Just when Utah’s coaching carousel looked to be slowing down, it took a turn for the weirder.
Hours after Utah announced wide receivers coach Aaron Roderick and running backs coach Dave Schramm would be co-offensive coordinators, Schramm was named the offensive coordinator and Roderick was ancient history.
Roderick, who was rumored to being courted by Washington, announced later Saturday that he was indeed joining the Huskies’ coaching staff as the wide receivers coach. This was after an official press release and several news stories announced his co-coordinator position at Utah.
Washington fired former head coach Ty Willingham in late October, but allowed him to finish the 2008 season, which ended at 0-12. University of Southern California’s offensive coordinator and former Brigham Young University standout quarterback Steve Sarkisian took the helm once the season ended. Sarkisian and Roderick were teammates at BYU in 1996 when Sarkisian was the Cougars’ starting quarterback and Roderick was in a redshirt year. According to a Utah Athletics press release, Roderick left for Washington after initially agreeing to the co-coordinator position at Utah.
“It was an easy decision to hand the coordinator duties over to Dave after we received the news on Aaron this morning,” said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham in a statement Saturday. “Dave is a veteran coach with a great track record and he has played a major role in our game-planning and play-calling ever since he got here four years ago.”
Schramm, who spent his first four years at Utah as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator, coached two running backs to 1,000 yard seasons8212;Quinton Ganther in 2005 and Darrell Mack in 2007.
Whether Schramm continues with his duties as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator will be determined at a later date. For now, Utah still has some major holes to fill on the offensive coaching front.
Andy Ludwig, Schramm’s predecessor, was also the quarterbacks coach at Utah before he left to Kansas State. Charles Dickey, the offensive line coach, followed Ludwig to Manhatten, Kan. With Roderick now gone to Washington, Utah has at least three coaching spots to fill if Schramm remains the running backs coach.
Schramm, who finished his playing days at San Diego State in 1988, has since served in several coaching capacities.
Schramm doubled as an assistant coach at Patrick Henry High school during his playing days at San Diego State. He has coached at Austin Peay, San Diego State, Southwest Texas State, Montana and was a teaching assistant at Nebraska. Schramm joined Whittingham at Utah in 2005. This will be his first time as a team’s offensive coordinator.
