1) With most of the focus on the new offensive coaches, how are they doing working with the defense coaches?  I assume defense is “business as usual” and the new coaches are working around that for the scrimmages and practice? Or are there changes to accommodate the new offensive philosophy?

Chris Coleman: Business as usual is the way I would put it as well.  As far as how practices are structured, I don’t know.  The media is only allowed in on certain days, and we can only stay the first few minutes of practice.  I haven’t seen anything different so far, other than some different drills by the new offensive coaches.  The defensive drills are all the same.

To my knowledge, everybody is getting along just fine.  Frank Beamer obviously values staff cohesion very much, which is why he’s loathe to make coaching staff changes.  When he was seeking out new candidates for his offensive coaching staff, you can bet that if he didn’t feel a particularly coach was a right fit, then that coach wasn’t going to be considered.

Scot Loeffler is pretty similar to Bud Foster.  He’s an energetic guy, and he’s intense.  Is he a genius like Bud?  I don’t really know.  It’s way too early to tell.  But I’m confident that the new staff will work together just fine.  That’s a Frank Beamer priority.  That’s one of the reasons that Gary Tranquill left so quickly after the 1994 season.  I’ve heard from a few players on that team that he and Elmassian did not get along.  Tranquill wasn’t retained, and then Elmassian left as well.  That staff didn’t have the cohesiveness of other Tech staffs.

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