As promised, here’s another series of questions. It’s a long post, so go make a snack and I’ll see you in a few…

Welcome back … Let’s get into it.

We’ve heard all about head coach Dave Clawson, but what should we know about his coordinators?

Well, there are five of them — an offensive coordinator, two defensive coordinators and two special teams coordinators. Shared coordinator responsibilities is a growing trend in college football, particularly in smaller conferences like the MAC. I just looked up Akron’s coaching staff and there is a run game coordinator, a pass game coordinator, and an offensive coordinator. Jeesh. What, did the poor economy keep them from hiring a trick play coordinator too? Is it overkill? Sure, but it’s a creative approach head coaches use for a couple of reasons. For one, you can prevent, say, your linebackers coach from leaving to take a defensive coordinator job somewhere else by simply appointing him Co-defensive coordinator. His role might not change a great deal, but it’s all about the label. Secondly, unlike SEC coaches, guys like Clawson and Akron’s JD Brookhart do not have endless funds in their assistant coaching budget, so the compensate for it by saying, “I can only pay you X amount of dollars, but the trade off is you’ll be a Co-coordinator.”

Hey Ryan, take your ADD meds, focus, and answer the question…

I know, I know. You want to know about BG’s coordinators. The guy in charge of the offense is Warren Ruggiero and he spent last year coaching quarterbacks at Kansas State, meaning he worked with first round draft pick Josh Freeman. Aside from having a really cool name, Ruggiero has 21 years of coaching experience, which is kind of surprising considering he looks only about 31 in his bio picture.

Mike Elko and Shannon Morrison are your co-defensive coordinators. Elko spent the past three seasons orchestrating some pretty nasty defenses at Hofstra. He has now worked with Clawson at three schools, Hofstra and Richmond being the other two. It looks as if this is his first Division I (Yes, I know. It’s called Football Bowl Subdivision. I get it.) but that doesn’t really bother me. Good coaching is being done every day at every level of football, and let’s face it, the MAC is not head and shoulders superior to the elite teams in Division I-A (Yes, I know. It’s called Football Championship Subdivision. I get it.) Also, Elko has a bachelor’s degree from Penn. Although being a genius is not a prerequisite for coaching football, I’ll take a smart guy on my staff any day.

Morrison comes by way of Marshall, where he coached linebackers for two years and safeties for two years. He gained defensive coordinator experience at Lehigh and Southeast Missouri State, and seemed to do well at both stops. But let’s back up. I love the fact Morrison coached the last four years at Marshall. Why? BG travels to Huntington, WV on Sept. 19 to play the Thundering Herd. Morrison faced those offensive players for four straight years on the practice field. That should not be understated. Look, BG’s non conference schedule includes Troy, Missouri, Marshall and Boise State. BRUTAL! I absolutely can see a 0-4 start to the season. But I think it’s more likely BG knocks off Marshall and heads into the MAC at 1-3, which would be absolutely acceptable considering the circumstances.

Why such a tough non-conference schedule?

One word: Money. Look, if you can get a power like Boise State to play on your turf, you do it. If you can get an up-and-coming program like Troy to play on your turf, you do it. BG athletic director Greg Christopher has a solid scheduling plan, and although I can’t remember all of its details, I know that he’s big on home and home series’. Also, heading to Columbia, MO should net the university a decent chunk of change, which it desperately needs right now. On a related note, it’s pretty obvious Clawson is not in favor of such a demanding schedule. He’s said things like, “I have no control over the schedule” and “It was in place when I got here.” There have been other instances where Clawson didn’t exactly sing the praises of the Gregg Brandon administration.

Was the cupboard left bare for Clawson?

I have to be careful on this one. Two years ago, when I was at The Blade, I wrote that Dan Dakich left the cupboard bare for Louis Orr and justified that claim by noting the roster was void of a true point guard and that it included two young, raw big men. A day later I received an e-mail from Dakich’s buddy who basically told me I was wrong and had some facts to back up his stance. That’s perfect, totally cool. But a year later, out of the blue, Dakich ripped me apart on Norm Wamer’s radio show, and obviously that blog post fueled his fire. So yeah, I have to be careful. But the reality is, the cupboard is not bare at BG. This is a team that absolutely should have won its division last year. I will not listen to any arguments to the contrary. None. Brandon recruited some talented guys over the past 3-4 years. Unfortunately, many of those guys are no longer with the program due to a number of reasons. The junior class is a joke as about half of that year’s recruiting class is gone. And that’s pretty amazing when you consider Brandon wasn’t a big fan of kicking kids off the team. That class, of course, came on the heels of a 4-8 season in which rock bottom came in the form of a loss to Temple. Following the season there was a mass exodus of assistants. So when the team stinks and its assistants are interviewing for jobs instead of recruiting, you’re going to run into these troubles. But I digress. So yeah, in conclusion, Clawson has some talent to work with, but it’s his job to build depth by making sure his recruits stay on board and graduate.