Upstairs and downstairs
August 24th, 2007, 12:30 am · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Zeiger
Rich Olson
Among the Arizona State aides that will work in the coaches’ booth during games this season are defensive coordinator Craig Bray, tight ends coach Dan Cozzetto and offensive graduate assistant Bryce Erickson, son of Sun Devils coach Dennis Erickson.
“That’s the plan for now,” Dennis Erickson said. Then, putting tongue firmly in cheek, he added, “But it depends on how things are going. If things start going bad, I’ll go hide in the booth.”
Offensive coordinator Rich Olson will be on the field, which quarterback Rudy Carpenter said will benefit him.
“I think it’s going to be good because we’ve not been in this offense long,” Carpenter said. “I’m going to need that help with me, and (Olson) will be right there, telling me that this is what we need to do on certain plays. Having him down there, he’ll see things the way I see them and answer my questions when I have them.”
Carpenter working with the offensive coordinator on the field is not something foreign to him:
Former ASU coach Dirk Koetter was his own coordinator until last year, when Roy Wittke had the title. Koetter, however, joked during the preseason that he had “51 percent of the vote.”
Wittke worked from the booth, but Koetter evidently utilized his majority rules often. Asked about the play-calling after the home loss against Oregon in which Carpenter passed for just 33 yards, Koetter replied, “Let’s get one thing clear: I’m calling the plays.”
In 2005, Carpenter regularly phoned upstairs to speak to former quarterbacks coach Mark Helfrich, who departed after the season to become offensive coordinator at Colorado. By the end of his tenure, Helfrich assumed more of the play-calling duties, though his selections went through the headset of Koetter, who had veto power at any time.
The myth that admissions standards are stricter at Arizona than Arizona State — sparked in February, when Wildcats coach Mike Stoops claimed that ASU signed junior-college transfers that “we couldn’t get in” — was fueled recently by Jarrell Barbour’s oral commitment to the Sun Devils.
Barbour, a Peoria Centennial receiver-cornerback who rescinded his pledge to Arizona to commit to attend school in Tempe, said that ASU “has a better plan to get me in. I was a little concerned about Arizona’s admissions.”
However, Barbour — who is believed to have catching up to do in order to qualify academically at any Division I school — was talking about the admissions preparations, not standards; hence, his mention of ASU’s “better plan.” Since both schools are public institutions governed by the same Board of Regents, the admissions standards are virtually identical, ground that Ryan Finley of the Arizona Daily Star covers in an article on Friday.
Friday’s mock game at Sun Devil Stadium begins at 7 p.m. and consists of situational plays and special teams, with the players in helmets and shorts and no tackling. An on-field fan appreciation function will follow.
The Sun Devils are off Saturday and do not practice on Monday. The normal game-week preparation schedule follows: practices on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and a walk-through on Friday.
