Returning to familiar surroundings
Coach: Paul Petrino, OC, Arkansas Razorbacks
Biggest challenge: His last name
After two years as the OC at Illinois, Petrino returns to Hog Country, though he thought it was to be reunited with brother Bobby. The bad news? Bobby blew it, he's gone, and walking around with the Petrino moniker hauls baggage all over Fayetteville.
The good news? His knowledge of the offense should allow the Razorbacks to avoid skipping a beat under Bobby's replacement, John L. Smith. And now he will actually be running the offense, not taking a backseat to his brother.
Coach: Mike Stoops, DC, Oklahoma Sooners
Biggest challenges: Shoring up the backfield, replacing D-linemen, playing second fiddle to big bro
Stoops was booted out of Arizona after eight years at the helm. He returns to work for brother Bob in Norman, where he co-constructed an iron wall Sooners D with co-coordinator Brent Venables (more on him later) one decade ago.
This Big 12 is a totally different animal than that Big 12, evidenced by the combined 130 points that Oklahoma surrendered to Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas Tech last season in its only three losses. Up front, Stoops has to make up for the loss of two all-conference ends, but the real issues are still in the defensive backfield.
Returning to familiar surroundings
Coach: Paul Petrino, OC, Arkansas Razorbacks
Biggest challenge: His last name
After two years as the OC at Illinois, Petrino returns to Hog Country, though he thought it was to be reunited with brother Bobby. The bad news? Bobby blew it, he's gone, and walking around with the Petrino moniker hauls baggage all over Fayetteville.
The good news? His knowledge of the offense should allow the Razorbacks to avoid skipping a beat under Bobby's replacement, John L. Smith. And now he will actually be running the offense, not taking a backseat to his brother.
Coach: Mike Stoops, DC, Oklahoma Sooners
Biggest challenges: Shoring up the backfield, replacing D-linemen, playing second fiddle to big bro
Stoops was booted out of Arizona after eight years at the helm. He returns to work for brother Bob in Norman, where he co-constructed an iron wall Sooners D with co-coordinator Brent Venables (more on him later) one decade ago.
This Big 12 is a totally different animal than that Big 12, evidenced by the combined 130 points that Oklahoma surrendered to Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas Tech last season in its only three losses. Up front, Stoops has to make up for the loss of two all-conference ends, but the real issues are still in the defensive backfield.
Coach: Jeff Casteel, DC, Arizona Wildcats
Biggest challenges: Implementing the 3-3-5, super-thin roster
Casteel was a West Virginia fixture for 11 years, including a decade as defensive coordinator under three different head coaches -- Rich Rodriguez, Bill Stewart and Dana Holgorsen. Now he rejoins RichRod, this time in the desert of Tucson. He's installing his 3-3-5 stack defense but is shockingly low on personnel to pull it off. There is experience up front, but the linebacker corps has zero returning starters from 2011 and a season-ending spring knee injury to safety Adam Hall is devastating.
Add all of that to the challenge of overhauling the scheme, and it's already time to preach patience to your followers. "How you handle that is a risk you run for sure," admitted Rodriguez during a chat last fall while he was still a commentator with CBS Sports.
His three-year stint at Michigan is the most infamous example of a program attempting to take on a whole new football philosophy, from the ultimate stronghold of old school Big Ten tank division football to the video game spread. The result -- a 15-22 record and embarrassing internal tensions -- has made AD's and presidents somewhat gun-shy about cleaning the slate. "How much change is too much seems to vary depending on the person's point of view," Rodriguez said.
Extreme makeover: Football edition
Coaches: Vic Koenning and Blake Anderson, DC and OC, North Carolina Tar Heels
Biggest challenge: Educating personnel on schemes they weren't recruited for, especially offense
Some programs are so desperate for a total culture change -- both on and off the field -- that they know better than to resist total reconstructions. They embrace it. For the school, it's worth the risk. And for the coaches, it's worth the work.
In Chapel Hill, Larry Fedora and his staff have been given free rein, and they've run with it. That's most obvious on offense, where the Butch Davis pro style has been gutted in favor of Fedora and Anderson's no-huddle attack that won the Conference USA title for Southern Miss last fall. So far quarterback Bryn Renner and tailback Giovanni Bernard are catching on. Good thing.
"We can't take it easy and wait around for this to work," Fedora said. "There's not a lot of room in this sport for patience. The best players are the guys who can adapt. A great player is a smart player. That means he can handle no matter what you throw at him. And we've been throwing a lot at these guys."
