AFM’s College Coaches of the Year for 2012

AFM’s FBS Coach of the Year

Brian Kelly
Notre Dame

After decades of frustration, Kelly led the Fighting Irish back to national prominence.

It was not a pleasant environment, but Brian Kelly had been there before. He knew what to say.

In 2001, Kelly led Grand Valley State to an undefeated season and its first appearance in the Division II championship game. It was also Kelly’s first national championship game as a head coach, and it would end in heartbreak.

Grand Valley State led for much of the game and scored to go up 14-10 with 2:46 to play. But North Dakota State drove 80 yards, converting a fourth down with a 58-yard pass to set up the winning touchdown run with 38 seconds to play. ”Win or lose, we are a better football team for being in this game,” Kelly told reporters after the loss. “The future of this team can only get better.”

But it was Kelly’s message to his dejected players inside the locker room that jumpstarted Grand Valley State’s run of back-to-back national championships in the following two seasons. It also was the beginning of his rise to the top of the coaching ranks.

Eleven years later, Kelly used his experience from losing the Division II title game as a foundation for how to approach his Notre Dame players after this year’s loss to Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game.

“I said the same thing to my team at Notre Dame that I said when I was at Grand Valley State,” explained Kelly, American Football Monthly’s FBS Coach of the Year. “I told them, ‘Now, you know what it looks like. We’ve closed the gap and that next step is up to you. And that next step is going to take place the first time that we get back in that weight room. Now, this offseason is dedicated to getting back to this game.’”

Will his words help Notre Dame produce anything close to the level of success he had at Grand Valley State? That remains to be determined, but there is no question the Fighting Irish under Kelly are headed in that direction.

•  Notre Dame became the first team in the BCS era to begin the season unranked and finish in the national championship game.

•  The Fighting Irish improved across the board: In 2011, Notre Dame finished 30th in total defense. This season, they were seventh.

•   Notre Dame surrendered 20.7 points per game in 2011. They allowed an average of 12.8 this season.

•  In 2011, Notre Dame finished 118th in turnover margin. This season, they were 27th.

•  Notre Dame had not beaten a team ranked in the Top 10 since a 17-10 win over No. 3 Michigan in 2005. This season, they won at No. 7 Oklahoma and at No. 10 Michigan State and also had a dramatic win over a Stanford team that finished ranked seventh.

•  Notre Dame went 8-5 in 2011 with four of their losses coming against unranked opponents. The Irish went 12-1 in 2012 with four wins over ranked opponents.

•  The Fighting Irish, who had struggled in close game in years past, went 5-0 in games decided by less than a touchdown this season. “When we got here, they would lose games late,” said Kelly. “When they were able to change that and win the close games late, it built a great deal of confidence in the entire group.”

The statistical improvement, however, wasn’t the key to Notre Dame’s remarkable run, Kelly said. Instead, he points to a re-distribution of his time as one of the biggest reasons the Fighting Irish developed into a unit with obvious chemistry and confidence.

“Whether you’re a high school coach or the coach at Notre Dame, it’s important to understand why you got in this business. And it’s to develop young men, to develop them as football players both on and off the field,” Kelly said. “We all tend to get distracted from that goal. Whether you have to teach and wear two or three different hats, you always have to come back to why you got into this business and that is to teach and develop your players.

“I think I learned that this year,” he continued. “At Notre Dame, the job tends to distract you. I got back to basics and got back to spending more time with the team.”

Developing His Quarterbacks

Kelly named sophomore starting quarterback Everett Golson his starting quarterback Aug. 24.

Golson spent his freshman season operating the scout team and didn’t have near the game experience of the quarterbacks he was competing against for the starting job. But Kelly saw what he needed to and picked Golson to start the opener against Navy.

It was clearly the right decision – the quarterback play was drastically improved. Kelly said two elements were key in developing his young quarterback.

“First, you have to set a level of accountability on and off the field,” Kelly explained. “For us, the quarterback is under such scrutiny that if he’s not taking care of business in the classroom, if he’s not representing the program in all facets, then he can’t be the quarterback, whether he’s the most talented or not. I think it starts with setting a level of accountability for the quarterback because he is such a central figure on your team.

