Why Sterlin Gilbert WILL NOT Change His System - Charlie Strong

[The Sheriff]

So why WILL Gilbert NOT change his system? Charlie Strong. As one Texas poster put it years ago when discussing Gilbert prior to him being hired by Strong, "He runs a version of the spread similar to Baylor under Briles. I doubt he's going to fit the profile that will make Strong comfortable. With Strong's next OC, he's going to do one of two things - make another comfort hire and check a box. Someone older with a ball control background and an artifice of spread to their latest seasons. Or he's going to hire someone highly recommended that really does run a spread offense and Strong lets him do his thing, representing a major mental shift in behavior and belief, akin to what Patterson did, which is extremely rare."

Gilbert is going to coach a major program one day - maybe it will be USF. However he still answers to Charlie Strong now. It wasn't like Willie Taggart left a playbook for Charlie Strong saying here's how you maximize Q's raw ability (short bubble screens to spread the defense allowing Q to freelance on the run). Hell, Strong would probably be recalcitrant regardless. Whereas Willie changed his entire offense because the writing was on the wall (and Willie was still getting his feet wet), getting someone at Charlie's age to make such a drastic change just doesn't happen. Charlie has been successful in what he's done - why would he abandon the power game in his mid-50s? It's not going to happen to the detriment of Q's senior year. Gilbert's background up until the Strong era suggests Strong has a death grip on his OC's play calling (see below). See Gilbert's resume prior to getting hired by Strong: 

Sterling Gilbert - OC - Tulsa

Texas ties - check 
Success in up tempo spread offense - check 
Success developing QB's - check

Sterlin Gilbert was named to The University of Tulsa coaching staff on December 22, 2014. He serves as Tulsa’s co-offensive coordinator, while also coaching the receivers and quarterbacks. The Golden Hurricane offense averaged 502.8 yards per game that season and ranked No. 5 in passing offense and No. 6 in total offense among Group of 5 programs.

Prior to his appointment at Tulsa, Gilbert was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for one season at Bowling Green State University. In his only year, the Falcons gained 432.9 yards to rank 42nd nationally for total yards, while gaining 173 yards on the ground and 259 yards passing. He helped coach BGSU to a victory over South Alabama in the 2014 Camellia Bowl.

Before his stint at Bowling Green, Gilbert served as the offensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois for two seasons, where in his second year was named FootballScoop FCS Coordinator of the Year in 2013. The Panthers led the nation in yards (589.5) and points per game (48.2) in 2013. In addition, EIU averaged 372.4 passing yards and 217.1 yards on the ground.

In his first season, Gilbert directed the Panthers up-tempo offense that ranked sixth in the nation in passing, eighth in total offense and 12th in scoring. EIU averaged 470.9 yards per game, 36.5 points and set several school records, including touchdown passes with 34.

Under the guidance of Gilbert, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was named the Walter Payton Award winner, the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy – given to the nation's best player Garoppolo threw for 5,050 yards and 53 touchdowns in 2013 and during his two seasons under Gilbert’s guidance passed for 8,873 yards and 84 scores. Garoppolo was a second round draft choice by the New England Patriots in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Gilbert enjoyed a successful career as a high school coach in Texas before moving to Eastern Illinois. Prior to his EIU stint, Gilbert was the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Temple High School, where the team advanced to the Texas Class 5A playoffs.

Prior to joining the coaching staff at Temple High School, Gilbert was the head coach at San Angelo Lake View High School for three seasons (2008-10). Gilbert rebuilt a program that had won only three games in three years prior to his arrival to a team that won the 2008 Bi-District Championship and the school’s first playoff game in 12 years. He was named the West Texas High School Coach of the Year in 2008.

Gilbert developed a name for himself as a prolific offensive coach at Abilene Cooper High School during the 2006 and 2007 seasons when he served as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. In 2006, Cooper was the state’s top passing offense in Class 3-5A with 3,172 yards, while in 2007 the team to the state playoffs.

