It’s that time of year again for the Oregon Ducks. A successful season has led to a head coaching opportunity for one of Coach Mario Cristobal’s coordinators. Congratulations to Coach Joe Moorhead on being named as the new Akron Zips ball coach! With Coach Moorhead becoming the head guy at a place where he spent five seasons as an assistant ...

 

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First off, best of luck to Coach Moorhead. I think the Akron job is a brilliant move on his part. Too many coaches just want to keep climbing the ladder without knowing where they are going. Moorhead is returning to where he knows and undoubtedly loves, well done! Thanks for giving it your all while at Oregon. Tough job though, the school hasn't had a coach with a winning record in about 50 years!

 

Great list and article, lots to ponder. The immediate question is how focused will Moorhead be and will he stay at Oregon through the bowl game? Will Mastro already be the O-coordinator by the time the season ends? He definitely has been interviewing for the job for while.

Another OC to think about is Garrett Riley, SMU OC, Lincoln's brother. With Sunny Dykes gone the guy is basically a free agent. I am all about going after a threat head first, with aggression.

 

If Garret is serious about becoming a head coach, there is not better place to cut your teeth.

An impressive list, any of those would be a great hire, which is what Mario has done to fill a Coordinator's spot. If Mastro does do the heavy lifting while Moorhead transitions to Akron, that could put him in a good position to assume the role permanently.

I know Moorhead was a leading candidate but when did they say he actually got the job. I assume the announcement is yet to come but I feel like I missed something.

Wonder why he didn't go with Maestro in the 1st place?

We saw Maestro/OC play calling at Stanford and it wasn't pretty. I'd grab Dan Mullen from Florida, proven play calling, potential HC if Mario leaves and a well know recruiter and connected into Florida/SEC football.

Okay, where in the Googles does it say Moorhead has taken the Akron job? There obviously could be fire with all this smoke, but I can't find anything that says this deal has been done.

Last time I heard stuff like this, I heard Chip was coming back to Oregon, only to have Slick Willy for a year before he remember FSU was his dream school, then he took over for Lane at FAU.  That was a tough one to figure out.

On 11/30/2021 at 11:09 AM, KingT said:

I'd grab Dan Mullen from Florida, proven play calling, potential HC if Mario leaves and a well know recruiter...

As far as I've read about the situation, one of the biggest factors in him getting the boot was a lack of interest in recruiting. 

On 11/30/2021 at 7:40 AM, David Marsh said:

I know Moorhead was a leading candidate but when did they say he actually got the job. I assume the announcement is yet to come but I feel like I missed something.

 

I'm with you David Marsh. Moorhead is the leading candidate, and reporting on it seems to indicate that he's interested in the job, but it hasn't been officially reported that Moorhead has accepted the Akron Zips HC position. 

I can't help but wonder what Keanon Lowe would be like as an OC and recruiter.

Mark Helfrich knows his way around the facilities 

THE SEASON OF CHANGE - 2021: NIL, The Portal, Coaches bouncing around like ping-pong balls, new players in the PO. Latest - Brian Kelly to LSU!

 

Hats off to Joe. I wonder if he ever heard from the UW administration?

 

New OC? In all seriousness and without any sarcasm intended, does it matter? This is Mario's show. What matters is that the next guy is very good at selling the program to recruits and guys off the portal.

Coach Boles...this is an outstanding article you gave us at a most important time.  Thanks so much and I must say that the fellow from Coastal Carolina sounds interesting!

On 11/30/2021 at 11:09 AM, KingT said:

We saw Maestro/OC play calling at Stanford and it wasn't pretty. I'd grab Dan Mullen from Florida, proven play calling, potential HC if Mario leaves and a well know recruiter and connected into Florida/SEC football.

 

Good call, But Mullen just got a $6M check from UF and is owed $6M more. I don't believe he would have any interest in coming west and reporting to Mario. I don't see him taking an assistant job anywhere but if he did he would demand free rein. BTW - Mullen is not the easiest guy in the world to get along with.

On 11/30/2021 at 9:44 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

New OC? In all seriousness and without any sarcasm intended, does it matter? This is Mario's show. What matters is that the next guy is very good at selling the program to recruits and guys off the portal.

Yes, it matters a great deal. 

On 11/30/2021 at 1:15 PM, nw777b said:

Yes, it matters a great deal. 

 

I respect your point. But have you seen the Ducks under Mario out-scheme another team? The W at Ohio State was the base O being run to perfection against an OK, not great, OH ST D.

 

I just do not see Mario being willing to give his OC control of the O? If I am correct, then other than for recruiting props does it matter to that great of an extent?

 

I love Coach Boles article. But there is no way Mario is going to run the Coastal O or anything like it. No way he is going to go hurry up. He is an old school guy running an old school O.

 

I would really appreciate it if you would expand on why you think the new OC will matter a great deal? Thanks.

Mario def needs a quality OC -- he's more of a Manager than a deep X/O guy, in my view. You need a big time OC to compete in the improving P12. You also need a potential HC because when Mia calls, Mario will answer. Lots of exciting possibilities out there as CF aggregates talent around about 10-12 programs.

On 11/30/2021 at 10:24 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

I respect your point. But have you seen the Ducks under Mario out-scheme another team? The W at Ohio State was the base O being run to perfection against an OK, not great, OH ST D.