“Then, giving them the opportunity to gain confidence,” Kelly continued. “You have to put them in position to gain confidence throughout the year. And I think that’s what we did. We scaled some things back and really fit the offense to accentuate what his positives were so he could gain some confidence.”

Golson completed 58.3 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also rushed for six touchdowns.

Defining Moment

There were so many memorable moments from Notre Dame’s storybook season: the controversial goal-line stand in the overtime win against Stanford, the dominating performance at Oklahoma, and the triple-overtime victory over Pittsburgh.

When asked, Kelly couldn’t pinpoint a defining moment of the season. But Kelly said his career has never been about defining moments. Instead, it’s about the little moments that added up and prepared his team to execute in the clutch.

“I don’t think in my 23 years that there’s ever been one moment as much as there has been a lead up to that,” Kelly explained. “I’ve always said this, when your players care about each other, you have a great chance of being successful.

“I think what we had developed over time was a locker room where the kids really cared about each other,” he added. “They were all doing the same thing; they were all pushing the cart in the same direction.”

FCS

Bobby Wilder
Old Dominion University

Old Dominion led the Football Championship Subdivision in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense. The Monarchs averaged 45.15 points, and quarterback Taylor Heinicke, the Walter

Payton Award winner, set a Division I record with 730 passing yards in a 64-61 win over New Hampshire.

Yet, ODU coach Bobby Wilder, named American Football Monthly’s FCS Coach of the Year, can simplify his offensive philosophy down to two words: “teach fundamentals.”

Wilder said “We’re very simplistic in our approach to offensive football. We have one basic run play, we’ve got about 10-12 pass concepts that we’re going to use. And we drill them over and over and over in practice. We try to work against as many looks as we can, so our kids can play fast in the game.”

Tempo was not an issue for the Monarchs during their prolific 11-2 season. They averaged 85 plays per game.

“I spent a lot of time talking to Chip Kelly and other one-back spread guys,” said Wilder. “And that’s what we’ve done at Old Dominion. Run 85 plays, average 46 points and go as fast as we can go. But in order to go fast, you have to have base concepts offensively. You’ve got to teach each fundamental.”

Wilder’s teachings in 2012 produced a dream season for a fledging program in its last year in the FCS. The Monarchs will transition into the FBS this fall and join Conference USA in 2014, just five years after Old Dominion football was reborn after an absence of 69 years.

The Monarchs could have stepped up to the FBS this past season, but elected to remain in the FCS for one last year as a reward to the program’s first senior class.

“We had 82 kids walk through the door on Aug. 13, 2008, and we had 17 seniors who stuck with it the entire way,” said Wilder. “We wanted to make sure they had the opportunity to play for a championship their senior year.”

Old Dominion won the Colonial Athletic Association title and reached the Elite Eight of the FCS playoffs.


Division II

Aaron Keen
Minnesota State University

Your job was not tougher than what Minnesota State coach Aaron Keen experienced this past season.

Keen began fall camp as the Mavericks’ offensive coordinator and associate head coach. One afternoon during an August walk-through practice, Keen was pulled aside and informed that head coach Todd Hoffner had been put on administrative leave. Keen was now in charge of the program. He had two weeks before the season opener. 

A former head coach, he embraced the opportunity and immediately turned his attention to the players. His focus was on his team’s mindset, not scheme or game plans.

“I wanted to make sure the players knew our goals were not changing,” said Keen, American Football Monthly’s Division II Coach of the Year. “We were still going to work to be a championship football team.”

He made a concerted effort to connect with defensive and special teams players and ones that he had not interacted with as much due to his responsibilities on offense.

Keen said everyone bought in. The result was the most successful season in the program’s history.

The Mavericks set a school record with 13 wins, reached the national semifinals for the first time and finished ranked No. 3 in the Division II Coaches’ Poll. They finished first in run defense and total defense in the Northern Sun Conference. But it was a key decision with his back-up quarterback that Keen says was a defining moment for the Mavericks.

Trailing in the second half at St. Cloud State in week three of the season, Keen’s starting QB went down with an injury. He would have to insert a freshman backup to face a second-and-long.

