New Coaches Hope to Upgrade NFL/College Programs
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. They are often the NFL star head coaches of tomorrow. A former defensive assistant, Lovie Smith, has helped to turn the Bears around. Bill Parcells lost one of his top assistants a year ago, Sean Payton, who went to New Orleans and helped lead the Saints electric turnaround in 2006.
Football assistants can be very important. 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 Chicago never returned, despite a ton of talent at head coach Mike Ditka's disposal. Let's look at some key coaching changes in the college and pro ranks.
Broncos: Mike Shanahan fired defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, who didn't like to blitz much but tried for balance on defense. He was let go after the Broncos allowed an average of 26.1 points in their final 10 games of 2006. They bring in new DC in Jim Bates, who said he will blitz more. "No. 1, the top priority is you have to play well against the run," Bates said. "You have to stop the run to get the sticks in our favor where it's third down-and-long. That gets you more sack opportunities."
The new assistant has a lot of pieces to work with, in young DE Elvis Dumervil, rookies DE Jarvis Moss (Florida, 1st round), DE Tim Crowder (Texas), plus newcomer veteran run stuffers 345-pound Sam Adams (Bengals) and DT Jimmy Kennedy (Rams). Look for the aggressive new Broncos to blitz more, starting in preseason.
Falcons: Atlanta has been all-running and no-passing the last few years under coach Jim Mora. You won't recognize the Falcons in 2007, though, as Bobby Petrino is the new head coach. The former Louisville coach is one of the most imaginative offensive minds in the game.
He likes wide-open offensive schemes and said he wants to spread the field and use the running backs out of the backfield more as passing options for QB Michael Vick. Petrino is adding audibles to the playbook to allow Vick more options, something he's been asking for the last few years. The real question is: Can he improve Vick's passing abilities? Vick is not a good decision maker or accurate passer, completing just 50%, 56%, 55% and 52% the last four seasons.
Browns: The success of the Indians and Cavaliers have made Cleveland fans antsy for their football team to improve. Head Coach Romeo Crennell is 10-22 in two seasons and brings in a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. He was Cleveland's tight ends coach in 2004 under Butch Davis and coached San Diego's tight ends the past two seasons.
Chudzinski has a lot of tools to work with, but will need to be a good teacher with young players like QB Charlie Frye, and rookies QB Brady Quinn and OT Joe Thomas, the No. 2 pick in the draft. He will have to mesh their talents with WR Braylon Edwards, TE Kellen Winslow, Jr, and newcomer RB Jamal Lewis.
North Carolina: Speaking of the Browns, former Browns coach Butch Davis takes over at Chapel Hill. Davis was a terrific recruiter while at Miami, so there is a lot of excitement. He doesn't have a lot of tools to work with, but one bright spot is freshman QB Mike Paulus, who committed to the Tar Heels despite offers from Tennessee, Alabama, and Miami. Let's see if Davis can improve a poor defense that has caused UNC to go 24-15 over the total the last four years.
Florida State: Bobby Bowden got a lot of heat for the stumbling Seminole offense with his son as offensive coordinator. You won't hear that criticism as five new assistants join Bowden, including new offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher. Fisher's offense helped LSU to a national title in 2003. The new OC has 7 starters returning on offense, including two starting quarterbacks. The Seminoles are 4-0 ATS their last 4 games as a dog (three straight up wins).
U.C.L.A: Jay Norvell, an assistant coach at Nebraska, is UCLA's new offensive coordinator. Norvell runs a "West Coast" style of offense as he was an assistant with the Raiders under Bill Callahan and at Nebraska following the 2003 season. The young Bruins offense was 10-3 "under" the total last fall.
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