Big East: Bob Diaco
So what exactly is he looking for?
“I think there are a lot of criteria," he said Thursday. "No. 1, we want the right kind of person. Understanding and being able to have your arms around the culture of the tri-state area I think is critical to being successful at Rutgers. So much of it has been built around being able to recruit on a somewhat regional level, that I think not only having a great understanding, but having really deep and strong relationships in the tri-state area. I think those are two very critical factors in this whole thing.”
Who fits the description? Here are a few possibilities:
Temple coach Steve Addazio. In his first season as the head coach at Temple, Addazio went 9-4 and brought the Owls back to a bowl game. He has ties to the tri-state area, having grown up and coached in Connecticut. He also served as an assistant at Syracuse in the 1990s and he clearly has established ties in the past year in the Pennsylvania area. That state has been a huge recruiting area for Rutgers, particularly given what has happened to Penn State.
Florida International coach Mario Cristobal. One of the brightest up-and-coming coaches in the country, Cristobal has done for FIU what Schiano did for Rutgers. He completely resurrected a program mired in misery, taking it to its first-ever conference title and back-to-back bowl appearances for the first time, too. FIU is obviously a much younger program, but Cristobal has got the coaching and recruiting chops. Plus, he worked under Schiano at Rutgers from 2001-03, so he has a familiar with the recruiting area. Cristobal was also a candidate for the Pitt job before ultimately deciding he wanted to stay in the South Florida area. What could Rutgers say to change his mind?
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco. A defensive mastermind like Schiano (who also served as defensive coordinator this past season), Diaco is from Cedar Grove, N.J., and has some coaching experience in the Big East. He was an assistant at Cincinnati under then-coach Brian Kelly before leaving to join Kelly with the Irish.
Quinn gives Buffalo staff a Cincinnati flavor
Quinn, who was the Bearcats' offensive line coach/offensive coordinator, before serving as the interim head coach for the Allstate Sugar Bowl, has hired Greg Forest and William Inge off this year's Cincinnati staff. Also joining the Bulls are Mike Daniels, Ernest Jones and Marty Spieler, all of whom worked for the Bearcats in administrative roles.
Brian Kelly has taken four of his former assistants -- Bob Diaco, Charley Molnar, Mike Elston and Tim Hinton -- with him to Notre Dame. The only holdover Bearcats assistant is defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs.
So now all we need is for Butch Jones to announce his staff, and the cycle will be complete.
Four Cincinnati assistants heading to Notre Dame
Head coach Brian Kelly officially announced the hiring of former Bearcats defensive line/assistant head coach Mike Elston to his first Irish staff today. Also expected to join Kelly in South Bend are defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, passing game coordinator Charley Molnar and running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Tim Hinton.
The only current holdover from the old Cincinnati staff is defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs, who was retained by new head coach Butch Jones. The rest are expected to join Kelly's former offensive coordinator, Jeff Quinn, in Buffalo. Jones will likely bring many assistants from his time at Central Michigan to Cincinnati.
Florida 33, Cincinnati 21: I keep trying to find ways to envision the Bearcats winning this game, and it's just not easy to see. Florida will have to have an off game like it did against Alabama and Cincinnati will have to play great.
I just think the offense is going to have a hard time scoring at its usual rate against that fierce Gators defense, and their excellent secondary will slow down Mardy Gilyard, Armon Binns and D.J. Woods. And the way Bob Diaco's defense played down the stretch inspires zero confidence. This could be an unpredictable game because of all the bizarre coaching moves. But on paper, Florida just looks a little too good to me.
Kelly won't take Cincinnati assistants before Sugar Bowl
But Kelly told the Cincinnati Enquirer's Bill Koch that he won't take any assistants with him until after the Bearcats play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
He hasn't said which assistants he's interested in bringing with him, but it's not too hard to figure out. Jeff Quinn, his longtime offensive coordinator/offensive line coach who is now the Bearcats' interim head coach, will almost certainly continue his roles under Kelly unless he gets the full-time Cincinnati job. It seems highly likely that defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, quarterbacks coach Greg Forest, receivers coach Charley Molnar and defensive line coach Mike Elston will be asked to come to South Bend.
