College football has no rules, no script and no advice for the hiring of assistant coaches. Hire who you want, pay them what you want, fire them when you want.
USC once hired hated UCLA rival Ken Norton Jr. to coach its linebackers. Utah hired 71-year-old John Pease to be its defensive coordinator. Stanford won the Rose Bowl this season with 35-year-old former Arizona kick-blocker Peter Hansen coaching linebackers, and 58-year-old ex-Arizona offensive and defensive coordinator Duane Akina coaching defensive backs.
Arizona has hired ex-Sun Devil coaches (Dino Babers, Ed Doherty) and ASU has employed ex-Wildcat coaches (Craig Bray, Kevin Wolthausen).
The UA hired a 27-year-old special teams coach from Maine (John Baxter) and a 65-year-old offensive coordinator (Homer Smith) from Alabama.
Anything goes.
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So when all four of Rich Rodriguez’s defensive coaches were either fired or beat the posse out of town recently, RichRod had no governing body to say (a) hire a Polynesian recruiter, (b) hire a local legend like Ricky Hunley or (c) hire someone who at least remembers who Bo and Woody were.
When UA defensive analyst (and former Sun Devils defensive tackle) Vincent Amey was promoted to defensive line coach Wednesday, RichRod assembled what might be the youngest defensive coaching staff in Pac-12 history, or at least close to it.
Can you do that? Can a stable of young guns help you win in the Pac-12, a league with Christian McCaffrey, Mike Leach and all of those high-flying Oregon Ducks?
Here’s what we know: 38-year-old defensive coordinator Marcel Yates was part of some powerful Boise State teams; 34-year-old cornerbacks coach Donté Williams coached three years at San Jose State; 31-year-old safeties coach Jahmile Addae coached two years at Cincinnati. Amey, who turned 41 on Tuesday, was a high school coach before he became part of RichRod’s strength and conditioning staff.
Except for Yates’ two seasons at Texas A&M, none have coached a down at an “Power Five” conference school.
“I’ve been part of staffs when guys were in their 20s and I didn’t see anyone intimidated,” Yates said Wednesday. “I never look at it by age or numbers. My approach is ‘let’s go do it.’”
Many Pac-12 schools are going younger. Most don’t follow a traditional, through-the-ranks grid.
Utah last month named 36-year-old Morgan Scalley as its defensive coordinator. The Utes’ secondary coach, Sharrieff Shah, was a trial lawyer when he was hired as a full-time coach. What’s more, the Utes hired someone from detested BYU, Justin Ena, to be its linebackers coach.
Figure it out as you go.
Besides, how difficult can it be to coach football? It’s 11 vs. 11. All you’re trying to do is to get a numbers advantage, your six guys in a box against five other guys. Most of us learned how to do that in the third grade.
It’s a game of recruiting more than a game of coaching.
On Wednesday, explaining (or not) the reasons he fired 55-year-old defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, 69-year-old defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich and 52-year-old cornerbacks coach David Lockwood, RichRod said “they were all really good coaches; it just didn’t work.”
“To paint it as a coach-thing or a scheme-thing is too convenient,” he said. “I didn’t see it as a step back as much as I see it as a fresh start.”
Fresh is the word.
Yates is living in a hotel and won’t move his wife and daughter from Boise until after the school year. He’s putting the UA’s defense together on the fly. If Tedy Bruschi and Chuck Cecil walked into his office, Yates probably wouldn’t know one from another.
Does he have a playbook or a scheme in place?
“We start spring ball Friday,” he said with a smile. “I better know what we’re going to do.”
On paper, Washington was the league’s best defensive team in 2015. The Huskies recently awarded their defensive staff raises: defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski got a raise from $500,000 to $600,000 and two years tacked onto his contract. Defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake got a new title (co-defensive coordinator) and a raise to $500,000. It’s a good time to be a Husky.
Yet Washington lost six games, just as Arizona did. What’s the difference between UW and UA? Last year Washington had a 51-yard advantage, per game, over its opponents. Arizona had a 27-yard edge.
One school fired three coaches. One school gave bountiful raises. Both teams went 7-6.
But because Washington is in its third season under Chris Petersen and Arizona enters season five under RichRod, the Huskies are viewed as climbing. Arizona is seen as a stock you would not recommend.
RichRod has invested in a bunch of young guns at a time Oregon’s defensive coaching staff is manned by men aged 60, 57, 55 and 52, and at a time USC hired a defensive coordinator, Clancy Pendergast, who has coached 16 years in the NFL.
Pendergast is an Arizona alumnus who used to be a coach at Amphitheater High School.
A Wildcat in Trojan colors one day. A Sun Devil in Wildcat clothing another.
Anything goes.
