It is never great to have an offensive coordinator leave after spring ball but the prospects of a potential change on the offensive side of the ball can only be exciting to Buff fans. It can't get any worse right?
| 2008 Offensive Statistics | |||||
| Category | National | Actual | Conf | Big 12 Conference | Actual |
| Rank | Rank | Leader | |||
| Rushing Offense | 86 | 124.5 | 10 | Oklahoma St. | 245.46 |
| Passing Offense | 81 | 194 | 11 | Texas Tech | 413.15 |
| Total Offense | 95 | 318.5 | 12 | Oklahoma | 547.86 |
| Scoring Offense | 100 | 20.17 | 12 | Oklahoma | 51.14 |
| Passing Efficiency | 90 | 112.89 | 12 | Oklahoma | 176.24 |
| Sacks Allowed | 102 | 2.5 | 11 | Oklahoma | 0.93 |
I am sure Oregon fans will come over to our site and get the pulse of Buff nation on Helfrich and this chart will be the first thing they see. That being said, he won't control the offense so he won't be tasked with the numbers above.
The chart above represents the floor, the bottom of the barrel, the ineffectiveness that made fans go crazy, that is, of course, the 2008 Colorado offense. It hurts to see those numbers. It can only go up, right? That will be Kiesau's job now.
Kiesau is in a good position to suceed, though, more than Helfrich was in his first three years. More talent, more experience, an offensive scheme that fits the players and he has had three years to closely look at what Helfrich did, critique it and now he has the opportunity to improve on it.
We all know the difficulty on offense last year, many blame the injuries, the inexperience, the Gary Barnett days for leaving the cupboard bare, the quarterbacks, the swine flu, global warming, the ecomony and George Bush. We had enough excuses to last us for a while. Hopefully with change comes brighter days. Denver Johnson has brought change to the offense already and so far it looks good. Everyone is happy with Johnson and thinks the style of play he is coaching will improve the offense from day one. Kiesau, from an outsiders perspective and the way recruits talk about him, will instantly upgrade the recruiting ability under the title of offensive coordinator. We won't know until Colorado State how he responds in a game situation or see his halftime adjustments but I am excited about the move. In this case, change is good.
After Helfrich & Co. pulled the switcharoo to the spread offense after a less than impressive first season as offensive coordinator to pretty much admitting the spread was a failure last year and moved back to a more pro-style offense, Buff fans can only hope Eric Kiesau can bring stability and continuity to an offense that has been one of the odd-squads out in the high octane Big 12.
I like how Hawkins had a quick plan, made a familiar move to avoid disruption, sending off a minimal shock wave through Buff nation and sending a message to the team that it is business as usual. You could tell by the statement made in Dave Plati's CUBUFFS.com release:
(Note: The school Helfrich is leaving Colorado to join has asked that we not release the information ahead of their completing the standard hiring process.)
that they are addressing this issue as they see fit, as whats best for them and what was best for them was to make a move on Kiesau.
We will put out a list of things that we would like to see changed in the offense in the next couple of days but we wanted to guage how the fans felt so feel free to give us your thoughts below:
1) Are you excited or worried about Kiesau taking over and Helfrich leaving?
2) What should Kiesau's first order of business be as the new offensive coordinator?