Home > Blogs > Official Husker Locker Blog > Ranking the Big 12 OCs
Official Husker Locker Blog
2009 Aug 10
Ranking the Big 12 OCs
5,240 views
Ranking the offensive coordinators in the most offensively diverse and exciting league in college football: The Big 12.
1. Kevin Wilson/Oklahoma – Hard to argue this spot, considering the Sooners scored 60-plus points four games in a row. Wilson orchestrated a dazzling no huddle last year, and the result was one of great offenses in college football history. OU had it all: Power, speed, flexibility and explosiveness. Few offenses can rival the breathtaking nature of Nebraska’s 1983 “Scoring Explosion” attack. But Oklahoma did.
2. Shawn Watson/Nebraska – His biggest strength is his ability to adapt and take different ideas, incorporate them into a West Coast Offense framework, and then call those plays on Saturday. You won’t find another WCO around that looks quite like what Watson is doing. Best of all, NU’s offense gained the yards last year, but also helped out its defense with the way Watson called the game. You can’t say that about most Big 12 head coaches and coordinators.
T3. Mike Leach/Texas Tech – The track record speaks for itself. The guy does a ton with average talent. But here’s what else the track record says: Once or twice a year, Tech’s offense grinds to a halt and becomes vulnerable to a decent pass rush. Leach has never been able to remedy that. And he can dig his team a deep hole with his risk-taking on fourth downs (although, generally, we’re in favor of the practice).
T3. Mark Mangino and Ed Warriner/Kansas – Mangino’s fingerprints are still all over this offense, so we make them a pair. We’ll just put it this way: KU stunk, for a long time, on offense before Mangino took over. And now, the Jayhawks are pretty dangerous, game in and game out, with their passing spread offense. If KU had a better offensive line, it’d be even better. The Jayhawks need to vary their running game a bit more, though.
T3. Art Briles/Baylor – Briles has co-offensive coordinators, but he’s really running the show. And it’s a neat version of the spread, mixing trick plays, no huddle and option football all into one package. Imagine if he had, say, Texas A&M’s talent.
6. Mike Gundy/Oklahoma State – Sorry Gunter Brewer (officially the OC)…when Gundy has his back turned to the field, diagramming plays while the defense is on the field, we all know who’s running the offense. Gundy is an excellent play caller, and he’s achieved balance and explosiveness. OSU always runs the ball well. But the passing game is a little erratic, and too often becomes a playaction bomb to Dez Bryant. Problem is, Bryant got hurt in the Holiday Bowl, and the Cowboys shut down. In big games, OSU doesn’t throw it well.
7. Greg Davis/Texas – The Longhorns have great talent more than anything else, and a head coach in Mack Brown who knows how to get that talent up for big games. But the offense itself is a little too dependent on the quarterback’s skills. Also – development remains a question. Why do UT players, talented as they are, struggle in the NFL? Another reason why Colt McCoy earned the Heisman last year. He made a lot of plays outside of scheme, on his own. Of course, the Texas system allows for that. Is that a kind of “genius?” We suppose. Not really.
8. Del Miller and Dana Dimel and Bill Synder/Kansas State - It remains to be seen if Snyder chooses to call all the plays again or not. He may, and if he does, expect a lot of diversity. Initially, Snyder was interested in running a spread offense, as he hired former Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig in December 2008. Then Ludwig ditched KSU for California. So who knows exactly what it’ll look like. Snyder changed from year to year, according to personnel. Apparently – expect some Wildcat formation. You know the “Wildcat,” not the mas…never mind.
9. Tom Herman/Iowa State – Fairly proven results at Rice, although not against major conference programs. He’ll employ a no huddle at ISU, which ought to be interesting on grass, in a wind tunnel, with few offensive weapons. Oh well, Herman’s a Mensa. He’ll figure it out.
10. David Yost/Missouri - Nothing personal, but the guy’s new to the job, the old OC is now the head coach of Wyoming, and there’s always been this running (and somewhat pointless) side debate as to whether the Southlake (Texas) Carroll High School head coach was responsible for transforming the offense to Chase Daniel’s liking, or Christensen/Yost were. Anyway, new kid on the block. Deal with it, Tiger faithful.
11. Nolan Cromwell/Texas A&M – Fell into the trap of forcing a conversion on the Aggies’ offense last year when a more measured transition would have been wiser. Basically wasted running backs Mike Goodson and Jorvorski Lane. Not necessarily his fault – head coach Mike Sherman was behind the switch. But, still, it didn’t consistently work. A&M racked up some passing yards, but not many wins.
12. Eric Kiseau/Colorado – Young and unproven. CU will return to WCO principles, and certainly have the running backs to do it. But the quarterback? We’re not as sure. He’s a Jeff Tedford disciple. We’ll see if he calls plays like Tedford does. Apparently, Tedford doesn’t even want to call plays like Tedford does, if he’s hiring Andy Ludwig.
