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Randy York's N-Sider
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Tim Beck hears the clock ticking down to the start of Nebraska's spring football practice Saturday, and even though the Huskers' new offensive coordinator is still working on his playbook, he has a "quiet confidence" and sees a "quiet storm" of equal confidence brewing among the team's coaches and players.
Monday afternoon, before Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini, Beck and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini prepared to "Meet the Press" Tuesday for the first time this spring, Beck sat down with the N-Sider to discuss his promotion and the challenge that came with it. Please consider this your engraved invitation to join the conversation.
Q: As Bo Pelini's new offensive coordinator, you have overall responsibility for installing Nebraska's new offense. I realize that Bo and you don't care for names or labels, but can you describe the foundation for its success?
A: I think the biggest coaching point and teaching point of our offense is getting our guys to understand the whole offense - to understand how the play is supposed to work and why we're doing what we're doing. Whether it's tagging plays or changing a specific play when they block, they need to understand why and how.
Q: How hard is it to deprogram what's already in a player's mind and reprogram it for something else? How exactly do you make that happen?
A: It's hard. The older a player is and the longer he's been in a specific system, the harder it is to deprogram, be it words or schemes. Players learn an offense a certain way, and you can tell there's a comfort level there when they do. When you try to teach them something different, it doesn't mean it was wrong. It's just different. So that's going to be our challenge early this spring. On top of teaching technique, we need to teach everything they need to learn. For instance, if I don't want them to run a certain play, they need to know why. We need to teach the technique to execute the play, why we're running it and why we don't want to run it into certain defenses. Once they understand that, you go from there.
Q: Simplicity requires players to learn something they all believe in and then execute it to perfection. What will be the hallmark of this new offense?
A: We want to hit the defense where it hurts them - hit them where they're not. You never know what play will work during a game. You can do all the breakdowns or all of the things that point to what they're going to do. But since you know a defense is going to want to do something different against you, you have to have the ability to get what you need to get to whenever you need to get there. That's the only way to hurt them.
Q: If someone asked you to prioritize the top three things you must do to make this new offense successful, what would be No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3?
A: We just talked about deprogramming them from what they already know to what we're teaching them to do now. That would be priority No. 1. The other thing that's going to make this work is going back to understanding our offense. We can't run plays. We have to run the offense. To run the offense, we have to understand who is doing what and why. With that in mind, you can run anything that you need to run out of the offense we've built. Our players need to trust us to accomplish both the No. 1 and No. 2 priorities. It's going to take some time to do it, but once we accomplish that, then the sky's the limit on where we're going to go and what we're going to do. We can get the foundation built in spring ball, and we can work on the things we need to work on. We have to have enough of our offense in to hurt teams. So if that's the theory and the philosophy behind this, then we're never going to have it all in.
Q: Explain why you believe the best schemes are the ones where players will execute what they know is right rather than what they're told is right.
A: It's hard. That's why our playbook has to be somewhat simple. There have to be enough visual pictures that our players can understand in their brain where they need to go and why they need to go there. Then they almost have the chalk, so they can trump whatever the defense does. Again, it's about understanding not only the plays, but why we're running them and where we're running them.
Q: Define how you will work with the quarterbacks, exactly what you're looking for and how you will determine who gets the keys to the car.
A: Obviously, we're looking for the most consistent guy and the best leader. That's important. Just because you're the starting quarterback does not guarantee great leadership. Leadership is based on making the least amount of mistakes and guys that "get" the system and figure it all out. There is a lot to teach them and a lot to deprogram so they figure out what they need to do, how to do it and why they need to do it. I'm excited, and I think our quarterbacks are excited about it. We're not really out of the war room yet, though, so it's hard to tell right now where it's all headed.
Q: Tell us why you think Ron Brown is the right coach to teach the running backs.
A: I think running back here at the University of Nebraska is such an elite position. We're kind of like "Running Back University" so to speak, because of all the great tailbacks who have played here. We have a bunch of young guys who really don't know the culture; they don't know the tradition; and they don't know what it really takes to dot the "I". Who better to teach them how to do that than Ron? He's a fantastic coach with great experience. He's a hard-working guy who is going to get the absolute most from these young men. We're fortunate to have some young players who can play for us next year at running back, so I felt like I needed a veteran, experienced coach to teach those players what it's about and what they need to do in order to get them on the field.
Q: Explain how Barney Cotton and John Garrison will share duties.
A: Having two line coaches is essential. Having a couple sets of eyes focusing on all of these guys will really help because you win up front. These two guys know the position. They're both good technicians and both good coaches. You have the experience with Barney Cotton. He's a great coach who understands technique and has good ideas. John Garrison is just a worker. I mean, he's a guy with a lot of passion, energy and excitement, so the two of them together complement each other very, very well. We'll use them as we need them. They are not assigned to any specific position. Depending on how we break things up for drill work, they have to know the entire offensive line, and both do. John also will oversee the tight end position to make sure they're doing what they need to do.
