February 29, 2008...5:41 am
New offensive coordinator rounds up coaching staff
With the hiring of the new offensive coordinator Gordon Shaw, I believe the Coyote football team has rounded out its coaching staff. When looking at the mix of new coaches along with the ones that didn’t, but might in the future, get head coaching jobs, this is one talented coaching staff.
It seems head coach Ed Meierkort knew right away he would have to fill his open coaching positions with people that have D-I experience, either playing or coaching. This helps the Coyotes because those coaches will know what it takes to recruit the players who can succeed at the D-I level and have them work hard like they would need to at the D-I level.
As I mentioned before, the latest hire is a former assistant coach from the University of Minnesota Gordon Shaw. Shaw was an assistant under former head coach Glen Mason and wasn’t retained under former first year Golden Gophers coach Tim Brewster. Usually new coaches like to bring in their own staff, so Shaw sat the year out waiting for the right opportunity to come up. Fortunately for the Coyotes, they are the right job.
Yes, Shaw didn’t coach last year, but he has quite the impressive resume. Actually without Shaw, Mason probably would have been fired a year or two earlier. Shaw worked with Minnesota’s offensive line, defensive line, and he was a major recruiter in Minnesota. Shaw built probably the best offensive lines year in and year out in Minnesota. He helped running backs like Marion Barber (Dallas Cowboys), Laurence Maroney (New England Patriots), and Gary Russell (he wasted a bunch of talent by not going to class and being an idiot and blew a big shot at the NFL) run for one thousand yards a season. In the case of Barber and Maroney, well they did it in the same seasons usually and Minnesota became the first team to have two 1,000 yard rushers for three straight years. Your team cannot achieve that with a mediocre to good offensive line. You need a great offensive line to accomplish that feat as consistently as Minnesota did.
This fits Meierkort’s philosophy perfectly. Meierkort is a run first guy and sometimes Todd Hoffner would get away from that philosophy. Shaw will stick to this philosophy and the Coyotes have produced some very good running backs already in Jamal White, Stephan Logan, and Amos Allen. Shaw will bring out the most of the offensive line and the running backs. It’s scary to think the running game could get even better with Shaw there.
Shaw is also a great recruiter in Minnesota. This is important, especially in the Twin Cities and the suburbs. Shaw recruited Minnesota for basically 17 years, so he has made major relationships across the state and he knows which schools to recruit at. Minnesota has more talent then one might think. Cretin-Durham Hall is considered one of the best high school football programs in the nation. They have been on Fox Sports Net, not just the North part, in national games. I am sure Shaw has a relationship there and programs just as good in Minnesota. Shaw knows what type of players the Coyotes will need from Minnesota who fit the D-I mold.
I am throughly impressed with the Coyotes hire of Gordon Shaw. I think he is EXACTLY the type of coach the Coyotes need to bring in for their move to D-I AA. He fits everything Meierkort wants to do offensively and he is a great recruiter. This is a major hire and I am surprised a bigger school didn’t jump on Shaw earlier. I guess having Glen Mason as someone of your references must not look that good to most schools, but maybe they should have looked at his whole resume, because it is quite impressive. This gives the Coyotes great hope that the program will succeed going into Division I.
–Justin Rust
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