Spring Preview
March 14, 2008 12:22 PM | General
March 14, 2008
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| Jeff Mullen |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen says good ideas will never get in the way of good football players. Mullen is preparing for his first set of spring drills beginning this weekend after spending the last four years on Jim Grobe’s staff at Wake Forest.
“Clearly we’re going to give them an opportunity with the ink pen to win but we will never sacrifice our football players’ ability for a really smart idea in our staff room,” Mullen said.
Mullen plans on operating an offense very similar to what West Virginia fans have come to enjoy during the last seven years.
“From an identity standpoint we are going to continue to be a shotgun football team that’s an option football team. Clearly that is what you’ve been used to and we want to continue that trend,” Mullen said. “We want to make to make sure the defense that we are playing has a plan for all three areas: the give, the keep and the pitch. Also in throwing the football we want to be an option team.”
Mullen professes to be a strong proponent of balance. That means when the box is loaded with nine defenders West Virginia’s offense must have the ability to pass the football.
“We do want to give our players a chance when we do get a box full of defenders that we have an opportunity to legitimately stretch the field in the throw game and with the underneath routes,” Mullen said. “So whether we’re pitching the ball backwards or pitching the ball forward we’re going to give our kids an opportunity to get open and make plays.”
He explains.
“Teams that are high in rushing and low in passing or high in passing and low in rushing statistically … they win a lot of football games but it is very difficult to win a championship doing that and that’s clearly our goal here at West Virginia is to win Big East championships and play for national titles,” Mullen said. “I think you’ve got to be balanced on offense to do that and we’re going to do everything within our power to get that done.”
Mullen began coaching the offensive linemen at Ohio University and he says that is where his roots are grounded.
“Philosophically it starts up front for us,” he said. “We are blessed here at West Virginia to have an ornery group up front of veteran guys. They are a lot of fun to be around and they are the heart and soul of our offense for next year and the years to come.
“We’re going to focus on a philosophy of playing hard,” Mullen said. “We’re going to focus on blocking better than our opponents tackle. We’re going to focus on being a little bit more physical than our opponent and making sure that we’re fundamentally sound in every phase of the football game.”
Mullen says the most important outcome is the final score.
“We’re going to make it a team game. It’s not West Virginia offense – it is West Virginia football,” Mullen said. “Whatever it takes to win … if it’s 3-0 or if it’s 58-55 we’re going to call plays to give us a chance to win in regards to how our defense is playing on that day or how we need to help them out. If it’s third and 18 on our own 10 and the best thing to do is to run the football and use our great kicker to change field position we’ve got no problem doing that.
“If it’s a situation where we’ve got to go two-minute offense and got to have 75-80 plays called that day we’ll do that also,” Mullen said. “We’re going to call games from a team perspective and make sure it’s a West Virginia perspective.”
Mullen says having a staff room full of talented coaches has made the transition much easier.
“It’s a lot of fun going into the staff room everyday looking down and around at our table and seeing a bunch of guys that have a lot of really good ideas,” he said. “The biggest thing for us is to make sure as an offense that we don’t do too much.”
Spring drills officially begin this afternoon and culminate with the annual Gold-Blue Spring Game to be played on Saturday, April 19, at Milan Puskar Stadium.
