U.F. Assistants Under Microscope
By Paul Myerberg // Aug 24, 2010
Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio is one of two U.F. assistants needing a big 2010.
There have been two constants to Urban Meyer’s tenure in Gainesville: in each season since he arrived in 2005, either Dan Mullen or Charlie Strong have helped carry the load. Following the 2008 season, Mullen left to take the head job at Mississippi State; he was replaced from within, with Steve Addazio moving up from his offensive line duties. A year later, Strong left to take the job at Louisville, leaving Meyer without his two most trusted lieutenants. Is there reason for concern?
In a word: yes. The Gators missed Mullen a year ago — not to say the offense was poor, just down a notch from its 2008 peak. The Gators scored nearly eight fewer points per game. They averaged .35 yards less per rush. They threw for fewer touchdowns, though for more yards in 35 more attempts.
On the other hand, it’s important to note that while Florida seemed to stumble offensively, it averaged nearly the same yards per play in 2009 than in 2008: 7.1 yards per play in 2009, in fact, compared to an even 7.0 in 2008. If we use that as the true barometer for offensive success, perhaps Mullen wasn’t missed at all.
He was, of course, particularly in the red zone. In 2008, the Gators converted a superb 91.8 percent of their red zone trips — 62 of 68 trips. Last fall, that number dipped to a poor rate of 75 percent — 51 of 68 tries — which tied it with New Mexico State for 98th in the country.
One commenter, GTFan, made a solid point regarding Mullen in the Florida team preview:
Meyer has also won big everywhere he’s been, and I think he has an even higher winning percentage (than Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson). But he’s always had Mullen at his side. And it looked like Florida took a step back last year without him. Couple that with the *vast* improvement in MSU last year from 2 years ago, and it becomes clear that Mullen was a huge piece of Meyer’s staff over the years and a significant loss.
What does this mean for 2010? It’s hard to ignore the warning signs, but we can also look at Mullen’s departure — and Addazio’s promotion — in two ways. One, pessimistically: Addazio is in over his head, and only the play of his talented stars allows U.F. to post such offensive numbers. On the other hand, we could easily say that Addazio was in over his head — check use of the past tense — and will be better with experience. Another reason for optimism? That the Gators plan to run a more traditional offense, which would play to Addazio’s strengths as a play-caller.
His experience has come in more pro-style attacks, spanning his time as an assistant at stops like Syracuse, Boston College and Indiana, the latter where he called plays for one season before joining Meyer’s staff in Gainesville. Perhaps with a larger comfort level, Addazio can excel. In a strange way, not having Tim Tebow under center will help the coordinator; he can script a set of plays that don’t involve a handful of designed quarterback runs.
What about the defense? Strong is gone. His first replacement, George Edwards, is also gone. He lasted roughly a month on the job, arriving in early January before departing for the Buffalo Bills shortly after signing day. In good news, his defense did not allow a single point during his tenure.
He was replaced later in February by Teryl Austin, a longtime N.F.L. assistant. So it’s Austin, not Edwards, that takes on the task of replacing Charlie Strong. And it’s certainly a tough task: Strong, who has long deserved the chance Louisville offered, has been nothing but excellent since ascending to the defensive coordinator position in tk.
His defenses allowed fewer than 181 points in each of the last two seasons — that’s less than 13 points per game. Going back further, Strong-coached U.F. defenses allowed more than 21.1 points per game only once, in a uncharacteristically poor 2007 season. That fall, as we all remember, Florida broke in a large number of freshmen and sophomores on the defensive side of the ball; their struggles yielded a defensive renaissance in 2008.
What does Austin bring to the table? Experience on the N.F.L. level is always nice, but he also brings 12 years of experience on the college ranks. He coached alongside Addazio at Syracuse, with that relationship surely playing a role in his hiring. What type of success will he have in 2010? The pieces are there, though this defense seems to lack the top-end athleticism of recent U.F. groups.
In 2009, the offense sorely missed Dan Mullen, formerly the coordinator. In 2010, Florida must supplant another key cog in its recent success, Charlie Strong. One thing is certain: if U.F. declines defensively — and the offense continues to slide — the Gators aren’t taking the SEC.
Tags: Charlie Strong, Dan Mullen, Florida, Steve Addazio, Teryl Austin, Urban Meyer
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Addazio was definitely not a problem last year. We complained about Mullen’s play-calling just as much when he was here. The Gators missed Harvin more than Mullen. If Addazio is to blame for anything last year, it was that the offensive line play was not as good as 2008.
Also, in Utah and Bowling Green, Mullen did not call plays, he was the QB coach so it is not a relevant point to be made. We’ll be fine this year if we can find two guys to catch the ball.
Paul, I think you are doing an objective and good job, especially for taking on such a large task.
I would like to split a few more hairs with you though.
Our offense was stale for a few reasons:
-Tebow’s bump on his noggin took more out of him then he will admit himself.
-I do not know why but the running game at UF has not been much better than above average although on paper, they appear better. This left Tebow the bulk of rushing and I would guess too that he tucked and ran more than the called play planned because he lacked confidence in the rb’s.
-Combine the second point above with the missing Harvin and the offense was very predictable and hardly “spread like.”
-This point only came to light two weeks ago when either Demps or Rainey said that last year there were egos impeding team unity.
(bama was an aberration in the seccg and should have been obvious to anybody, we simply did not show up)
Therefore, I think Adazzio did a good job given the circumstances and expect much better performance from him.
I think the defense will be very good by the end of the year. Unfortunately, bama is early in the year.
[...] Read recently published an interesting article about the coaching turnover at Florida. Gone are Dan Mullen and Charlie Strong the offensive and [...]
True, Bama is early in the year, but the SECCG is late in the year. Would like to play Auburn or Arky there.
I disagree on the lacking elite athleticism. I think this UF defense lacks bulk. It is much smaller than the last two years and that doesn’t bode well for facing Bama again.
I wouldn’t put the play calling blame all on Addazio. Meyer is a conservative coach and the game plans they come out with reflect that. The whole staff is involved in the game planning, but ultimately Meyer decided how aggressive the approach was going to be. The difference between 2008 and 2009 was the receivers and especially the slot position. Percy Harvin was replaced by Brandon James and the production dropped off significantly. Tebow often struggled to find an open receiver and took more hits last year. Meyer’s philosophy is to play field position and win with your defense. So the offensive play calling ended up being more conservative. When you look at the Sugar Bowl, which Addazio game planned on his own, it was wide open. I also noticed Addazio looking frustrated in a couple games when the repetitive dive plays weren’t going anywhere and he looked to Meyer to open it up a little.