Time For a Change

So the home slate of games is now over and all that Rutgers has left is a visit to Morgantown in what has been a surprising dissappointing season. Now its time to look at a head and think of ways to improve this struggling offense. For the most part the defense has not been a problem, except for the last two game. The defense has kept the team in most of the games this year. But one thing is clear changes need to made on the offense and those changes might also include a total change in the offensive philopshy of the offense.

For starters the co-offensive coordinator tandem of Kirk Ciarrocca and Kyle Flood need to be let go and overall the only person that I would keep would be recievers coach PJ Fleck. Fleck is a young coach and has done a good job with Harrison, Sanu and Deering. Instead of being a team that prides itself on running the football and playing defense, its time for head coach Greg Schiano to turn over a new leaf and make drastic changes to the offense.

With the skill position that this team has Schiano should look to move away from the running game and to a more uptempo passing game, maybe someone from that Mike Leech coaching. While coaches like Texas Tech offensive Coordinator Neil Harris are not going to look at the job, Schiano should look at someone similar to that, a young energetic coach with personality.

One guy who caught my eye was Bowling Green offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Warren Ruggerio.In 2009, Falcon offense he led a unit that ranked first in the MAC and sixth nationally in passing yards per game (316.2). Standout quarterback Tyler Sheehan finished the year completing 373 of 575 passes for 4,051 yards and 27 touchdowns, all career-bests under the guidance of Ruggiero. In fact, his 4,051 passing yards were only the second time in BGSU's 90-year history that a Falcon quarterback had surpassed the 4,000 yard plateau. In addition to working at Bowling Green, Ruggerio also helped tutor Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman while he was at Kansas State. This year has not been the best for Bowling Green but that is not been because of Ruggerio but rather rather a lack of talent. While Ruggerio might not be the sexist pick for the job, he might be a good higher and be will to listen to a BCS school that needs an offensive coordinator.

Another possible candidate is Tulsa passing game coordinator and recievers coach Mike Norvell. During his time at Tulsa, Norvell has learned under offfensive master mind Todd Graham. In 2009 under Norvell's tutelage sophomore receiver Damaris Johnson's 1,131 yards marked the third consecutive season that the Hurricane had a receiver account for 1,000+ receiving yards. In 2008, Norvell tutored a receiving corps that was part of the nation's top offensive unit by averaging 569.9 yards and second in the nation in scoring at 47.2 points per game. Senior receiver Brennan Marion amassed a team-leading 1,112 yards while earning first-team all-Conference USA accolades. Norvell also coached Freshman All-American Damaris Johnson, who caught 53 passes for 743 yards and a team-best 10 touchdowns as a true freshman. While not having ties to the area, Norvell would bring that high paced Golden Hurricane offense to the state university of New Jersey.

I know some people are going to be like we can get someone higher profile but that is not true, we have to look at an assistant from a non-BCS school that wants to make jump to that type of school. Auburn did it when they hired Gus Malzahn from Tulsa and that seems to work out perfectly.