AFM’s College Coaches of the Year

FCS
Andy Talley • Villanova

All season, Villanova kept tapping the rock, again, again and again, never knowing when it would break.
The rock was one of the founding blocks from the first church at Villanova, which was built in 1896. The square block sat in the Wildcats locker room and even traveled on the road. Before every practice and every game, players and coaches tapped the rock.
“This is what life is all about,” said Talley. “You’ve got to keep tapping the rock because you never know when you are going to have success.”
The ultimate success came in Talley’s 25th season at Villanova. The Wildcats went 14-1 and won their first FCS National Championship.
They did it behind a stiff run defense, a versatile running attack and by rarely turning the ball over. They did it with the poise and grit that delivered five victories by less than a touchdown. And they did it with a halftime adjustment that may have been the difference in their championship game win over Montana.
Opponents averaged a measly 66.73 yards on the ground against Villanova. Talley attributes the defensive dominance to being more assignment conscious and a better overall tackling team.
On offense, the Wildcats ran for 240 yards per game and featured three runners with more than 800 rushing yards. Despite running the ball more this season, they fumbled less and had 45 percent less turnovers compared to last year.
And then there was the halftime adjustment in the title game. Montana receiver Marc Mariani was killing ‘Nova in the first half. He had nine catches for 178 yards and a touchdown, helping Montana out to a 14-9 lead at the half.
“We took one of the guys out of the box and played [Mariani] inside out a little bit. They still had trouble running with one less guy in the box,” recalled Talley.
Mariani was held without a catch in the second half.
Villanova finished with the school’s first national championship, a historic breakthrough after a season of tapping the rock.

Division II
Mel Tjeerdsma
Northwest Missouri State

For four straight years, Tjeerdsma and the Wildcats had lost in the D-II National Championship Game.
So, this year, when Grand Valley State rallied back from a 21-0 halftime deficit to get within three early in the fourth quarter of the D-II title game, Tjeerdsma looked around the sideline and saw some “uneasiness.”
The veteran coach reminded his staff and players of the team motto.
“One-eleventh. That means they work as a team of 11 guys,” Tjeerdsma said. “Everybody does their part. Concentrate on that.”
It worked. In the fourth quarter, Bearcat quarterback Blake Bolles hit Jake Soy for a 26-yard touchdown on fourth down and NWMS held Grand Valley State out of the end zone on their final two drives to secure Tjeerdsma’s third national title.
The title game thriller epitomized a 14-1 season that featured an improved pass rush and, of all things, a knack for blocking extra points.
Northwest Missouri State had two sacks in the championship game and multiple quarterback hurries on Grand Valley State’s last drive. On the season, the Bearcats recorded 48 sacks, 16 more than the previous season.
“Because of the experience of the defense, we were able to do more things than we did a year ago,” explained Tjeerdsma. “A year ago it was just the opposite: we were really young on defense and so we were limited to what we could do on defense. This year, we used a nice blend of blitzes and three- and four-man pressure. In the National Championship Game we did not blitz much until the very end and that was a big factor. “
So was Kyle Sunnermon’s blocked extra point, the third of the season for the Bearcats. They also blocked an extra point with six seconds left in a 21-20 win over Central Washington. In total, NWMS blocked eight kicks this season, including four by tackle Tyler Roach.
“I don’t think we really do anything different than a lot of teams,” said Tjeerdsma. “A long time ago, I heard a coach say at a clinic that on special teams it’s not scheme, it’s effort. I really believe that. We do good things with scheme, but they are not going to work unless you get tremendous effort from special teams. And that’s what we got on special teams with all the blocked kicks. In the championship game, it was our defensive end Kyle Sunnermon who blocked that one. He came right up the middle. All those blocks came over guard.”

