Brian Johnson again becomes Utah’s OC
The title is a little joke. Utah fans are funny creatures. For most of Brian Johnson’s career as QB, Ute fans said he should be moved to another position. As one quite prominent poster told me, “he doesn’t have it.” Whatever the hell it is. Then we win the Sugar Bowl. And suddenly Brian is the great Ute hero we’ve always loved. In fact Brian was so great, he was actually running the entire offense secretly behind Andy Ludwig’s back. Now we’re back to freaking out about him.
The thing is, I like the hire. I get that Brian is very young. But don’t forget he saw time as a 17 year old during our glorious 2004 season. He’s essentially been here for 8 seasons now with some very good offensive minds teaching him the game. Last year he spent a season learning from the very best the game has to offer. Every week in the offensive planning sessions Brian was there with Norm.
Further, there must be something special about Brian that Kyle saw. If he wanted to stay on staff, he simply could have returned to A-Rod. There are plenty of guys Kyle knows, that he could have brought in as OC. Brian had to have sold Kyle on this. And while Kyle stays in staff too much I think, he’s certainly done enough to earn the right to make this hire without too much belly aching.
Even further, this will be a recruiting beauty. Utah has a perception in a lot of places of being unfriendly to minorities. Other schools will look foolish trying to say that about Utah now, with a Polynesian defensive coordinator and an African-American Offensive Coordinator. One who loves Utah at that. (Cue white old men telling me this should not be a consideration and how they never think about race and Utah doesn’t have that perception)
Finally, this brings stability to the position. Think about this, 2008 Andy Ludwig, 2009 Dave Schramm/Aaron Roderik, 2010 Aaron Roderik, 2011 Norm Chow. Brian is going to be thankful and loyal for this job. At some point, someone is going to offer the kid a head job. But he’ll stay here till its the right one.
And maybe one day Brian becomes the first African-American head coach in Utah history.
In fact the only downside here is his age and perceived inexperience. At some point you’ve got to be the guy calling the plays. I’m not really sure what more Brian gains at this point without actually calling plays. Even if there are learning pains, he gets a great big O-Line, a stable of running back talent, and some very good receivers and hopefully an experienced running back to make it all happen. If Brian is your guy of the future, and it’s clear that he is, this is a hell of a time to say the future is now.
So let’s give this a real shot. It could be very very good.