Rutgers hires Drew Mehringer as OC (Houston WR coach)

[rutgersguy1]

Did OK? Did you see what he did against Memphi
s?

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/p...-to-thrilling-comeback-win-over-no-21-memphis
Came back from 20 points behind.
The Cougars' offense centered around Ward all season, so for Postma to come in with Houston facing a 20-0 deficit and lead them to a win is impressive. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound transfer from Trinity Valley Community College completed 21 of 33 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown and ran for 49 yards and the game-winning touchdown. He kept the Cougars alive.

Now, he did not fare as well against Uconn, but he is a pro-style QB who had no other offers. As someone else said, perhaps we will have a plug and play offense, and memorizing the playbook will not matter.

Well one game really good and the other not as much sounds like ok to me when you average it out, lol. Point is they were still able to function to some degree. I didn't know what kind of qb he was. The fact that we have 3 good RBs I think will help.

It will be more plug and play friendly and that's just one of the reasons I've been wanting to shift to a spread. More plug and play friendly though doesn't mean perfectly seamless though. Even Art Briles had some issues with some of the in season changes he had to deal with this year but they didn't drop off a cliff either. He usually fared better when the transition came after graduations with guys like RG3, Florence, Petty, Russell but the in season change due to injury will always be a difficult one to manage for anyone.

 

[RUtah]

Love this hire. One of the rare things RU football has gotten right recently.

 

[Leonard23]

This is a great hire; young innovative O. Good recruiter. He put up a lot of points as JMU OC before going to Houston. Hope we also hire Brett Elliott @ JMU as WR coach, as he succeeded Mehringer as OC @ JMU & is really good too.

 

[RUbacker]

I've been dying for a spread up tempo offense for some time and way before it became consensus here. Posted a number of times about the top 10 offenses in football and how those were the ones who had the best chance to out perform their perceived status on the college landscape. So I'm all for the spread and we all knew it was coming with Ash. It's only a matter of who is implementing the transition and the execution of it.

As I said I'm not down on the guy, I'm just not excited either. I'm basically even keel. It's hard to project on someone like this with such a light resume. There are other hot shots similar like Jake Spavital at A&M and Lashlee at Auburn but they work under offensive HCs. Lincoln Riley worked at ECU for a few years before the step up to OU. So you see the difference. His youth though should help recruiting and I see a similar philosophy to Herman developing. I said Herman has a tweet quota for his assistants and they all have to know how to use social media and I think that kind of thing is coming here too so that should help recruiting. This guy's youth and energy seems plugged into that model.

jabu lovelace

 

[realhoops2]

Second in total offense in FCS for 2015:

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fcs/current/team/21

2014:
1,060 offensive plays, 6,300 offensive yards,
2015:
945 offensive plays, 6,300 offensive yards, 6345 offensive yards.

Seems the offense took off and did even better after he left. Looks like a total failure. :flush:

Do you have any stats as far as rushing yards, both team and specifically QB yards? Some seem to think his offense requires a running QB and therefore Rettig and Russo are not a good fit. I'm not so sure that is true seeing how some spreads (ex.: Washington State) does not require their QB to run much.

 

[mildone]

How short sighted can you possibly be?

That would be "spectacles", he said: "sceptacle".

 

[Knight Shift]

Do you have any stats as far as rushing yards, both team and specifically QB yards? Some seem to think his offense requires a running QB and therefore Rettig and Russo are not a good fit. I'm not so sure that is true seeing how some spreads (ex.: Washington State) does not require their QB to run much.

Vad Lee Stats/ info:
2014:
Ranked ninth in the CAA with 63.5 rushing yards per game... Rushed for 826 yards and scored nine touchdowns on the ground
2015:
826 yards rushing, nine touchdowns.
http://www.jmusports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3256

 

[Knight Shift]

That would be "spectacles", he said: "sceptacle".

He made a spectacle of himself with that post.
Did you hear the one about the optometrist who fell into the lens grinder and made a spectacle of himself?

 

[vkj91]

It certainly opens the door for Guarantano and Haskins. They're a perfect fit for this style O.

Haskins is not a good fit for this offense. He's a pro style pocket passer.

 

[rutgersguy1]

You know I wonder if there might not be another hire for offensive coordinator. Urban seems to like co-coordinators, Withers did it at JMU and Herman has it on the defensive side of the ball at Houston. Mehringer could still be the guy running the show but I could see another coordinator possibly be named.

 

[rutgersdave]

It certainly opens the door for Guarantano and Haskins. They're a perfect fit for this style O.

There have been a lot of duel threat QB from NJ that didn't really consider Rutgers who wanted a spread offense.

 

[rutgersguy1]

One other thing too, I wonder if Mehringer might have any pull with Kyle Allen from A&M or Trevor Knight at OU being a local coach and recruiter for the area.

 

[PaKnight]

Why? This system will need a strong armed QB who can throw the ball around the field. Not a running QB. Rettig and Russo will fit into this system.

His QB at JMU ran for 800 yards. We will see what happens.

 

[NickyNewark51]

What the hell are you talking about? Why is this goodbye to Russo? Posts like this are moronic.

Russo should be fine....some guys here must think cause he's big he must be stiff...he's an athlete...

 

[withoutregard]

passion, coaching, recruiting....looks to be a great hire and within budget, don't know if ash could have done any better

 

[rutgersguy1]

Duggan tweeted Mehringer made 116K last year, I'd guess he'd get bumped to 350K area give or take as OC.

 

[zappaa]

I love the hire

 

[AreYouNUTS]

LOVE IT!