Kelly told the Enquirer he would also like to schedule a series between Notre Dame and Cincinnati.
Halftime review: Pitt 31, Cincinnati 17
AP Photo/Keith SrakocicJonathan Baldwin had two touchdown catches in the first half.Turning point: Two big mistakes -- which Cincinnati has avoided all year -- turned into 10 points for Pittsburgh. Tony Pike threw a second-quarter interception, just his fourth of the year -- which led to a Dan Hutchins field goal. On the Bearcats' next possession, Nate Nix blocked a punt that ended up inside the Cincinnati 5. Bill Stull ran it in for a touchdown, making it 31-10 late in the half.
What Pitt needs to do: More of the same. The Panthers are dominating on both sides of the ball and would be up by 21 points if not for Mardy Gilyard's 99-yard touchdown return. Pitt needs to stay aggressive and not sit on the lead, because the Bearcats' offense is too explosive.
What Cincinnati needs to do: Reboot. The defensive game plan is not working at all. Defensive coordinator Bob Diaco needs to find something to counter the running of Lewis, and the Cincinnati offensive line has to do a better job of protecting Pike. The Bearcats have not trailed in the second half all season, so we'll see what they're made of today.
Cincinnati looks to atone for last week's defensive mistakes
Aberration or Achilles' heel? Fluky or fatally flawed?
Those are the questions surrounding Cincinnati's defensive performance last week against Connecticut. The Bearcats entered the game with one of the best defenses, statistically speaking, in the nation. They left bruised, battered and barely hanging on after giving up 462 yards in a 47-45 escape.
Friday's game against No. 25 West Virginia is not just a critical conference game for No. 5 Cincinnati, but also a chance to atone for last week's lapses.
"It's a great feeling to be able to redeem ourselves," linebacker Marcus Waugh said. "Everything that happened can be fixed. It was just one guy out of position here, two guys out of position there. We just need to get everybody back on the same page and tighten the screws, as [defensive coordinator Bob] Diaco tells us."
West Virginia's offense has sputtered of late but is capable of exploding at any time with its abundance of speed, including Noel Devine and Jock Sanders. The Mountaineers, though, have a totally different attack and philosophy than the power-minded UConn; Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly called this week's matchup "a race for space."
The Bearcats have fared quite well against the two true spread teams they've played this year. In a 28-18 win at Oregon State, they limited the Devine-esque Jacquizz Rodgers to just 73 yards on 20 carries. They frustrated B.J. Daniels and South Florida in a 34-17 win last month.
Matching speed for speed doesn't seem like a problem for the Cincinnati defense.
"We go against our offense every day, and it's the definition of a spread team," Waugh said. "It's nice to have that kind of electric offense to practice against."
The two teams that gave the Bearcats the most trouble this year -- the only opponents, in fact, to stay within 10 points of the Big East juggernaut -- are Fresno State and UConn. And both employed similar philosophies: heavy doses of running between the tackles, augmented by play-action passing. Fresno's Ryan Mathews ran for 145 yards against Cincinnati, while UConn's Jordan Todman had 162 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Those games led some to wonder if a big, physical offensive line and power running game are the way to beat the Bearcats. After all, Kelly made the switch to a 3-4 defensive scheme this year because he said he wanted to defend the spread better.
All of which means that maybe Cincinnati is well suited to stopping West Virginia on Friday but could be in trouble in the regular-season finale at Pitt, which loves to pound the ball on the ground. Or maybe we're just reading too much into a bad second half last week.
"I think it's an overreaction to a couple of things that have happened," Waugh said of that line of thinking. "We have a big, strong defensive line that's fast as well. It's all about game planning and stopping the players who make big plays."
There will be plenty of those types of players on the field Friday from West Virginia. Cincinnati can begin to show whether its defensive flaws last week were a hiccup or a sign of a defect.
