By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post
HAYS – When Tom Ross was let go with the rest of the Morehead State (Ky.) coaching staff this past December, he never could have imagined that he’d be an offensive coordinator in his next job, but that’s the case for the first year FHSU assistant.
Ross spent four seasons at the NCAA Division I FCS program where he was most recently the quarterbacks coach and director of video. The Gilbert, Ariz. native who was originally from Omaha, was hired by FHSU head coach Chris Brown to be the Tigers quarterbacks coach but was promoted to offensive coordinator when that position became available.
“You never know when an opportunity is gonna come about, and you always have to be ready.” Ross said following practice Saturday morning at Lewis Field. “I got a little lucky and here we are. And you know, that's kind of the message I preach to, to my quarterbacks, to the whole team, you never know what's going to happen in front of you, so if you got to prepare like you're the starter, you got to be ready. And so it's always next guy up. And, you know, sometimes in the coaching world, it's the same thing.
The Tigers have 20 of their 22 starters returning from their 7-4 season a year ago. Ross inherits an offense that finished third in the MIAA in passing and fourth in total yards per game.
“We've got a lot of returning players who have made it really, really easy on me.” Ross said. “I think they're playing really, really hard. We've got really good leaders on this football team, and we try and be a player led team, a player led offense and that's exactly what we've got.”
Ross and the Tigers closed out their first week of practice Saturday morning under an overcast sky and unseasonably cool temperatures. That’s where the former Adams State quarterback shared his offensive philosophy.
“We want to push the tempo a little bit, and we want to control the tempo. We want to dictate. We want to run what we want to run, and we want to make the defense defend us. And it's kind of a fine line between playing fast and still creating matchups and letting our guys play free. We want to spread the field a little bit. We've got some good defenses in the conference, but we feel like we've got some pretty good skills, and so we're going to try and utilize them the best that we can.”
Jack Dawson is the incumbent at the quarterback position. The Arlington, Texas redshirt junior was third in the MIAA in passing yards per game (257.5) and touchdown passes (27) but his 12 interceptions tied for second most in the conference. The two-year starter is being pushed by redshirt sophomore Caleb Heavner who saw action in three games last season.
“It's been a blessing and a curse to some extent.” Ross said. “We're gonna have a tough decision here in about two weeks to name the starter, but we've got two guys that are playing really, really well. I can't speak highly enough of those guys. They're setting the tone for this football team and it's a good problem to have.”
Regardless of who is named the starting quarterback for the season opener against Angelo State on August 29, Ross says they won’t see a big change from what they’re used to.
“I didn't want to come in and just change everything, because it's only one guy learning it, compared to 70 guys learning it. There will be a few new wrinkles here and there, but for the most part, it's not fair for me to change everything for them. We had a lot of success offensively last year, they all were part of that success. Now it's my job to try and improve and into trying and increase the success rate and the productivity.”