Kansas aide has Iowa roots
Quartaro knows Cyclones just like Allen knows Jayhawks
Terry Allen coached at Kansas last year.
Now he’s at Iowa State.
Kansas offensive coordinator Nick Quartaro watches the Jayhawks during Tuesday's practice. Quartaro, a former Iowa State assistant coach, will face his former team Saturday when KU travels to Ames, Iowa.
Nick Quartaro worked at Iowa State last year.
Now he’s at Kansas.
“It makes for a quirky, odd situation to say the least,” said Quartaro, KU’s offensive coordinator, who is in charge of developing an offensive game plan against his employer of the past four years on Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
“Terry knows the KU personnel and certainly I know the Iowa State personnel. Intimate knowledge of things people can and cannot do is probably the biggest single advantage in having myself here and coach Allen there,” Quartaro added.
It remains to be seen if Allen’s knowledge of his former KU players and Quartaro’s insight into ISU tendencies shows on the scoreboard Saturday. Allen is now associate head coach in Ames.
“It’s a push. Terry knows our kids. Nick knows their kids,” first-year KU head coach Mark Mangino said. “That will have little bearing on the game.”
ISU coach Dan McCarney agreed that it’s a wash.
“I don’t see any advantage whatsoever one team has over the other as far as knowing personnel,” he said. “Terry knows their kids inside and out. Nick knows our kids inside and out. Both of us will get the best scouting reports we’ll have all year as far as personnel.”
Quartaro knows all the tendencies of ISU’s most publicized player quarterback Seneca Wallace, who completed 22 of 33 passes for 313 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in last Saturday’s 38-31 season-opening loss to powerful Florida State at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Wallace also ran for 15 yards on 10 carries, including a TD, as ISU rallied from an early 24-0 deficit.
“He has all that ability and a little more,” said Quartaro, who was assistant head coach and in charge of the wide receivers in Ames. “He stumbled out of the blocks a little bit (against FSU). From there is what we expect of him and what they expect at Iowa State.”
This year, Quartaro is working with KU junior starter Zach Dyer. Quartaro likes what he’s seen, but realizes Dyer faces a rugged test in the opener.
“We’re ready for more pressure,” Quartaro said of possible Cyclone blitzes not shown against Florida State. “Last year, Iowa State’s defense was pressure oriented. The fact we’ve got an inexperienced offensive line and a quarterback who is not a pure 11-game starter … we’re preparing for all kinds of heat, so to speak. If it’s not there, that’s fine. You have to prepare for a worst-case scenario.”
Quartaro, who was a kicker at Iowa in the 1970s, expects a best-case scenario on Saturday at his old school.
“The state of Iowa is kind of my adopted home state in terms of spending my college days there and years in coaching,” said the 46-year-old Geneva, N.Y., native, who was head coach at Drake from 1986 to 1988. “I have a number of friends there. Iowa State’s program the past four years was a special place for me.
“I’ll have friends there, but they’ll be wearing other colors. They are still friends and I think they’ll probably want to see us do well, just not win the game and that’s the way things go.”