The Wall Street Journal has nothing on this stock report. Let's see who's up, who's down and who's leading the big races (bonus category: top assistant coach) as we enter Week 9 of the Big East marathon:
Stock up
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| John Korduner/Icon SMI | |
| West Virginia fans showed a lot of class Saturday when the Mountaineers played UConn. |
2. Delone Carter: The Syracuse senior had a career day against Akron, rushing for 170 yards and three touchdowns. That's 33 more yards and three more scores than he had in all of an injury-plagued 2008.
3. Marcus Easley: The UConn senior and former walk-on has become the Huskies' big-play guy. He had an 88-yard touchdown catch that gave Connecticut its final lead in the fourth quarter at West Virginia and is averaging 26.1 yards per catch with three scores this year.
4. Mike Shanahan: No, not the former Broncos coach. The redshirt freshman receiver has become a weapon for Pitt in the last few games and now has seven catches for 88 yards on the season. He's 6-foot-5 with sure hands and gives Bill Stull yet another target.
5. Mark Harrison: The true freshman Rutgers receiver has overcome an early-season groin injury and is taking on a bigger role in the offense. Fellow wideout Tim Brown told The Star-Ledger that the 6-foot-3 Harrison could be the next Kenny Britt.
Stock down
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| Cliff Welch/Icon SMI | |
| USF’s George Selvie's stock is down after two poor games. |
2. Steve Kragthorpe's reasoning: The Louisville coach said after his team's 41-10 loss to Cincinnati that he was hoping to see Tony Pike instead of Zach Collaros because Pike was one-dimensional. Um, OK. The Courier-Journal's Eric Crawford blisters Kragthorpe for that comment in this column.
3. Jerome Murphy: Two very tough games in a row for the talented South Florida senior cornerback. He had a mistake-filled night against Cincinnati and was burned repeatedly in the Pitt game. Jim Leavitt hinted at personnel changes this week, and most people looked immediately to Murphy, who will be under fire against West Virginia's passing game.
4. The BCS standings: What kind of system drops Cincinnati from No. 5 to No. 8 after it beats a conference rival by 31 points without its star quarterback?
5. Anyone but Mohamed Sanu or Tom Savage at quarterback for Rutgers: Sanu has made the Wildcat package work much better than Jabu Lovelace or Kordell Young. The Scarlet Knights even had punter Teddy Dellaganna attempt a pass. I know they're searching of offense, but sometimes too much trickery is not a treat.
Player of the year race: Offense
1. Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati: Has completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 1,633 yards and 15 touchdowns, with three interceptions. Missed last week's game against Louisville with an injured left forearm.
2. Noel Devine, RB, West Virginia: Has rushed for 912 yards on 137 attempts, with 10 touchdowns. Ranks third in the FBS in rushing yards per game.
3. Dion Lewis, RB, Pittsburgh: Has run for 1,029 on 185 attempts, with 11 touchdowns. Ranks fourth n the FBS in rushing yards per game
4. Mardy Gilyard, WR, Cincinnati: Has 47 catches for 674 yards and eight touchdowns.
5. Bill Stull, QB, Pittsburgh: Has completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 1,654 yards and 16 touchdowns, with four interceptions.
Player of the year race: Defense
1. Mick Williams, DT, Pittsburgh: This category changes wildly from week to week, as no one seems to want to take control. I'm going this week with Williams, who leads the league with 12.5 tackles for loss and is second in forced fumbles with three.
2. Lindsey Witten, DE, UConn: He's second in the nation in sacks, with 10.5.
3. Derrell Smith, LB, Syracuse: He leads the nation in forced fumbles and is tied for second in the Big East with 6.5 sacks.
4. Aaron Webster, S, Cincinnati: Has three interceptions and is the leader of the defense for the Big East's top-ranked team and stingiest 'D'.
