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TULSA, Okla. -- Gus Malzahn was asked to give the best examples of his hurry-up, no-huddle offense last season at Arkansas.
Actually, there was only one example.
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| Gus Malzahn's offense is like a full-time two-minute drill. (AP) |
In second-half garbage time of a season-opening 36-point loss, former Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain guided a scoring drive.
Sooo ... that makes looking at film of the philosophy he is about to implement at Tulsa pretty much out of the question.
"Here, take this," Malzahn said. "This pretty much has everything in it."
It is a 33-minute coaching instructional tape from 2004 featuring Malzahn's high school teams.
Draw your own conclusions about Malzahn's influence on the offense during one tumultuous year as Arkansas' offensive coordinator. Depending on who you believe, the former high school head coach was hired in December 2005 a) by strong suggestion of AD Frank Broyles who was frustrated by the Hogs' offense; b) by coach Houston Nutt when he couldn't get more accomplished coordinators David Cutcliffe and David Lee; c) in order to secure four talented prospects from Malzahn's Springdale (Ark.) High program.
All of the above might be true. That's why Malzahn's departure for Tulsa in mid-January caused tongues -- and at least one player -- to go in motion.
Mustain, the best of the four big-time recruits, asked to be released from his scholarship shortly thereafter. He is still enrolled at Arkansas, supposedly scouting locations for his transfer. Earlier that month, receiver Damian Williams, also from Springdale, transferred to USC.
It all added up to unstated implications that Malzahn never got a chance to run his offense in the SEC. It was an offense that won multiple state high school titles in Arkansas, but still hasn't been unveiled on the college level.
"It goes back to philosophy; what's your philosophy?" Malzahn said. "A spread, no-huddle is a philosophy. It doesn't make any difference what offense you run. You could run the wishbone, you could run the Wing T."
The truth seems to lie in some gray area where Malzahn "called plays" but was only allowed to call from a list that featured the running strengths of Doak Walker Award winning tailback Darren McFadden and Felix Jones
"I didn't mind giving up the play-calling," Nutt said. "I accepted that ... (but) it came to a time ... where you've got to win ballgames."
"(I told him) 'I want the ball in the hands of Darren 25 times, somehow. Same thing with Felix, let's get him 15. Now mix up your screens, your passes after that.'"
Said Malzahn: "First of all, I wasn't the head coach. Every program I've been in, the head coach gets to decide what goes on. I got to call within a certain system and team oriented-type deal."
The marriage looked like an odd one from the beginning. Arkansas' strength was a power running game. Malzahn wants to run what amounts to a two-minute offense the entire game. His team once ran 96 plays in a 48-minute high school game. Huddles aren't even in the playbook. The ball is snapped within five seconds after being put in play.
The closest thing to it at the college level might be Rich Rodriguez' spread at West Virginia. No surprise, then, that when Todd Graham left Rice for Tulsa, one of his first calls was to Malzahn.
Graham had gotten Malzahn's name from close friend Rodriguez back in the '90s. He has seen the tape.
"I've watched Gus for a long time. He's one of the smartest, most innovative guys around," Graham said. "It's not just trick stuff."
One thing is certain for a program that is already on the rise: Tulsa football is about to change radically.
"Our goal is to play faster than anybody in the country," Malzahn said. "You put as much pressure on the defense as possible ... I'm full throttle. It's been an unbelievable advantage at the high-school level."
In college? All we've got to go on is a half-hour tape and one series last Labor Day Weekend.
