Know Your Coach: The Offense

Calvin Magee, Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator

Replacing everyone's favorite (?), Mike DeBord as OC, Coach Magee was previously the OC from 2004-2007 at West Virginia, duties that were added on to his running backs coaching responsibilities that began upon his arrival there in 2001. Interestingly, WV's running game rated among the top four nationally all three seasons that he was offensive co-ordinator: 2007 = 3rd (297.2 rypg), 2006 = 2nd (303 rypg), 2005 = 4th (272.4 rypg). Michigan's rypg's those years??? er....2007 = 42nd (164.9 rypg), 2006 = 20th (175.5 rypg), and 2005 = 44th (161.6 rypg). As I'm sure you all know, the Navy's Midshipmen led the nation each of those years. Go ahead and make your arguments about competition and schemes and talent etc. but if you check out the stats over at ESPN your angst and anguish regarding the last few Michigan seasons will be justified.....

So from whence doeseth our new Offensive Coach hail??? Born in New Orleans, LA in 1963 (yes, he's only 45) he graduated from Southern University (of the SWAC) in 1984 where he was a two-time first-team All-American playing tight end. He was team MVP twice in 1983 and 1984, leading his team in receptions all four of his seasons. According to his bio, he was named MVP of the Freedom Bowl in 1985......not the Freedom Bowl where Washington beat Colorado 20-17 in Anaheim. Oh no. We are talking a totally different Freedom Bowl: The Inaugural Freedom Bowl All-Star Classic held in Atlanta, GA. pitting a SWAC all-star team, coached by the legend himself, FROM?

GRAMBLING!

Eddie Robinson vs. a MEAC all-star team. Extra points to anyone who can find the details on that classic. Girlfriend needs a fact checker since I found Coach's football curriculum vitae details a bit hard to track down................

Coach Magee then went on to play tight end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1985-1988, where he put up some interesting numbers for a tight end, playing with the likes of Vinnie Testaverde, Steve DeBerg, Steve Young, and Jim Zorn. He then bounced to the "Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers Number 1"...(good luck getting that little ditty out of your head today!) to finish his career in 1989. But, well....if you look up the roster for the Oilers in 1988-1989 Coach isn't listed.....making me wonder if they bought his rights but then he couldn't play thereby technically "finishing" him and his NFL career with the Oilers?????

Coach Magee went back to school to get a graduate degree from University of South Florida in 1990, in what? I dunno, couldn't find it... and then coached there from 1996-2000. He was a member of the first coaching staff for the Bulls, responsible for tight ends and special teams. He also coached the running backs starting in 1997--and became the team's running game coordinator for his last 2 seasons. Seems that Coach is comfortable with a lot of hats.

Magee's departure from WVU after Rich Rod left was fairly controversial. A story printed in January 2008 in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did not mince words regarding the accusations of racism against the 'folks' down in Morgantown. According to the story, despite his being named the American Football Coaches Association's Assistant of the Year in 2007, he did not warrant an interview for the head coaching position. According to Mike Brown (T9: R2's agent extraordinaire), who declined to identify the person involved in this incident, "Calvin was in discussions with this West Virginia University administrator, and Calvin kind of politely asked him, 'Do you think I have a shot [at becoming the next Mountaineers head coach]?' The administrator said, 'No you don't,' and pointed to his skin. That's why Calvin got on the plane."

Doubt it? Check out WVUs jaw-dropping website, "A History of Integration of Sports at WVU". It is completely mind-numbing to me that in this day and age a major university in America would have a WEBPAGE about it's own integration.......if you google "integration at Michigan" it's all about the integration of technology or genomics. Hell yes I'm proud to be a naive Northern Girl.

What else do we know about Magee's successes at WVU?

6 College Bowls: (note that his bio on www.mgoblue.com has it alllll wrong)

12/28/2002 Continental Tire: Virginia 48 WVU 22

1/1/2004 Gator: Maryland 41, WVU 7

1/1/2005 Gator: Florida State 30, WVU 18

1/2/2006 Sugar: Georgia 35, WVU 38

1/1/2007 Gator: Georgia Tech 35, WVU 38

1/2/2008 Fiesta: Oklahoma 28, WVU 48

and, well, Steve Slaton

Discuss.