Friday, October 24, 1997
From the sidelines and the press box, UCLA’s 14 coaches put it
all together
By Mark Dittmer
Daily Bruin Staff
You might know a little about coaching football. Maybe from
coaching a team on your Sony PlayStation. You call plays, make
substitutions, decide whether to punt on fourth-and-one, etc.
Having won 63 games in a row, you might decide that coaching
football is really pretty simple. "Why does UCLA head coach Bob
Toledo need 13 assistant coaches?" you ask. "I play offense and
defense on my video team. Coaching my team is the easiest
part."
Surprisingly, video games do not perfectly mirror real life. The
game-time duties of a college-football coach are too many for one
person; in fact, they are more than enough for UCLA’s 14
coaches.
Though he doesn’t coach with a joystick, Toledo does have a
headset that switches from offense to defense. Flipping the switch
basically moves Toledo from one chat room to another. He is more
active on the offensive side, maybe because he was once an
offensive coordinator.
Offense
"I suggest things to Al," Toledo said. "I probably call about 10
percent of the offensive plays."
"Al" is Al Borges, the offensive coordinator, who does the
remaining 90 percent of the play calling on offense. And Borges
gets input not just from Toledo, but from four assistant
coaches.
The Bruins’ first 15 to 20 plays are scripted – that is, they’re
decided upon before the game has even begun. From then on, Borges
makes one call at a time, based on data that is being compiled on
the opposing team’s defense. But Borges doesn’t signal the call
onto the field.
"I always have things in my hand," Borges said. "It would be
awkward."
Instead, Borges passes that job on to his backup quarterbacks,
one of whom signals in the actual play. And Borges utilizes dummy
signals, so defensive coordinators don’t know which quarterback is
signalling in plays.
The only UCLA player who needs to look at the signal is the
starting quarterback; he then calls the play in the huddle, or at
the line of scrimmage.
As Borges calls plays, Toledo’s isn’t the only voice he hears on
his headset.
"Everybody’s input affects play calling," Borges said.
"Everybody" actually means certain assistant coaches in
particular.
Offensive-position coaches Gary Bernardi and Skip Peete do their
work from high up in the press box, keeping track of downs and
distance and observing the other team’s defensive coverages. Their
observations from above help Borges, Weber and Caragher make
adjustments down below.
Defense
While the offense scripts its first 10 to 15 plays, the defense
never plans ahead. Defensive plays are usually not called until
about three seconds before the ball is snapped. Up until the call
is made, four defensive coaches are trying to keep track of the
other team’s personnel.
Bob Field and Marc Dove both sit in the press box during game
time and communicate via headset with defensive coordinator Rocky
Long.
"Rocky’s watching very close for substitutions," Field said.
"It’s critical that he knows what personnel is in the game before
he decides what defense we want to be in.
"We’re two more sets of eyes up in the press box, watching their
sideline, watching who’s leaving and watching who’s coming in. That
all leads to him making a decision as to what defense to use."
When Long does choose a defense and when he signals it in, every
defensive player on the field had better be paying attention.
"We don’t huddle defensively," Field said. "Every defensive
player is responsible for looking to the sideline to see the
play."
With plays being signaled in from the sidelines, coaches have to
deal with players potentially getting in the way of the signal.
That’s where Kevin Yoxall comes in.
"The sideline is designed by rules so that no player should ever
be in front of the coaches," Field said. "Sometimes it gets awfully
hectic on the sideline. Coach Yoxall, the strength coach – we call
him the ‘get-back’ coach – [his] primary responsibility is to keep
the players back.
"As long as football has been played, I assume that has been a
problem. I’m sure as long as they coach football, unless they chain
’em to the bench, players will always be wanting to crowd and get
up close."
Position coaches
Both coordinators and the seven position coaches are responsible
for players at different positions. For example, Borges is
responsible for quarterbacks; Long is responsible for linebackers
and defensive ends. While Borges and Long can address the entire
offense and defense, respectively, the other "position coaches" are
focused in on "their players." And seldom is the situation where a
position coach can advise someone else’s players.
"If I saw an offensive lineman doing something wrong I’m not
going to gather the offensive line on the sideline and go over it
with them," Field said. "Mark Weber’s going to do that. You pretty
well stick with the guys that you’ve coached and your expertise for
that week. You’re zeroed in on your guys.
"Now if any coach sees a kid loafing or not paying attention or
not paying attention on the sideline … if somebody sees one of my
players loafing, I want him to get all over him. I’m not offended
if some coach gets on my player about loafing or a stupid penalty,
a late hit, something like that. But when you really get to
technical things, coordinators and position coaches are going to be
the ones involved in those discussions."
One exception to the rule comes when a coach is in the press
box, and can’t communicate directly with his players. When Field is
in the press box, he gives a message to Terry Tumey to pass along
to his players.
"Either myself or Marc Dove might be saying, ‘grab the DBs and
tell ’em this.’ He’s kind of our mouthpiece to be able to do
that.
"We also have a player phone on the sideline. If I want to talk
to them directly I tell them that I want Atkins on the player phone
or Serwanga on the player phone. They’ll go to a designated phone
on the sideline and pick it up. It will ring in the press box and
it will give us a chance to talk."
The head coach
Toledo follows the game on a headset that has a switch, so that
he can communicate with both the offensive and defensive coaches.
And while he doesn’t call many of the plays, he makes many of the
big decisions.
"I make calls regarding the kicking game, two-point plays and
any kind of trickery," Toledo said.
Toledo calls time-outs and makes the call to punt or play on a
fourth down. And, of course, Toledo designed the whole system. So
understandably it’s Toledo who gets the credit when the Bruins are
winning, and feels the heat if the team is losing. Earlier this
year, when the Bruins lost two close games in a row, his ability as
a game coach was questioned.
More recently, he’s been getting the credit. While UCLA’s recent
surge may not stem directly from decisions he’s made, Toledo is the
guy who set up the system that allowed the team to play at such a
high level.
And while the Bruins haven’t had any close wins, no victory can
actually be called "an easy win." Unless, of course, it’s in a
video game.