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From www.si.com written by Mark Beech
The 'system' isn't the problem
Ex-NFLers Wannstedt, Callahan are failing in college
Posted: Wednesday September 21, 2005 11:26AM; Updated: Wednesday September 21, 2005 11:26AM
A few weeks ago, my colleague Austin Murphywrote in SI that the Sept. 5 tilt between Miami and Florida State (won by the Seminoles in a 10-7 barnburner) was a game that set offensive football back several decades. If that's true, then the boundaries of time travel were severely tested Saturday by Nebraska's shockingly awful 7-6 victory over Pitt. It was a game of startling ineptitude, featuring more penalties (15) than points scored (13), as well as a bizarre game-winning field goal attempt in which the Panthers' kicker caught an errant snap off of his holder's helmet and threw an incomplete pass.
How to explain such shenanigans? There's always plenty of blame to go around, but there's no way to avoid laying most of it at the feet of the respective coaches, Pitt's Dave Wannstedt and Nebraska's Bill Callahan. Both have extensive NFL head-coaching pedigrees. Both were expected to do great things in their current jobs. And now it's clear that both are failing.
We keep hearing that the problem is the kids aren't getting the system. Pitt, which scrapped the wide-open attack of former coach Walt Harris, is 0-3 after starting the year ranked in the top 25. Panthers quarterback Tyler Palko, a star last fall, is currently the 95th-rated passer in the country and has thrown one touchdown against four interceptions. Nebraska is in its second year of learning the West Coast offense, with no visible progress. Callahan's team was 5-6 in 2004, and though the Huskers are 3-0 at the moment, folks in Lincoln can't be happy with a passing offense ranked 108th.
Tell me, why haven't I heard the "not getting the system" excuse at Notre Dame? New coach Charlie Weis made a name for himself in the NFL as an offensive genius, after all. Why haven't I heard it from Florida, where coach Urban Meyer has taught his complex spread option offense to a bunch of kids who weren't even recruited to play it? If you believe Meyer, he isn't even all that happy with the way his team is running the thing -- yet the Gators still beat an excellent Tennessee team Saturday night.
We haven't heard "not getting the system" from either of those schools, for the simple reason that Weis and Meyer haven't just installed a system. They have taught it. The trouble I see for Pitt and Nebraska is I don't think either program is in the hands of men capable of much more than stewardship. There's little in the head-coaching pedigrees of Wannstedt and Callahan, who both have won championships at the collegiate and professional levels as assistants, to suggest they are the kind of head coaches who make teams better.
Let's start with Wannstedt. In six seasons with the Chicago Bears, who, to be fair, weren't that good before he showed up, Wannstedt went 41-57. During that time, he participated in some truly awful draft-day decisions (anyone remember Curtis Enis?) and presided over some truly awful teams. He did better in Miami a few years later, going 43-33, but most of those wins came with Jimmy Johnson's players. By the time Wannstedt left, nine games into the 2004 season, things were falling apart.
Wannstedt made his name as a defensive coordinator. His offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh is Matt Cavanaugh, who served in a similar capacity last year for the Baltimore Ravens -- the same Ravens whose passing offense ranked 29th in the NFL in 2004. Gone are the four-receiver packages and pro-style pass patterns that Harris had the Panthers running in 2004 -- when Palko threw 24 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Pitt fans aren't quite sure what has taken their place, except that nothing seems to be working right now.
Like Wannstedt, Callahan established himself as an assistant. A student of the West Coast offense, he took over the Raiders after Jon Gruden left for Tampa Bay in 2002. With a team of established veterans -- including Tim Brown, Rich Gannon and Jerry Rice -- Callahan led Oakland to the Super Bowl XXXVII, which it lost 48-21 to the Buccaneers. The next season, after a few injuries and a little adversity hit, the team collapsed like a wet taco. Callahan was fired less than a year after reaching the pinnacle of his profession.
Undaunted, the powers-that-be in Lincoln brought him in to replace Frank Solich, who had had the temerity to go 9-3 in 2003. Solich lost his job because the school didn't think his option game -- the same one he had been coaching under Tom Osborne for decades -- was capable of winning national championships. Callahan promised to start winning, and soon, with a West Coast attack.
After the Huskers finished 5-6 and ranked 81st in the country in passing offense last fall, fans were told that it was exceedingly hard to turn a running team into a passing team. Things were supposed to be different this fall, with strong-armed quarterback Zac Taylor. Things are different, all right, but not in the way fans in the Corn Belt were hoping. Nebraska ranks 106th in total offense, 104th in passing. And that 3-0 record has come at the expense of Maine, Wake Forest and pitiful Pitt.
Of the two men, I suppose Wannstedt has a better chance of turning things around this year. He has great talent at quarterback and receiver, whether he's comfortable with it or not. I'll be curious to see how things go in a few years, when he plugs his own recruits into his own system. I could always be wrong, but I expect that Pitt will muddle through those seasons, like Wannstedt's teams always do.
As for Callahan, I don't know if he has much more time. Against Pitt, the Cornhuskers were called for six procedure penalties, two for setting up with only six men on the line of scrimmage. Nebraska looks lost out there, which is not a vibe I get when I watch Notre Dame or Florida. I know these Huskers were recruited to run the ball, and Callahan might have more success if he tried to do more of that, but something tells me his problems go deeper.