Q: Describe what Rich Fisher brings to the offense as the new receivers coach and explain your philosophy on the role that wide receivers will play in this offense.
A: I like Fish. He brings a different perspective from the outside. He reminds me of the route I took to get here. He was a very successful high school coach. He traveled to a lot of different places. He was a graduate assistant at different places. He was at some smaller Division I programs. He was a guy just waiting for an opportunity. I knew Fish. Our paths had crossed when he was at Oklahoma State, and we worked some camps together. But ultimately, he came here through Bo. In Fish, we're getting someone who kind of "gets it". He's another hard-working guy with a lot of passion and energy and excitement and discipline. I'm real excited to have him and feel really good about what he brings and what all of these guys bring, really, to our offensive staff. I've been real pleased with our 2½ to 3 weeks of meetings. You can see how excited everyone is. They know it's different. My biggest concern is the amount of stress on these guys. Their families aren't here, and I'm sure they have a lot of things going through their minds. I come in to the office, and I'm worried about football. I have to remember that four of our five guys are all coaching a different position, including me. One guy has never even been here, and one's trying to get settled. Despite all that, I've been pleased what we've been able to accomplish in the short time. But time will tell.
Q: I'm wondering how scary it might be installing a whole new offense against a defense that just might rank among the best in the country again next fall.
A: Part of me (nervous laughter here) ...that's the scariest part of the spring - going against those guys. They'll be the best defense we face all year. They're so well-coached. They're so disciplined, and they're so physical. I mean, we want to be consistent (more laughter here). It's exciting. I mean, I am nervous. Those guys are really good over there on defense. They're different than a whole lot people play because they're so well coached. They have a lot of veteran bodies back. They feel good because their foundation is laid. Like always, we have a lot of talent on defense, and a lot of guys are hungry. I think we'll get a chance to be athletic and creative. We're going to try and be an attacking offense and find out what our kids do well. It's not a fair thing to say that we have to do this or we have to do that because we have to find out what we can do first and then hang our hat on that. I've worked here three years, and I know these guys. Everybody wants me to respond to quarterbacks and what not. But I don't know how they're going to respond to me. I've seen them, but I've never coached them. I'm not going to make any assessment on anyone because I don't know where they are and how far they can go until we get them on the field.
Q: You coached Roy Helu Jr., who, by all accounts, just posted some great numbers for the pro scouts. How proud are you about that?
A: Roy tested very well. I talked to him last week. He felt very, very good about what he learned in our room. We tried to teach those guys football, and that's another thing. When you continually teach and coach the game of football, players learn. Sometimes, that's all I do. When you sit down with the quarterbacks, you just talk football. What do you see? Why do you see it? What do you think they're going to do here? You can't say, okay, here's the first play and here's the second play and ... we can't get into too much of that. Roy said he really learned a lot from us. The pros were pretty surprised when they asked him specific questions, and he knew the answers about safeties and blitzes and why certain things were going to happen. He attributed a lot to what he had picked up in the running backs room.
Q: You say this offense will go where the defense is not, and you will attack. Please elaborate.
A: I mean, again, it's hard. When you start adding the variables of formations, there's no specific end-all to anything. It's just about being smart. If there are eight or nine guys in the box, don't run because even if everyone blocks someone, there are still three guys there. It's still a one-on-one situation. I'm guessing I'm going to be in the press box (calling plays), but I haven't even thought that far ahead. I'm still trying to get a playbook together.
Q: Have you talked to Athletic Director Tom Osborne, a man many consider to be among the greatest, if not the greatest, offensive coach in college football history?
A: Yes. I talk all the time with Coach. He's a great football coach. He's won a ton of games, three national championships and has great insight. I mean, that's part of what good coaches do - take advantage of those around you. I talked to Bo today about blocking. He's a great defensive coach, and he knows what it takes. Coach Osborne sees it from a different perspective. He's won a lot of games. Ultimately, the game of football still comes down to blocking, running and tackling. It doesn't matter how many plays you run or how many backs are in the backfield. You don't win with plays. You have to lay a foundation and just go after it. You have to get guys to play hard. No doubt, Coach Osborne still knows what it takes to win. When you've been in a system as long as he has, you know how to teach. He still watches games, still keeps up to date. It's part of being a coach, I guess.
Q: Last question: You've worked so hard to reach this level. I know you're humble in the way you recruit and the way you coach. But how fun is it to come to work every morning with an opportunity like this?
A: It's fun. I mean, I'm excited. I've been very blessed in my career. But I'm not changing who I am or what I believe in. I'm not going to do that. I refuse to allow this position to change that because this, too, shall pass, eventually, one way or the other. For the good or for the bad, it's going to pass. I'm still going to be me and coach the way I can and the way I know how. I'm a competitor, and I hate to lose. I've been granted a gift, and I have to use that gift and be able to share that with the players. There's a quiet confidence - kind of a quiet storm with our players and our coaches. We have to work, and we have to prepare, and whatever it takes, I'll do, and, I'm sure, they will, too. We can't wait for spring practice because we all want to succeed ... together.