Dave Baldwin is one of three former offensive coordinators on CSU's staff, along with Billy Napier and of course, Jim McElwain.
There's no doubt that offense will be the main focus in Fort Collins, and it's evidenced by the fact that CSU has yet to sign a defensive coordinator.
But the offensive side of the ball is set, and it all starts with Dave Baldwin, and his hire was one of McElwain's most important considering Coach Mac is one of the most intelligent offensive minds in college football.
The 57-year old Baldwin has 33 years of college football coaching experience, including 10 as a head coach at the Division I level and five more at the Junior College level.
As an offensive coordinator, his current position with Colorado State, Baldwin has 11 years of experience with Cincinnati, Baylor, Michigan State and most recently, Utah State from 2009-2011.
Last season, Baldwin led the Aggies to the sixth best rushing offense in the country at 282.7 yards per game on the ground. His best back, Robert Turbin, ran for 1,517 yards alone and 19 scores, and he goes into the 2012 NFL Draft as a top-10 running back prospect.
From 2003-2006, McElwain was Baldwin's wide receivers coach at Michigan State, where the two set multiple school records together for passing, receiving and total offense.
But besides being a great coach, Dave Baldwin is a Colorado native, being born in Denver and he called Jack Elway—John Elway's father—his mentor. He played for the elder Elway at Granada Hills High School before John, and at Cal State Northridge under Jack Elway before coaching with him at Northridge, San Jose State and Stanford.
Now Baldwin brings all that knowledge to Fort Collins, and he's excited to be here.
“It's a family atmosphere,” he said of the coaching staff and atmosphere at Colorado State. “It will always be about the players.”
“It will be very diverse,” as Baldwin explained his offense will be tailored to fit the athletes available in green and gold. “We have the package and personnel and terminology to implement that. In spring, we're going to implement the basics of what formations, personnel groupings and plays and let them take over.
“We were sixth in the nation in rushing last year but that was our personnel. At Michigan State we were fifth in the country in total offense and we threw the football.
“We'd like to be as balanced as possible, there's no doubt about that. But where is your best personnel?”
Encouraging and intelligent words from an experienced coach that knows it's better to fit your system to the talent than vice versa.
And he talked a bit about the all-important quarterback position and explained how each of the four Rams' QBs are on level ground, while he clarified he hasn't talked to all of them or discussed philosophy.
“Everybody starts on the same page,” speaking of his offense. “It's all new to them. New terminology, new philosophy, new everything. So, the guy that establishes the fastest and adjusts and understands what we want out of the quarterback. And a lot of what we want out of our quarterback is leadership and managing our offense. And by managing our offense I mean, making sure people get lined up, making sure to get people in motion, make sure the tempo is right. It's not always throwing touchdowns it's sometimes throwing the ball away so we don't throw the pick.”
And in terms of leadership from the quarterback position, Baldwin said he's looking for, “A kid that has qualities of leadership, that displays leadership. And it doesn't have to be verbal, he displays it with his body language and how he handles the other players.
“The quarterback that points fingers is not a leader.”
It will be interesting to see just what he can do in 2012 with Chris Nwoke at running back and the other players available to him on offense.
The Rams offense is in good hands with the amiable and amicable Baldwin calling the plays and adapting his diverse offense to the athletes Colorado State has on the roster.
Information courtesy of Colorado State University.
Other coaches announced Tuesday:
Billy Napier - Quarterbacks
Marty English - Defensive line
Derek Frazier - Offensive line
Tim Duffie - Recruiting coordinator
Jeff Hammerschmidt - Special teams coordinator
Rashad Harris - assistant strength and conditioning coach
Mike Kent - Head strength and conditioning coach
Tim Skipper - Linebackers
Alvis Whitted - Wide receivers
Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist actively seeking a career in journalism. Along with being your CSU Rams Examiner, Kurtzman is also the Denver Broncos Examiner and writes for Blake Street Bulletin, Stadium Journey, Bleacher Report, and Mile High Hoops.
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