1. Kevin Wilson/Oklahoma – Hard to argue this spot, considering the Sooners scored 60-plus points four games in a row. Wilson orchestrated a dazzling no huddle last year, and the result was one of great offenses in college football history. OU had it all: Power, speed, flexibility and explosiveness. Few offenses can rival the breathtaking nature of Nebraska’s 1983 “Scoring Explosion” attack. But Oklahoma did.
2. Shawn Watson/Nebraska – His biggest strength is his ability to adapt and take different ideas, incorporate them into a West Coast Offense framework, and then call those plays on Saturday. You won’t find another WCO around that looks quite like what Watson is doing. Best of all, NU’s offense gained the yards last year, but also helped out its defense with the way Watson called the game. You can’t say that about most Big 12 head coaches and coordinators.
T3. Mike Leach/Texas Tech – The track record speaks for itself. The guy does a ton with average talent. But here’s what else the track record says: Once or twice a year, Tech’s offense grinds to a halt and becomes vulnerable to a decent pass rush. Leach has never been able to remedy that. And he can dig his team a deep hole with his risk-taking on fourth downs (although, generally, we’re in favor of the practice).
T3. Mark Mangino and Ed Warriner/Kansas – Mangino’s fingerprints are still all over this offense, so we make them a pair. We’ll just put it this way: KU stunk, for a long time, on offense before Mangino took over. And now, the Jayhawks are pretty dangerous, game in and game out, with their passing spread offense. If KU had a better offensive line, it’d be even better. The Jayhawks need to vary their running game a bit more, though.
T3. Art Briles/Baylor – Briles has co-offensive coordinators, but he’s really running the show. And it’s a neat version of the spread, mixing trick plays, no huddle and option football all into one package. Imagine if he had, say, Texas A&M’s talent.
6. Mike Gundy/Oklahoma State – Sorry Gunter Brewer (officially the OC)…when Gundy has his back turned to the field, diagramming plays while the defense is on the field, we all know who’s running the offense. Gundy is an excellent play caller, and he’s achieved balance and explosiveness. OSU always runs the ball well. But the passing game is a little erratic, and too often becomes a playaction bomb to Dez Bryant. Problem is, Bryant got hurt in the Holiday Bowl, and the Cowboys shut down. In big games, OSU doesn’t throw it well.
7. Greg Davis/Texas – The Longhorns have great talent more than anything else, and a head coach in Mack Brown who knows how to get that talent up for big games. But the offense itself is a little too dependent on the quarterback’s skills. Also – development remains a question. Why do UT players, talented as they are, struggle in the NFL? Another reason why Colt McCoy earned the Heisman last year. He made a lot of plays outside of scheme, on his own. Of course, the Texas system allows for that. Is that a kind of “genius?” We suppose. Not really.
8. Del Miller and Dana Dimel and Bill Synder/Kansas State - It remains to be seen if Snyder chooses to call all the plays again or not. He may, and if he does, expect a lot of diversity. Initially, Snyder was interested in running a spread offense, as he hired former Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig in December 2008. Then Ludwig ditched KSU for California. So who knows exactly what it’ll look like. Snyder changed from year to year, according to personnel. Apparently – expect some Wildcat formation. You know the “Wildcat,” not the mas…never mind.
9. Tom Herman/Iowa State – Fairly proven results at Rice, although not against major conference programs. He’ll employ a no huddle at ISU, which ought to be interesting on grass, in a wind tunnel, with few offensive weapons. Oh well, Herman’s a Mensa. He’ll figure it out.
10. David Yost/Missouri - Nothing personal, but the guy’s new to the job, the old OC is now the head coach of Wyoming, and there’s always been this running (and somewhat pointless) side debate as to whether the Southlake (Texas) Carroll High School head coach was responsible for transforming the offense to Chase Daniel’s liking, or Christensen/Yost were. Anyway, new kid on the block. Deal with it, Tiger faithful.
11. Nolan Cromwell/Texas A&M – Fell into the trap of forcing a conversion on the Aggies’ offense last year when a more measured transition would have been wiser. Basically wasted running backs Mike Goodson and Jorvorski Lane. Not necessarily his fault – head coach Mike Sherman was behind the switch. But, still, it didn’t consistently work. A&M racked up some passing yards, but not many wins.
12. Eric Kiseau/Colorado – Young and unproven. CU will return to WCO principles, and certainly have the running backs to do it. But the quarterback? We’re not as sure. He’s a Jeff Tedford disciple. We’ll see if he calls plays like Tedford does. Apparently, Tedford doesn’t even want to call plays like Tedford does, if he’s hiring Andy Ludwig.
Permanent Link to this Blog Post
Tags: big 12, shawn watson, big 12 unit rankings, big 12 breakdown
Home > Blogs > Official Husker Locker Blog > Ranking the Big 12 OCs
"2. Texas' own fans don't like Greg Davis. And to suggest Vince Young's horrible NFL work habits and pouty demeanor aren't a product of UT's coddling of him...hard to shape up when your former college coach is telling the media you're still going to be in the Hall of Fame."
So you are basing your ranking on what you think other people think of him? There's some impressive rationale. Just ignore the fact Texas has achieved the best AND most consistent offensive production of any BCS conference program in the nation since GD arrived, and go by what you see some fans saying.
