Trying to build a winner? Don't forget the assistants

Sporting News, The, April 30, 2001 by Tom Dienhart

The 2000 season wasn't kind to coaches. Twenty-three of them lost their jobs-that's 20 percent of the I-A work force. It was the highest attrition rate since the 1996 season, after which 24 positions (21.6 percent) changed hands.

Arizona State was one of the schools to make a change after the 2000 season, moving Bruce Snyder out and former Boise State coach Dirk Koetter in. The move didn't make headlines across the nation, and Koetter's subsequent hiring of Tom Osborne as assistant head coach/special teams coordinator likely made even fewer ripples. But it was the most significant assistant coaching hire of this offseason

Before you jump to conclusions, Koetter didn't hire the Tom Osborne who won three national titles at Nebraska. This Tom Osborne, a former Oregon assistant, is a rising star who knows special teams like no one else.

"Some teams have different coaches in charge of various aspects of special teams," Osborne says. "That's fine, but I wouldn't do it. I think you need to have a guy who has his name on it. A guy who the players see is responsible for it, and a guy who can have constant interaction with the players. The offense has a coordinator, the defense has a coordinator. Why not do the same thing on special teams?"

Osborne, who also is the Sun Devils' tight ends coach, comes to Arizona State after a six-year nm at Oregon. How badly did Arizona State want Osborne? It is paying him $170,000 a year, an unprecedented salary in the school's assistant coaching annals and one of the three highest in the Pac-10.

Arizona State is getting good value for its money, as it's hard to argue with Osborne's success. Oregon ranked first or second in the Pac10 in kickoff coverage every season under Osborne. In five of the last six seasons, the Ducks rated in the nation's top 25--and in the league's top three--in kickoff returns. The punting units also ranked among the nation's top 25 in three of the last six seasons. The special teams were a major reason the Ducks, under Mike Belle(ti, have become the Pac-10's top program.

"But I've always felt (Arizona State) was a sleeping giant," says Osborne, who previously worked with Koetter on the Oregon staff.

Osborne's hiring certainly wasn't the only noteworthy assistant hire. Here's a rundown of some other key pickups:

Texas defensive backs coach Duane Akina. Formerly Arizona's defensive coordinator, Akina played a role in developing the Wildcats' "Desert Swarm" defenses of the early 1990s.

Cal offensive coordinator Alan Borges. This is a critical seas(m for Golden Bears coach Tom Holmoe, who needs the former UCLA assistant's West Coast attack to raise the pulse of an offense that ranked 93rd in the nation last year.

USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow. New Trojans coach Pete Carroll knows defense. Chow knows offense, as evidenced by his work at BYU for 22 years. And in Chow's one year at North Carolina State, he molded quarterback Philip Rivers into a true freshman phenom last season.

LSU defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs. He rehabbed the Georgia defense last season, and he may have more talent to work with this year. The combination of Gibbs' and Tigers coach Nick Saban's defensive knowledge is formidable.

Florida defensive line coach Ricky Hunley and inside linebackers coach Jerry Odom. This duo has raised the intensity level of a defense that didn't play with enough fire last season and returns nine starters. Hunley formerly was the associate head coach at Missouri, and Odom was promoted from a graduate assistant post on the Gators' staff.

Arizona defensive coordinator Larry Mac Duff. Mac Duff, who built the Wildcats' double-eagle flex defense of the early '90s, was wooed back to Arizona from the New York Giants after Akina left for Texas.

Penn State linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden. The former Maryland head coach brings a wealth of defensive knowledge to a program that needs a boost. And remember, he was the guy who directed the Northwestern defenses that helped produce Rose and Citrus bowl teams in 1995 and '96.

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