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Pat Dye Field => War Damn Eagle => Topic started by: AuburnChopper 3.0 on December 28, 2008, 07:03:41 PM
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Gus Malzahn, who has served as the assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator as well as quarterbacks coach at the University of Tulsa the previous two seasons, has been named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn, announced head coach Gene Chizik Sunday.
During his two seasons at Tulsa, Malzahn's offenses have been among the nation's finest, ranking first nationally in total offense in 2007 and second in 2008. Prior to his arrival at Tulsa, Malzahn was the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Arkansas in 2006.
AP: April L. Brown
Malzahn has been hired as Auburn's OC and QB coach.
"This is an exciting opportunity to coach at Auburn, get involved with the Auburn family and work for Coach Chizik," Malzahn said. "I can't wait to get to Auburn and get started."
Two of Malzahn's three offenses have ranked in the top 10 nationally in rushing, including the 2008 Tulsa team that is eighth averaging 254.9 yards per game, and his 2006 Arkansas offense that was fourth nationally (228.5 ypg) behind Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden and fellow All-American Felix Jones.
Under his direction, the 2008 Tulsa offense is averaging 565.1 yards per game and 47.4 points per games, both second nationally. Entering their bowl game, the Hurricane offense is first in the country in third down conversion percentage (57.7 pct.) and yards per play (7.29 ypp) and is also seventh nationally in passing offense (310.2 ypg).
In 2007, Malzahn's first Tulsa offense ranked as the nation's top offense, gaining 543.9 yards per game. The Hurricane also led Conference USA in passing, scoring, touchdown passes and passing efficiency, while ranking third nationally for passing, fifth for pass efficiency and 10th for scoring offense.
"Gus is one of the great offensive minds in college football and we are very excited to having him join the Auburn staff," Chizik said. "His track record at all levels of coaching is remarkable and his offenses have been extremely successful both running and passing the ball. It's truly impressive that he oversees an offense that is in the top 10 nationally in all five major offensive statistical categories. We're looking forward to having Gus on board."
Tulsa's offense in 2007 established nine team school records and 12 individual records. The Hurricane also set nine Conference USA team records, while Tulsa quarterback Paul Smith established new C-USA single-season marks for total yards, TDs responsible for, passing yards and TD passes.
A Fort Smith, Ark., native, Malzahn will join the Auburn staff after Tulsa's GMAC Bowl game versus Ball State on Jan. 6 in Mobile.
Malzahn spent the 2006 season as offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Arkansas. During his tenure, the Razorbacks finished with a 10-4 record, were SEC West Division Champions and were ranked 15th nationally.
Under Malzahn's direction, Arkansas not only had the nation's fourth-ranked rushing offense, but also ranked among the top-35 nationally in total offense and scoring offense. He was named the Rivals.com National Offensive Coordinator of the Year in 2006.
Malzahn spent 14 seasons as a successful Arkansas High School head coach, from 1991-2005, where he led five teams to the state championship game and won three titles.
Before becoming a college coach at Arkansas in 2006, Malzahn was the head coach at Springdale High School for five years (2001-05). He led the Bulldogs to two state championship game appearances, 2002 and 2005. Malzahn's 2005 team posted a 14-0 record, won the state's Class 5A championship, outscored its opponents 664-118 and was ranked among the top-10 teams in the country.
Prior to his stint at Springdale, Malzahn coached five years at Shiloh Christian High School where he transformed that program into one of the most dynamic offensive prep squads in the nation. He led the Saints to back-to-back state championships in 1998 and 1999.
On the prep level, Malzahn coached two quarterbacks, Josh Floyd and Rhett Lashley at Shiloh Christian High School, both of whom set national passing records. Malzahn also tutored 2005 Gatorade, Parade Magazine and Rivals.com National Player of the Year Mitch Mustain at Springdale High School.
Malzahn began his coaching career in 1991 at Hughes High School, where he stayed for five seasons including the final four years as the head coach. In 1992, Malzahn became the head coach and in 1994 his team reached the state championship game.