Gilbert’s first collegiate coaching experience was as a graduate assistant at the University of Houston in 2005 when the Cougars earned a trip to the Fort Worth Bowl. Gilbert assisted with coaching the quarterbacks and running backs. His first job was on the prep level as the quarterback and running back coach at Springtown (Texas) High School from 2003-04.

A Texas native, Gilbert was a two-time All-Lone Star Conference quarterback at Angelo State in 2000 and 2001, while serving as team captain both seasons. Gilbert earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a minor in history from Angelo State in 2002.

Alma Mater: Angelo State ‘02 
Birthdate: August 11, 1978 
Hometown: San Angelo, Texas 
Playing Experience: Played four years (1999-2002) at Angelo State and was a two-year starter and all-conference quarterback his final two seasons.

Bowl Games as a Coach 
2005 Fort Worth Bowl (Houston) 
2014 Camellia Bowl (Bowling Green)

[GaUSFBull]

Wow.  That's eye-opening.

And not in a good way.

[El_Toro_86]

People need to blame CCS for the play calling not Gilbert

[JTrue]

24 minutes ago, El_Toro_86 said:

People need to blame CCS for the play calling not Gilbert

I'll blame anything and everything I god **** want to!

[Bulls On Parade]

It wouldnt shock me if Gilbert wanted to call a different game than being allowed....CCS is boring and  Gilberts offense sounds fun. 

You will watch us run on first down and lose 3 yards and like it.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Bulls On Parade

[Rocky Style]

10 minutes ago, Bulls On Parade said:

It wouldnt shock me if Gilbert wanted to call a different game than being allowed....CCS is boring and  Gilberts offense sounds fun. 

You will watch us run on first down and lose 3 yards and like it.

LOL Yeah, who needs an undefeated season anyway.  Oh wait, UCF is still undefeated and putting up 70 points?  Hmm...

[IBulleve]

4 minutes ago, Rocky Style said:

LOL Yeah, who needs an undefeated season anyway.  Oh wait, UCF is still undefeated and putting up 70 points?  Hmm...

They are putting up 70 with inferior talent. Their offense looks eerily similar to ours last year with the motions and option reads all over the place. Coincidently, ours looks a lot like theirs last year. Kind of up tempo, kind of not. Kind of a good offense, kind of not. 

[IBulleve]

18 minutes ago, Bulls On Parade said:

It wouldnt shock me if Gilbert wanted to call a different game than being allowed....CCS is boring and  Gilberts offense sounds fun. 

You will watch us run on first down and lose 3 yards and like it.

Gilberts offense sounded good stat wise. Heck, it looks good this year stat wise. The ability to adjust is what makes a coordinator great. 

Btw, where the hell is the 18 wheeler package Texas ran with Heard last year? 

Edited October 30, 2017 by IBulleve

[usf97]

What will be interesting is to see how much Gilbert is willing to veer off course as the stakes get higher. 

We saw that in the San Jose State game. Conservative at the beginning. Then let Flowers do his thing. 

It feels like we run this up the middle garbage all day until we think we HAVE to do something different. 3^rd and 10, 3^rd and 9. Then and only then it seems like we pass.

What was interesting in the UH game is the QB run really wasn’t there. But the pass was there. But we only seemed to pass when we HAD to. Run, run, 3^rd and long Pass. Then run up the middle again. We get ahead by one score, run up the middle on the next drive. Mind you we really couldn't run wide on them the few times we tried. 

The whole game felt like we were being “rope a doped”. I am thinking, if I am Applewhite, I say just keep it close, they could dominate this game but just let them think they can win by 3 or 7 points and at the end, I am going to steal this thing with no time left for them to react. Sure he lucked out on that 4th and 24 but that is eventually what happened. Not sure if that was by design but it happened none the less.

[DELdaBull]

It almost seems like on offense we do not try to score every time we have the ball which is a different philosophy than we had previously.