Page 8/The Battalion/Wednesday, November 11,1987
Sports
Amedee alters offense to changing conditions
By Hal L. Hammons
Assistant Sports Editor
Editors note: In the first part of a
two-part interview with Texas A&M
Offensive Coordinator Lynn Ame
dee, the coach describes the Aggie
offensive scheme, his philosophy of
coaching and the shortcomings of
the A&M attack.
Q: What part do you like most
about yourjob?
A: Oh, I think coaching kids. I
think you get involved in coaching
and coaching is teaching. And when
you start teaching somebody and all
of a sudden you see they get better,
you win and you get better, and it
gets easier. Being involved in foot
ball is something that, ... If you’ve
ever been in wars it’s very similar. So
I think the involvement of teaching a
young guy to get better and see him
progress is the biggest thing there is
in football.
Then you see them go on and be
someone else. I (have) 16 or 17 kids
playing in the pros. And you watch
these guys play on Sundays, and you
know they’re making millions, and
you’re still making a dollar and a
quarter! (laughs) But that’s the fun
about it!
So it is, it’s a lot of fun. You see
those things happen, and that’s what
makes coaching what it is. I mean,
it’s a fun job. It’s something that you
enjoy doing. There’s no point where
you hate to get up in the morning
and you say, “I’ve got to go to work.”
Because it’s really a fun type of
thing. There’s something always dif
ferent going on. And that’s the big
thing. There’s never the same day —
it’s something different every day.
And that’s what makes it fun.
Q: Are you the one who designed
the offense they’re running right
now?
A: Well, I think I’ve had a part of
it, yes. I think what we’re doing and
what we’ve done since I’ve been here
has been in my background for the
last eight-ten years. And we’ve had
to make some adjustments, some
bad and big adjustments this year
compared to what we were two years
ago and last year. But (our staff)
could see that we needed to make
adjustments. We weren’t going to be
the wide-open team that we have
been, and we’ve had to make some
adjustments.
Q: What kind of adjustments?
A: Well, we’ve had to take away
from the spread offense and (throw
ing the ball) 40-50 times a ballgame,
to the “I” formation and running the
ball more. Be able to execute offen
sively and take the heat off our quar
terbacks a little bit more.
Our quarterback ran the show
here for two years, until this year,
because he was such a great player.
He was a dominant player. He was
going to make it happen. Here now
our youth has caught up with us at
quarterback. . . . We adjusted and
made those adjustments. And it’s
helped us. We wouldn’t be in the
hunt today if we wouldn’t have made
those adjustments. If we’d said we
were going to stay wide open and try
to throw the ball 40 times, I don’t
think we would’ve won six games.
It’s just that simple.
Q: Are you staying basically with
the same offensive scheme?
A: Well, yeah, our scheme’s the
same. Our adjustments are differ
ent. We would in the past throw
first, run second. Now it’s the oppo
site: we run first, throw second. And
until our quarterbacks learn and get
better, we’re going to have to con
tinue with that pace. . . .
Q: Last year’s offense was de
scribed as a “run-’n-shoot” offense.
Would you classify this offense as a
“run-’n-shoot?”
A: No. I would classify this more
as an I-formation football team,
based on the fact that we’ve got two
great tailbacks in Keith Woodside
and Darren Lewis. We try to get
them the ball as much as we can.
We’re more of a power football team
than we were. We’re more play-ac
tion pass than we were. It’s a com
pletely different football team. And
that’s what I’m saying — we made
those adjustments. Philosophy — we
still want to throw the football. But
we can’t. We’ve not progressed to
the point where we can put all the
heat on the quarterback and say “you
go out and execute.” They’re not
quite ready yet, and that’s what’s
hurting us right now.
Q: It’s easy to look at the running
backs that you have and wonder,
since you have such a run-oriented
offense, “Why don’t you go to, say,
a wishbone offense where you can
get all the running backs in there
and perhaps run a little more effi
ciently?”
A: Well, I think it’s because, sim
ply, two reasons: one, I don’t want to
do it. I don’t like the wishbone. Two,
I don’t think we have enough line
men to run the wishbone. I think the
wishbone is a power football team
where you gotta have big linemen.
You gotta have tremendous speed —
we’ve got adequate speed. And you
gotta have a like for the wish
bone. . . . It’s a three-yards-and-a-
cloud-of-dust football game. I’m not
that kind of guy. . . .
Q: You don’t like the slow pace of
it?
A: I don’t like the pace of the
wishbone. . . . Your personality has
got to dictate, and my personality
will not dictate to the wishbone. I
just don’t like it.
Q: Do you get frustrated not be
ing able to throw the football?
A: (quickly) Yes I do. Very much
so. I think that it has been hard on
us. It’s been hard on me, it’s been
hard on my quarterbacks, because I
want to see them come faster. I want
to see them be able to progress to the
point where if the defense gives us
something, we ought to be (able) to
take advantage of it. We haven’t
done that.. . .
It kind of frustrates me because
it’s so easy, it looks so easy. But yet,
when you put yourself in the shoes
of a 17- or 18-year-old like Bucky
(Richardson) and (Lance) Pavlas, it’s
not that easy. And they’re having
growing pains, too, and we’ve got to
grow with them and be patient. And
sometimes we’re not patient, and
sometimes our alumni are not pa
tient, and sometimes the press is not
patient, but we’ve got to be patient
with the young guys, because they’ve
got to be our future. And they’re
going to get better.
