Straight talk
LSU fans got their first chance to see their new offensive coordinator, Gary Crowton, today at a news conference in Baton Rouge.
Crowton didn't reveal much. But here's a transcript from the news conference.
On what the offensive scheme will be at LSU now:
“I think what will happen is the offensive staff will get together with coach Miles, and we’ll sit down and we’ll look at the things (former LSU offensive coordinator) Jimbo (Fisher) did. He did some outstanding things here. We’ll look at things he did. We’ll look at things that I’ve done in the past, (things) that coach Miles has done and all the offensive staff. We’ll kind of melt together what we think will be the best opportunity for us to score points and win football games with the talent that we do have here. That’s kind of how we’re going to do it. We’re not going to just come in and just take one offense that we’ve all seen, whether it be Jimbo’s, whether it be Oregon’s or BYU’s or Oklahoma State for that matter. What we’re going to do is meld them all together based on our personnel here and what we need to do in this conference to win.”
On the talented returning players on the offensive side of the ball:
“I’m very excited about the talent here at LSU. I’m excited about the possibility of great talent coming in this recruiting class too. Locally there are some outstanding players. I’ve coached some great players from Louisiana when I was at Louisiana Tech, and I’m excited about the few guys in particular that hopefully we’re working on here. Obviously we can’t say what the names are, but I’m excited about those guys. As far as the veterans that are coming back, I know that we’re losing some very good players, a couple of receivers (Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis) that are probably first day guys (in the NFL draft), a quarterback obviously that everybody knows about throughout the country who is an outstanding person and leader in (JaMarcus) Russell, and I think it gives the opportunity for new guys to step up.
“And we can see them on the roster, but right now after talking to coach Miles and the staff we want to make sure we think team first. And we want this team to develop the way it did in the past as a team that’s not selfish and a team that can win tough games and then we want to push for our goals. As far as individuals, I’m excited about all those guys, but I’m not really going to talk about any specific individual at this time because we want to think team first. But to be honest with you, I am very excited about them and especially about the new class that’s coming in the same time I am.”
On his offensive philosophy:
“The thing that you want to do from an offensive standpoint is you want to score points. It’s not always about the numbers. The numbers are a way to judge things, but scoring points is the key for an offensive coach. That’s my responsibility. The other coaches will worry about the defense and special teams, but that’s the number one thing is scoring points. Taking care of the football is important and using the talent that’s at hand. Sometimes there’s so much talent that you can’t get the ball to everybody.
“But what we want to do is figure out who the right guys are, get the ball to them based on the defenses that we face, and we can do it in a lot of different ways. Play action pass. We can run it. At Oregon we were the Pac-10 leaders in the rushing game. I’ve been at the top of the passing game many times through my career, just whatever it takes to win, and that’s what we’re thinking about. Winning is the number one objective. Scoring points to win is my number one objective.”
On leaving Oregon to be the offensive coordinator at LSU:
“I was very happy at the University of Oregon. As I mentioned coach Bellotti was good to me. It was a very good program, and they’ve got a very good team coming back. But this (LSU) is one of the few jobs in the country that I would have left there to come and work at and also coach Miles is one of the few coaches that I would do the same thing for. And I have great respect for him. I know he is a hardworking, outstanding coach, good family man and great person, so that right there is something that really intrigued me along with LSU, with my familiarity with this state and being out here and having success when I was here is what brought me back.”
Here's what I think: If LSU is scoring points and moving the ball, Crowton will have a fine time in Baton Rouge. He's certainly not going to be boring. But if LSU is moving the ball between the 20s and not scoring, then there's a problem.
Crowton didn't reveal much. But here's a transcript from the news conference.
On what the offensive scheme will be at LSU now:
“I think what will happen is the offensive staff will get together with coach Miles, and we’ll sit down and we’ll look at the things (former LSU offensive coordinator) Jimbo (Fisher) did. He did some outstanding things here. We’ll look at things he did. We’ll look at things that I’ve done in the past, (things) that coach Miles has done and all the offensive staff. We’ll kind of melt together what we think will be the best opportunity for us to score points and win football games with the talent that we do have here. That’s kind of how we’re going to do it. We’re not going to just come in and just take one offense that we’ve all seen, whether it be Jimbo’s, whether it be Oregon’s or BYU’s or Oklahoma State for that matter. What we’re going to do is meld them all together based on our personnel here and what we need to do in this conference to win.”
On the talented returning players on the offensive side of the ball:
“I’m very excited about the talent here at LSU. I’m excited about the possibility of great talent coming in this recruiting class too. Locally there are some outstanding players. I’ve coached some great players from Louisiana when I was at Louisiana Tech, and I’m excited about the few guys in particular that hopefully we’re working on here. Obviously we can’t say what the names are, but I’m excited about those guys. As far as the veterans that are coming back, I know that we’re losing some very good players, a couple of receivers (Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis) that are probably first day guys (in the NFL draft), a quarterback obviously that everybody knows about throughout the country who is an outstanding person and leader in (JaMarcus) Russell, and I think it gives the opportunity for new guys to step up.
“And we can see them on the roster, but right now after talking to coach Miles and the staff we want to make sure we think team first. And we want this team to develop the way it did in the past as a team that’s not selfish and a team that can win tough games and then we want to push for our goals. As far as individuals, I’m excited about all those guys, but I’m not really going to talk about any specific individual at this time because we want to think team first. But to be honest with you, I am very excited about them and especially about the new class that’s coming in the same time I am.”
On his offensive philosophy:
“The thing that you want to do from an offensive standpoint is you want to score points. It’s not always about the numbers. The numbers are a way to judge things, but scoring points is the key for an offensive coach. That’s my responsibility. The other coaches will worry about the defense and special teams, but that’s the number one thing is scoring points. Taking care of the football is important and using the talent that’s at hand. Sometimes there’s so much talent that you can’t get the ball to everybody.
“But what we want to do is figure out who the right guys are, get the ball to them based on the defenses that we face, and we can do it in a lot of different ways. Play action pass. We can run it. At Oregon we were the Pac-10 leaders in the rushing game. I’ve been at the top of the passing game many times through my career, just whatever it takes to win, and that’s what we’re thinking about. Winning is the number one objective. Scoring points to win is my number one objective.”
On leaving Oregon to be the offensive coordinator at LSU:
“I was very happy at the University of Oregon. As I mentioned coach Bellotti was good to me. It was a very good program, and they’ve got a very good team coming back. But this (LSU) is one of the few jobs in the country that I would have left there to come and work at and also coach Miles is one of the few coaches that I would do the same thing for. And I have great respect for him. I know he is a hardworking, outstanding coach, good family man and great person, so that right there is something that really intrigued me along with LSU, with my familiarity with this state and being out here and having success when I was here is what brought me back.”
Here's what I think: If LSU is scoring points and moving the ball, Crowton will have a fine time in Baton Rouge. He's certainly not going to be boring. But if LSU is moving the ball between the 20s and not scoring, then there's a problem.
posted by Scott Ferrell at 6:37 PM
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