DALLAS – Kansas coach David Beaty wants Texas offensive coordinator Sterling Gilbert to be successful.
Obviously, not against his team, but you get the point.
Beaty is a proud to be known as a former Texas high school coach. He coached at Naaman Forest, Garland, North Dallas and Irving MacArthur before eventually landing his first college job at Rice. Gilbert had coaching stints at San Angelo Lake View and Abielene Cooper High before he received an opportunity to coach in college. As a result, Beaty shares a connection with Gilbert, and wants the assistant coach to have a successful tenure at UT.
“Another really, really good Texas high school football coach,” Beaty said. “Not surprising to me that he’s made his way up in the ranks. Very, very smart. Very, very bright guy. I think there’s going to be great things to come down there in Austin. They’ve got a couple of Texas high school coaches on their staff (including special teams coordinator Jeff Traylor). They’ve got several pieces of hardware on their hands for winning state championships here.”
Gilbert was hired after last season to turn around Texas’ offense. Last season, Gilbert served as a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks/receivers coach at Tulsa, helping the Golden Hurricane rank 14th nationally in total offense (502.8 yards per game), 25th in scoring (35.9 points per game) and 11th in passing (329.5). He is expected to create the productive offense former play-callers Shawn Watson and Jay Norvell struggled to establish at Texas.
However, Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury believes it will take time before Gilbert’s offense resembles the firepower Baylor had under former coach Art Briles (Gilbert served as a grad assistant under Briles at the University of Houston in 2005).
“It takes time to get a high-powered offense,” Kingsbury said. “It took Briles five or six years to get there and bring in some really, really good players before they were leading the country in points and yards. I don’t know if it will be an overnight deal. I really like the young quarterback (Shane Buechele) they have there. I think Sterlin will do a good job. As far as jumping right in and leading the country in points, all the things that Baylor was doing, that might be a process.”
It may take some time for Gilbert to establish his offense, but that does not mean coaches in the Big 12 are taking him lightly.
“We’ve watched him,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “They’re (Texas) very similar to coach (Philip) Montgomery at Tulsa. We understand the kind of offense they’re going to run. I watched their spring game. Taped it, broke it down.”
FINAL WORD ON SONNY CUMBIE: Instead of discussing Gilbert, TCU offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie could be the hot topic heading into this season.
Cumbie was originally offered the offensive coordinator position at Texas. The Cumbie family was flown into Austin last year and met the staff. After spending the day in Austin, the family flew back home and decided against leaving TCU. Strong eventually offered the job to Gilbert, who accepted the position.
TCU coach Gary Patterson said he discussed the job offer with Cumbie, but never tried to sway his assistant when asked about their previous conversations during Big 12 Media Days.
“I look at coaches leaving like I look at players that want to go out early in the draft,” Patterson said. “I’m not going to convince them one way or the other. All I’m going to do is give them the facts on both sides because it’s not going to be my fault. A player going out in the draft, I’m not going to tell him not to go and he gets hurt and is not a first-round draft pick. I’m not going to tell him to go, he doesn’t make it and doesn’t get his degree. What I do is I give them (information) by asking questions and calling people. I do the same thing with all of my assistants. Here’s what I have to offer you. Here’s what the pluses are. Here’s what I think the minuses are. Here’s what I think (about) the other university and what you can achieve, whether you can achieve more or less, whatever you want to do with it. I let them make the decision. You’re affecting somebody’s family and their life. I’ve never been one of those who believe you talk somebody out of something unless I believe they’re just making a mistake.
“He would have been a positive at either place. Then it comes down to how you like your lifestyle, how you like to live. One of the things I love about Sonny is money, sometimes that’s everybody’s end all, but that’s not his end all. That’s not the most important thing to him.”
THANK YOU, CHRIS WARREN: If Texas Tech is a better defensive team this season, the team can thank Texas running back Chris Warren.
Last season, Warren shredded Texas Tech’s defense for 276 rushing yards and four touchdowns. As a result of that lackluster performance, Kingsbury said his team emphasized tackling throughout the spring. They spent more time trying to take guys down to the ground than in previous years.
So, was Warren that good, or the Red Raiders that bad?
“He’s a good player,” Kingsbury said. “We wanted him badly. He’s a big, tough physical kid. We could have probably tackled him a little better. He’s a heck of a player."
