Blast from the past: Noel Mazzone

[BrentVU]

You probably know that UConn fired Randy Edsall earlier this year and promoted Lou Spanos to interim head coach. What you might not know is that Spanos brought Noel Mazzone, his old buddy from the Jim Mora staff at UCLA, out of retirement about two weeks ago to assist with the offensive coordinating. If that name rings a bell, it should.

Mazzone was the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss under (now Senator) Tommy Tuberville at Ole Miss and Auburn. He was an excellent coordinator, and some said he was the secret to Tuberville's success. He was known as a "quarterback whisperer", a guy who could turn a mediocre quarterback into a good one. If your offense is struggling (as UConn's was) there is hardly a better guy to bring in. (That double-reverse flea-flicker you saw last week? Noel Mazzone.)

If I count right, Vandy is 1-5 all-time against Mazzone as a coordinator. The lone win came in 2005 vs. Ole Miss in Nashville in Jay Cutler's senior year; the Rebs' head coach that year was Ed Orgeron.

[MrMemorial]

You probably know that UConn fired Randy Edsall earlier this year and promoted Lou Spanos to interim head coach. What you might not know is that Spanos brought Noel Mazzone, his old buddy from the Jim Mora staff at UCLA, out of retirement about two weeks ago to assist with the offensive coordinating. If that name rings a bell, it should.

Mazzone was the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss under (now Senator) Tommy Tuberville at Ole Miss and Auburn. He was an excellent coordinator, and some said he was the secret to Tuberville's success. He was known as a "quarterback whisperer", a guy who could turn a mediocre quarterback into a good one. If your offense is struggling (as UConn's was) there is hardly a better guy to bring in. (That double-reverse flea-flicker you saw last week? Noel Mazzone.)

If I count right, Vandy is 1-5 all-time against Mazzone as a coordinator. The lone win came in 2005 vs. Ole Miss in Nashville in Jay Cutler's senior year; the Rebs' head coach that year was Ed Orgeron.

Wyoming was caught totally off guard by some of the new UConn plays. UConn ran what looked like the old Gary Rankin wing-t misdirection a couple of times Saturday. (Rankin won state 4 times at Riverdale and EVERY season he's been at Alcoa)

[OldDude]

Sounds like our defense better be thinking on every play.

[charlestonalum]

Good research. We have our work cut out for us.

[MrMemorial]

Good research. We have our work cut out for us.

Upon further research, Mazzone's first head coaching gig was at a large high school. That explains his expertise with the old wing-t which in the last 40 years has primarily been a high school system. Gus Malzahn may occasionally use a few principals of it, but has not sold out to it.

Will Hester (Ravenwood) may have coached against Riverdale's wing-t when he was at LaVergne. He might know how to defend it as good as anybody in this area. Shadowens too when he was at Smyrna but has ended up in east TN. By the time Coach Shad was at Blackman, Rankins and the wing-t had left the midstate. IIRC

It's a blast to watch when it's run well. You can't figure out who ended up with the ball sometimes.

[Johnmn555]

Wyoming was caught totally off guard by some of the new UConn plays.

And will CT be caught off guard by anything new that we throw at them?

[MrMemorial]

The way some high schools prepare for teams that are primarily wing-t is having their scout team run it but use a tennis ball or golf ball instead of a football. That way all the defenders "stay at home" no matter who it "appears" ended up with the ball, because if it's run correctly, it's hard to know it was handed off to a RB, a wingback/WR or if the QB actually kept it the entire time. QB's who can really run are a big requirement for it.