5. Lawrence Wilson, LB, UConn: Leads the Big East in tackles.
Assistant coach of the year
1. Bob Diaco, Cincinnati: All the first-year defensive coordinator has done is switch to a 3-4 scheme, replace 10 senior starters and make the Bearcats the top scoring defense in the league with 13.7 points allowed per game.
2. Frank Cignetti, Pittsburgh: Cignetti deserves a lot of credit for the improvement by Stull and for utilizing all the weapons at his disposal as Pitt's offensive coordinator. The Panthers are averaging 34.2 points per game
3. Jeff Mullen, West Virginia: Mullen came under fire in his first year as offensive coordinator in Morgantown while trying to implement more of a passing game. Things are clicking now, as West Virginia is averaging 31.3 points and has the second-best passing offense in the league.
Loss of Young a big blow to Bearcats
Cincinnati's task of stopping Jacquizz Rodgers and the Oregon State offense just got a little tougher. The team announced that linebacker Curtis Young had knee surgery on Friday and would be out three-to-six weeks.
Young had a big game against Rutgers and has 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack on the season. Coach Brian Kelly had said much of the offseason that Young's ability to both rush the passer from the edge and drop back in pass coverage was key to his decision to switch to a 3-4 defensive scheme this year. Now the team's top hybrid player is gone for as many as five games.
Cincinnati could use senior Craig Carey in Young's spot or turn to freshman Walter Stewart. It also makes you wonder whether defensive coordinator Bob Diaco will use more 4-3 looks while Young is out.
The Bearcats proved last year that they could keep winning even during a spate of quarterback injuries. Now they'll have to do so with one of their most important defensive players sidelined.
New Big East coordinators who will make biggest '09 impact
It's not hard to find new coordinators in the Big East. Seven of the eight league teams brought in at least one new playcaller, and half the conference will have new coordinators on both sides of the ball. Throw in the co-coordinators at Rutgers and South Florida, and there are 14 new people in charge of an offense or defense this season.
OK, so which ones will make the biggest impact in 2009? I'm not talking about which coordinators will do the best job or have the best units to work with. I mean, which ones will bring about the most change, good or bad, to their programs this year?
Here's who I think will have the most impact:
• Joe Moorhead, Connecticut: I've said it before, but the Huskies have basically traded in their old pickup truck for a sleek new sports car. Moorhead will bring an energetic, no-huddle attack to UConn, which has had a pretty vanilla offense for years. Don't expect Moorhead to get away from the team's bread-and-butter -- the running game -- but the former Akron playcaller should still make a huge difference. Spring practice observers say Moorhead wielded an undeniably large presence. UConn went 8-5 last year and scored 13 points or fewer in four of its losses. A little more offensive production could go a long way this year.
• Mike Canales, South Florida: There's something to be said for how excited the Bulls offensive players were this spring about Canales' new direction. The former wide receivers coach has promised to go to a true spread attack and throw downfield more than previous coordinator Greg Gregory. Canales has a lot of weapons at his disposal and would be wise to unleash them in creative ways, something Gregory was often criticized for not doing enough. His top two challenges are putting together a cohesive offensive line and finding a running game to complement Matt Grothe.
• Bob Diaco, Cincinnati: It probably won't be fair to compare Diaco's first year against last season's Bearcats defense, since Cincinnati is replacing 10 starters on that side of the ball. But given the team's scheme change to a 3-4 base (with the option of offering multiple looks), there's no doubt that Diaco is bringing a new style that he formulated under Al Groh at Virginia.
• Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville: For better or worse, Kragthorpe will be judged this year on how his offense performs after the head coach decided to put on the headset and call his own plays. He dumped popular former coordinator and local hero Jeff Brohm in order to take the reins. Kragthorpe has been vague on how his philosophy differs from Brohm, but you can probably expect more short passes to the running backs and tight ends given his background.
• Kirk Ciarrocca and Kyle Flood, Rutgers: It remains to be seen just how different the offense will look under these new co-coordinators versus how it was run under former playcaller John McNulty. But both will have a big impact, simply because of the talent turnover in Piscataway. Ciarrocca in particular has an important task in working with the quarterbacks. It's his job to develop Tom Savage and D.C. Jefferson for the future while getting the most out of seniors Dom Natale and Jabu Lovelace.
