If
you’ve been looking for an indication that the 2007 Memphis Tiger football
season might unfold a little differently (read: much better) than the 2-10
campaign of a year ago, you should have been at the squad’s early-morning
practice on August 17th. Tiger head coach Tommy West devoted the last hour of
practice in the soupy haze to special teams. Carrying the “defensive oriented”
tag since he arrived in Memphis seven years ago (to be, of course, Rip Scherer’s
defensive coordinator), West has overseen the two finest offensive players in
school history (DeAngelo Williams and Danny Wimprine), but maintains a steadfast
eye for what makes or breaks a special-teams unit.
When the
team shifted from punting to kickoff coverage, West saw something amiss in the
track an inside player was taking toward the ball carrier. So the coach — 18
months removed from heart surgery — sprinted downfield and showed how to seal a
coverage gap. When I asked him after practice if his doctors would have allowed
such a display a year ago, West shook his head slightly . . . but with a smile.
Count
this as a certainty: no one suffered the 2006 Tiger football season more than
Tommy West. The combination of physical and mental woes combined to make it the
most challenging season in his 28-year coaching career. Having built a program
to the point it reached an unprecedented three straight bowl games, West saw
last year’s team lose nine straight games and give up an average of 30 points
per game. You don’t need to be “defensive oriented” to grow weary of such
performances.
Starting
with the midseason dismissal of defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn last
September, West has overhauled his staff like a president with ankle-high
approval ratings. (Well, like a president with ankle-high approval ratings
should overhaul his staff.) The new (and generally younger) coaches — six of
nine are wearing blue and gray for the first time — have energized West and his
program, but the boss insists there’s no tail wagging this dog.
“I had
to impress upon them,” noted West after that active practice, “you’re not coming
into a program that hasn’t won. We’re not here to get on your page; you need to
get on our page. We’ve been to more bowl games than all of them.”
It’s a
truth of modern Memphis football history that a season’s fortunes are either
tremendously boosted or dramatically drained on or before Labor Day. For the
fourth straight year (and sixth out of the last ten), the Tigers will open
against the Ole Miss Rebels, a regional rival — at least from the U of M
perspective — that serves as a barometer for just how narrow (or large) the gap
remains between a team fighting for Conference USA supremacy and a team aiming
to break from SEC mediocrity. (Among the most heated bar debates in the
Mid-South is over this question: is there more for Memphis to gain or the Rebels
to lose in a Tiger victory?) Having lost the last two contests by a total of
seven points, the Tigers see the gap as one to be closed by merely two or three
big plays, be they from the offense or defense. Or special teams.
With big
plays the recipe for success, a big-time receiver commands the spotlight once so
dominated by Heisman-winning tailbacks. So starting this week against Ole Miss,
and (hopefully) over the next three seasons, keep your eyes downfield on the
Tigers’ Duke Calhoun. Cut from the mold that made Roy Williams (Texas), Larry
Fitzgerald (Pitt), and Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech) first-round NFL draft
picks, Calhoun is in place to rewrite the program’s receiving record book as
Williams did the rushing section and Wimprine the passing chapter.
Calhoun
had best run his routes as they’re drawn up, though. If not, there’s a certain
coach ready — and now able — to show him how.