The 'system' isn't the problem
Ex-NFLers Wannstedt, Callahan are failing in college
Posted: Wednesday September 21, 2005 11:26AM; Updated: Wednesday September 21, 2005 11:26AM
A few weeks ago, my colleague Austin Murphywrote in SI that the Sept. 5 tilt between Miami and Florida State (won by the Seminoles in a 10-7 barnburner) was a game that set offensive football back several decades. If that's true, then the boundaries of time travel were severely tested Saturday by Nebraska's shockingly awful 7-6 victory over Pitt. It was a game of startling ineptitude, featuring more penalties (15) than points scored (13), as well as a bizarre game-winning field goal attempt in which the Panthers' kicker caught an errant snap off of his holder's helmet and threw an incomplete pass.
How to explain such shenanigans? There's always plenty of blame to go around, but there's no way to avoid laying most of it at the feet of the respective coaches, Pitt's Dave Wannstedt and Nebraska's Bill Callahan. Both have extensive NFL head-coaching pedigrees. Both were expected to do great things in their current jobs. And now it's clear that both are failing.
We keep hearing that the problem is the kids aren't getting the system. Pitt, which scrapped the wide-open attack of former coach Walt Harris, is 0-3 after starting the year ranked in the top 25. Panthers quarterback Tyler Palko, a star last fall, is currently the 95th-rated passer in the country and has thrown one touchdown against four interceptions. Nebraska is in its second year of learning the West Coast offense, with no visible progress. Callahan's team was 5-6 in 2004, and though the Huskers are 3-0 at the moment, folks in Lincoln can't be happy with a passing offense ranked 108th.
Tell me, why haven't I heard the "not getting the system" excuse at Notre Dame? New coach Charlie Weis made a name for himself in the NFL as an offensive genius, after all. Why haven't I heard it from Florida, where coach Urban Meyer has taught his complex spread option offense to a bunch of kids who weren't even recruited to play it? If you believe Meyer, he isn't even all that happy with the way his team is running the thing -- yet the Gators still beat an excellent Tennessee team Saturday night.
We haven't heard "not getting the system" from either of those schools, for the simple reason that Weis and Meyer haven't just installed a system. They have taught it. The trouble I see for Pitt and Nebraska is I don't think either program is in the hands of men capable of much more than stewardship. There's little in the head-coaching pedigrees of Wannstedt and Callahan, who both have won championships at the collegiate and professional levels as assistants, to suggest they are the kind of head coaches who make teams better.
Let's start with Wannstedt. In six seasons with the Chicago Bears, who, to be fair, weren't that good before he showed up, Wannstedt went 41-57. During that time, he participated in some truly awful draft-day decisions (anyone remember Curtis Enis?) and presided over some truly awful teams. He did better in Miami a few years later, going 43-33, but most of those wins came with Jimmy Johnson's players. By the time Wannstedt left, nine games into the 2004 season, things were falling apart.
Wannstedt made his name as a defensive coordinator. His offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh is Matt Cavanaugh, who served in a similar capacity last year for the Baltimore Ravens -- the same Ravens whose passing offense ranked 29th in the NFL in 2004. Gone are the four-receiver packages and pro-style pass patterns that Harris had the Panthers running in 2004 -- when Palko threw 24 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Pitt fans aren't quite sure what has taken their place, except that nothing seems to be working right now.
Like Wannstedt, Callahan established himself as an assistant. A student of the West Coast offense, he took over the Raiders after Jon Gruden left for Tampa Bay in 2002. With a team of established veterans -- including Tim Brown, Rich Gannon and Jerry Rice -- Callahan led Oakland to the Super Bowl XXXVII, which it lost 48-21 to the Buccaneers. The next season, after a few injuries and a little adversity hit, the team collapsed like a wet taco. Callahan was fired less than a year after reaching the pinnacle of his profession.
Undaunted, the powers-that-be in Lincoln brought him in to replace Frank Solich, who had had the temerity to go 9-3 in 2003. Solich lost his job because the school didn't think his option game -- the same one he had been coaching under Tom Osborne for decades -- was capable of winning national championships. Callahan promised to start winning, and soon, with a West Coast attack.
After the Huskers finished 5-6 and ranked 81st in the country in passing offense last fall, fans were told that it was exceedingly hard to turn a running team into a passing team. Things were supposed to be different this fall, with strong-armed quarterback Zac Taylor. Things are different, all right, but not in the way fans in the Corn Belt were hoping. Nebraska ranks 106th in total offense, 104th in passing. And that 3-0 record has come at the expense of Maine, Wake Forest and pitiful Pitt.
Of the two men, I suppose Wannstedt has a better chance of turning things around this year. He has great talent at quarterback and receiver, whether he's comfortable with it or not. I'll be curious to see how things go in a few years, when he plugs his own recruits into his own system. I could always be wrong, but I expect that Pitt will muddle through those seasons, like Wannstedt's teams always do.
As for Callahan, I don't know if he has much more time. Against Pitt, the Cornhuskers were called for six procedure penalties, two for setting up with only six men on the line of scrimmage. Nebraska looks lost out there, which is not a vibe I get when I watch Notre Dame or Florida. I know these Huskers were recruited to run the ball, and Callahan might have more success if he tried to do more of that, but something tells me his problems go deeper.