Other new coordinators for 2009: Brent Guy, Louisville defense; Frank Cignetti Jr., Pittsburgh offense; Bob Fraser/Ed Pinkham, Rutgers defense; Scott Shafer, Syracuse defense.
Kelly pleased with Bearcats' progress after spring game
Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett
By the time Cincinnati's spring game arrived on Saturday, the Bearcats had already accomplished what they wanted in their first 14 practices, head coach Brian Kelly said.
"I'm really pleased," Kelly said. "We got our defensive coordinator in place. We got our system in place. We made some changes and moved some changes where I think moving some personnel around helped us. So we clicked off three major things on my list to do."
The offense beat the defense on Saturday as Kelly kept things pretty basic. His defense, which is replacing 10 starters, stayed mostly in a 4-3 base and rarely showed off its new 3-4 alignment. The Bearcats will change alignments based on the opponent and the situation this year under new coordinator Bob Diaco.
"Everybody has talked about losing 10, but we're a mature group of guys," Kelly said. "We've got physically mature guys on the defensive side of the ball. From my standpoint, I'm pleased with where we are right now."
Quarterback Tony Pike handled the spring game like a poised veteran, completing 25 of 35 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown. Kelly said the two things he wanted to see from Pike were wide-field throws and a quick release on play-action, and Pike completed both missions.
Reserve quarterback Zach Collaros, who split his time this spring between football and playing on the baseball team, helped his cause by going 9-of-13 for 146 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown pass to Danny Milligan. Collaros is battling Chazz Anderson for the role of Pike's backup.
"My heart skips a little bit because I don't know what he's doing sometimes," Kelly said of Collaros. "But generally it comes out pretty good."
Armon Binns was the leading receiver, with seven catches for 74 yards and a score. Tight end Gino Guidugli added seven receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown.
The running game only produced 84 yards on 44 carries, but Kelly has been happy with his team's progress in that area this spring.
Derek Wolfe had two sacks for the defense. Ricardo Matthews had two tackles for loss and forced a fumble that he recovered.
The Cincinnati spring game marked the last official practice for any Big East team until fall camps open.
Thoughts on Cincinnati's first spring practice
CINCINNATI -- Here are some of my observations from Cincinnati's first spring practice:
• The first thing that strikes you is how many new names and numbers you have to get to know. Of course, I knew going in that the Bearcats lost basically their entire defense, but it's still a little jarring not seeing any familiar faces or names on that side of the ball.
• Coach Brian Kelly won't release a depth chart until just before the spring game, and the staff is still trying to figure out who to play where on defense. But for those of you into reading tea leaves, here was the first-team defense when 11-on-11 work began: Ricardo Matthews, Derek Wolfe and Walter Stewart on the defensive line, Craig Carey, John Hughes, Robby Armstrong and J.K. Schafer at linebacker, Marcus Barnett and Brad Jones at cornerback and Aaron Webster and Drew Frey at safety.
The odds of that being the exact starting defense in Week 1 against Rutgers are about as good as my chances of picking every Big East game correctly this season. Veteran linebacker Andre Revels was out with knee problems. And expect Curtis Young to be in there as well.
• As you can tell from the lineup, the Bearcats did have a 3-4 alignment on defense. But they didn't just have three down linemen and four linebackers in traditional spots. Linebackers would sometimes put their hand down on the line of scrimmage before the snap and other times drop back as safeties in coverage. The defense can shift to multiple looks depending on what the offense does, and I think that's the point of this switch.
• New defensive coordinator Bob Diaco is a vocal and animated guy, and along with excitable defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs, forms a lively 1-2 punch. One of the buzzwords both guys used on Tuesday was "jam." They were constantly reinforcing to the defensive backs to jam the receivers at the line of scrimmage. And Kelly, who's got a reputation as an offensive guy, spent a lot of time with the defense on Day 1.
