Knight Notes
October 30, 2003 02:45 PM | General
October 30, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Central Florida coach Mike Kruczek is no stranger to West Virginia University and Morgantown.
The former Boston College quarterback faced the Mountaineers three times as a player in 1973, 1974 and 1975, including the last two seasons as a starter.
“The people of West Virginia love their football,” said Kruczek earlier this week. “They’re passionate about it, and you hear them.”
In 1974, Kruczek led the Eagles to an easy 35-3 victory over West Virginia in Chestnut Hill. Kruczek completed 8 of 12 passes for 83 yards and ran 7 times for 33 yards.
A year later in Morgantown, West Virginia was able to get on the better end of a 35-18 verdict, though to no fault of Kruczek. The quarterback finished the game completing 16 of 27 passes for 174 yards with no interceptions. Boston College was able to convert 27 first downs for the game and produce 363 yards of offense, but West Virginia was able to score on two short TD runs and then recovered a BC fumble in the end zone to take a quick 21-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Kruczek, Terry Bradshaw’s backup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, will be making his first trip to Morgantown since playing WVU on Sept. 27, 1975 in the old stadium.
“But I’ve heard enough about it,” he told the Orlando Sentinel. “People who have played there remember it.”
After wrapping up his professional football career with the Washington Redskins in 1980, Kruczek joined Bobby Bowden’s coaching staff at Florida State for two seasons in 1982-83. Kruczek’s first season at Florida State saw the Seminoles face West Virginia in the 1982 Gator Bowl, where Florida State was on the winning end of a 31-12 decision.
Kruczek coached the quarterbacks at Jacksonville of the USFL for one season in 1984 before returning to college where he took a job as Central Florida offensive coordinator.
UCF’s best season with Kruczek coordinating the Golden Knights offense came in 1990 when Central Florida posted a 10-4 record and advanced to the Division I-AA national semifinals. Kruczek eventually took over the head coaching duties in 1998 after longtime coach Gene McDowell resigned in 1998.
Kruczek’s first season at Central Florida saw the Golden Knights post a 9-2 record and finish the season ranked sixth in passing offense behind remarkable quarterback Daunte Culpepper. UCF’s only two losses that year came on the road at Big Ten Purdue and at SEC Auburn.
Two years later, Kruczek helped engineer one of the most memorable wins in school history when the Golden Knights upset Alabama, 40-38 in Tuscaloosa. UCF finished the 2000 campaign with a 7-4 record.
Last year Central Florida posted a 7-5 mark winning its last four games of the year against Buffalo, Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and Ohio. Kruczek was seriously considered for the Kentucky job before signing a three-year contract extension just prior to this season.
In the past six years, Central Florida has also had several near misses against top-ranked teams. In 1999, No. 11 Georgia escaped with a 24-23 win in Athens, UCF took No. 19 Clemson down to the wire, losing 21-13 in 2001 and last year Central Florida almost pulled off a big upset at No. 24 Penn State, losing 27-24.
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| According to Rich Rodriguez, running back Kay-Jay Harris is getting more comfortable in the Mountaineer offense. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
“We’re going to try and get complete play out of multiple players if we have to because we require a lot from those guys … not just catching balls,” he said. “In our scheme they have to be pretty good blockers and we can block better than we did in the last game.”
According to Rodriguez, a wide receiver failing to make blocks in the run game is the quickest way to the sidelines.
“It wasn’t every guy or one particular guy but as a group we are accustomed to a higher standard of blocking down field to turn those 10 to 15-yard runs into 25-yard runs,” he said. “I think we have the ability at tailback and at quarterback to break long runs and a lot of times the longer runs happen because of downfield blocking.”
“As far as vision, knowing how to set up a block and knowing how to press a block he’s getting better,” said Rodriguez. “But the biggest reason Kay-Jay has improved is that up front we’re getting a little more settled and are staying healthier. We’ve had an injury a week up front and we have been shuffling them around.”
