Look at my 2 previous posts. Which part of it is dishonest?
Keep splitting that hair concerning play calling. It's up for debate how much of that he's done on the FBS level. He oversaw the offense. You're being intentionally deceptive to make him sound inexperienced at the college level. I know aggys have a much lower bar when it comes to truth telling but that's clearly dishonest. He's been successful at the college level as OC for 4 straight years.
The Texas Longhorns have their new offensive coordinator. Tulsa co-offensive coordinator
Sterlin Gilbert has accepted the position on the Forty Acres and will lead the Texas offense in 2016 after interviewing in Austin with
Charlie Strong on Wednesday.
Gilbert, 37, comes to the Longhorns with a reputation of being a bright offensive mind. A San Angelo native, Gilbert has extensive experience coaching at the high school level in Texas and has some connections that could prove invaluable as Strong gives him the keys to the offense.
Here are five things you might want to know about Gilbert as he prepares to turn around Texas' offensive fortunes:
1. Gilbert oversaw an offense at Tulsa that finished the 2015 season ranking in the Top 25 nationally in passing (11th), total offense (14th) and scoring offense (22nd).
He worked with the Golden Hurricane quarterbacks and wide receivers during his one year with the program. Tulsa head coach
Philip Montgomery, who was previously the offensive coordinator at Baylor and is an
Art Briles protege, called Tulsa's plays and worked with the quarterbacks.
2. The Briles coaching tree has many branches, Gilbert being one of them. One of his first gigs was as a graduate assistant on Briles' staff at the University of Houston in 2005.
At Houston is where Gilbert first crossed paths with Briles and Montgomery, who was Briles' co-offensive coordinator, and
Matt Mattox, an offensive line coach who currently serves as the other half of Tulsa's coordinator duo. Briles' spread offense is a balanced attack with an emphasis on the running game in addition to a passing game predicated on down-field passes that can also strain a defense with its sideline-to-sideline spacing and a premium on speed and explosiveness at the perimeter skill positions.
Gilbert got more familiar with the offense after his college career at Angelo State, where he was a two-time All-Lone Star Conference quarterback, ended. After spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Springtown and serving his apprenticeship at Houston, Gilbert served as the offensive coordinator for former Briles assistant, Mike Spradlin, at Abilene Cooper.
Gilbert was the head coach at his high school alma mater, San Angelo Lake View, for three seasons before he rejoined Spradlin as the offensive coordinator at Temple in 2011. After one season with the Wildcats he was hired as the offensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois by another Briles assistant,
Dino Babers.
3. How much play-calling experience Gilbert has is up for debate. Montgomery calls the plays at Tulsa and the only job Gilbert has had where he is believed to have called plays at the college level was during his two-year stint at Eastern Illinois.
While at Eastern Illinois, where Gilbert was the co-offensive coordinator for Babers,
Gilbert earned FCS Offensive Coordinator of the Year honors from FootballScoop.com. He also helped develop current New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who threw for 8,873 yards and 84 touchdowns in two seasons under Gilbert.
Published reports have suggested Babers called plays at Bowling Green. At best, Gilbert has three years of play-calling experience, while at worst he's never called plays beyond the FCS level of competition.
4. The offenses Gilbert oversaw at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green leaned more to the pass than the Briles offense has in recent years. In Gilbert's one season at Bowling Green under Babers the Falcons averaged 259.9 passing yards per game good enough for 40th in the nation.
Combine that production with what Gilbert oversaw at Tulsa (329.8 yards per game) in addition to what Gilbert saw the offense do at Eastern Illinois and there will be some structure in place to improve a passing game that needs it in a bad way. Texas finished the 2015 season ranked 117th nationally in passing offense (145.9 yards per game), which placed the Longhorns last in the Big 12.
Gilbert will have all four of Texas' scholarship quarterbacks from 2015 back in his meeting room –
Tyrone Swoopes,
Jerrod Heard,
Kai Locksley and
Matthew Merrick – in addition to welcoming four-star signee
Shane Buechele into the fold. Finding the right guy to pull the trigger is likely going to be the biggest indicator of success or failure for Gilbert in a make-or-break year for Strong.
5. Gilbert's offense at Bowling Green averaged 173 rushing yards per game in 2014, which ranked 54th nationally. Tulsa ranked 63rd nationally running the football this season, but the yards per game average was the same as it was when Gilbert was on Babers' staff with the Falcons (172.9 yards per game).
The ability of Gilbert to achieve offensive balance and have an offense capable of running football will be hugely important to Texas' success in 2016. The Longhorns ranked 20th nationally in rushing last season (224.8 yards per game) and all four players who rushed for at least 450 yards last season – Swoopes, Heard,
D'Onta Foreman and
Chris Warren – all return next season.
It's evident Strong wants Texas' identity to be that of a power spread team capable of leaning on the run to win games (see Auburn, Baylor, Ohio State, etc.). The style of play Gilbert is familiar with can certainly allow Texas to achieve that and the pieces the Longhorns have available to work with (three All-Big 12 caliber pieces on the offensive line with
Kent Perkins,
Connor Williams and
Patrick Vahe along with the aforementioned rushers) fit that style of play much better than the traditional Air Raid offense.
