Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411180082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's Gary Tranquill.
In the first football meeting between Virginia and Virginia Tech as top-20 teams, some very Tranquill plays will be called by both teams. Tranquill is the Hokies' offensive coordinator, although he very well could have been a prodigal assistant this season on the Cavaliers' sideline.
``The coaching fraternity can be a little screwy,'' Tranquill said Thursday. ``You end up going against a lot of people you know a lot of the time.''
In college coaching, familiarity breeds respect. It also puts a lot of guesswork into the game.
``Maybe we think we know what they're going to do and they think they know what we're going to do,'' Tranquill said. ``Maybe we don't. Maybe they don't. It's execution that matters more than anything anyway.''
Tranquill downplays the notion Virginia runs some of his offense. ``I don't know that anybody, any one person, has an offense,'' he said. It's apparent, however, that at least some of Tranquill's teachings in drop-back passing are in the Cavaliers' revised attack this season. That shouldn't be surprising.
George Welsh hired Tranquill as Navy's quarterbacks and receivers coach in 1973, when Welsh was named coach at his alma mater. Tranquill left in '77 to join Woody Hayes' staff at Ohio State. When Welsh was named the Cavaliers' head coach in '82, Tranquill succeeded his former boss as the Middies' head coach.
``I've coached against George before,'' said Tranquill, 53. ``We played five times when he started at Virginia and I replaced him at Navy. My first game at Annapolis as the head coach was his first game at Virginia. That was probably tougher for me than any I've coached.''
And Tranquill won 30-16. He beat Welsh's under-construction Cavaliers in three of five meetings, but won only 17 other games.
When Tranquill was fired at Navy after the '86 season, Welsh rehired him at UVa. Tranquill stayed in Charlottesville through 1990. Phil Elmassian was a defensive assistant at UVa those same four years. He's now Tech's defensive coordinator. Virginia's offensive coordinator, Tom O'Brien, was an offensive aide for Welsh along with Tranquill at Navy and UVa. O'Brien succeeded Tranquill as the Cavaliers' quarterbacks coach.
The coach who will be trying to stop Tranquill's play calls Saturday, UVa defensive coordinator Rick Lantz, was a fellow assistant with Tranquill at Navy - for Welsh - from 1973-76. How well does Lantz know Tranquill?
``Rick and I rode to work together in Annapolis for four years,'' Tranquill said. ``That was a long time ago. We know each other well. But you change. Even from last year, Virginia's defense is different. The style is different, maybe because they're better checkers.''
Tranquill came to Tech this season after three seasons as the Cleveland Browns' quarterbacks coach. He didn't like part of the NFL philosophy, the part that tied playing time to size of paycheck. He replaced Rickey Bustle when the Tech coordinator moved to South Carolina, but Tranquill could have been on the opposite side for Saturday's game.
Had O'Brien taken the head coach's job he was offered at Duke, Tranquill might have been re-hired by Welsh to send in UVa's plays. There is one difference between what Tranquill did at Virginia and what he's doing at Tech.
``At Virginia we used animal names,'' Tranquill said. ``Here, we use cards. We had cheetahs and hippos there. We have clubs and jacks here.''
OK, there's another switch, too. At UVa, he sent in plays from a booth in the press box. He works from the Tech sideline.
``I'd rather be upstairs,'' said Tranquill, who was known at UVa for spreading out umpteen pages of plays across the desk in the press box, then picking and choosing his calls. ``Just coming into this situation, after only going through a spring practice, I thought it was important to be on the sideline to have closer communication with the players about what we were doing. You can talk to the whole offense down there. But upstairs, you can see much better. I'm more comfortable up there.''
He might return to the sky in the future, but Tranquill's success in his business is well-grounded. The Hokies' altered offense, in which Tranquill wants more reading and passing precision, remains a work in progress.
Tech's offense couldn't score a touchdown in its September victory at Boston College, yet defensive brain Elmassian credits Tranquill as much as anyone for the 12-7 victory.
``Getting Gary here, with his knowledge of the passing game, helped us put a defensive game plan together to play BC,'' Elmassian said. ``You don't see that caliber of passing game very often, the kind of multiple offensive sets Gary knows and teaches.''
And Elmassian already has seen some of what Elmassian sees in the Virginia tapes - on the Hokies' practice field.
by CNB