Olson shakes rust to take over as Shock offensive coordinator
Brian Beaudry
Friday April 1, 2011
Rob Keefe was the first member of the team to wear the number seven and won a championship with that number. Andy Olson was the only other player to wear the number during the team’s four-year stint in the af2, and won a championship wearing that number.
A week and a half ago, Olson was at home in Bellingham, working for a construction company and out of football entirely. After a long week and a half, he’s now officially assumed the offensive coordinator position. He’ll try to take an offense that looked out of sync and improve on the 3.8 points per drive they averaged through the first three games by ending each drive with seven points.
The new offensive assistant got off to a hot start in his first game in Iowa, with the Shock scoring touchdowns on their first four possessions. The second half, however, things went awry as Spokane turned the ball over on five of their seven drives after intermission.
It doesn’t mean that the Shock didn’t get anything out of the game, though.
“I learned from the speed of the game. Paying attention to clock management, down and distance,” said Olson. “It’s just kind of getting a feel for what plays work well in each situation. It was a good eye-opener as far as that goes, and I felt pretty comfortable doing it.”
“Now [Olson is] in rhythm,” said Keefe. “With a week and a half under his belt here, he is the offensive coordinator. I haven’t spent one moment with the offense this week outside of maybe sitting in some meetings and putting my spin on things, but Olson’s the OC, and we’re going to expect a lot out of him.”
Keefe wanted to bring Olson on as wide receiver last year, when several of Spokane’s receivers were injured, largely to get some pointers from 2010 offensive coordinator Matt Sauk, who now leads the Utah Blaze’s offense to nearly 65 points per game. Financially, however, it wasn’t possible.
Olson has spent 10-17 hours every day since arriving in Spokane getting up to speed. Having been out of football for a season isn’t an excuse for him.
“Basically, it’s getting my memory refreshed as far as the offense goes. I know what my players can do – I’ve been able to watch them for a week now,” said Olson. “It’s a lot of study time. Getting up early, staying up late – putting in extra time to catch up.”
According to Keefe, Olson is caught up.
“He understands exactly what he wants out of a play. I think we work well together; I’m excited for him. I think he has the players’ ears, he has the players’ respect,” Keefe said.
Olson will have had seven days since last week’s loss in Iowa to help get this team something they haven’t picked up in seven months: a win.