Coach: Tom Herman, OC, Ohio State Buckeyes
Biggest challenge: Same as UNC
There was some speculation that Urban Meyer and his staff might take a more methodical approach to instituting their new offensive philosophies in the Horseshoe.
But that talk quickly vanished when, in Ohio State's spring game, the Buckeyes put the ball in the air 55 times. It disappeared altogether afterward when quarterback Braxton Miller estimated that they ran only about 30 percent of their new offense in the scrimmage.
If it ain't broke ...
Coach: Mike Nesbitt, OC, Houston Cougars
Biggest challenges: Living up to the pace of the past, replacing Case Keenum and his receivers
"It's just a lot of evaluation," says Nesbitt, who fesses up to countless late nights in the film room examining every player on his roster. A former punter, he spent last year calling the plays at FCS powerhouse Stephen F. Austin, which finished last year ranked ninth in total offense. "It's looking at the personnel that you've inherited and figuring how they fit into your philosophy."
Fortunately for Nesbitt, the roster he's been handed fits his philosophy just fine.
New Cougars head coach Tony Levine was promoted within and immediately announced his mantra as, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So he promoted linebackers coach Jamie Bryant to defensive coordinator and hired Nesbitt knowing that the longtime small-college coach was also a longtime student of the Air Raid offense that nearly propelled Houston into the BCS and around which its roster has been recruited.
"I'm very fortunate that I feel like I fit into a successful model," Nesbitt admits. "Now it's my job to maintain and elevate that." He'll have to do it without Keenum, four receivers and two running backs from last year's track-meet roster.
The lone wolf
Coach: Brent Venables, DC, Clemson Tigers
Biggest challenges: Implementing the 4-3, strengthening the secondary, erasing all Orange Bowl memories
Coach: Jeff Casteel, DC, Arizona Wildcats
Biggest challenges: Implementing the 3-3-5, super-thin roster
Casteel was a West Virginia fixture for 11 years, including a decade as defensive coordinator under three different head coaches -- Rich Rodriguez, Bill Stewart and Dana Holgorsen. Now he rejoins RichRod, this time in the desert of Tucson. He's installing his 3-3-5 stack defense but is shockingly low on personnel to pull it off. There is experience up front, but the linebacker corps has zero returning starters from 2011 and a season-ending spring knee injury to safety Adam Hall is devastating.
Add all of that to the challenge of overhauling the scheme, and it's already time to preach patience to your followers. "How you handle that is a risk you run for sure," admitted Rodriguez during a chat last fall while he was still a commentator with CBS Sports.
His three-year stint at Michigan is the most infamous example of a program attempting to take on a whole new football philosophy, from the ultimate stronghold of old school Big Ten tank division football to the video game spread. The result -- a 15-22 record and embarrassing internal tensions -- has made AD's and presidents somewhat gun-shy about cleaning the slate. "How much change is too much seems to vary depending on the person's point of view," Rodriguez said.
Extreme makeover: Football edition
Coaches: Vic Koenning and Blake Anderson, DC and OC, North Carolina Tar Heels
Biggest challenge: Educating personnel on schemes they weren't recruited for, especially offense
Some programs are so desperate for a total culture change -- both on and off the field -- that they know better than to resist total reconstructions. They embrace it. For the school, it's worth the risk. And for the coaches, it's worth the work.
In Chapel Hill, Larry Fedora and his staff have been given free rein, and they've run with it. That's most obvious on offense, where the Butch Davis pro style has been gutted in favor of Fedora and Anderson's no-huddle attack that won the Conference USA title for Southern Miss last fall. So far quarterback Bryn Renner and tailback Giovanni Bernard are catching on. Good thing.
"We can't take it easy and wait around for this to work," Fedora said. "There's not a lot of room in this sport for patience. The best players are the guys who can adapt. A great player is a smart player. That means he can handle no matter what you throw at him. And we've been throwing a lot at these guys."
Coach: Tom Herman, OC, Ohio State Buckeyes
Biggest challenge: Same as UNC
There was some speculation that Urban Meyer and his staff might take a more methodical approach to instituting their new offensive philosophies in the Horseshoe.
But that talk quickly vanished when, in Ohio State's spring game, the Buckeyes put the ball in the air 55 times. It disappeared altogether afterward when quarterback Braxton Miller estimated that they ran only about 30 percent of their new offense in the scrimmage.
If it ain't broke ...
