Newbie coaches offer take on Big 12 / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, July 22, 2008

July 22, 2008

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini meets the press at Big 12 Media Days. Pelini, one of the league's three new head coaches, held court Monday at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown.

Photo by Nick Krug

Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman meets the press at Big 12 Media Days. Sherman, one of the league's three new head coaches, held court Monday at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown.

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Big 12 Media Day - Confucius speaks

The guys (Tom Keegan, Matt Tait, Eric Sorrentino, and introducing Dugan Arnett) talk about the first day of Big 12 Media Day in Kansas City, Mo. Can Texas Tech actually win the Big 12 South next year? Is Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel cocky, confident or a little bit of both? Nebraska, Texas Tech, Missouri and Texas A&M rounded out the first day of media day teams.

Kansas City, Mo. — Two of the Big 12 Conference's three new head football coaches took their turn at the podium Monday, selling themselves and their programs to the masses at Media Days.

One man replaces an NFL coach who failed miserably in college. The other returns to the college game after a long stay in the NFL.

Nebraska's Bo Pelini, 40, had more of an edge to him, a youthful aggression well suited to whipping impatient Nebraska Cornhuskers fans into enough of a frenzy that 80,000 turned out for the spring game.

Former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman, 53, of Texas A&M, who returns to the college game for the first time since the spring of 1997, has a more avuncular image and flashes a relaxed sense of humor.

Pelini worked for Sherman (2000-2002) as his linebackers coach with the Packers.

The coaches have different styles, but had similar reactions when they compared the Big 12 today to when they last worked in the conference.

The pass-happy state of Big 12 football caught both men's attention.

"I think it's not just the Big 12, but it's college football in general," Pelini said. "You see all the spread offenses that are happening. And it's really gone to a lot of the quarterback-run things, a lot of the (conference), it's changed. It's gone from option football to zone read and spreading the field and fastbreak-type offenses."

Pelini last worked for Nebraska in 2003, when he was the defensive coordinator.

"I was really taken aback when I first got back to Nebraska, seeing the numbers, the offensive numbers that were happening in the Big 12," Pelini said. "... I believe we had about six of the top 10 (offenses) in the country came out of the Big 12. For a defensive guy, that kind of woke me up a little bit. But I think at the same time ... you've got to be able to play good defense to win football games. But there's been some big numbers over the last few years."

Sherman, assistant coach with the Houston Texans the past two seasons and head coach of the Packers the six seasons before that, last coached in college in the spring of 1997, when he finished up 2 1/2 years as an offensive assistant at Texas A&M.

"The game has changed dramatically in my mind in regard to throwing the football," Sherman said. "The passing game has taken a life of its own. It seems to me in the old days people were putting their best players at cornerback and defensive end. Now they're moving them over to offensive players sometimes, at receiver and at tight end and inside receiver. And this happens in high school, also. It's hard to find tall corners in high school because they're taking those big kids and putting them on offense. A lot of the corners coming out of high school are 5-9, 5-10 guys, as opposed to 6-footers. Then they have to match up to these tall receivers we see in this conference."

Sherman does not have to coach against his former assistant, Pelini, this season. Both coaches face the other new Big 12 coach, Baylor's Art Briles, who was hired away from Houston.