University of North Carolina Athletics
A Conversation With Gary Tranquill: Part I
January 24, 2001 | Football
y: Joe Bray
TarHeelBlue: I know that you contemplated retiring after what happened at Virginia. What made you change your mind?
Coach Tranquill: "Three things, actually.
"North Carolina was one, Coach Bunting was two, and three, I still have a fire in me. I've been in this game a long time, but I still have that fire in me. It's something that never leaves you.
"I decided that it wasn't in my best interest to leave coaching. I wasn't going to leave football, I was maybe going to work another year as a scout in the NFL, because I needed another year to be vested. But, this opportunity came up, and here I am.
"This is a beautiful place. I really haven't seen much of the campus because, whenever I was here, it was just a matter of being bussed to the stadium. It's a lovely area and a great institution.
"I think this is a great place to work, and we're going to get the football program to where it should be."
TarHeelBlue: Will the personnel that you inherit dictate your style of offense?
Coach Tranquill: "I think so. There's a lot of good things in football, and there's a lot of things I like to do. I think sometimes what you have to do is temper what you do because of the personnel you have.
"I've always had that philosophy. You don't want to try to pound a round peg into a square hole. I think that you can go overboard in the other way, too. I think when you have a guy that's really a good player, maybe sometimes you try to do too much with him.
"There's a happy medium in there, but I believe in doing what your personnel allows you to do. It may not always be what you want to do"
TarHeelBlue: If you had the athletes to run it, what style of offense would you like to run?
Coach Tranquill: "I would prefer to be wide open and spread out, then close it up. I do believe you have to be able to run the ball effectively to win, but I'm not averse to doing anything formation-wise or with personnel groups.
"If you've got certain individuals that have big play capabilities, I believe in trying to get them the ball as much as possible. If you've got a great running back he may get the ball 25 times a game, but that doesn't mean you have to be in two-backs to get it. He can be the one back.
"If you've got the right guy under the center that can understand things, as well as be able to execute, that's a plus. It's one of those deals where you're going to do what suits. Sometimes the more you can do and still camouflage what you do, that's the way I want to go.
"Not have a whole lot of different runs, not have a whole lot of different passes, but be able to change up formations, give the defense different looks, change personnel groups. That may mean four wideouts in the game, it may mean two tight ends and two wideouts, or two backs and a tight end.
"I really don't have any preferences, but I do think you have to be able to run it, and you have a good, solid foundation throwing the football, which starts with protection.
"In this day and age, with all the blitzing and all the pressure defenses, it's getting harder. Not only do those people up front and in the back have to totally understand protection, but the quarterback does too, and to some degree the receivers."
TarHeelBlue: Coach Bunting said one of the reasons he hired you was because the quarterback was being hit too much. How, besides with the offensive line, do you protect the quarterback?
Coach Tranquill: "There's a lot of people involved. It's not just the offensive line, it's not just the running back who's back there protecting. Sometimes it's the quarterback, sometimes he doesn't pull the trigger quickly enough. Sometimes it's the receiver, when he's got a one-on-one situation and he doesn't win.
"There's a multitude of factors that go into why the quarterback sometimes gets hit too much. If you're going to be effective throwing the ball, it's imperative that you can protect the quarterback.
"You go to four wideouts, and you've only got five linemen and a back to protect, and they're going to rush six on you, the quarterback better be able to get rid of the ball and know where he's going with it. Otherwise, you can't do that.
"Then you go to the other extreme, where you're blocking everybody up, then you've only got two receivers out in the pattern, and there's not too many choices to make.
"That's what's fun about the game. You try to plot and scheme and figure out the best way to do those kinds of things. I don't think anybody wants their quarterback to get hit, but if you're in four wideouts all the time, there's no way you can block seven of them. The quarterback has to be good enough to make the proper hot read, or he has to have the ability to evade the rush. That's important, too,
"But that's where it starts, it starts with protection. It's the whole group of eleven that have to know what's going on and execute.
"Sometimes the offensive line does a great job but the back misses, or all of them do a good job, but the quarterback misses the read. There's a lot of things. You see it at the next level too, on Sundays. Every once in a while somebody comes in untouched and rips the quarterback.
"It's not an easy game anymore."
TarHeelBlue: What's the toughest adjustment the players have to make when they're faced with a totally new offensive scheme?
Coach Tranquill: "You know what, when you look at what is being done throughout the country today, there are very, very few different offensive schemes. Everybody does basically the same things, maybe somebody does a little bit more of something than somebody else does. But, I think the biggest thing you get hung up with is terminology.
"What I call apples, they may have learned as peaches. That's usually the hardest thing, having everybody, both the players and the coaches, being on the same page with the terminology.
"Everybody runs a streak route, a take-off, they're known by 25 different names, but it's the same route.
"Coaches sometimes have the same problem when they converse. When you go visit some other staff it's the same scenario. Sometimes you'll talk for ten minutes before you finally arrive at what you're both talking about."
TarHeelBlue: Did you know any of your offensive coaches here from in the past?
Coach Tranquill: "No, I didn't really. I knew of them, but I didn't really know them."
TarHeelBlue: Coach Bunting is so big on staff chemistry. Have you been able to get a feel for the offensive staff's chemistry?
Coach Tranquill: "Chemistry is extremely important. I spent a lot of time with Coach (Robbie) Caldwell, I spent a lot of time with Coach (Gunter) Brewer and with Coach (Ken) Browning to some degree, talking about what I'd like to do, how we're going to teach it, how we're going to be mentally and physically tough.
"I was very impressed with the way they talked about it. I'm sure it's going to be the same situation with them, learning new terminology. However, coaches are a little bit more flexible than the players, they can pick it up quicker that the players because they're doing it every minute of every day.
"I think we'll be very compatible, and we'll work together well."
TarHeelBlue: Was it an easy decision to keep Robbie and Gunter?
Coach Tranquill: "Yes. I quizzed them and found out what they liked and what they taught. There's a lot of similarities between what I like to do and what I like to teach."
TarHeelBlue: Do you have enough knowledge of your squad to know what their strengths and weaknesses might be?
Coach Tranquill: "No, I really don't. I probably know more about the defense than I do the offense, but that's not going to help me any.
"Obviously, I've seen Ronald Curry, I know about him. I don't know about many of the other guys, because in the film exchanges last season, I didn't get to see North Carolina's offense very much. I really don't know the personnel that well."
TarHeelBlue: You mentioned Curry. Do you have much of a feel for his strong and weak points? Some critics say that he's such a good, confident athlete, that sometimes he thinks he can do more than he really can.
Coach Tranquill: "Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's not so good. I think one thing about the quarterback position, more than any other position, is that you have to have someone now who has creativity, and Ronald has that. As I was saying before, it's too hard to block everybody consistently all the time, with all the blitzes and variations of defense.
"If you have a quarterback who can create and make some things happen, that's great. Now at what point do you temper that, because it can become a situation where it's counter productive.
"In all the years that I've been coaching quarterbacks, the one thing that's very difficult is that it's hard to coach judgement, anticipation, decision making. I can get them to a point, but I can't pull the trigger. Some guys pull the trigger more quickly than others, while some guys never pull the trigger.
"It's a hard position to play, probably harder than any other one on the field. Curry can ad lib, plus he's a tremendous athlete with a big time arm. We'll see if we can do some things to try to take advantage of him."
