EAST LANSING - Everyone seems to agree that former offensive coordinator Dave Warner is less stressed-out this year.
If you expect that stress to transfer over to new offensive coordinator you’d be wrong.
The calm, senatorial Salem seems comfortable and at ease with his new assignment. Of course, he has yet to face third-and-medium at crunch time.
Warner had some great seasons in six years as offensive coordinator at Michigan State. But it ended badly last year with most of his top players, and some of their back-ups, frequently unavailable or under-performing. Warner is back to coaching quarterbacks this year, and he likes it, and they like him.
As for Salem, he is thankful for the opportunity. When asked about the pressure of being offensive coordinator when a Twitterverse of armchair experts questions every move, Salem didn’t flinch.
“I understand it comes with the position,” he said.
He should. He grew up in a football coach’s home. His father, Joe Salem, was head coach at the University of Minnesota from 1979 to 1983. Joe Salem had great years as head coach at Northern Arizona and South Dakota prior to arriving in Minneapolis. With the Gophers, Salem climbed to 6-5 in year three in 1981, but couldn’t get higher. He was fired after a 1-10 season in 1983.
The good coaching days in the Salem household obviously outshined the bad ones. That’s why Brad sought the same profession.
“You just have to be who you are and coach to your personality a little bit,” he said. “There’s a comfort level in doing it and obviously I’m looking forward to it.”
What about losing some of his anonymity. Most people around town are going to form strong opinions about the name “Brad Salem” in the coming months. Will that keep him from going out to dinner?
“I don’t go out to dinner now,” he said with a laugh.
He’s a ball coach. He doesn’t pretend to have reinvented the football wheel. He just wants to get Michigan State’s tires pumped and rolling again. He feels the Spartan staff has a strong handle on how to make it happen.
THE FOOTBALL CONSTANT
In listening to Salem speak for 45 minutes at media day, and having watched him and conversed with him many times in recent years, it’s clear that he is confident of his grasp on the game. He also believes that some football staples remain constant.
“Regardless of what you do systematically, you need to be able to control the line of scrimmage, run the football and be consistent, really, on every down,” he said. “Can you eliminate the negative plays to not put yourself in a bad situation on third down?”
Dantonio called for a new coat of paint on the offense after last year’s struggles. Judging by Dantonio’s tilt toward a no-huddle offense in the Redbox Bowl (Warner’s last game as coordinator), and April’s Green-White Game, the changes are likely to be somewhat drastic at first blush.
“You’ll notice a change,” Dantonio said.
But after a few possessions and a few quarters, the changes likely won’t feel drastic because the Spartan offense is probably going to look like most other teams’ offenses. Michigan State is likely going mainstream with a no-huddle offense, with some elements of uptempo, and an influx of more race-to-space RPOs.
That’s what the critics wanted when MSU’s two-back/under-center offense was failing. They wanted Michigan State to be more like the successful offenses we see on TV most Saturdays. (By the way, Michigan State went with three wide receivers more than it went with two backs, last year). (And by the way, there are just as many teams that lose with uptempo spread on Saturdays as those who win. But what’s not in question is that there are vastly more programs that have gone in the direction that Michigan State is now headed, offensively. Playing in space is more efficient, more forgiving to error, than smashmouth ball).
Regardless of the style points, Spartan fans want to see real points - enough to provide a respectable complement to what is expected to be a Top 10 defense.
“We know the reality that we need to be more productive,” Salem said. “All of us - coaches and players on the offensive side of the ball. We’re obviously getting called on that. That’s our job to get that done through this phase of fall camp and preparing ourselves so that we are ready once we hit game one.”
Dantonio and Salem are guarded about the specifics of the offensive changes.
“Systematically there will be different things,” Salem said. “There’s no reason to talk about it.”
For some critics, Salem won’t get a one-year grace period. For those people, Salem already has two strikes against him because he represents Dantonio’s choice to stay in-house in trying to fix the offensive problems.
Strikes? Balls? Outs? Not Salem’s concern right now.
“It’s been fun every day, working through the process of figuring out who we’re going to be on offense,” Salem said.
He hasn’t gotten caught up in the idea of forming a game plan for the Tulsa game and an opening script of plays.
“We’re in a process,” he said. “We’re not ready yet. We’ve got three weeks so I’m not worried that it has to happen today but I’m just excited about the direction we’re going and looking forward to the fall.”
SAME AS THE OLD BOSS?
Three of MSU’s offensive assistant coaches have been offensive coordinator or co-coordinator at Michigan State in the past. In addition to Warner, Don Treadwell and Jim Bollman have held those positions under Dantonio. Treadwell was Dantonio’s original offensive coordinator. He left to become head coach at Miami of Ohio, and returned last year as cornerbacks coach. Now, he is the wide receivers coach.
Bollman was co-coordinator with Warner during those great years midway through this decade, and into last year’s crash. Bollman is now offensive line coach.
If anyone thinks it’s awkward for Salem to give orders to former bosses, they weren’t around here when Nick Saban was giving orders to his former boss at the Naval Academy, Gary Tranquill. It’s part of coaching.
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