 

I just do not see Mario being willing to give his OC control of the O? If I am correct, then other than for recruiting props does it matter to that great of an extent?

 

I love Coach Boles article. But there is no way Mario is going to run the Coastal O or anything like it. No way he is going to go hurry up. He is an old school guy running an old school O.

 

I would really appreciate it if you would expand on why you think the new OC will matter a great deal? Thanks.

He needs another perspective from the person responsible for the offense. I don't believe he intervenes as much as some believe. 

 

From what I can tell, the backup QBs that signal the play ate getting the plays from Moorehead. 

 

How often was the pistol used prior to 2021? How often this year? I see that as Moorehead's influence.

 

Even if I'm wrong about the play caller, Mario needs an OC. The Ducks must have the best OC they can get if Moorehead bails.

Isn't Mastro a Pistol guy??  Isn't the Pistol somewhat loathed around here? 

 

Is anyone sure we want Mastro?

 

Just asking.

Jon...you bring up a really good question.  We are doing fine without the Pistol, which makes Mastro expendable and certainly not promotable, IMHO.  Yet my analysis article yesterday shows real vision and jump-cutting by both Dye and the young-gun Cardwell, thus some good RB coaching taking place.

 

But to offer my thoughts on your question--I think Coach Boles listed him because it would make sense that he would apply and Mario would have to consider him.

On 11/30/2021 at 1:45 PM, Jon Sousa said:

Isn't Mastro a Pistol guy??  Isn't the Pistol somewhat loathed around here? 

 

Is anyone sure we want Mastro?

 

Just asking.

My thought exactly, thanks Jon.

 

I could easily go a lifetime without having to watch pistol plunge, pistol plunge, incomplete pass, punt.

Seeing as how MC likes to poach coaches from within the Pac 12 (Mastro, DeRuyter), don’t be surprised if he goes after Andy Ludwig at Utah. He would make more money at Oregon and he runs an offense that would make MC giddy. Moorhead is currently making about $250K more than he is.

I'd like to see an O.C. that will stick the quarterback under center when you're one foot off the goal line... and somebody that can develop quarterbacks.

 

Hey everyone, great conversation happening here! I wanted to clear something up, I wrote this with the idea that we would run it if the deal came to fruition, and that’s my fault on getting things mixed up. It’s true that Coach Moorhead has not agreed to be the Akron coach and I really hope that he doesn’t. Wanted to clear that up, and thank you guys for reading. 
 

I will be changing some of the wording of the article to make it more in line with what’s actually going on. Thanks again!

On 11/30/2021 at 10:40 AM, David Marsh said:

I know Moorhead was a leading candidate but when did they say he actually got the job. I assume the announcement is yet to come but I feel like I missed something.

You’re right, he’s merely the top target. This was a communication error on my end, and have since edited the article. 

On 11/30/2021 at 11:09 AM, KingT said:

We saw Maestro/OC play calling at Stanford and it wasn't pretty. I'd grab Dan Mullen from Florida, proven play calling, potential HC if Mario leaves and a well know recruiter and connected into Florida/SEC football.

We also saw it in the form of 77-6 last season. 

On 11/30/2021 at 11:20 AM, jrw said:

Okay, where in the Googles does it say Moorhead has taken the Akron job? There obviously could be fire with all this smoke, but I can't find anything that says this deal has been done.

You’re right, he’s merely the top target. This was a communication error on my end, and have since edited the article. 

On 11/30/2021 at 4:20 PM, nw777b said:

He needs another perspective from the person responsible for the offense. I don't believe he intervenes as much as some believe. 

 

From what I can tell, the backup QBs that signal the play ate getting the plays from Moorehead. 

 

How often was the pistol used prior to 2021? How often this year? I see that as Moorehead's influence.

 

Even if I'm wrong about the play caller, Mario needs an OC. The Ducks must have the best OC they can get if Moorehead bails.

I’m with you. I’m almost certain that Coach Cristobal doesn’t intervene in the offense like some people seem to think. I just don’t think that the offenses between Coach Moorhead and Coach Arroyo being as different as they are points to Coach Cristobal telling his OC what to do. 
 

And I know there’s a belief that Coach Moorhead isn’t running non stop tempo because Coach Cristobal doesn’t want him to. But if you look at Coach Moorhead’s past offenses, he’s never been a tempo guy like that.

 

Of course, Coach Cristobal wants certain things from his offense. Like being predicated on the run. He doesn’t need to force his OC to do that because he hired an OC with the same philosophy. He wouldn’t hire a Mike Leach type coach to run the offense. 

On 11/30/2021 at 4:45 PM, Jon Sousa said:

Isn't Mastro a Pistol guy??  Isn't the Pistol somewhat loathed around here? 

 

Is anyone sure we want Mastro?

 

Just asking.

Well, three of those guys are actually pistol guys!

 

It is by some, but I think that’s because they didn’t like what they saw of it in the previous offense. There are coaches that run it extremely well though, such as Greg Roman. 
 

I was even watching tape from last season and Coach Moorhead did really cool things with it. I just think a lot of his offense was already built around the shotgun and that’s what he likes to do. I don’t think it’s wrong one way or the other.