TU’s Todd Graham Going Old School

Graham will coach safeties and the newcomers as well as run the defense this season – which is exactly what he did during the Hurricane’s C-USA Championship season in 2005.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:54 am

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Aug 9, 2010 10:20 PM CDT

Kyle Dierking
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

TULSA, Oklahoma-- University of Tulsa head coach Todd Graham is proud of his team’s offensive reputation.

Graham spent all of his time as a Division-I assistant coach on the defensive side of the ball. When he became TU’s head coach in 2007, Graham put a priority on choosing an offensive scheme that would best suit the Golden Hurricane.

"Guys that fail - defensive guys that get to be head coaches - they pull the quarterback every other play and don't really buy into a philosophy and a belief,” Graham said. “I've worked extremely hard on establishing that."

The hurry-up, no huddle attack has produced one of the most explosive offenses in the country the last three seasons.

Gus Malzahn was the architect of the scheme for two seasons at Tulsa before joining Auburn as its offensive coordinator. Now Malzahn is one of the hottest assistant coaches in the country and will probably be in line for a Division-I coaching job in the next few years.

Graham made another shrewd move in hiring Texas high school coach Chad Morris to become its next offensive coordinator. He’s a disciple of Malzahn and will keep the high octane offense going.

With all the hype and fuss about the Golden Hurricane’s offense, there’s been little talk about the TU defense.

"I got this job because I can coach defense and we could play defense around here and I think we've neglected that a little bit," Graham said. “We’ve got to focus this year on building the same reputation defensively.”

Graham spent some of last season as offensive play caller. Now that he's handed the keys to Morris, Graham will go a bit old school this season – coaching safeties and the newcomers as well as running the defense – which is exactly what he did during the 2005 season.

Back then, Graham was the defensive coordinator at TU. That is also the year the Golden Hurricane won the Conference USA Title and Liberty Bowl.

So maybe Graham going back to his roots will mean another ring.

Follow Kyle on Twitter