07-08-2013, 01:26 AM
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#36
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Pro
OVR: 12
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: How is your dynasty going
Name: Marcus Gilday
Alma Mater: Florida
Specialty: Offense
Difficulty: Heisman (Default)
Offensive Playbook: Florida (Pro)
Age: 22
Year 1: UTEP Miners
ESPN News
Story Writeup if You Want Something to Read
Spoiler
Hannah Storm: After graduating college, Marcus Gilday immediately hit the employment line and began looking for a career in college football. After being a team assistant for 4 years, and learning the playbook and how to operate, he decided to take that knowledge and ability to another team and try to begin his own success. But of course, at 22, not too many teams were jumping at the opportunity to let him run their offense. One team though, was out of options and gave him a shot. UTEP was under new management, new head coach, and now a new offensive coordinator.
Gilday: I remember that day very vividly as I met with the players and some of them laughed because some of them were even older than me. And I knew from that point on that everything I did would have to be in order to win or else I will be back looking for a job.
Storm: And the season looked terrible for UTEP and Gilday as after the first game, the team was not only 0-1 but also the quarterback had 6 interceptions.
Gilday: Bad reads I suppose. But I learned from it. I learned the strengths of the team, the weaknesses, everything I needed to know that I couldn’t gain from a practice.
Storm: And Gilday did just that, as UTEP improved to 2-1 after their first 3 games, one of the victories came with the team scoring 49 points. UTEP then began conference play and improved their record to 5-1 through the first 6 games of the season. Cooper, the quarterback for the miners, was rocking a passing completion statistic of 76%. He also had 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions through 6 games, but 6 of those came in the first game of the season. Gilday’s offense seemed to be destroying C-USA defenses as even Rice, one of the conference favorites, failed to stop them and was defeated 35-21. After that game, UTEP became bowl eligible for the first time since 2010. And with games still left in the season, the team could rewrite UTEP record books.
Gilday: I remember people going crazy after that 6th win because it meant we were going bowling and everyone was getting bonus checks. I was excited because it meant I was one step closer to my real test, the game against Texas A&M.
Storm: Originally, the game against A&M was meant to be a relaxer for the Aggies from their monstrous SEC schedule, but that Saturday proved to be anything but easy for them. The game went back and forth until finally UTEP’s defense stopped Texas A&M and gave their offense a chance to win the game.
Gilday: The score was 28-24 in favor of the Aggies, and there was 2:47 on the clock and we got the ball at the 32. I just knew in my mind that Cooper would take care of business and win that game. That he would march down that field and punch the ball into the end zone and make the student body back in El Paso go crazy…and that’s exactly what he did.
Storm: The Miners moved the ball down the field on a team that claimed to play in the SEC but failed to show it on that drive. Allowing UTEP to score with 13 seconds left on the clock and win the game 31-28. That victory would be the high for the team as from there they lost 2 of their final 4 games and barely managed to make it to the C-USA conference championship
Gilday: I can’t even lie, we got complacent, and we barely beat North Texas the week after. But the long story was that we won the important games early and lucked out on the back-end.
Storm: With a 9-3 record being held by both Rice and UTEP, UTEP went on to represent the C-USA West in the championship game as UTEP won their earlier season matchup. The game was against ECU and with rain pouring down, Gilday knew that victory would only happen if his running game could dominate the game, so he gave it to his running back Sullivan and watched him handle the game for UTEP. The entire year he was having a quiet successful season as he eclipsed the 1100-mark in the championship game and won the game for UTEP 24-21. So it was on to the Liberty Bowl for a team that had been absent from post-season play for 3 years. The opponent would be Auburn, another SEC team.
Gilday: Well going into the game, we planned the same we do every week, but I knew that if we were to upset the Tigers, our defense would have to keep us close, just like they did in the A&M game.
Storm: That proved to not be the case as Auburn scored 4 touchdowns on their first 4 drives. UTEP on the other hand managed to amass 37 yards on their first 4 drives and. The game ended with a 37-7 spanking for UTEP and the end of a Cinderella year for a team that many expected to finish below .500.
Gilday: And since that was my first year, I was proud of the results even though we lost our final game. I knew that if the core of the offense would return, then we could challenge for the C-USA again and potentially maybe more.
Storm: That was the case as Cooper and Sullivan, the backfield for the miners, returned. Also with Gilday turning 23 in the summer and only one season of play calling under his belt, teams weren’t ready to jump the gun on the youngster so he stayed at UTEP for at least another year. He was also greeted by the 76th best recruiting class.
Gilday: I remember when I came to work after signing day, Hunter Ryan, the head coach during my tenure there, called me into his office and told me that 76 was good, but he wanted better since we had Texas as our base state. So he told me next year, I would be responsible for managing the offense and visiting recruits and starting the process of developing UTEP into a perennial 10 win team. I gladly accepted and I feel like it was good for me to get that experience so early in my career as I learned what things worked and what didn’t in the recruiting field.
Storm: With a matured Cooper at quarterback, and a 7 other players returning to a 10-win offense, the opportunity to repeat as conference champs, if not improve was certainly possible. We will take a look at his second year as the offensive play caller after this commercial break from our sponsors.
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