Golden's philosophy includes versatile defense - Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel |
| Golden's philosophy includes versatile defense - Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel Posted: 14 Dec 2010 03:31 PM PST CORAL GABLES — Al Golden hasn't forgotten what Al Groh used to always tell him. "Think players first, then plays." With that approach, Golden will start to try to figure out how to make a Miami team full of horsepower operate as it should on the field. "We have to see what's under the hood here," Golden said Monday night after he was introduced as the Hurricanes' coach. "We have to look at what the players can do best and make sure we can get the talent into the game." Golden admitted he wasn't familiar with the players' abilities at UM. He'll start to evaluate them during bowl practices. Golden, who has coached Temple the past five seasons, spent the previous five as an assistant coach to Groh at Virginia. When he was hired, Golden became the youngest defensive coordinator in Division I-A. Groh said Tuesday that Golden understands "flexibility in all situations" is essential to his offensive and defensive philosophies. "I'm sure he'll assess and the things Miami puts on the field next year will be a combination of what his beliefs are, what he'd like it to look like and what best suits the talent of players at Miami at the time," said Groh, now defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. Golden said he plans to run a pro-style offense, which has been used at Miami for many years, that at times will utilize a fullback or extra tight end, and will "certainly" feature some single-back formations with three receivers or two tight ends. "The reality is if you're a pro system, you're really game-plan oriented," Golden said. "You have a certain core that you use, but in essence it's based on what your opponent does." The Hurricanes' base defense will be a 4-3, but will shift some to three linemen and four linebackers to counter the growing number of spread offenses, Golden said. "You have to be flexible," he said. "The teams that have had the best success defensively are teams that can go in and out of an even and off front with great ease." While Golden was a tight end at Penn State and for the New England Patriots for one season, his coaching background is on defense. He was linebackers coach at Boston College for three seasons and then at Penn State for one season before joining Groh's staff. Tom O'Brien, now the head coach at North Carolina State, said Tuesday that Golden was the first assistant he hired at Boston College. "On defense, he likes to be very aggressive," O'Brien said. "He likes to try to dictate to the offense, not have the offense dictate to him what is going to happen." Golden's aggressiveness on both sides of the ball his first season at Miami will depend on what he sees in his players. "You have to play the game you need to play," Groh said. "You want to make sure what you do is sound, that your players are never at disadvantage leverage-wise or numbers-wise. I'm sure he'll be a strong practitioner of that." Steve Gorten can be reached at sgorten@SunSentinel.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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