Gary Crowton to Oregon State

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Now that zeal has taken him from Southern Utah in midseason for an opportunity to be an “offensive consultant” with Oregon State, a part of Gary Andersen’s staff working with offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin.

I wish him luck. I actually liked Crowton when he was here. I admit now that he did a bad job while here and am glad he is gone. I feel he has lost his magic that he once had with offensive football and I don't see how he will make Oregon state any better since they would have to average 60+ points per game to win due to the fact their defense can't stop anyone.

It seems to me that he is able to make changes that lead to a quick turnaround and awesome production- for a season. Then all the DCs get clued in and his O becomes very predictable to them and thus ineffective. I think he is unable to adapt as quickly as the DCs from the other teams. E.g. It worked last year, so why is it not working this year?



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imuakahuku wrote:
It seems to me that he is able to make changes that lead to a quick turnaround and awesome production- for a season. Then all the DCs get clued in and his O becomes very predictable to them and thus ineffective. I think he is unable to adapt as quickly as the DCs from the other teams. E.g. It worked last year, so why is it not working this year?



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Unfortunately lately, it hasn't seemed like his offenses have had that honeymoon year. I haven't seen a Crowton offense dominate anyone lately. I think he is too smart for his own good. He tries to outsmart his opponents and it bites him in the butt. I have heard too many stories from players of his former teams that he would call plays during games that they had only practiced once during spring or fall ball and no one even remembered how to run it.

frdbtr wrote:

It seems to me that he is able to make changes that lead to a quick turnaround and awesome production- for a season. Then all the DCs get clued in and his O becomes very predictable to them and thus ineffective. I think he is unable to adapt as quickly as the DCs from the other teams. E.g. It worked last year, so why is it not working this year?



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Unfortunately lately, it hasn't seemed like his offenses have had that honeymoon year. I haven't seen a Crowton offense dominate anyone lately. I think he is too smart for his own good. He tries to outsmart his opponents and it bites him in the butt. I have heard too many stories from players of his former teams that he would call plays during games that they had only practiced once during spring or fall ball and no one even remembered how to run it.

I just think the game has caught up to him. What he did was innovative when he fielded it at LaTech and BYU, and even when he was at LSU. 10-15 years later, it's the norm and defenses have caught up to him. Still has a great football mind, but he's now solidly in the mainstream with his philosophy, and no longer breaking new ground. That said, if there is a team that could use him right now, it would be the Battling Beavers of Corvallis.

snoscythe wrote:

imuakahuku wrote:
It seems to me that he is able to make changes that lead to a quick turnaround and awesome production- for a season. Then all the DCs get clued in and his O becomes very predictable to them and thus ineffective. I think he is unable to adapt as quickly as the DCs from the other teams. E.g. It worked last year, so why is it not working this year?



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Unfortunately lately, it hasn't seemed like his offenses have had that honeymoon year. I haven't seen a Crowton offense dominate anyone lately. I think he is too smart for his own good. He tries to outsmart his opponents and it bites him in the butt. I have heard too many stories from players of his former teams that he would call plays during games that they had only practiced once during spring or fall ball and no one even remembered how to run it.

I just think the game has caught up to him. What he did was innovative when he fielded it at LaTech and BYU, and even when he was at LSU. 10-15 years later, it's the norm and defenses have caught up to him. Still has a great football mind, but he's now solidly in the mainstream with his philosophy, and no longer breaking new ground. That said, if there is a team that could use him right now, it would be the Battling Beavers of Corvallis.

I think his La Tech offense was actually more like a Mike Leach offense with some classic BYU elements in it than than the spread option stuff he fell in love after he got to BYU. It was actually Lance Reynolds who introduced him to the option because he instituted it for Doman the previous season when like 3 other QBs playing ahead of him got hurt and Doman had a weaker arm but had run option in HS and was very good at it. Crowton took that and ran with it and then thought his new creation was so great in itself that it would even work with statuesque QBs like Engemann and Berry.

BlueK wrote:

frdbtr wrote:

It seems to me that he is able to make changes that lead to a quick turnaround and awesome production- for a season. Then all the DCs get clued in and his O becomes very predictable to them and thus ineffective. I think he is unable to adapt as quickly as the DCs from the other teams. E.g. It worked last year, so why is it not working this year?



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Unfortunately lately, it hasn't seemed like his offenses have had that honeymoon year. I haven't seen a Crowton offense dominate anyone lately. I think he is too smart for his own good. He tries to outsmart his opponents and it bites him in the butt. I have heard too many stories from players of his former teams that he would call plays during games that they had only practiced once during spring or fall ball and no one even remembered how to run it.

I just think the game has caught up to him. What he did was innovative when he fielded it at LaTech and BYU, and even when he was at LSU. 10-15 years later, it's the norm and defenses have caught up to him. Still has a great football mind, but he's now solidly in the mainstream with his philosophy, and no longer breaking new ground. That said, if there is a team that could use him right now, it would be the Battling Beavers of Corvallis.

I think his La Tech offense was actually more like a Mike Leach offense with some classic BYU elements in it than than the spread option stuff he fell in love after he got to BYU. It was actually Lance Reynolds who introduced him to the option because he instituted it for Doman the previous season when like 3 other QBs playing ahead of him got hurt and Doman had a weaker arm but had run option in HS and was very good at it. Crowton took that and ran with it and then thought his new creation was so great in itself that it would even work with statuesque QBs like Engemann and Berry.

Yeah, those 2 qb's trying to run an option was as pathetic a performance as I have ever seen. To their credit, they tried it. Unfortunately for Crowton, a defense doesn't have to worry about the option when it knows that the QB is NEVER going to actually turn up field and run.

Matt Berry I think did have some skills that were never developed. He was big and had a good arm that could be accurate. Same with Engemann. There was a reason those guys were rated highly out of HS. Berry was also one of the least mobile QBs BYU has ever started a game with. Walsh and Engemann may have been below that. And yet, Crowton insisted on running a system designed for a runner QB. I just never understood that.



I think after 2001 if he had gone back more to his La Tech roots and designed something using what he'd done before along with Lance Reynolds' input on how to adapt it to BYU, that the players he had probably could have done alright. Instead he burned out QBs making them run stuff that didn't fit their skill set. I've watched football for almost 40 years and can't say I can remember any other coach as focused as he was on his "system" that he'd go so far as to insist on running plays that were so obviously a terrible fit for the players he had. I also think he never figured out what do with the Oline. His system, as much as he seemed to be married to it, was always absolutely awful (again, the post LaTech versions) at protecting QBs. From 2002-2004 and also at pretty much everywhere after BYU he was constantly battling the problem of his QBs getting hurt whether they were good runners or not.