• Demetrius Jones was with the second-team linebackers, but I didn't see anything noteworthy from him. Remember that it's early, and they're not in pads yet, so that doesn't mean much.
• Let's talk about the offense. Looks like Kelly has quite a box of toys to play with. Running backs Isaiah Pead and Darrin Williams should add a whole new dimension to the attack with their speed. Williams is an intriguing guy. He's listed at 5-foot-7, which might be generous. But he's powerfully built and has a nice burst. He could be the next mighty mite in the Big East, joining Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and Victor Anderson.
• USC transfer Vidal Hazelton is listed at 210 pounds and looks pretty thick. He was playing the inside receiver spot with the second-teamers. He could be a load over the middle, and he seems more like a slot guy than a true deep threat. Of course, we won't see him play until 2010 unless he wins his NCAA appeal.
• Tony Pike made some pretty downfield throws. He could be ready for a monster year. One of his favorite targets was sophomore D.J. Woods, who could be in line for a breakout campaign.
• The Bearcats ran a little option look with Zach Collaros and others. I don't know if that will be incorporated at all this season if Pike stays healthy, but it's another wrinkle Kelly can consider.
• Former Cincinnati All-American punter Kevin Huber was on hand, and his potential replacements got to try a few kicks. Michael Cooke had the best day on that front, and the Bearcats used some rugby style kicks.
• That's enough for Day 1. I'll have some more practice reports from other schools later on this week.
Updated Big East coaching change scorecard
Barring any last-minute surprises, the Big East assistant coaching carousel is almost over.
The only remaining job left to be filled is Cincinnati's defensive line coach, which should be resolved very soon. So, for posterity's sake, here's your updated guide to all the changes this offseason for each Big East school.
Cincinnati
Defensive coordinator: Joe Tresey was let go, and Bob Diaco was hired from Virginia.
Defensive line: Keith Gilmore, who was also the assistant head coach, left for Illinois. No replacement has been named yet.
Notes: Defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs was promoted to associate head coach, while special teams/tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Mike Elston is now assistant head coach. Diaco will install a 3-4 scheme on defense.
Connecticut
Offensive coordinator: Rob Ambrose took the head coaching job at Towson and was replaced by Akron's Joe Moorhead.
Notes: Moorhead will give the offense a no-huddle, high-tempo look.
Louisville
Defensive coordinator: Ron English left to become the head coach at Eastern Michigan. Bill Miller was elevated from linebackers coach but then left for Kansas. Former Utah State head coach Brent Guy was hired.
Offensive coordinator: Jeff Brohm was demoted and took a job at Florida Atlantic. Head coach Steve Kragthorpe will call his own plays this season,
Secondary: Eric Lewis followed English to Eastern Michigan and was replaced by former Tennessee assistant Larry Slade.
Special teams/safeties: Antonio Goss was hired from Middle Tennessee State to succeed Mark Nelson.
Running backs/tight ends: Tony Alford quit as running backs coach to take that same job at Notre Dame. Tight ends coach Greg Nord moved to running back, and Jay Johnson was hired to coach tight ends.
Wide receivers: Jeff Lewis will coach the position that Kragthorpe handled last season.
Quarterbacks: Matt Wells was hired from New Mexico.
Notes: Kragthorpe has had little staff stability in his three years at Louisville. He's now on his fourth defensive coordinator and third offensive coordinator.
Pittsburgh
Offensive coordinator: Matt Cavanaugh left to coach quarterbacks for the NFL's New York Jets. Frank Cignetti Jr. was hired from California.
Notes: Cignetti promises a smooth transition and will use many of the same schemes and terminology as Cavanaugh.
Rutgers
Defensive coordinator: Head coach Greg Schiano relinquished his role as defensive coordinator. Assistants Bob Fraser and Ed Pinkham were elevated to co-defensive coordinators.
Offensive coordinator: John McNulty was hired by the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to coach receivers. Assistants Kyle Flood and Kirk Ciarrocca were elevated to co-offensive coordinators.