But time is going to tell. Not today
— time is going to tell. And we hope
it’s today, but it’s not going to be that
way. And so we’ve got to try to re
lieve that pressure off of them, and
become a better team some other
way. And that’s with the running
■ nit
: a
game a little bit, and a little pb
lion passing, those kindofthinp.
But yes, it does frustrate me
cause I think the throwing
the easiest way to score, it’stl
est way to move the football teat
the easiest way to open up deft
so that you can move the ball
mot e adequacy and morestrenji
Q: So you’re saying it’seasit
set up the run with the pass the
other way around.
A: I always thought so. 1 a!
thought it was easier to set up
run with the pass. Because once
start throwing the ball, and you
throwing the ball effectively,
linebackers have the tendeuo
start dropping back, defensive^
have the tendency todropbadi
men are thinking more pass
and you got a chance to knock
off the ball a little easier. A k
people don’t agree with that,but
always felt it was easier to setit
that way.
And it has proven over tht
couple of years for us, becaust
had the No. 1 rusher last year is
Southwest Conference with R
Vick. And we ran the ball two
ago and last year at a 200-yardp
clip and threw the ballata200-s
game clip. So that's what youtt
See Amedee, page 9
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G&J
Bedrosian wins NL Cy Young race
NEW YORK (AP) — Philadelphia
reliever Steve Bedrosian, who led
the major leagues with 40 saves, won
the National League Cy Young
Award Tuesday by the slimmest
margin in the award’s history.
Bedrosian, who set a major-league
record with saves in 13 consecutive
appearances, edged Rick Sutcliffe of
Chicago 57-55 in voting by the Base
ball Writers Association of America.
Rick Reuschel, who played for Pitts
burgh and San Francisco, finished
one point behind Sutcliffe in third
place.
The closest election prior to this
year was in 1981, when Fernando
Valenzuela of Los Angeles beat Tom
Seaver of Cincinnati by three points.
Bedrosian is the third reliever to
win the NL Cy Young Award since
the leagues started giving out sepa
rate honors in 1967. Bruce Sutter of
Chicago won in 1979, while Mike
Marshall of Los Angeles was hon
ored in 1974.
It is the fourth time this decade
that a Philadelphia pitcher has won
the NL Cy Young Award. Steve Car
lton won in 1980 and 1982, and
John Denny won in 1983.
Bedrosian had a 5-3 record and
earned run average of 2.83 in 1 c *87.
He struck out 74 and walked ! in
89 innings. Despite his outstanoing
season, the Phillies finished tied for
fourth in the National League East
with an 80-82 record.
After setting a club record with
his 30th save, Bedrosian down
played the feat.
“You can’t think about records
when you’re out there,” he said. “It’s
just myjob to finish it up.”
Orel Hershiser of Los Angeles
finished fourth in the voting with 14
points. Dwight Gooden of New York
and Nolan Ryan of Houston tied for
fifth with 12 points. They were fol
lowed in the voting by Mike Scott of
Houston with nine points and Bob
Welch of Los Angeles with three
points.
You are invited to attend a
Presentation
on
Investment Banking
7:30 p.m., Sunday, November 15
Hilton — Ballroom III
All undergraduates are invited to join
Shearson Lehman Brothers
Corporate Finance Professionals
including:
Ben Allen ’87 Chris Barnes ’85
Debbie Goode ’86
Reception to follow
Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc.
Tech's Tolliver earns Player of Week honors
From the Associated Press
There’s something about the
Texas Christian Horned Frogs
that brings the very best out in
Billy Joe Tolliver.
Texas Tech’s Tolliver killed
TCU for the third consecutive
year Saturday with a late touch
down pass in a wild 36-35 victory
over the Horned Frogs. That per
formance earned him The Asso
ciated Press Offensive Player of
the Week award.
The AP’s SWC Defensive
Player of the Week came as no
surprise. It was Houston de
fensive back Johnny Johnson,
who returned three Texas passes
for touchdowns in the Cougars’
60-40 victory over the Longhorns
Saturday.
In 1985, Tolliver set an SWC
record for passing yards in a
game with 422 against TCU in a
63-7 victory. In 1986, Tolliver
threw two touchdown passes
against the Frogs in a 36-14 vic
tory.
Then came Saturday’s magic
against the Frogs by the junior
quarterback. And yes, TCU — he
has one more year of eligibility.
Working from the Tech 40,
Tolliver completed four of five
passes for 59 yards of the touch
down drive. He completed a 24-
Idv
$125
with a 10-yard strike to the TO
11.
Tolliver then found a li
open Wayne Walker for the w
ning pass with 54 seconds left.
“Billy Joe showed a lotofpo:
in the last 2‘A minutes,’’saidT«
Coach Spike Dykes. “He
? ;reat job in reading TCU's i
ense. They were mixing
blitzes and Billy Joe did a
job of picking them all up.
had to audible several times
even used hand signals.
yard pass and hit Eddy Anderson
“He has really come on tohai
the kind of year we thought I
could,” Dykes added.
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to
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Photo by Ken Nahou
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Westheimer earned her doctorate in the Interdisciplinary Study of the Fam
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Dr. Westhemer also gives lectures at colleges and university across the country
and has a private practice in New York City. She is married and the proud
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