“I reminded him how much I trusted him,” said Keen, thinking back to his conversation with his inexperienced backup. “We went out and threw the ball on his first play on second-and-long. I told him, ‘a lot of coaches would send you out there to hand it off and make adjustments from there. I trust you to go out there and throw it and get a win.’ And he did.”


Division III

Larry Kehres
University of Mount Union

Mount Union Head Coach Larry Kehres took some advice from his players and won another national championship.

After three consecutive losses in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, this year’s senior class of Purple Raiders entered the season in danger of being the first class in 20 years to leave without winning a national championship.

Some of the seniors had played in each of three Stagg Bowl losses. Kehres said the senior class had a sense of urgency from the off-season and wanted more from their coach.

“The players convinced me that I needed to be firmer with our young men,” said Kehres, American Football Monthly’s Division III Coach of the Year. “I maybe had a tendency to be too lenient in giving young players too much rope. The older players convinced me to toughen up just a bit, and it was good advice.”

Mount Union went 15-0, leading the nation in scoring offense and scoring defense in arguably the most dominating seasons of Kehres’ illustrious career. Kehres said having a quicker football team was among the keys to winning his 11th national championship. Upping the learning curve also helped.

“I think young men appreciated being coached like they’re great learners,” said Kehres. “Say, for example, you’re working with a quarterback. I want them to pass accurately, move their feet and relocate in the pocket. I want them to throw it to the correct spot on time, improve their arm strength and leadership.

“Those are the five skills I’m trying to teach them. I want them to learn those skills and improve on them. We’re going to run drills and set up practice to give them a chance to improve in those areas.”

NAIA

Steve Ryan
Morningside (IA)

The Mustangs finished 13-1, losing to Marian in the NAIA Championship Game. It was the best record in the school’s history.

Morningside Head Coach Steve Ryan moved a wide receiver to quarterback, quit kicking field goals in the playoffs and made a run at a national championship.

In fall camp, Ryan recognized that senior wide receiver Joel Nixon had the ability to make his teammates better. Ryan moved Nixon to quarterback and tailored his offense around his new signal-caller’s strengths.

“We felt that his biggest impact would be made at quarterback, because of the way he dealt with the players around him,” said Ryan, American Football Monthly’s NAIA Coach of the Year. “We felt that we had a veteran-enough team that it was worth taking two or three days of fall camp to test and try it out. If we needed to, we could always move him back to receiver. It was a huge lesson for me as a coach in terms of seeing how much leadership and heart of one player can impact an entire team.”

With Nixon at quarterback, the Mustangs mowed through the regular season, finishing ranked No. 1 in scoring defense and No. 2 in scoring offense. But Ryan wasn’t satisfied heading into the playoffs. His kicker had struggled. So he made the decision to quit kicking field goals.

“We made the decision that when we crossed the 50-yard line, we were going to go for it on fourth down,” said Ryan. “It really paid off for us in the playoffs. It’s easy to make that decision in your office on Wednesday, but on Saturday when you have to make the call, those were critical times for us. We wouldn’t have made it to the national championship game, if we hadn’t been as successful as we were on fourth downs.”

 
JUCO

Scott Strohmeier
Iowa Western Community College

The only undefeated JUCO team in the nation practiced less this season.

“We didn’t want to overwork our players,” said Iowa Western Community College Head Coach Scott Strohmeier, American Football Monthly’s JUCO Coach of the Year. “We didn’t practice very long.

We want to be crisp, and we want to go.”

Strohmeier said his practices lasted no more than 90 minutes, but he made the most of the time, including making sure to give his reserves plenty of reps. It paid off in the national championship game.

Strohmeier lost his starting free safety early in the game against Butler Community College and was forced to insert a backup that had limited game action. The backup made two interceptions, including one on the last play of the first half that he returned 85 yards for a touchdown.

But that was only the beginning.

Leading 20-7, Strohmeier was facing a fourth and six and elected to go for it. He called timeout and was notified that his starting quarterback had tweaked his knee and would not be ready to go back in for the critical play.

“I was thinking, ‘Do we change the play? Do we kick the field goal? Or do we still go for it?’” Strohmeier remembered. “We decided to go for it, and our backup completed the fourth and six like he’d played the whole game.

“If I look back at the season, giving our backups and even our third-team guys reps in practice, coaching them like the starters, was a big part of our success.”