THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150627
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Virginia Tech football players are never immune from that dread of every student - the pop quiz - with new offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill around.
``He'll walk by you and all of a sudden give you a quick quiz: `Edmonds, what route do you run on such-and-such play?' '' Hokies fullback Brian Edmonds said. ``It takes you aback a little bit.''
Sometimes the tests are physical rather than mental. Edmonds didn't finish a goal-line play properly last week in practice. Tranquill, 54, jumped in to demonstrate, punctuating the lesson by diving into the end zone.
``The whole team just broke up,'' running backs coach Billy Hite said. ``One of the kids wanted to know if I could do that. I said, `Hell no.' ''
Tranquill has jumped back into college football after three years coaching Cleveland Browns quarterbacks. Tranquill said he likes returning to the rah-rah campus atmosphere. Besides, things weren't always so tranquil in Cleveland.
``Circumstances sometimes cause decisions'' is all Tranquill will say about his decision to leave the Browns and acerbic coach Bill Belichick.
From 1987 to 1990, Tranquill was the brains behind a Virginia offense that propelled the program to national prominence - including a No. 1 national ranking in 1990 and three bowl games in Tranquill's four seasons in Charlottesville. The longtime understudy of George Welsh at both Navy and Virginia has, effectively, jumped to the enemy by hooking up with the Hokies as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Tranquill's extensive resume includes a stint under legendary Woody Hayes at Ohio State, where the rule of thumb was never stand to Woody's right. When agitated, the volatile coach unleashed a roundhouse left that often peppered the person next to him. Hayes and his staff were fired when he punched a Clemson player in the 1978 Gator Bowl.
``I've never been around a more intense individual,'' said Tranquill, who has incorporated some of that vitriol into his own style.
``Most coaches don't scream at quarterbacks too much,'' Tech coach Frank Beamer said. ``You tend to handle them softly. But Gary coaches them like you coach those offensive guards and tackles - rough, tough, hollering at them. He's very demanding. If you mess up, you're going to hear about it.''
And Tranquill knows when someone messes up.
``The thing that sticks in my head about him is his ability to see everybody on every play,'' Edmonds said.
``It's like he's got a camera,'' Hite said. ``It's amazing, I've never seen anybody who can do that. And he understands everybody's position so well.''
The Hokies do not seem to understand Tranquill's offense too well after two games. They have struggled with new terminology, formations and demands of his system, which is more complex than former coordinator Rickey Bustle's. That has created execution problems, such as the Hokies' six turnovers Saturday in a 24-14 victory at Southern Mississippi.
``We're not a very consistent offense yet,'' Tranquill said, puffing on a cigarette outside the visitor's locker room in Hattiesburg.
After the equivalent of pop quizzes against lesser teams, Tranquill's offense gets a true test Saturday in the Big East opener at Boston College (TV: noon, WTKR).
``People are still learning,'' Hite said. ``I find myself constantly thinking on the field, where everything was a reaction before. It's more complicated than what the system was before. It's going to take some time, but once we do get it, I think it's going to be very explosive and very exciting.''
If Tranquill can duplicate what he did at Virginia, the Hokies' offense eventually will erupt. Quarterback Shawn Moore produced the best offense in Cavaliers history in 1990 with Tranquill coaching the quarterbacks and calling the plays.
``The man is an offensive genius,'' Moore said of Tranquill during that Sugar Bowl season.
``I think the one thing Gary did that really helped us a lot is he opened up our offense and made it more difficult to defend,'' Welsh said Monday.
In the long term, the Hokies expect the same.
``He can make things happen,'' said Tech quarterback Maurice DeShazo. ``He can pick defenses apart and attack you from every part of the field. I want to make him happy. He comes from the NFL. I want him to be able to say about me, `This guy can pass the ball.' ''
Tranquill has been able to say that about a lot of his college quarterbacks: UVa.'s Moore, Matt Blundin and Scott Secules, and West Virginia's Oliver Luck and Jeff Hostetler.
Tranquill isn't one-dimensional. He coached the secondary at Ohio State and was defensive coordinator at both Bowling Green and West Virginia before coaching quarterbacks at Navy, Virginia and Cleveland. He said the diverse experience gives him better insight in attacking a defense.
Tranquill has experience as a head coach, succeeding Welsh at Navy in 1982. He went 20-34-1 in five seasons before Navy cast him adrift. The experience left a bad taste.
``They want to win, but they want to win under certain conditions and you can't do it,'' Tranquill said, adding that the rigors of the military left his players physically and emotionally spent before they reached the football field. ``Everybody wants a piece of the Midshipmen, and there's not 28 hours in a day.''
Coaching the Middies was one of the few quizzes even Tranquill couldn't pass. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Gary Tranquill's offensive schemes helped propel rival U.Va. to
national prominence.
by CNB