Malzahn, 43, earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Henderson State (Ark.) in 1990. He and his wife, Kristi, have two daughters, Kylie and Kenzie.
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War Eagle!!!
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How do yall feel about this hire? His stats looked great at Tulsa but keep 2 things in mind:
1. CUSA plays less D than the Big XII.
2. Tulsa lost to Arkansas this year.
I'd call it a decent hire. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Also, from what I'm hearing...Shane Wasden (Troy's WR Coach) will be AU's next hire. I wouldn't be surprised that by Wed. we'll know most of the open positions.
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How do yall feel about this hire? His stats looked great at Tulsa but keep 2 things in mind:
1. CUSA plays less D than the Big XII.
2. Tulsa lost to Arkansas this year.
I'd call it a decent hire. Nothing more, nothing less.
It's an outstanding hire. Nothing more, nothing less. JMO... Only time will truly tell, but it says a lot that Chizik got this guy, and also that he was willing to come here. I believe that our Defense will make the D point you made, moot. A "decent" Auburn team SHOULD beat Arkansas, so we'll just have to see there.
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Q&A with ESPN done this past July.... Some good info...
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Q&A with Tulsa's OC Gus Malzahn
July 14, 2008 2:00 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
Gus Malzahn is the offensive coordinator for Tulsa and the genius behind the nation's best offense. It's a college-sized version of the spread Malzahn ran at Springdale High School in Arkansas and the basis of his book, "The Hurry-Up, No-Huddle: An Offensive Philosophy." The popular book brought Malzahn and Tulsa head coach Todd Graham together where they shared the vision of a fantastically offensive team.
This is part one of two parts.
What makes your spread offense potent as compared to say, a Texas Tech or Missouri or a team like that?
Gus Malzahn: We're a run, play-action team. A lot of spread teams are pass first, run second. But we're a run, play-action team. As a matter of fact, I think we ran the ball one more time than we threw it last year, which a lot of people don't know. We like to be 50-50 and be able to do both well.
I think I read a story where coach Graham said, "OK already, build a statue of (quarterback) Paul (Smith) and let's move on." Are there still a lot of people still hung up on him?
GM: Paul did such a great job for us last year and he was a big reason that we were able to do some things we were able to do. We also feel like we've got three candidates to replace him that are very talented. And of course we've got everybody back but the quarterback.
Give me a rundown of those quarterbacks.
GM: Dave Johnson, of course he's been the backup to Paul for, I think, the last three years. He knows the offense as good as the coaches. Just a real hard working, team guy. He's very coachable. He's going to do what you ask. Clark Harrell can make plays with his feet, has a very good understanding of the offense, also. Being here for one year, doing a lot of our signals during the game, and he had a decent spring. And Jacob Bower, he's a junior college transfer that is technically the most gifted of the three. He's got a very strong arm, he can really run, and of course he's big and strong, but he doesn't have as good a grasp on the offense as the other two. At least that was in the spring. I think it's gotten better. But all three of those guys we feel like we can win with.
A lot of people say mobility and accuracy are important in making the spread offense go. Would you agree with that?
GM: We're a little bit different than your average spread team. We really think that when things break down, we need a guy that can make positive things happen. You definitely need to be accurate, but you also have to make plays when things break down. That's what we're looking for, to see who does that the best.
Did you think that you'd be able to unveil a spread offense in Tulsa and have it have so much success?
GM: Well, we had extremely high goals. So that's a hard question to answer. We had so many young guys that we knew were talented, we just didn't know how quick they would grasp the offense and what we're asking them to do. But they grasped it great. We had a lot of young guys that were our main guys. For us to accomplish the things that we did, we're very happy all the young guys stepped up and did what they did.
Do you feel like you'll be able to maintain what you did last year or even expand on it?
