Nearly 20 years later, Banker wore a red sweater and held an empty cardboard cup of coffee — two, actually, since he’d put one cup in another — and weaved, with minimal prompting or silence, the story of two decades with Riley. The native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, southeast of Boston, calls his relationship with Riley “yin and yang.” They’re clearly different — but Banker said the relationship works.
“Offense and defense are named such for specific reasons — they’re a little bit opposite,” Banker said. “It’s just worked. I really enjoy his consistency the way he runs his life ... what you see is what you get.”
So when a different job offer comes up — Banker said he’s had five since hitching his wagon to Riley — he’d try to see if he came away with the same feeling for the role that he had working with Riley. He never found it. And Riley never wanted Banker to find it.
“Coach Banker and I have coached 14 years of every game together at Oregon State,” Riley said, adding that Banker is an “extremely diligent, hard worker” and “motivated by the preparation of the team.”
Now, Banker has upgraded jobs — and salary — by following Riley to Nebraska. It didn’t take him long to say yes. And he’s eager to see how his defense works in a Big Ten that has more consistency among offenses and occasionally uses tight ends and two backs, as opposed to the Pac-12, which has morphed into a pass-happy, spread-filled universe.
“It brings me back to where football was seven to eight years ago,” Banker said. “Even Ohio State’s spread and zone read offense is different than what we’re seeing on the West Coast. Ohio State actually has a tight end. For the way we approach it, it makes some difference.”
The Big Ten may be more palatable to his scheme, an aggressive style of 4-3 defense with man-to-man coverage and occasional “quarters” coverage. It’s similar to what’s used by Michigan State. Banker gave the Spartans a few pointers in their preparation for Oregon earlier this year.
“Obviously we didn’t help them worth a damn,” Banker said, “because they got their a$$ kicked.”