ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES
A phone call from Sparky Woods helps the former South Carolina coach get a job on the University of Virginia's football staff.
For months, Sparky Woods had been following Virginia's staff realignment from a distance and wondering what the Cavaliers were doing for an offensive coordinator.
It took a call from Woods to get involved, because he and UVa head coach George Welsh had not met.
``He wasn't in the picture early,'' Welsh said. ``At least that's the way I remember it. I didn't know where he was.''
Although they are separated in age by more than 20 years, Welsh and Woods were once Division I-A coaching contemporaries, when Woods was at South Carolina from 1989-93.
Woods was fired following the 1993 season, when the Gamecocks were 4-7 and lost games by one, three and four points.
``I'm smart enough to know, in football, that you can get fired,'' Woods said. ``At the same time, I was in a situation where I thought we were probably going to get another year.
``It was unexpected, maybe not for a lot of people, but for me. Things changed. We changed presidents three times. We changed athletic directors twice. And, there were a whole bunch of basketball coaches.''
Woods, who was the youngest head coach in the country when he was hired by Appalachian State in 1985, suddenly found himself out of a job and he was hardly 40.
``I probably didn't have a very good plan,'' said Woods, who was 24-28-3 at South Carolina. ``For the first time in my life, I didn't have a plan. I had not thought about pro football before, so I thought, `Now maybe is a good time to see what it's all about.'''
Woods joined the staff of first-year New York Jets head coach Pete Carroll. As it turned out, the Carroll regime lasted one year - Woods was on the job for only eight months - but that experience may be the reason he is at Virginia.
While in New York, Woods worked with Walt Harris, now the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh, but then the Jets' quarterback coach. Harris had been at Tennessee in the 1980s when Welsh regularly sent coaches to Knoxville, Tenn., to observe the Volunteers in the spring.
``Walt was the guy I worked most closely with,'' said Woods of his Jets tenure. ``I was what was called an `offensive assistant.' I coached everything that involved catching the ball. Boomer Esiason was there and I was in charge of one of the young quarterbacks, Glenn Foley.
``The great thing about the NFL is, for every game that's played Sunday, you get the film Monday. You get exposed to a lot of football. Pete had coaches from the New York staff, from the 49ers staff, from Cleveland, from the Redskins. There were a lot of new ideas.''
When Carroll was let go after one year, Woods took a job at the University of Memphis as the offensive coordinator under new coach Rip Scherer, who had coached previously at James Madison. Scherer, coincidentally, was a quarterback coach at Virginia in the late 1980s.
Welsh's reputation and the Charlottesville environment were appealing to Woods, who became aware of the Cavaliers' opening when offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien resigned Dec.14 to become the head coach at Boston College.
``When Coach O'Brien left, it looked like [the search] went a while,'' Woods said. ``Obviously, Coach Welsh was thinking about some things. He wouldn't have trouble going out and hiring just about anybody he wants.''
Woods eventually called UVa assistant Andre Powell, once one of his graduate assistants at South Carolina, and Powell told Welsh of Woods' interest.
``Coach Welsh expressed to me in our first conversation that he wasn't sure what he would do about the coordinator,'' Woods said. ``But, once he decided it went pretty fast.''
Many thought that Welsh would promote quarterbacks coach Joe Krivak to offensive coordinator. But Krivak later resigned for reasons that haven't been fully detailed.
``I wasn't going to name him offensive coordinator,'' Welsh said. ``I don't know if that had anything to do with it. He never sold his house in Bowie [Md.], so maybe the commuting got to him. Joe would have had a job on the staff if he had wanted one.''
Numerous attempts to reach Krivak, formerly the head coach at Maryland, were unsuccessful.
One reason for the delay in naming a coordinator resulted from the Cavaliers' search for two other assistants. O'Brien had coached the offensive line and Welsh wanted the option of having his new coordinator coach the offensive line, if that was his area of expertise.
Welsh's new line coach, Paul Schudel, had been the offensive coordinator at Illinois. But, Welsh decided to have his coordinator coach the quarterbacks and narrowed his search to Woods and Gary Tranquill, an ex-UVa assistant with college and pro experience.
In the end, Welsh brought in three assistants with no UVa ties: Woods, Schudel and running backs coach Bob Price. They joined with holdovers Danny Wilmer and Andre Powell in trying to retool an offense that had five touchdown passes last year, 103rd of 105 Division I-A teams.
``There are a lot of benefits to having a staff together for a long time,'' Woods said. ``But, at times, you get so used to each other that your system gets a little clogged. When you get some new people on board, it helps clean up some of the verbiage.''
Woods' last two teams were best known for their brash, young quarterback, Steve Taneyhill, although the 1993 Gamecocks team finished seventh in the Southeastern Conference in total offense. His 1990 team scored 27 points or more in seven games.
``I'm not sure I've ever been classified as a guru of anything,'' said Woods, who played quarterback at Carson-Newman in the mid-1970s. ``My philosophy, in general, hasn't changed too much. [But] I have enjoyed throwing the football.
``I believe, if you can't run the football, you can't stop people from running the football. But, you can't win championships if you can't throw the football. People are getting very good on defense these days and, if you can do only one thing, they can usually stop it.''
Woods is one of five coaches hired by Welsh in the last two years, only one older than 45. Two years ago, there were only two coaches on the UVa staff younger than 45.
``The first consideration is, `Is he a good coach and will he fit?''' Welsh said. ``Age is not a factor. I'd hire somebody my age [63] if I thought he was the best guy.''
Nevertheless, it would be difficult to find a coach at Woods' age, 43, with as much experience. Some observers have suggested that Woods, if he can re-invigorate the UVa offense, might be a candidate to succeed Welsh.
``I don't feel like an entry-level coach by any means,'' said Woods, eager to avoid the Welsh succession issue. ``I just hope I have as much enthusiasm as Coach Welsh when I'm his age. Just from what I've seen, it looks like he'll be around a lot longer than I am.''
LENGTH: Long : 135 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. x The mission of newby CNBVirginia offensive coordinator Sparky Woods (right), with Cavaliers
quarterback Aaron Brooks, is to improve an offense that had only
five touchdown passes last season. That ranked 103rd out of 105
Division I-A teams. color. 2. New Virginia offensive coordinator
Sparky Woods has been mentioned as a possible successor to UVa head
coach George Welsh, speculation that quickly is dismissed by Woods.
``Just from what I've seen, it looks like he'll be around a lot
longer than I am,'' Woods said. KEYWORDS: PROFILE