GM: That's the plan. We want to try to get better, better in all areas. Of course, running the football is a big emphasis. Our offensive line coach has done a great job with those guys up front. Since we got all of them back, we expect to be better.
I was looking at some of the stats from some of the games and not a whole lot of teams kept you guys quiet. Seemed like Central Florida did a pretty nice job in terms of just keeping you guys off the scoreboard. What was it that they did differently than maybe some of the other teams?
GM: They got pressure on us. They had some men up front that did a good job of putting pressure on us without having to blitz. We've got everybody back, so I think we'll be a year physically stronger and do a better job against them. They had some very good cover guys in the back end, too. They're a complete defense.
Was there any pressure on your guys when you would put up 400-plus yards or in the high 300s and the other team would still be within a touchdown. The Rice game, the BYU game, those games went right down to the wire.
GM: We're going to try to do everything in our power to help our team win and that's the name of the game and we've just got to keep improving. That's our goal right now.
Part II: Q&A with Tulsa OC Gus Malzahn
July 14, 2008 4:30 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
"Professor" Gus Malzahn is looking forward to developing the offense at Tulsa.
Welcome to Part II of my conversation with Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. Malzahn, who is from Arkansas and spent all of his coaching career prior to coming to Tulsa in Arkansas, will return to play his home state schools for the first time.
Did you feel last year was the coming out party for the offense you weren't able to unveil at Arkansas?
Gus Malzahn: What we did last year, that's what I've been doing in high school and all that. It was a lot of fun for me personally. It was what I was used to doing, put it that way.
I touched on Arkansas a little bit, talk about the return trip to Arkansas this year. Have you thought about that at all?
GM: You know, I really haven't thought that much about it. I've been asked a lot. But that's in the middle of the season. I'm sure I'll think about it a lot more then. A lot of their players I recruited and I'm close to, so it will be a pretty unique experience I'm sure.
Was there a point where you were contacted about being the new Arkansas coach?
GM: Yeah, we went through the interview process and all that, but it just didn't work out. Everything's been timing. And I'll tell you what, we've got so much positive going here. We recruited a lot of athletes who could have went a lot of other places and they chose to come here. (Tulsa) coach (Todd) Graham has set this place up to do some special thing, we feel like, so I'm tickled to death to be here.
Looking at the way the schedule sets up, with the exception of maybe of that Arkansas game and UCF, you guys look like you're poised to make a pretty good run. Have you guys talked about that at all or is that something you even let your guys think about?
GM: Coach Graham has high expectations from this program and because of his dream and vision that's a lot of the reason I'm here. I believe the same way and we want to win championships. Hopefully, we'll be a better team than we were last year and try to figure out a way to try and win those four that we lost.
Where did you and coach Graham actually meet and how did you guys form your relationship?
GM: When I was at Shiloh Christian High School (Springdale, Ark.) and he was at Allen High School (Allen, Texas) in Texas. I had a little No Huddle video out and he called me to ask me questions about that. We developed a relationship over a period of time after he went to West Virginia and he came up here to Tulsa. So I thought I would bring my Springdale High School (Springdale, Ark.) team over to team camp and we developed the relationship further. He was always talking about, 'Hey, we need to coach together.' So we're two former high school coaches. We have the same philosophy. We think exactly alike. We're a lot alike and I love working for him.
What influenced your decision to come up to Tulsa last year?
GM: A lot of it had to do with him (coach Graham) and the vision he had for this place. I knew the fact that he felt like I did offensively and we felt like we could do some special things here.
Has anyone ever confused you for a professor because of your glasses? You look really intelligent and mildly intimidating.
GM: A professor? Wow. It's the glasses. I'm thinking about getting Lasik done. My wife told me I could lose the glasses and it wouldn't hurt her feelings.
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I just jizzed in my pants.
This is one of the reasons I wanted Todd Graham.
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We're a run, play-action team. A lot of spread teams are pass first, run second. But we're a run, play-action team. As a matter of fact, I think we ran the ball one more time than we threw it last year, which a lot of people don't know. We like to be 50-50 and be able to do both well.
