Friday, January 28, 2005

Say hi to Marc Trestman

Marc Trestman named NC State's new offensive coordinator

I love this hire. Trestman has experience as an NFL offensive coordinator, and that's huge. He worked with a pretty damn impressive offense out in Oakland (though Jon Gruden also had a little something to do with the Raiders' success). Trestman's resume is much more impressive than that of his predecessor, Noel Mazzone (who has taken the OC job at Mississippi). While I wasn't one of the harsher critics of Mazzone, I wasn't always keen on what he was trying to accomplish.

I felt Mazzone deserved a reprieve simply because he had to work with Jay Davis at quarterback, and that wasn't exactly an ideal situation. Davis was one of the worst QBs in the ACC in 2004, and considering his competition at the position (Reggie Ball, Joel Statham/Jordan Steffy, Chris Rix/Wyatt Sexton, etc), that's saying something. NC State had one of the best offenses in the ACC in 2003; in 2004, it had one of the worst. That's all on Mazzone? No way.

Trestman has been dealt a pretty strong hand (lots of experienced receivers, good group of TEs and RBs), so it will be interesting to see how much better he can make the offense under Jay Davis. If he banishes the running back draw out of the shotgun, he'll be my personal hero.