Coach: Mike Nesbitt, OC, Houston Cougars
Biggest challenges: Living up to the pace of the past, replacing Case Keenum and his receivers
"It's just a lot of evaluation," says Nesbitt, who fesses up to countless late nights in the film room examining every player on his roster. A former punter, he spent last year calling the plays at FCS powerhouse Stephen F. Austin, which finished last year ranked ninth in total offense. "It's looking at the personnel that you've inherited and figuring how they fit into your philosophy."
Fortunately for Nesbitt, the roster he's been handed fits his philosophy just fine.
New Cougars head coach Tony Levine was promoted within and immediately announced his mantra as, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." So he promoted linebackers coach Jamie Bryant to defensive coordinator and hired Nesbitt knowing that the longtime small-college coach was also a longtime student of the Air Raid offense that nearly propelled Houston into the BCS and around which its roster has been recruited.
"I'm very fortunate that I feel like I fit into a successful model," Nesbitt admits. "Now it's my job to maintain and elevate that." He'll have to do it without Keenum, four receivers and two running backs from last year's track-meet roster.
The lone wolf
Coach: Brent Venables, DC, Clemson Tigers
Biggest challenges: Implementing the 4-3, strengthening the secondary, erasing all Orange Bowl memories
"I'm still trying to figure out where the bathrooms are," Brent Venables joked in April during an interview for ESPN The Magazine and in the midst of his first spring practice with the Tigers.
In January, he came on board as defensive coordinator after eight years in the same position at Oklahoma, the only new addition to Dabo Swinney's staff. "This is a great place," Venables said. "It just takes a while to learn your way around a new staff and their routines. It's like, so, this is where you guys go to lunch on Fridays, huh?"
So far Venables has worked on improving last year's 71st-ranked defense using a hybrid of his fellow new coordinators' approaches. He refuses to talk about the past -- particularly the Tigers' historically embarrassing 70-33 Orange Bowl loss, of which he won't even watch all of the film. But he has also shown a willingness to work with the hand he's been dealt, admitting that there's more talent than he initially realized and while he will work from his familiar base 4-3 defense, he isn't married to it.
"The evaluation never stops," Venables said. "It started the second I got here, and it will continue until the last play of the season. We've torn everything down to fundamentals and we're going from there. They're going to learn from me, and I'm going to learn from them. We'll figure out together the best direction to take this in."
________________________________________
Give me one more shot
Coach: Mark Snyder, DC, Texas A&M Aggies
Biggest challenges: Replacing the entire secondary, transition from 3-4 to 4-3
While the Air Raid offense will steal the spotlight in College Station, the real SEC culture shock might come on defense, where Snyder is shifting players into a new set. Those players are largely inexperienced, with four returning starters from last season's group that was a sack machine (51, tops in the nation) but a second-half nightmare when it came to blowing leads.
Snyder is best known for his days in charge of the D at Ohio State, but after a highly generic stint as Marshall's head coach (22-37 in five years), he's anxious to re-establish his rep.
"I'm still trying to figure out where the bathrooms are," Brent Venables joked in April during an interview for ESPN The Magazine and in the midst of his first spring practice with the Tigers.
In January, he came on board as defensive coordinator after eight years in the same position at Oklahoma, the only new addition to Dabo Swinney's staff. "This is a great place," Venables said. "It just takes a while to learn your way around a new staff and their routines. It's like, so, this is where you guys go to lunch on Fridays, huh?"
So far Venables has worked on improving last year's 71st-ranked defense using a hybrid of his fellow new coordinators' approaches. He refuses to talk about the past -- particularly the Tigers' historically embarrassing 70-33 Orange Bowl loss, of which he won't even watch all of the film. But he has also shown a willingness to work with the hand he's been dealt, admitting that there's more talent than he initially realized and while he will work from his familiar base 4-3 defense, he isn't married to it.
"The evaluation never stops," Venables said. "It started the second I got here, and it will continue until the last play of the season. We've torn everything down to fundamentals and we're going from there. They're going to learn from me, and I'm going to learn from them. We'll figure out together the best direction to take this in."
________________________________________
Give me one more shot
Coach: Mark Snyder, DC, Texas A&M Aggies
Biggest challenges: Replacing the entire secondary, transition from 3-4 to 4-3
While the Air Raid offense will steal the spotlight in College Station, the real SEC culture shock might come on defense, where Snyder is shifting players into a new set. Those players are largely inexperienced, with four returning starters from last season's group that was a sack machine (51, tops in the nation) but a second-half nightmare when it came to blowing leads.
Snyder is best known for his days in charge of the D at Ohio State, but after a highly generic stint as Marshall's head coach (22-37 in five years), he's anxious to re-establish his rep.
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