And since when is it a COLLEGE coach's responsibility to make sure his players succeed in the NFL beyond draft day? Thanks to the development he got at Texas, Vince Young went from a guy most people didn't even think could play QB in college (OU offered him as a WR ONLY) to the 3rd pick in the NFL draft - as a QB. Greg Davis did his job just fine with VY - and that's an understatement. From this point on, the responsiblity of how VY performs lies with VY and the Tennessee coaches - not Greg Davis. To suggest otherwise is simply idiotic. You would almost make more sense if you blamed his current struggles on his high school coaches.
"3. At any rate, we think Mack Brown is actually quite a good head coach. But he handpicked Will Muschamp as successor, and not Greg Davis, for a reason."
Greg had plenty of opportunities to become a head coach somewhere, but doesn't want to. He's simply not interested in being a head coach, and I hope he stays around long after Mack retires. Maybe when he does leave, Texas fans will realize how much we took him for granted. For some reason, if we'd had the same DC the past 11 years, and that DC had produced the consistent national scoring rankings GD produced, people would be ready to elect him Governor of Texas. But the offensive coordinator position is a lightning rod for criticism, for some reason.
It says everything that you started your analysis of GD with "The Longhorns have great talent more than anything else." Why not say that about OU? After all, they've actually OUTRECRUITED Texas over the past decade, despite the ridiculous perception people seem to have that Texas has the #1 recruiting class every year. Embellishing our talent level is the only way you can discount the actual results on the field, and thereby rob Greg Davis of any credit for it.
– Aug 12, 2009
Looks like this little piece made the rounds. A response, if you will:
1. If you want to scoff at Watson, don't forget the guy's won a Big 12 Championship - one of only two Big 12 North coordinators to do that since 2000 - and that he took coaches former assistants of Iowa State, Kansas, Nebraska under Solich, and the Callahan NU regime, and molded all those disparate ideas into a workable shotgun version of the WCO. And he made the biggest adjustments midseason. That's coaching.
2. Texas' own fans don't like Greg Davis. And to suggest Vince Young's horrible NFL work habits and pouty demeanor aren't a product of UT's coddling of him...hard to shape up when your former college coach is telling the media you're still going to be in the Hall of Fame.
3. At any rate, we think Mack Brown is actually quite a good head coach. But he handpicked Will Muschamp as successor, and not Greg Davis, for a reason.
– Aug 12, 2009
"Why do UT players, talented as they are, struggle in the NFL?"
Maybe because Greg Davis isn't coaching them anymore? This is a really a dumb argument anyway...BUT, since you're making it:
Pro Bowl seasons. Roy Williams, Vince Young, Leonard Davis, Ricky Williams.
And OU? Peterson, Jamaal Brown, and Davin Joseph. All of their WRs that were first day picks were busts (Bradley, Jones, Wilson, Clayton).
Texas had the 2nd most productive offense in the nation over the last 10 years, and EASILY the most productive in the nation over the last 4 years, but the author seems to be blinded by the ridiculously inaccurate myth that Texas gets the #1 recruiting class in the nation every year.
– Aug 11, 2009
This list is beyond stupid. I wasn't aware that the Big12 North played football much less played it well. This list is garbage and whoever created it is garbage as well.
– Aug 11, 2009
Greg Davis has been at Texas 11 years now.
here are the top 8 offenses over the past 10 seasons (NCAA web archives go back to 1999).
(Keep in mind that postseason games weren't counted in statistics until 2002.)
AVERAGE/GAME
1. Boise State - 40.5 (5108 points in 126 games)
2. TEXAS - 38.8 (4888 pts/126 games)
3. OU - 37.8 (4909 pts/130 games)
4. Texas Tech - 36.0 (4461 pts/124 games)
5. Louisville - 35.7 (4317 pts/121 games)
6. USC - 34.8 (4390 pts/126 games)
7. Hawaii - 34.7 (4513 pts/130 games)
8. Florida - 34.4 (4329 pts/126 games)
One thing that stood out when I was looking this up: Texas is the only team on the top 20 EVERY year. Texas' WORST year was ranking 16th in 2002. Meaning not only has Texas been one of the two best offenses in the last 10 years; we've been easily the most consistently great.
Over the last 4 years, Texas has had the highest scoring offense in the nation, and #2 (Texas Tech) is a distant 2.3 points per game behind us.
Keep in mind, Davis has also been the quarterback coach, developing VY from a terrible passer in 2003 into 3rd in the nation if passing efficiency (and the 1st 3000/1000 QB ever) in 2005. Since then, he's developed a lightly regarded afterthought recruit into the Heisman runner-up. And he's done this by completely reinventing the Texas offense 3 times over the past 5 years.
I guess this is just proof that - at Texas - it's almost impossible for our coaches to get any credit for their gameday abilities.
– Aug 11, 2009
Keeping Watson is still the best decision Bo Pelini ever made. Continuity...catch the fever!
– Aug 10, 2009