Brantley, plus star recruit freshman QB Jeff Driskel (a Florida native) is in the wings.
The ground game has senior RB Jeff Demps (521 yards, 6.0 ypc), a super-talent who had a foot injury last season, while senior WR Deonte Thompson led the Gators with 570 receiving yards, an impressive 15 yards per catch. The defense struggled to get into the backfield, but look for Muschamp to unleash the hounds with all this talent. Florida is 38-6 SU, 23-17 ATS at home in the Swamp the last six years. The revenge game with South Carolina is on the road, September 12, a 36-14 loss last season.
Maryland: Maryland (9-4 SU/8-4 ATS in 2010) is off a terrific season, and yet Ralph Friedgen was fired, despite winning the Military Bowl. Maryland got a good coach in Randy Edsall, who comes over from UConn. He is a proponent of a physical defense and likes a run-oriented, ball control offense.
Edsall retained O-line coach Tom Brattan to the football staff. Brattan has spent the last 10 years as the Terps offensive line coach and the offensive line has been one of the team’s strengths since 2001. Sophomore QB Danny O’Brien (21 TDs, 6 INTS, 2,257 yards is an excellent pocket passer, but Edsell prefers the ground game, so the Terps might look a big different. Maryland is 22-11 SU at home the last five seasons, but 10-19 SU/12-17 ATS on the road
Pitt: The Panthers (7-5 SU, 7-3-1 ATS) didn’t have a bad season, but they underachieved in close games again, dropping three games by 3, 6 and 2 points despite a ton of talent. Then they had a tumultuous bowl and offseason, with Coach Dave Wannstedt stepping down and Todd Graham takes over. Graham is running a version of the spread offense he ran at Tulsa, which was wide open and attacking, very different than the Pitt ball-control style under Wannstedt.
They return junior QB Tino Sunseri (16 TDs, 9 INTs), junior RB Ray Graham (922 yards rushing, 6.2 yards per carry) and 6-foot-5 junior WR Mike Shanahan, so there is plenty of talent for the new staff.
Michigan: Rich Rodriguez is out, along with this run-oriented attack. The Wolverines have a new pro-style offense with head coach Brady Hoke and offensive coordinator Al Borges. Michigan will run three-and four-receiver sets and operate from the shotgun at times. Ten starters return on offense, led by junior QB Denard Robinson (18 TDs, 12 INTs, 2,570 yards). Defensively, Michigan is moving to a four-man front from the 3-3-5 under defensive coordinator Greg Mattison, who comes over from the Baltimore Ravens. Nine starters are back on ‘D’, led by senior NT Mike Martin. Michigan is also 12-12 SU/10-14 ATS their last 24 road games.
Miami: Randy Shannon is out so Miami has a new Coach in Al Golden, from Temple, along with new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch. The Hurricanes ran a pro-style attack last season, but they will look to run the football more and are searching for a QB. “I saw we threw 27 interceptions this past season and obviously that’s not a number we’re looking for,” Fisch said. “We’d obviously like to cut that in half at the most.” They have two QBs in senior QB Jacory Harris (14 TDs, 15 INTs) and sophomore QB Stephen Morris (7 TDs, 9 INTs). The defense was very good, allowing 19.7 ppg (21st in the nation), so they might be worth a look to add to their 8-2-1 run under the total.
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