Q&A with ESPN done this past July.... Some good info...
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Q&A with Tulsa's OC Gus Malzahn
July 14, 2008 2:00 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
Gus Malzahn is the offensive coordinator for Tulsa and the genius behind the nation's best offense. It's a college-sized version of the spread Malzahn ran at Springdale High School in Arkansas and the basis of his book, "The Hurry-Up, No-Huddle: An Offensive Philosophy." The popular book brought Malzahn and Tulsa head coach Todd Graham together where they shared the vision of a fantastically offensive team.
This is part one of two parts.
What makes your spread offense potent as compared to say, a Texas Tech or Missouri or a team like that?
Gus Malzahn: We're a run, play-action team. A lot of spread teams are pass first, run second. But we're a run, play-action team. As a matter of fact, I think we ran the ball one more time than we threw it last year, which a lot of people don't know. We like to be 50-50 and be able to do both well.
I think I read a story where coach Graham said, "OK already, build a statue of (quarterback) Paul (Smith) and let's move on." Are there still a lot of people still hung up on him?
GM: Paul did such a great job for us last year and he was a big reason that we were able to do some things we were able to do. We also feel like we've got three candidates to replace him that are very talented. And of course we've got everybody back but the quarterback.
Give me a rundown of those quarterbacks.
GM: Dave Johnson, of course he's been the backup to Paul for, I think, the last three years. He knows the offense as good as the coaches. Just a real hard working, team guy. He's very coachable. He's going to do what you ask. Clark Harrell can make plays with his feet, has a very good understanding of the offense, also. Being here for one year, doing a lot of our signals during the game, and he had a decent spring. And Jacob Bower, he's a junior college transfer that is technically the most gifted of the three. He's got a very strong arm, he can really run, and of course he's big and strong, but he doesn't have as good a grasp on the offense as the other two. At least that was in the spring. I think it's gotten better. But all three of those guys we feel like we can win with.
A lot of people say mobility and accuracy are important in making the spread offense go. Would you agree with that?
GM: We're a little bit different than your average spread team. We really think that when things break down, we need a guy that can make positive things happen. You definitely need to be accurate, but you also have to make plays when things break down. That's what we're looking for, to see who does that the best.
Did you think that you'd be able to unveil a spread offense in Tulsa and have it have so much success?
GM: Well, we had extremely high goals. So that's a hard question to answer. We had so many young guys that we knew were talented, we just didn't know how quick they would grasp the offense and what we're asking them to do. But they grasped it great. We had a lot of young guys that were our main guys. For us to accomplish the things that we did, we're very happy all the young guys stepped up and did what they did.
Do you feel like you'll be able to maintain what you did last year or even expand on it?
GM: That's the plan. We want to try to get better, better in all areas. Of course, running the football is a big emphasis. Our offensive line coach has done a great job with those guys up front. Since we got all of them back, we expect to be better.
I was looking at some of the stats from some of the games and not a whole lot of teams kept you guys quiet. Seemed like Central Florida did a pretty nice job in terms of just keeping you guys off the scoreboard. What was it that they did differently than maybe some of the other teams?
GM: They got pressure on us. They had some men up front that did a good job of putting pressure on us without having to blitz. We've got everybody back, so I think we'll be a year physically stronger and do a better job against them. They had some very good cover guys in the back end, too. They're a complete defense.
Was there any pressure on your guys when you would put up 400-plus yards or in the high 300s and the other team would still be within a touchdown. The Rice game, the BYU game, those games went right down to the wire.
GM: We're going to try to do everything in our power to help our team win and that's the name of the game and we've just got to keep improving. That's our goal right now.
Part II: Q&A with Tulsa OC Gus Malzahn
July 14, 2008 4:30 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
"Professor" Gus Malzahn is looking forward to developing the offense at Tulsa.
Welcome to Part II of my conversation with Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. Malzahn, who is from Arkansas and spent all of his coaching career prior to coming to Tulsa in Arkansas, will return to play his home state schools for the first time.
Did you feel last year was the coming out party for the offense you weren't able to unveil at Arkansas?
Gus Malzahn: What we did last year, that's what I've been doing in high school and all that. It was a lot of fun for me personally. It was what I was used to doing, put it that way.
I touched on Arkansas a little bit, talk about the return trip to Arkansas this year. Have you thought about that at all?
GM: You know, I really haven't thought that much about it. I've been asked a lot. But that's in the middle of the season. I'm sure I'll think about it a lot more then. A lot of their players I recruited and I'm close to, so it will be a pretty unique experience I'm sure.
Was there a point where you were contacted about being the new Arkansas coach?
GM: Yeah, we went through the interview process and all that, but it just didn't work out. Everything's been timing. And I'll tell you what, we've got so much positive going here. We recruited a lot of athletes who could have went a lot of other places and they chose to come here. (Tulsa) coach (Todd) Graham has set this place up to do some special thing, we feel like, so I'm tickled to death to be here.
Looking at the way the schedule sets up, with the exception of maybe of that Arkansas game and UCF, you guys look like you're poised to make a pretty good run. Have you guys talked about that at all or is that something you even let your guys think about?
GM: Coach Graham has high expectations from this program and because of his dream and vision that's a lot of the reason I'm here. I believe the same way and we want to win championships. Hopefully, we'll be a better team than we were last year and try to figure out a way to try and win those four that we lost.
Where did you and coach Graham actually meet and how did you guys form your relationship?
GM: When I was at Shiloh Christian High School (Springdale, Ark.) and he was at Allen High School (Allen, Texas) in Texas. I had a little No Huddle video out and he called me to ask me questions about that. We developed a relationship over a period of time after he went to West Virginia and he came up here to Tulsa. So I thought I would bring my Springdale High School (Springdale, Ark.) team over to team camp and we developed the relationship further. He was always talking about, 'Hey, we need to coach together.' So we're two former high school coaches. We have the same philosophy. We think exactly alike. We're a lot alike and I love working for him.
What influenced your decision to come up to Tulsa last year?
GM: A lot of it had to do with him (coach Graham) and the vision he had for this place. I knew the fact that he felt like I did offensively and we felt like we could do some special things here.
Has anyone ever confused you for a professor because of your glasses? You look really intelligent and mildly intimidating.
GM: A professor? Wow. It's the glasses. I'm thinking about getting Lasik done. My wife told me I could lose the glasses and it wouldn't hurt her feelings.
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