Division III
Joe Smith • Linfield College

Early in a daunting schedule that ended up featuring eight teams ranked in the top 20, Linfield faced a stretch of four straight road games. The Wildcats, from McMinnville, Oregon were on the road for long overnight games from the middle of September to the middle of October.
“We only had one home game in the first five weeks of the season. That might have been the biggest hurdle I’ve seen around here in a while,” said coach Joe Smith. “Once we got back from that, we were actually a closer, tight knit team.”
The Wildcats were also undefeated and would roar to 12 straight wins, before falling to Wisconsin-Whitewater in the D-III title game.
It was a great run that was bolstered by an offense that became more balanced thanks to Smith and OC Jim Nagel’s efforts.
“We were better schematically and our running game improved dramatically, which opened up the passing game a little bit more. So we were a little bit more balanced,” said Smith. “Coach Nagel visited some other schools, and we were able to use some of Oregon and Oregon State’s concepts. We put in the zone read that U of O does. That certainly made use of our quarterback’s running ability. We implemented that into some of the things we already did and really tried to do a few things differently.”
It worked. The Wildcats averaged 432 yards of total offense and close to 40 points a game.

NAIA
Patrick Ross • Lindenwood University

How do you follow up your school’s most successful season ever?
In his sixth season, Ross, Lindenwood’s all-time leading winningest coach, followed up 2008’s run the NAIA semifinals by taking the Lions’ one step further. Along the way to the program’s first NAIA National Championship Game appearance, Lindenwood averaged 53.3 points and outscored opponents by more than 30 points a game.
To produce a season of such utter-dominance, Ross reinforced his run defense, made well-informed halftime adjustments to the blocking schemes and placed an emphasis on spreading the football around in his offense.
To improve his run defense, Ross didn’t do anything drastic to his scheme. He identified it as an area that needed improvement and simply committed more defenders to the line of scrimmage. The Lions allowed just 125 rushing yards per game, down nearly 15 percent from 2008, and only 3.1 yards per carry.
There weren’t any major overhauls to scheme at halftime, either.
“We don’t change the foundation of our plays,” said Ross, “but we will alter our blocking schemes. We might change a combination of our zone, for example, depending on what we’re seeing from a defense.”
Ross said some of the most effective halftime adjustments come from his players. “I have a philosophy with our football program: ‘Listen to the players without being influenced.’ That’s because coming off the field, they are going to have great input.”
The Lions outscored opponents 202-51 in the third quarter this season.
The emphasis on spreading the football around began in the off-season when Ross and his staff focused on coaching each individual playmaker. Ross then made sure that the defense was aware of every receiver on the field.
“We’ll design something on offense to force us to distribute the ball evenly,” he said. “There are times, where we’ll say we need to really work the No. 1 to the boundary or to the field this week. Depending on what we’re seeing defensively, we do dictate the spread of the ball on the offense.” Eight different players caught touchdown passes this season.

JUCO
Bob Jastrab
Mt. San Antonio College

Somewhere in Walnut, California, just east of L.A., sits a tanner Coach Jastrab.
Last season, Jastrab led Mt. San Antonio to a 12-2 mark, losing in the state championship game to Butte. After that game, Jastrab quickly turned his focus to improving his team’s conditioning.
After this year’s championship game, Jastrab was headed to the Bahamas to celebrate.
You can probably guess what happened.
“We were in much better shape this season,” said Jastrab, whose team outlasted San Mateo 7-6 in a monsoon to win the 2009 state and JUCO National Championship, “and it showed in the playoffs.”
It also showed up late in games. The Mounties outscored opponents 235-112 in the second half this season.
To improve his team’s conditioning, Jastrab tweaked the off-season program. It wasn’t as much of change in philosophy, as it was an efficiency adjustment.
Because of the number of players and the size of the weight room, players would often be caught waiting for a station. Jastrab decided to break the team up into groups, the “little guys,” who focused more on core exercises, and “big guys.”
“We put half of them in the weight room and worked out Monday through Thursday,” said Jastrab. “The other half did conditioning. During the season, we lifted two days a week. I think it all helped. We didn’t get worn down as much as the season went along.”
The better-conditioned Mounties captured their third consecutive conference championship under Jastrab, who has built a perennial power in his six seasons. The most obvious signs besides a growing trophy room is the revolving door of coaches that sent assistants to USC and Washington recently.
“That’s the hard thing especially being at this level, where there aren’t many full-time coaching positions,” said Jastrab. “Guys are always looking to improve and step-up, and when you are successful, it’s kind of like a revolving door of coaches moving on along with players. But the challenge for us is, again, we’ve got it rolling or so we think and now just trying to maintain it.”