My First and Last Practice

So, I've been away a lot lately. Good for me personally but bad for the blog. But today made a trip to Westwood to see my first practice of the season. It was the very last practice of the season and now the team heads into seclusion to prepare for the opener.

Nothing special happened. The team wasn't in full pads and there wasn't any major injuries. I'll have thoughts on it later, but my first impression is that this offense needs a lot of work. They have a very long way to go if they want to compete with Tennessee in a week and half. In the 7-on-7 and 11-0n-11 drills the QBs made a lot of bad throws. The running game wasn't good mainly because there were no holes made by the O-line. Nothing surprising if you've been following the team all camp but I confirmed it with my own eyes today.

Michael Norris had a really good day. Made some nice plays, downed a punt inside the ten, had a nifty interception in the end zone where he took the ball almost literally out of Marcus Everett's hands. That kid has a lot of heart and he plays really intense. I always think he looks good in practice. It is just too bad that he doesn't have the size or skill to match.

On a separate note, Frank Gantz Jr (the special teams coach) is a riot. He yells and gets in the face of his players. I could hear him all the way across the field. He was giving the kickers grief during the last set of drills and I couldn't help but chuckle.

I also noticed that this staff curses a lot more than the last one. They are much more vocal and don't tolerate mistakes. I like it.

Coaching Staff Complete

This past week Rick Neuheisel hired his last two assistant coaches. Frank Gansz Jr., who spent the last two seasons on the staff of the Baltimore Ravens, has been hired to coach Bruin special teams. Tim Hauck, who has spent the past four years of the staff at the University of Montana, has been hired to coach the secondary. Now that the staff is complete, the Bruins can begin preparing for spring practice.

Neuheisel has prior connections with both coaches. Obviously, he knows Gansz from his time at Baltimore. Rick had Tim Hauck's brother, Bobby Hauck, on his staff at both Colorado and Washington. It was rumored that Bobby might be up for the job as well, but he is the head coach at Montana and taking a job demotion like that to an assistant job probably wasn't an attractive proposition.

Gansz is a great addition to the staff. He has coached nine seasons in the NFL as a special teams coach. That kind of experience and specialty should continue to keep the Bruins kickers, punters, and return teams performing at a high level. Gansz inherits probably the strongest squad on the team and they should be strength going into a what looks like a very difficult 2008 seaosn.

Before his NFL career, Gansz was the tight-end and special teams coach at the University of Houston. Since the tight-end spot doesn't have a dedicated coach, Gansz could help out in that capacity. Though it is thought that offensive line coach Bob Palcic will probably cover those responsibilities along with a graduate assistant.

Tim Hauck is a relatively young coach, but he had a very long and productive career in the NFL. He spent 12 years in the league playing for Green Bay, Seattle, Denver, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and San Francisco. He has spent the last four seasons coaching the secondary at Montana where his squads were some of the top ranked units in the D-1AA level. He'll continue to grow as a coach with the assistance of Dewayne Walker. The two will definitely have their jobs cut out for them, having to replace Horton, Brown, and Keyes this next season.