Report: Shawn Watson will coach quarterbacks at Louisville
by Mike Rutherford on Feb 17, 2011 12:51 PM EST
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PrintRivals/Yahoo writer Tom Dienhart reported yesterday that Louisville will soon name former Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson as its new quarterbacks coach.
Watson drew some criticism last year in Lincoln for the Cornhuskers' lack of offensive production during the second half of the season, but there is a whole lot to like about this hire by Charlie Strong.
--Watson had success last year with an athletic freshman quarterback (Taylor Martinez).
--He's another guy with a solid recruiting background, and his specialty is South Florida. Should fit right in.
--He's almost universally considered to be "one of the good guys" in the college football coaching profession.
--In December he was considered a candidate for the head coaching jobs at both Vandy and Miami of Ohio, and his connection with his players was evident in this quote from sophomore QB Cody Green:
Of course, the players hear the buzz. Sophomore quarterback Cody Green said he tries to tune it out.
But, admittedly, he said any speculation about Watson "kind of hits home a little bit because he is like a father figure to us, especially for the quarterbacks and the guys he's recruited.
"To hear those things," Green said, "I'm glad for him because it's a head coaching job, but on the other side, it kind of hits home because he's like my dad up here."
This is a guy who, as recently as two moths ago, was considered a front-runner for an SEC head coaching job. A great addition to the staff by Strong.
More on this from Eric Crawford.
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Yeah
Exactly what I was going to post. Nice spin on the hire there Rutherford. lol
Does sound like we got a good one though!
I assume this is a great pickup for us
No idea how good of a coach he is, so here’s to hoping he is good.
Watson
I look at the hiring of Watson from here to Louisville as Ash in the movie Alien did:
“I can’t lie to you about your chances, but…….you have my sympathies.”
LOL
by alexhortdog95 on Feb 17, 2011 3:40 PM EST up reply actions
Great hire
Charlie Strong got a steal in this guy, hopefully he will stick around longer than a year.
You're blowing my mind right now, Charlie.
Excellence up and down the staff, he’s creating a real Team of Rivals here at U of L.
I'll defer to Charlie's sage judgment
though after reading through NU blogs and articles, OC Watson is regarded much more highly for his recruiting ability and strength of character than for his offensive prowess. Hopefully he’s a better fit with what HCCS envisions than what Pellini was trying to do at NU.
Well he's a QB coach
Not a OC, so who cares about his offensive playcalling/scheming abilities.
All right, you're a cook. Can you farm?
OC Coach. Honestly, I don’t care about his playcalling/scheming abilities, either. But I would think that it is hard to develop quality quarterbacks if your QB coach and offensive coordinator excel at implementing different offenses. Admittedly though, I know nothing about QB coaching, maybe he doesn’t need to master the spread offense to coach the quarterbacks running it. Watson seems like an intelligent, decent guy and I really hope he fits in well.
Been reading about this today, here's what I have to pass on.
Watson was a holdover for Pellini from Callahan (who was ran off). So Pellini thought highly of him to retain him from the previous administration. Watson did well under Callahan, but not so hot under Pellini. Pellini changed the offensive scheme, so that probably had some impact to his performance.
Watson was definitely shown the door by Husker fans though. They have been calling for his head for a while now. However, I read on ITV that Pellini was actively helping Watson find a new job either in the NFL or at the college ranks; so again, it doesn’t appear to be bad blood with the coaching staff, only the fans/performance as an OC.
He’s a heck of a recruiter (specialty is South Florida) and looked up to by his players. I’m with rmiles94, in that he’s being hired to develop our QBs, not build our offense and call plays. Seems like he has a fine record for what he’ll be asked to do here — help recruit and develop spread QBs.
Finally, he was under contract for one more year at NU, so he’ll be paid his NU buyout in addition to his UofL salary for the first year. If he does well for us in year 1, it might be tough to hang on to him if “good” OC positions open up.
by Remote Cardinal on Feb 17, 2011 3:42 PM EST up reply actions
Negative....
Coach Pelini thought highly of him because he was recommended by DR. TOM OSBORNE. If I’m a head coach in my first gig, and I have an ex-Hall of Fame Coach as my AD, I’m going to concider his opinion.
I think if he had it to do over again, he would have looked around.
by alexhortdog95 on Feb 17, 2011 3:50 PM EST up reply actions
"Watson specializes in the spread offense?"
Listen, all. Coach Watts is a very nice guy. Pleasant personality, awesome guy to know. I’ve met him on more than one occasion at Coach’s Clinics.
That being said….
What the heck was Rutherford smoking when he wrote “Watson specializes in the spread offense?”
Negative. He specializes in the WEST COAST OFFENSE…an offense that one BILL CALLAHAN brought here en route to running our team into the ground.
He successfully ran this offense twice (in my book) in SEVEN SEASONS. Zac Taylor’s Senior year, and Joe Ganz’s Senior year.
Could he have seen what steps backwards Martinez would have taken this year? Nope. But he WAS the QB coach as well as O-Coordinator here. Falls on him as a coach.
One play signifies his playcalling abilities. In the bowl game last year….Cody Green is in the game. It’s Third and 16, and you haven’t moved the ball ALL NIGHT. What play does he call?
Play action pass.
Nuff said.
You better pray that he doesn’t work his way up. He’s a good guy, decent coach, but a horrible playcaller.
Well if what you say is true, that sucks
but he is only going to be our QB coach, not our head coach, D coach, assistant coach, or offensive coordinator. I’m not sure what all a QB coach does, I assume it is working on footwork, passing, throwing motion, field reads, etc, but he won’t have any impact on our offensive and the calls outside of how Teddy performs.
If we were hiring him as our offensive coordinator or head coach, I might take heed of your words, but as our QB coach I see no problems. This situation is different, unlike LSU hiring Krags to be their OC after he failed as our head coach and OC. They should be worried.
He probably could've bought it up in a tad less abrasive fashion
But this guy is right about the spread offense/west coast offense mix-up.
by Mike Rutherford on Feb 17, 2011 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
IMO this is a great hire and from an experience and recruiting standpoint an upgrade from Mike Groh
Yes Nebraska ‘s offense struggled the second half of the season but we didnt hire him as a OC…. His sole purpose is to develope our QB’s and give us yet another leg in South Florida. Great hire and Teddy B should be excited to start his college career under Watson.
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