Feb 26th, 2010
When Stanford begins spring football practice on Monday it will lack a quarterback controversy, typically the only thing that can make spring practice interesting.
Jim Harbaugh called the offensive plays last season, but he claims it will be a group task in 2010 -- Associated Press photo
The intrigue for the Cardinal lies in the fact that everything around quarterback Andrew Luck seems uncertain.
– It’s unclear from the outside exactly who will be coordinating the offense Luck will run.
– It has not been determined who will occupy the two backfield positions along side Luck.
– It remains to be seen what effect the departure of quarterbacks coach Run Turner will have on the coaching of Luck.
– It is too early to say whether Stanford’s offensive identity as a physical running team will change since the two biggest components of that identity – tailback Toby Gerhart and fullback Owen Marecic – are no longer in the backfield.
– It’s not even clear who will be calling the plays Luck will run on game day.
What is known is that Stanford will play its spring game on Saturday, April 17, at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium, a move necessitated because the Stanford Stadium field is being reseeded. The rest is speculative, in large part because Stanford has added so many new assistant coaches at key positions.
So instead of trying to make a narrative out of the Stanford situation, we will just present a series of notes to demonstrate how hazy things are:
– Issue No. 1: Who is in charge of the offense?
Jim Harbaugh went out of his way on Thursday to avoid specifying who will call the plays next season, making it as nebulous as possible. Harbaugh called the plays last year, and it’s a good bet he will next season as well, but he envoked the “collaboration” word to avoid when discussing who will call plays and exactly who will coordinate the offense.
Trying to unravel the offensive hierarchy based on titles is impossible.
Officially, the offensive coordinator is still David Shaw, but he was moved to running backs coach from his previous position as wide receivers coach to make room for Turner. That does not usually happen to a guy calling the shots.
Turner’s hiring as wide receivers and quarterbacks coach complicated the issue, and his departure last week to become wide receivers coach with the Indianapolis Colts caused more upheaval in the staff, but simplified the offensive-coaching hierarchy a bit. Turner had been offensive coordiantor with the Chicago Bears the past several years, so he would have had at least some say in the Cardinal game planning if he had stayed. “I will have a lot of input, especially in the passing game,” Turner said, one day before it was reported that he had taken the Colts job.
But then there’s Greg Roman, whose title is – get a load of this – associate head coach and assistant head coach of the offense and tight ends and offensive tackles coach. Now that’s a title. What it means is hard to say. Roman would act as head coach if, for any reason, Harbaugh were unable to perform his duties as head coach (sort of like the runnerup in the Miss America Pageant), and Harbaugh talked about Roman as if Roman was the man in charge of the offense. Harbaugh even said Roman would call the plays if a game were played tomorrow, and Roman certainly acted like the man in charge of the offense during the coaches’ meeting with the media on Thursday. It seems like quite a step up for a guy who was an assistant offensive line coach for the Baltimore Ravens last season.
Of course, they all said titles don’t matter, and they just want to work together, etc., etc. But somebody has to have the final say on a game plan. And somebody has to call the plays on Saturdays. If Luck throws an incomplete pass on second-and-6, Stanford will not have a board meeting to decide what to call on third-and-6, will it?
I can see that conversation now:
“OK, this is Jim, and I call this meeting to order. Any old business? “
“Yeah, that failed pass play that somebody suggested a moment ago, but I won’t mention names.”
“Forget that now. Any new business?”
“Yeah, this third-and-6 play, and I suggest a screen pass.”
“I agree, but make sure we use floating pass protection No. 3.”
“And have Andrew roll to his left a bit to avoid that big defensive end.”
“OK, a screen pass is nominated. Do I hear a second?”
“I second.”
“All those in favor say, ‘Aye.’”
“Aye.”
“We have a consensus. All right, signal that play in to Andrew.”
We’re guessing the 45-second clock may have expired.
There are egos to protect here, and Harbaugh is doing his best to spread the appearance of shared responsibility. High-priced assistant coaches are involved now, and they did not come to Stanford to be Yes Men.
Harbaugh admitted that the salary pool for Stanford assistant coaches was increased “substantially,” what he called the school’s investment in the future, even though the Stanford athletic department is cutting corners finically elsewhere.
There is less uncertainty on the defensive side. The defensive coordinator is Vic Fangio, who was replaced last month as the Baltimore Ravens’ special assistant to the head coach and linebackers coach (that’s a cute little title too). But he has been a defensive coordinator for three NFL teams, so he did not come cheap either. Plus, the Cardinal had to push last season’s defensive coordinator, Ron Lynn, to a desk job – director of player personnel – to make room. “Production-wise (on defense), I was not satisfied with that and thought we needed to make some changes.”
Issue No. 2: the backfield:
Gerhart is gone, and Stepfan Taylor, Jeremy Stewart and Tyler Gaffney will compete in the spring to see who will be his replacement. Harbaugh expects to use two tailbacks on a regular basis, hoping two can make up for the production lost from Gerhart’s departure. One problem is that Gaffney is playing baseball, and will miss some spring football. Harbaugh plans to monitor Gaffney’s participation in baseball, and if he is not playing much for the baseball team – or as Harbaugh put it, “if he’s spitting seeds and saying ‘humma, humma batter’” – he may participate more in spring football.
Then there’s the full back situation. Marecic, last season’s fullback, apparently will be moved almost exclusively to defense during the spring with the idea of making him a starting linebacker. Roman suggested Marecic might still play some fullback, but not on a fulltime basis. Ryan Hewitt, a tight end last season as a freshman, will be given a shot to be the fullback, but that position is open now.
The physical style of Gerhart and Marecic are what gave the Cardinal offense its identity as a power running team. Without those two behind Luck, the personality of the offense may change. It figured to change a bit anyway, because Luck’s passing figures to be a bigger part of the offensive scheme in 2010.
Just who will be devising that offensive scheme is the question. Will it be the head coach, who acted as the offensive coordinator to large degree last season? Or the offensive coordinator (Shaw)? Or the guy who was the Bears’ offensive coordinator when they went to the Super Bowl three years ago? Or the guy who is the associate head coach and assistant head coach of the offense?
When Harbaugh first became Stanford’s head coach, the Cardinal had one of the youngest and least experienced staffs in the country. Now, Stanford has a staff with 83 years of NFL coaching experience.
That complicates things.
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