Gene Chizik looks to capture some of that ol’ Tebow magic… by hiring Steve Addazio’s offensive coordinator.
Auburn has announced that it has hired awayTemple offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler. Loeffler spent five seasons as the Michigan quarterback coach and also has stints with the Detroit Lions and Central Michigan, but is best known for having served as Florida’s quarterbacks coach for two seasons–including their 2009 undefeated regular season with Tim Tebow.
Yeah, you may remember 2009 as The Year of Changing Tebow. Loeffler really worked wonders.
Jerry Hinnen tries to get inside Chizik’s head a little bit to figure the move out…
… Between Loeffler’s track record of quarterback coaching, his effective 2011 run-scheming, and an age and energy level that should play well on the recruiting trail, it’s easy to see why Chizik would be interested. (That Loeffler may be able to install some of Urban Meyer’s spread concepts along with his bread-and-butter pro-style running attack could help ease the transition from Malzahn’s spread philosophy.)
… but in the end can’t call it any more than a huge gamble.
As for Loeffler’s track record of quarterback coaching, all I can leave you with is my last word on the matter from June of 2009: “We’ll see how it plays out in 2010 when the post-GPOOE™ rubber meets the road.”
Get The Picture 
Wow. The TEMPLE Offensive Coordinator. Great job, Barners.
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Don’t sleep on the aU. They tend to be great in years following a Bama NC and they’ve bought and paid for some pretty impressive recruiting classes lately.
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So I guess the plan is to hire as many SEC hasbeens as possible? I’m not saying it’s a terrible plan but it does reek of metoo.
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My greatest concern is how a Meechigan man, those who have always held themselves above the fray when it comes to “integrity” (similar to tosu and Penn State), will react to the shenanigans that define The aU program. Will he self-report? Resign in disgust? Or perhaps, wallow in the certainty that this is the unstoppable force and just tote the bag whenever Trooper’s arm is worn out. I suspect, since he has accepted, it will be the latter.
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Loeffler’s track record at developing quarterbacks is outstanding if you limit the analysis to pro-style attacks. Loeffler didn’t just do a good job with Chad Henne. He was a graduate assistant working with quarterbacks when Michigan produced Brian Griese and that guy who started for the Patriots last year. (Brady gives Loeffler a lot of credit for his development.) His best work was with John Navarre, who was a lightly-recruited HS defensive end that Michigan stole away from Northwestern. By the end of his career, Navarre was a very good college QB. Loeffler’s system is complicated – he teaches QBs to integrate their reads with their footwork – so there is a learning curve involved. The snark about his work with Tebow is misplaced because Tebow was a rising senior when Loeffler arrived and there was a fundamental disconnect between Loeffler’s style and the run-based spread. It was a bad decision by Urban.
That hits on the issue that Auburn is going to face, which is that Loeffler represents a radical shift from what Gus Malzahn taught. If I were Kiehl Frazier, I would be giving serious consideration to transferring. Additionally, the blocking schemes are different, so the offensive line will be pissing away the year of experience that they gained. I have doubts that Auburn fans are prepared for the transition pains that are over the horizon for them.
Last point: a couple years ago, Georgia looked to have an advantage in the SEC by running a pro-style offense in a league that was heading to the spread. Now, with creeping Sabanization, that advantage is gone. Mississippi State is the only spread team left in the conference.
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That was actually my first thought upon reading the news. It’s also why I think the Tebow observation has relevance.
Good point about the pro-style trend, btw.
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One more thing about Loeffler and Tebow, now that I think about it.
Let’s not forget the context of his hire at UF. Urban made a big to do over Loeffler working on Tebow’s mechanics to make him a more suitable pro prospect. Loeffler didn’t contradict that story in the slightest. Which means either (1) he was as cynical about his hire as I thought Urban was or (2) he failed to do the job he was brought in to do.
Let’s also not forget what a mess John Brantley was in 2010.
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John Brantley was a mess in 2010 because Meyer insisted that he run a offense suited for Tebow and Alex Smith. We all anticipated that the 2010 offense would look like the one run by Chris Leak in late 2005 and all of 2006, whcih would have suited Brantely a lot more. I am not sure any QB coach in the universe could improve Brantley’s skills to run the offense. Square peg and round hole comes to mind.
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Are you suggesting that Leak’s skill set was a better fit in Meyer’s offense than Brantley’s?
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You misunderstand the point. Neither player was well suited for Meyer’s offense. Meyer chose to change his offense in middle 2005 and 2006 to better suit Leak’s skills. In fact, if memory serves, he changed the 2005 offense right before the UGA game, and I think that worked out pretty well.
For whatever reason, he was a lot more stubborn in 2010. That was a Tebow offense for the whole year.
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One last item, although it’s in the “take if for what it’s worth” category:
That could mean anything, but it sounds like Auburn won’t be running a pure pro-style offense under Loeffler.
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Sounds to me like they’ll say “it’ll be like it was” to recruits they already have committed, and “it’ll be more pro style” to the guys they don’t have yet.
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Watch the Pats, Packers, or Saints and then tell me that three- and four-wide sets are not pro-style.
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They certainly can be, but I don’t think that’s the context of Chizik’s explanation. Do you?
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See, this proves Booboo sucks!
Why would this clown get the job and they didn’t even interview Booboo!
The play calling in OT of the bowl game was the worst. My granny coulda done better!
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Dear Dawg Venter, would you drop your Granny’s address by Mehre-Butts, thanks, CMR
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Rather than ridicule cheatzik, I give him points for hiring somebody who has some qualifications and has been on winning staffs for years.
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