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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Schutt Sports Div. I-A Coach of the Year Finalists

by: Curt Block
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Charlie Weis had amassed an impressive coaching resume punctuated with four Super Bowl rings, three with the New England Patriots and one with the 1990 New York Giants.

This season the challenge was to transfer his success in the pro ranks to his first season in charge at Notre Dame. Could the magic he devised for Tom Brady translate to Brady Quinn? Would the genius of the master offensive coordinator in the NFL rub off on the defense and special teams in South Bend? Those were critical questions, to be sure. But Weis was equally concerned with a less tangible factor: Team Chemistry.

Notre Dame had averaged close to 500 yards offensively and nearly 40 ppg. The season was totally gratifying and perhaps over achievers. To Weis, they’re among the many positives he could have only counted on the luck of the Irish to attain. There was that other element that extends beyond X’s and O’s that has proven to be just as significant.

“The system I’ve been involved in has always counted on having smart players,” Weis says. “That’s what the Patriots always prided themselves on. Coming in and not knowing the (Notre Dame) kids you heard they were going to be smart. They did a great job. I’m more than pleased with how our players bought into that (team chemistry). That is very tough to do.” Weis delights in “watching our players on the sideline and how they pull for each other and how they celebrate after a big play.”

Offense: Complex simplicity. Normal pro set.
Defense: Different each week. Flexible to talent available.
Significant stat: Ball Control. Had ball 33 minutes, 11 seconds on average through the regular season.

Lots of coaches have had to work their way through 4-5 game losing streaks. Others have suffered while the string of setbacks totaled nine or 10. But where do you turn when team consecutive losses reach 17? That’s where coach George O’Leary found himself last September with his Central Florida Golden Knights. Through it all O’Leary maintained his optimism because of what was happening during practices.

“I kept seeing good things on the practice field,” O’Leary told AFM just before heading off for the Hawaii Bowl. “I kept staying very positive. The message was as long as we keep doing good things in practice, good things are going to happen. You have to believe that. And when the kids start seeing that it generates some confidence.

“Even though we lost a lot I would walk away from games saying ‘if we had corrected this or that’ we would have won the game. That’s what I built the package on. When we practice well, we have a chance to win.” Practices must have continued to improve because after the streak was snapped UCF wound up with an 8-4 regular season record and a bright future.

“It was hard to get 8 wins. It’s harder to keep 8 wins but we have a good working group and a lot of young players. We played 24 freshmen and sophomores this season and we only lose five seniors.”

The best may be yet to come for O’Leary and the Golden Knights.

Offense: Multiple fronts, pro style offense.
Defense: 4-3.
Super stat: Going 8-4, coming off 17 straight losses over three seasons.

South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier believes in trying “to achieve the most you can each season.” Inheriting “a football program that hasn’t been all that successful over recent years” and registering a regular season 7-4 record in his first at USC, the former Duke and Florida head coach called the 2005 campaign “a wonderful achievement” as he prepared for the Independence Bowl.

After a brief stop in the NFL, Spurrier found a new set of challenges facing him with the Gamecocks. “I had to coach a little differently from my Florida days because our offense was not all that super,” Spurrier said to AFM. “Our defense was bend but don’t break which is not what I like but that’s what we were so we were looking for low scoring games. We didn’t force a lot of punts but we did keep the other teams out of the end zone. “Actually we ran the ball more this year than we threw it. We didn’t run very far but at least we avoided sacks and fumbles. Hopefully, we’ll be more of a high scoring offense in the future but we’re not there right now.”

If not now, then when. “We’re about two or three recruiting classes away from having a team like Auburn or Georgia,” according to Spurrier. “We’ve got to keep pushing. We’ve got some momentum… We have an attitude that no matter what happens you just keep on playing. Something good is liable to happen as we go and it certainly did this year for us.”

Offense: Multiple offenses. Achieve run/pass balance.
Defense: Different looks. Create confusion for opposing QB.
Special stat: 28 players made their first collegiate start in 2005.

Mike Shula is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Don Shula and is pacing the same sidelines that Alabama’s legendary coach Bear Bryant stalked while chalking up national titles.

As an undergrad himself, Shula quarterbacked Alabama for three years in the 80’s playing for Bryant’s successor, Ray Perkins. “I never had a chance to meet or play for Coach Bryant,” Shula recalls, but says his legacy “makes you proud to be a part of Alabama football.”

Shula appears to be molding his own rep in Tuscaloosa. After posting a forgetable 4-9 record in his first season (2003), he steered the team to some stability the following year at 6-6 and won the Cotton Bowl to finish 10-2 this year.

“I’m not sure we changed much,” he said. “We just got a little more experience as coaches and players. We just got better at what we were doing. The players got better basically because they had done it more. They got more comfortable when they were asked to do what was expected of them. And our confidence grew.

“We said when we got here three years ago that there has been a lot of change. There was a lot of learning to start with but we said we were going to come in every day and give it our best and make sure we’re accountable to each other and just keep doing things over and over and over. That way we became more familiar with them and our guys would get better.” They certainly did.

Offense: Pro style.
Defense: Pressing, attack with leadership, experience and speed.
Super stat: Led nation in scoring defense allowing an average of only 10.7 points per game.






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