Running backs: Gary Brown left to coach running backs for the NFL's Cleveland Browns. Former Syracuse assistant Randy Trivers was hired.
Wide receivers: Brian Jenkins was hired from Louisiana-Lafayette to coach the position formerly handled by Ciarrocca.
Special teams: Robb Smith was hired from Maine to oversee special teams and outside linebackers. Chris Rippon left to pursue other opportunities.
Notes: Rutgers had a lot of turnover, but Schiano promoted a lot within his program to maintain stability.
South Florida
Defensive coordinator: Wally Burnham took the defensive coordinator job at Iowa State. Tresey was hired.
Offensive coordinator: Greg Gregory was demoted, then left for South Alabama. Receivers coach Mike Canales was promoted.
Linebackers: David Blackwell was hired from Clemson to oversee the position group that Burnham tutored. He will be co-defensive coordinator.
Receivers: Phil McGeoghan was hired from the Naval Prep Academy.
Secondary: Troy Douglas left for North Carolina. Tresey will coach defensive backs.
Notes: Leavitt struck out with several candidates for defensive coordinator but ended up with two good hires for that job.
Syracuse
Head coach: Doug Marrone was hired to replace the fired Greg Robinson.
Defensive coordinator: Scott Shafer, who was fired by Michigan after last season, was hired.
Offensive coordinator: Former Clemson playcaller Rob Spence was hired.
Offensive line: Former Tennessee assistant Greg Adkins was hired.
Receivers: Jaime Elizondo was hired from the Canadian Football League.
Running backs: Former Tennessee assistant Stan Drayton was hired.
Secondary: John Anselmo was hired from Nassau Community College.
Special teams/tight ends: Bob Casullo was hired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He will also be assistant head coach.
Notes: Marrone kept two holdovers from Robinson's staff, linebackers coach Dan Conley and defensive line coach Derrick Jackson.
West Virginia
No changes.
Even if he weren't the two-time, reigning Big East coach of the year, Brian Kelly would still be a go-to guy for us reporter types. Kelly is never afraid to answer a question, and do it thoughtfully and in an interesting. Which is why he's the perfect subject for this week's installment of our spring Q&A series:
First of all, where do you keep your Big East coach of the year trophies?
Brian Kelly: Well, they're not prominently displayed for you today because you have no eligibility. But if you had eligibility, they would be prominently displayed. Certainly we use that from a recruiting standpoint. I think when you get in this recruiting process, it's important that kids see that you can be successful, and the leadership has to have that type of credibility. So we pull them out when the big recruits come in.
What has the reception from recruits been like since the Orange Bowl? I assume they know more about you now.
BK: Yeah, I think the recognition end of things now is not an issue. "Cincinnati ... didn't know you were in the Big East." We don't have to deal with that anymore. The first couple of months when I got here, we certainly did, but now it's an easier sell because you went to the Orange Bowl, you were on TV 11 out of 13 weeks on some kind of ESPN platform. So we have no problem with the recognition end of things now. And kids clearly want to be in a winning program. So it has obviously, in the last two years, made recruiting a whole lot easier.
Looking at this year's team, the obvious issue is the defense, where you lost 10 senior starters. How much does that concern you at this point?
BK: Well, it's an interesting question because early in the year last year, our defense didn't play quite as well as people had expected with the number of seniors we had. And I had to remind them, that of the 10 seniors we had on defense, only three had significant playing time. Lamonte Nelms hadn't started many games, Tory Cornett hadn't started many games, Brandon Underwood hadn't started any games -- and the list goes on. So it's less of a concern because we did it last year, and we think that we've got similar players that have been waiting for that opportunity to go out and perform. I think the biggest concern for us this is spring is, who are our leaders on defense? Last year we found Connor Barwin as a leader. I think we've got enough players to compete in the Big East for a championship. We've got to find out who those leaders are on defense.
Do you have starters in mind at a lot of places or is there really a lot of wide-open competition?
