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Shawn Watson Texas OC?


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If it happens, prepare for a meltdown......

 

As a defensive head coach, the offensive coordinator picked by new Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong will be the most important hire of the coaching staff Strong is working on assembling in Austin and it looks like it could be an uninspiring choice, as there is plenty of buzz that former Louisville Cardinals offensive coordinator Shawn Watson will be following Strong to Austin........

 

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Watson's major coaching influences are Gary Barnett (he was on Barnett's staffs at Northwestern and Colorado) and Bill Callahan, the latter a West Coast offense adherent. And while Watson did manage to survive the coaching changes at Nebraska from Callahn to Bo Pelini (one of only two coaches to do so), he was eventually fired as Cornhusker offensive coordinator following the 2010 season despite fielding an offense that included Taylor Martinez, Niles Paul, Roy Helu, Jr., and Rex Burkhead.

 

Nebraska had ranked No. 33 in S&P+ in Watson's final season, regressing somewhat to No. 37 the next year following the departures of Paul and Helu, Jr. before improving to No. 8 nationally under Tim Beck in 2012 thanks to big seasons from Martinez and running back Ameer Abdullah.

 

http://www.burntoran...ville-cardinals

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I know that Watson had some issues while OC at Nebraska but was he bad at Louisville, too?

 

I guess what I see is when he has a QB to work with, they can put points on the board.

At the risk of being blacklisted, I actually don't think he's that terrible, either. He had some very good offenses while he was here and they've done well at Louisville, too. I think it was more just not fitting together with Pelini for whatever reason - personalities or he just wasn't comfortable with the route Pelini wanted to go or whatever. And we had an injured qb with a great defense so the offense basically became "just don't turn it over", took no risks and counted on the defense to win the game. That made a nice excuse to git rid of him.

 

Not saying that was a bad thing but he has definitely put together some good offenses when he has the tools to work with.

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I think Texas wants one of the top five, big names in the business right now as an OC. I don't think that's Watson, particularly since his roots are old school and not super flashy or innovative. Watson seems like a guy primed for a HC gig at a smaller program (like Louisville, I suppose!) or to OC somewhere with less spotlight than being Charlie Strong's OC hire. Do think he's a good QBs coach though. Might just jump to the NFL for that and try to work his way up there.

 

Bo had a lot of control over the offense while Watson was here, and not to mention Lee was playing hurt for almost all of 2009 and Taylor for the back (bad) half of 2010.

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I think he had a decent system. But, for all the complaining about Beck and his situational play calling, Watson took that to a whole other level when he was here.

 

Case in point......I claim that he was a major reason why we lost the CCG against OU when Martinez was running on one leg and we had Burkhead in the back field. Last drive, (rightfully so) he had Burkhead in the wild cat eating up yards almost every play. He was at the edge of being in field goal position with Alex Henery as our kicker. What does he do? He puts Martinez back in, puts him in the shot gut with (I think) an empty back field and calls pass plays. TM ended up getting sacked 2-3 times which took us out of field goal range and we had no opportunity to win the game with the most reliable field goal kicker in the league.

 

THAT was a perfect example of a Watson moment and it sealed the deal in my mind that Bo needed to help him find a new job.

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Watson had a tough deal here as he was left over from Billy C day. Bo and Watson were on two separate pages of the script and Watson was probably handcuffed a bit due to the style he wanted to run. Texas can afford anyone they want or those who will give them a listen but Strong probably needs some internal support (system/comfort) at his coordinator positions. We all know there are risks to hiring anyone new and with Charlie just starting out at U of T, in order to get that teams vision to match his teachings and beliefs, he is going to be better off with someone who knows him and his system well. Texas is Texas no matter who they put at the Coordinators positions as they will have all the athletic ability that one could hope for so the important thing for their fans down there to know is let Strong pick who he wants that will allow Strong to affect the change needed to get their swagger back.

 

Would we want Watson back? :facepalm: No; but more of that is due to the poor chemistry that was obvious between Bo and Watson.

 

It don't matter to me what they do down there as they are not a team or a fan base that I give two sh*ts about but just like us, CFB is better when Nebraska and Texas are contenders! :dunno

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http://nebraska.stat...6/4d5bfabf9038d

 

EDIT TO PREVIOUS POST ABOVE - My understanding, when Watson left, was that he left on his own. The above article states Pelini did not comment whether Watson was fired or quit.

 

dude... he was fired. really?

 

Yeah... he LANDED the louisville QB coach job after being the OC at Nebraska. Do we have to spell it out for you? Sorry, but I had no idea people thought this.

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