Gus Malzahn

College coach infobox


Name = Gus Malzahn
| Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1965|10|28
Birthplace = flagicon|Arkansas Fort Smith, AR
DateOfDeath =
Sport = Football
College = Tulsa
Conference = Conference USA
Title = Offensive coordinator
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord =
Awards =
Championships =
CFbDWID =
Player = Y
Years = 1984-1985
1987-1989
Team = Arkansas
Henderson State
Position = WR
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1991
1992-1995
1996-2000
2001-2005
2006
2007-"present"
CoachTeams = Hughes HS (DC)
Hughes HS
Shiloh Christian HS
Springdale HS
Arkansas (OC)
Tulsa (OC)
FootballHOF =

Gus Malzahn (born birth date|1965|10|28) is an American football coach and current offensive coordinator for the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Malzahn is a high school coaching legend in the state of Arkansas and the former offensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas.

Playing career

Malzahn graduated from Fort Smith Christian High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1984 and was a walk-on receiver at Arkansas under then-head coach Ken Hatfield in 1984 and '85 before transferring to Henderson State University located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where he was a two-year letterman (1988, '89) and earned his bachelor’s in physical education in 1990.

Coaching career

High school coaching career

Successful at every stop of his career, he actually got his start as the defensive coordinator at Hughes High School in 1991. He became head coach in 1992 and in 1994 Hughes reached the state championship game with an upset of Pine Bluff Dollarway. Hughes fell just short in the title game, losing to Lonoke on an interception in the final minute.

His success at Hughes and his wide-open attack landed Malzahn a head coaching position at Shiloh Christian in 1996. From 1996-2000, Malzahn transformed Shiloh Christian into one of the most dynamic offensive prep squads in the nation. In 1998, Shiloh Christian set a national record with 66 passing touchdowns for the season, while quarterback Josh Floyd nearly set an individual national record with 5,878 total yards (5,221 passing, 657 rushing). [ [http://www.nflhs.com/News/Records/11man_ind_offense.asp NFLHS.com - News - Records ] ] Malzahn guided the Saints to back-to-back state championships in 1998 and 1999.

In 2001, Malzahn took over for legendary coach Jarrell Williams at Springdale High School. Malzahn continued the rich tradition of the Bulldogs’ program. He led the program to two state championship game appearances in the past four years, winning the title in 2005.

Malzahn led his squad to the state title game in only his second season in 2002. The Bulldogs lost a hard-fought 17-10 decision to Fort Smith Southside.

Springdale was on track for another state title game appearance in 2004 before Little Rock Central sidetracked the Bulldogs’ title hopes in the state semifinals. Springdale was upset by the eventual state champion, 31-20. The Bulldogs finished the season at 12-1.

His 2005 squad at Springdale went 14-0, easily won the state’s Class 5A championship, outscored its opponents 664-118, including a 54-20 victory over West Memphis in the state championship game, and was consistently ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation. [ [http://www.hogwired.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=30722&SPID=2419&DB_OEM_ID=6100&ATCLID=530220&Q_SEASON=2006 Official bio at Arkansas] ]

Included on the championship team were prize recruits Mitch Mustain, Ben Cleveland, Andrew Norman, and Damian Williams who all eventually joined their coach at the University of Arkansas. Offensive tackle Bartley Webb decided to leave the state to play for the University of Notre Dame.

College coaching career

University of Arkansas

Malzahn joined Houston Nutt's staff on December 9, 2005, as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, [ [http://www.hogwired.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=6100&ATCLID=219976 Gus Malzahn Named as UA Offensive Coordinator] ] following an impressive five-year run at Springdale High School capped by one of the most dominant seasons by any high school in 2005. Malzahn was part of the Razorbacks 2006 season in which they won the SEC Western Division championship. However, their season ended with three straight loses to LSU, Florida in the SEC Championship Game, and Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl to finish with a 10-4 record.

There was a widely reported tension between Houston Nutt's reliance on the ground game (which turned out to be one of the best running games in the nation in 2006) and Malzahn's philosophy of spreading the field with a no-huddle offense. The poor ending of the season only added stress to the already tense coaching relationship. In January, 2007, Malzahn received an offer from the University of Tulsa and his friend, newly named head coach, Todd Graham. Malzahn took the Tulsa job to be offensive coordinator and Assistant Head Coach. Damian Williams and Mitch Mustain, prize recruits and Malzahn's former players, also left the Razorback program.

University of Tulsa

Malzahn suddenly left the University of Arkansas coaching staff on January 16, 2007 to join his coaching friend and newly named Tulsa head coach Todd Graham. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2731782 ESPN.com: Arkansas' Malzahn headed to Tulsa] ] During the 2007 season Malzahn emerged as one of the premier offensive coordinators in the nation, as Tulsa ranked 1st in the nation in total yards per game, ahead of Texas Tech and Hawaiokinai, and with a more balanced attack than both of these teams. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/stats/byteam?cat1=offense&cat2=Total&conference=I-A_all&year=2007&sort=524 Yahoo! Sports: Sortable Team Stats: Total Offense] ]

In Malzahn's first season, Tulsa became the first team in NCAA history to have a 5,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher and three 1,000-yard receivers.John Zenor, [http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200801060107 Tulsa 63, Bowling Green 7] , Associated Press, January 7, 2008.]

Malzahn interviewed for the open position at Arkansas once Nutt resigned in November 2007. [ [http://www.nwarktimes.com/nwat/Sports/59906/ Clemson’s Bowden apparent leader in UA coaching search] ]

Trivia

Coach Malzahn is known for his no-huddle offensive philosophy, he has produced an instructional video and book titled "Hurry Up No Huddle — An Offensive Philosophy."

Gus has also been a guest speaker and instructor at numerous coaching clinics around the nation.

Gus is known for his formation the "Wildcat", which became famous during his year at the Razorbacks, but is—in reality—merely a redress of the Single Wing or Wing T Offense. In Malzahn's copy, the redressed "Wildcat" lines up a running back at quarterback and sometimes a quarterback at receiver. Fact|date=February 2008

Further reading

*cite book |last=Voigt |first=Kurt |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Year of the Dog: One Year, One Team, One Goal |year=2007 |publisher=Stephens Press |location=Las Vegas |isbn=978-1932173642

References

External links

* [http://tulsahurricane.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/malzahn_gus00.html Official bio at Tulsa Athletic website]