BK: In reality you're always going to point toward the guys that have some experience. I would say not one of the positions is so far along that they couldn't lose that position if they didn't come to practice and perform every day, to be quite honest with you. There's no Mike Mickens. There's no Corey Smith, who was a three-year starter. We don't have those guys on defense. Which is kind of good. Becuase the energy and excitement you have among the ranks, those guys are pretty excited to go to work every day. We don't have to worry about the kids being motivated.
When you changed defensive coordinators from Joe Tresey to Bob Diaco, you said you wanted to go to a 3-4 scheme. Is that still your thinking, and what was the motivation for that?
BK: We want to be in a position that we can, if we want to, line up in a three-down defense and play our base. But, for example, we play Dec. 5 at Pittsburgh. If we feel like we need to move the front and be in a four-down because of weather conditions and (Pitt) running the ball, we can certainly do that.
I think today's defense has got to be able to move in and out of the three-down defense. And really what we're doing is, we're saying, "I don't want to be a sub personnel three-down defense. I want to be able to evolve where that becomes a base, and from that base I can get into whatever I want. I can be in four-down, I can be in three-down." It's pretty similar to what the New England Patriots do. One week you might see them in the 3-4, the next week they're four down. And Bob's background is with that Patriot background with Al Groh. Al was with Belichik and Parcells. So that's what I was looking for, was the ability to be in a three-down or four-down, depending on what the circumstances are in the game.
Kelly hoping to strike it rich with another switch
Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett
As I reported earlier Monday for this site, Demetrius Jones is switching from quarterback to outside linebacker this spring at Cincinnati.
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| AP Photo/Ed Reinke | |
| The Bearcats will use Demetrius Jones on defense since they already have an established starting quarterback. |
It's an interesting move for the former quarterback, who started Notre Dame's 2007 opener under center. He's a good athlete who played well on special teams last season, but Jones might not have a strong enough arm to run Cincinnati's offense effectively and Tony Pike is the clear starter.
The question now will be, can he hit and be effective in pass coverage? If nothing else, Kelly has a track record with these things, having moved Connor Barwin to defensive end last season after Barwin played three years at tight end. Barwin led the Big East in sacks and earned first-team all-league honors, as well as the attention of NFL scouts. I've seen some projections that even have Barwin going at the end of the first round.
"I don't know how many of those I'm going to get," Kelly said with a laugh when asked if Jones could duplicate Barwin's success.
I had a chance to sit down with Kelly Monday for our weekly Wednesday Q&A session, and it was a very interesting conversation as always with one of the Big East's most quotable figures. You can read the whole thing on Wednesday, but here are a couple of teasers:
• Kelly said he's very close to hiring a defensive line coach to replace Keith Gilmore, who left for Illinois in the offseason. The hire could come as soon as the next couple of days. He said it's been a challenge finding someone who's comfortable working in a 3-4 scheme.
• Speaking of which, I was anxious to ask Kelly about his move to that format this year. He dumped former defensive coordinator Joe Tresey and hired Bob Diaco from Virginia, saying he wanted to revamp the defense. But when I interviewed Diaco, the new Bearcats defensive boss said he wouldn't commit just yet to running solely a 3-4 scheme.
So here's what Kelly had to say about the defense:
"We want to be in a position that we can, if we want to, line up in a three-down defense and play our base. But, for example, we play Dec. 5 at Pittsburgh. If we feel like we need to move the front and be in a four-down because of weather conditions and (Pitt) running the ball, we can certainly do that.
"I think today's defense has got to be able to move in and out of the three-down defense. ... It's pretty similar to what the New England Patriots do. One week you might see them in the 3-4, the next week they're four down."
Don't want to steal any more of my thunder from Wednesday, but make sure to check it out.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Andrea Adelson
Adelson joined ESPN.com in 2010 after spending time as a college football columnist at The Orlando Sentinel. She has covered college football since her days as a University of Florida student, and lives in Orlando, Fla.
