Five, Count Em', Five New Offensive Coordinators in the Big East

Monday, February 9, 2009

Posted by DCS

With the high turnover rate in college football coaching, it's no surprise to see several new faces stalking the sidelines on an annual basis. This coming season, the offensive play calling will have a decidedly different look when five new offensive coordinators take the helm of Big East offenses. Syracuse brought in Rob Spence under new head coach Doug Marrone; UCONN replaced Rob Ambrose who left to coach Towson state, with Joe Moorhead; Jim Leavitt relieved Greg Gregory of his play calling duties at USF; Pitt's Matt Cavanagh is moving on to the New York Jets as of today, and finally, Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe will be calling the plays for the Cardinals now that Jeff Brohm is off to Florida Atlantic University.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the change that is occurring on the offensive side of the ball in the Big East. In fact, many could argue that Syracuse, UCONN, and Pitt will get a definite upgrade with these switches. It will be critical to see how the new play callers respond to the uncertain quarterback situations at all of these schools (with the exception of USF), making for interesting story lines going into the 2009 season.

What else is up?:

• Donnie Webb of the Syracuse Post-Standard reports that Maine may fill a void on Syracuse's 2009 schedule...
• ...Speaking of which, Brian Bennett says that 2009 scheduling has been a tricky proposition for many Big East schools
• Cincy fans submitted their Orange Bowl photos, so here they are
• Tyler Dunne of the Daily Orange Football Blog got a hold of David Oku's HS coach and reports that Oku is still undecided on his fate

Monday Links

Posted by DCS

Still haven't finalized my recruiting analysis for posting yet, but I should have it done later today or early tomorrow. In the meantime, here's what's going on:

• Brian Bennett of ESPN's Big East Blog gives you his pre-spring power rankings
• USF defensive end coach Kevin Patrick is named one of Rivals.com's top 25 recruiters
• Big East recruiting breakdown by Scout.com
• Info on the much-discussed coin flip decision by Ka'Lial Glaud (Scarlet Scuttlebutt)
• Scarlet Scuttlebutt's Keith Sargeant discusses the lack of Florida presence in Greg Schiano's 2009 recruiting class
• Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that the Pitt offense falls squarely on the shoulders of their next starting QB, not Matt Cavanaugh or his replacement at OC
• Rutgers quarterback Jabu Lovelace will not practice in the spring (door is open for Natale, Jefferson, and Savage)
• The last two schedule analyses by Brian Bennett: Louisville and Syracuse
• NFL coaching veteran Bob Casullo looks to be the man to fill the special teams/tight ends coaching duties for Syracuse (Donnie Webb / Syracuse Post-Standard)

Laugh at Boston College and Get Your Links

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Posted by DCS

Upon further examination of the coaching situation at Boston College, it does appear that Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo wasn't bluffing, and fully intends to fire head coach Jeff Jagodzinski after taking an interview with the New York Jets. I realize this has very little to do with the Big East, but it's worth commenting on for the fodder it provides about a program that seemingly jilted the Big East (at the time).

My thinking is, this is a horrendous public relations disaster for the entire Boston College athletics department. Who's going to want to coach at a school that 1.) isn't a sports powerhouse in the first place, and 2.) treats their coaches with such vigorous disrespect in a public forum? I have no doubt that this issue could have been handled behind closed doors, but I'm not sure it was even warranted at all. I could understand this happening if Jago wanted to bolt BC for another ACC school, ala Tom O'Brien, but this was not the case. The Jets job represents a step up for the bright young coach, and regardless of how likely it would be that he got hired in New York, the BC athletics department should have been fully supportive of the opportunity.

Alright, that's enough of that. Now back to teams we actually care about:

• Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Dave Wannstedt is feeling bullish about LeSean McCoy coming back (good) as well as Matt Cavanaugh returning (not so good)
• Doug Marrone lands his first official recruit at Syracuse, in Staten Island DB Torian Phillips
• The Big East is repping hard in the Lambert Trophy rankings

I leave you with a vid of Florida head coach Urban Meyer discussing the success of his alma mater, Cincinnati (courtesy of palestra.net):