 

[BrycesUncle]

Very sceptacle of this hire. Is he going to have the ability to adapt to the strength of the players we currently have on the roster? This likely means goodbye to Russo. I hope coach has another QB in mind to bring in.

MachiKnight, I wouldn't worry about the kids we have now. We are building for the future. The current kids are going to have to step their game up, POINT BLANK....... We should be ok for the most part......

 

[Machiavelli23]

Why? It sounds like he would want a strong armed QB to play in this O. Russo sounds like a perfect fit.

It seems that he had the QB at JMU run quite a bit

 

[PaKnight]

It seems that he had the QB at JMU run quite a bit

That is the thing, it depends on the kind of spread he will run.

 

[knight82]

I'm just glad we are now hiring assistant coaches from places like Ohio State and Houston, rather than from Colgate and Delaware

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

It is refreshing that we are putting together a FBS staff rather than a FCS staff.

 

[Machiavelli23]

Duggan tweeted Mehringer made 116K last year, I'd guess he'd get bumped to 350K area give or take as OC.

so, we can get a young, well-recommended, innovative, high tempo offense-thinking, good recruiting OC on the cheap.... Nice

 

[j10oreo]

Haskins is not a good fit for this offense. He's a pro style pocket passer.

So is Tom Brady. Seems to be doing well regardless. Not that I'm advocating for Haskins or anyone in particular.

 

[RU848789]

You had me at "sceptacle".

lol, you really have to work hard to get 4 misspellings packed into one relatively short word.

 

[KevH]

Stop with the New Jersey ties requirement. It's not a huge deal in this day and age.

I'm kinda partial to coaches with winning ties myself.

 

[vkj91]

So is Tom Brady. Seems to be doing well regardless. Not that I'm advocating for Haskins or anyone in particular.

Yea but Tom Brady isn't running this type of offense.

 

[VW Knight]

I'm kinda partial to coaches with winning ties myself.

Whoa, now you're just being too progressive

 

[Panthergrowl13]

It's a risky hire just like McDaniels was. Let's not sugar coat this he's only 28. However, he does have the pedigree in being with Herman as a player and coach through almost his entire career. He's a former QB and those guys more times than not become decent to good OC's. This is not a slam dunk hire, but I'm hopeful. A change in offensive philosophy was sorely needed here it's a big unknown how they're going to make the switch with the current personnel.

Agree

One year as OC experience at JMU
One year experience as position WR coach at Houston G5 program.
Now OC at Rutgers B1G program.

Not saying he will turn out to be a bad selection but not the guaranteed product some seem to think.

This is an interesting hire and time will tell.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

 

[RUtrumpet92]

I like the sound of this hire a lot. Young, innovative, up on social media so should be good at connecting with recruits, history of winning programs even in a short career.

 

[rutgersguy1]

so, we can get a young, well-recommended, innovative, high tempo offense-thinking, good recruiting OC on the cheap.... Nice

Let's hope. :)

 

[rucoe89]

Question is whether we have the offensive players to run this system now or do will we need a couple of years to get them here. If the latter, will we have patience to get there?

 

[JPhoboken]

He won't be the first young hot shot OC. Jake Spavital at A&M, Rhett Lashlee at Auburn are some others but they work under offensive HCs so that's a difference to me.

All in all, I am happy and optimistic that this will work. But I do have this reservation that he may not have an experienced offensive guy to fall back on. Lets see who else ASH brings in.

 

[rufeelinit]

Maybe I have been through too many of these coaching transitions and just can't get as excited as others at what appears to be a gamble. Ash is in charge and he can go in whatever direction he wants to build his staff

In my view despite many thinking ash himself is the perfect hire I see some risk and that's ok. There is no sure thing. But selecting this person as the oc adds another layer of risk. Not being critcal but the basis for loving the hire or thinking this is going to be great requires a level of being positive that just don't easily embrace.

 

[Machiavelli23]

So is Tom Brady. Seems to be doing well regardless. Not that I'm advocating for Haskins or anyone in particular.

We'll it depends if they are asking Brady to run a whole lot. The Patriot's spread is more of throwing-based rather than running based for the QBQB

 

[ScarletKnightRider]

Haskins is not a good fit for this offense. He's a pro style pocket passer.

1. Haskins as a good fit for ANY offense. If you watched his film you'd realize this instantly.

2. For what it's worth Tom Herman has a 2015 commitment from... you guessed it... a Pro style pocket passer QB. 4.7 forty time and all. Im thinking you don't have to be a Greg Ward Jr. to run this spread.

 

[rutgersguy1]

Sounds like Mehringer will also be coaching in his former team's bowl.

Tom VanHaaren ‏@TomVH 4h4 hours ago
Confirmed that Rutgers is hiring Houston's Drew Mehringer as OC. Mehringer will coach in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl for UH. First by @SIPeteThamel

 

[mildone]

lol, you really have to work hard to get 4 misspellings packed into one relatively short word.

Gotta admit though that, as misspellings go, it was a classic. A mashup of scepter and spectacle.

Sceptacle (noun): long pole vision fit for a king.

 

[rutgersguy1]

All in all, I am happy and optimistic that this will work. But I do have this reservation that he may not have an experienced offensive guy to fall back on. Lets see who else ASH brings in.

I'm fine with the hire, frankly I would have likely been fine with just about any hire because I think Ash would likekly have a better network to tap into compared to Flood. But there's a difference with being fine with it and being overjoyed through the moon with it. I'm just even keel about it and keeping my feet on the ground. I think it's possible for a co-OC to be brought on seeing the setup Withers/Meyer/Herman have had but I'd still think there's a strong chance Mehringer will be running the show and play calling in a co-OC setup.