With Texas Tech’s head pirate, Mike Leach, currently out of college football, somebody needs to run the high octane, no huddle offense Leach made popular in the college game.
Enter Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson, who is looking to shake things up with his Sun Devil offense.
“It’s going to be a huge turning point offensively in our program,” Erickson said. “It’ll be completely different than what people have seen, and you’ll see it in the spring from day one. Our speed is way better than it’s ever been... You’ll probably see as fast an offensive team that you’ve seen in a long time here, and us taking advantage of all that speed. We’ve got the right guys to do this.”
Erickson is entrusting new offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone to install the up-tempo offense, reuniting for the first time since Mazzone coordinated Erickson’s offense at Oregon State in 2002. Mazzone spent the last three seasons in the NFL, coaching wide receivers for the New York Jets, but spent 1995-2005 coordinating college offenses at Ole Miss, Auburn, Oregon State, and NC State.
“I’m excited to be here,” Mazzone said. “This is a great opportunity. There is talent here.”