If he sticks to this...I will be ecstatic.
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We're a run, play-action team. A lot of spread teams are pass first, run second. But we're a run, play-action team. As a matter of fact, I think we ran the ball one more time than we threw it last year, which a lot of people don't know. We like to be 50-50 and be able to do both well.
Didn't Tony Franklin say some of the same stuff?
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Didn't Tony Franklin say some of the same stuff?
Tony actually said the opposite.
He said we will be a 50/50 split but we pass to set up the run while others run to set up the pass. In theory it accomplishes the same thing but often turns out different.
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If he had not been hired by chizik I would have a lot faith in him.
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We'll have to see. Chizik hasn't done anything to make me shake my head in disgust yet. You can say you want to dip JJ's head in hot grease and find little opposition right now, but between some positive recruiting news and a great hire in Malzahn, I have to believe Chizik gets a pass until on field results start to dictate things.
JMO...
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WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!! and WAR MUTHA FUCKIN' CHIZIK!!!!
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This hire may be the most important in Our History. With Chizik's lights out Defense and a top 10 Offense we could have something very special on the Plains.
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We'll have to see. Chizik hasn't done anything to make me shake my head in disgust yet. You can say you want to dip JJ's head in hot grease and find little opposition right now, but between some positive recruiting news and a great hire in Malzahn, I have to believe Chizik gets a pass until on field results start to dictate things.
My thoughts exactly - thanks to JJ the Idiot, Chizik has had an uphill battle before he even set foot in Auburn. But so far, he has done nothing wrong and everything right. JJ can still kiss my entire ass, and i would love nothing more to see him run out of town on a rough rail, but until we suck on the field, I think we should give the Chiz a chance.
And I apologize for the momentary lapse in judgment that brought on the whole Geaux Tiger Wench thing. I was depressed and not myself. I shall have that repaired tout suite.
WDE.
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If he had not been hired by chizik I would have a lot faith in him.
Welcome Weasel.
Thanks for joining the fray.
I'd be interested in your theories regarding the other board.
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My thoughts exactly - thanks to JJ the Idiot, Chizik has had an uphill battle before he even set foot in Auburn. But so far, he has done nothing wrong and everything right. JJ can still kiss my entire ass, and i would love nothing more to see him run out of town on a rough rail, but until we suck on the field, I think we should give the Chiz a chance.
And I apologize for the momentary lapse in judgment that brought on the whole Geaux Tiger Wench thing. I was depressed and not myself. I shall have that repaired tout suite.
WDE.
We're stuck with the Chiz, but that doesn't mean we should just sit idly by and let Shitbag Jay and his posse off the hook.
We need to storm the gates.
God love Pat Dye and what he did for me and all the other long-suffering AU fans in the 80s, but he needs to sit down and shut up now.
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We're stuck with the Chiz, but that doesn't mean we should just sit idly by and let Shitbag Jay and his posse off the hook.
Could not agree more, but I cannot bring myself to wish disease and pestilence on my beloved Tigers just so that fucktard gets his. I hope Chiz succeeds, and that JJ the Fuckhead fucks up other things so badly that they PTB have no way to justify his continued existence on the Plains. THAT is something I can get behind... a successful team DESPITE JJTFH
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YAY!!!! Tiger Wench is Back....Fuck Yeah!!!
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YAY!!!! Tiger Wench is Back....Fuck Yeah!!!
Keep your shorts on - I am not totally on the bandwagon yet... but I still love AU as much as I hate the crimson bastards.
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Keep your shorts on - I am not totally on the bandwagon yet... but I still love AU as much as I hate the crimson bastards.
Damn it, they're already off. Oh well, lol.
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Damn it, they're already off. Oh well, lol.
Really? I couldn't tell...
:rimshot:
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lol.....it does the job for me, woo hoo....giggity, giggity
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Really? I couldn't tell...
:rimshot:
Thats what she said!