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We’ve already had an appetizer and a side this week, time for beers!
Ed note: Purdue fans definitely need multiple stiff drinks after the last few seasons
Drink: Phantom Assassin White IPA from People’s Brewing Company
American Style White India Pale Ale. Brewed with American 2 row malt, 6 row malt, 22% malted wheat, and flaked barley, resulting in a light straw color. Galena and Chinook hop additions late result in an aggressive hop character with a big nose. Sessionable IPA with grapefruit and tropical flavors, forward aromas, and light but balanced body.
Taking a peek at Purdue’s 2017 spring roster, I happened to find that Jeff Brohm has split coordinator duties on both sides of the ball between various members of his coaching staff:
- Brian Brohm - Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
- Nick Holt - Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
- Tony Levine - Specials Teams Coordinator/Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends
- Anthony Poindexter - Co-Defensive Coordinator/Secondary
- JaMarcus Shephard - Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers
At the very least, I remember the legendary 2012 Illinois football team split offensive coordinator duties between Billy Gonzales and Chris Beatty, to stellar results.
Question: Is it a good idea to split up coordinator duties between all these people or is it a clusterfuck in the making?
LPW: This is not going to be good. The three of them will probably end up getting in a delicious sideline fight. Just pick one neck to ring.
GF: It’s usually bad. Why? Because if you split duties, which the average football fan thinks is weird or out of the ordinary, and things go wrong on the offensive side, you’ve given fans something to latch onto and blame. Not only is it the fault of the head coach, but it’s the Co-OC’s fault. No one is blameless, fire ‘em all!
AY: I don’t really care unless one of the guys knows he is the boss and the other knows he is the subordinate. There needs to be some kind of hierarchy or decision-making is going to be inefficient while possibly splitting the locker room into factions. That’s not good. I think there are too many coaches in football to begin with, so having more than one guy act as offensive coordinator feels like overkill.
BRT: I'm not sure it matters much, as long as duties for each are clearly defined. If the coaches know definitely what they are responsible for, then theoretically you can slap whatever title you want to on any of them. Fans may think it's weird, but if it's managed well with clear expectations within the coaching staff, there shouldn't be issues in knowing who is responsible for what—or who isn't getting his job done.
Stew: As long as there’s a final say, whatever (probably the HC in this case). But having 3 Co-Offensive coordinators does seem a bit much. If it’s one guy calling plays on game day, with the other 2 helping shape/design the offense during the week, that’s ok. But if on game day there’s some convoluted system for calling plays that may be some Bad Idea Jeans(tm).
MNW: I want Purdue to give Levine 1st down playcalling duties, Shephard 2nd down, and B. Brohm 3rd down. However, one offensive co-coordinator can be overruled by the other two offensive co-coordinators, who submit a form (IN TRIPLICATE) to the head coach at least 20 seconds before the play’s execution. The head coach then has 10 seconds to rule the amendment germane to the bill, but the offensive co-coordinator can filibuster the amendment unless at least 3/5 of the offensive co-coordinators vote to end said filibuster, at which point the question is called and a vote is taken on the original bill as presented. Mike Pence casts the deciding vote in the event of a tie while Mitch Daniels glowers at him from a luxury suite.
Holt and Poindexter will lay out two defensive calls on bananas before that chimp from the Indy Zoo, and whichever one the chimp picks will be the defensive playcall. If he picks no banana and throws his feces instead, Purdue will run an all-out blitz.
There will be no special teams playcalling, as Levine will be stuck in a committee meeting and too busy to return to his home district to woo constituents. He will lose his bid for re-election by 15 points, and Joe Schopper will die executing a fake punt on 4th and 21 from his own 6 yard line.
Jesse: I can’t outdo what I just read. That’s... That’s just beautiful.
That said, so long as the coordinator situation is defined - which it honestly seems to be - it’s worth giving it a chance. In general, it seems like all of these assistant coaches need a coordinator title, in much the same way that every banker I’ve spoken to is a Vice President. Looking at this list, I’d venture to guess that in getting the guys that Jeff Brohm wanted on his staff, he felt compelled to reward them with titles. Passing Game Coordinator, Special Teams Coordinator, etc. There are worse ideas out there, obviously, but you have to hope that there are very specific responsibilities.
At the end of the day, this is probably not nearly as bad as the Beckman experiment where there was literally a 3rd down playcaller - all jokes aside, that’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard. The titles do seem to point out to specific roles, and while Co-coordinators gives the system potential failures, this could have been a lot worse.