Just got off the phone with new Wyoming defensive coordinator Chris Tormey.
“I think (UW) is clearly a program that’s headed in the right direction,” Tormey said. “(UW coach) Dave Christensen is doing things the right way, and the way I’m comfortable of doing things. I think there’s a lot of upside. There are a lot of good players coming back, and I’m excited about the opportunity to be a coordinator.”
UW finished 8-5 this past season, and played in a bowl game for the second time in Christensen’s three years.
Tormey said he prefers to run a 4-3 base defense, which is what Christensen likes and what UW has used the last two seasons. But it doesn’t sound like that’s all we will see from the defense in 2012.
“I think you have to be multiple,” Tormey said. “I don’t think you can sit in one front all the time and expect to stop everybody on your schedule. You have to have the flexibility to adapt from week-to-week based on who you’re playing.
“The more you can hold up and stop the run in your base front, the better off you’re going to be. On third down you have to do whatever you have to do to get out of the drive. I think you have to be really multiple on third down.”
Christensen and Tormey have known each other for a long time. Christensen was a graduate assistant offensive line coach at Washington from 1988-89 when Tormey was part of the Huskies’ coaching staff. Tormey was a graduate assistant at Washington when Christensen was a player there in the early 1980s.
Tormey will be on the road recruiting next week for UW. He will recruit the states of Washington and Hawaii. He was the linebackers coach at Washington State last season and the safeties and special teams coach at Hawaii from 2009-10. In fact, Tormey said his wife is in the process of wrapping up her job at the University of Hawaii right now.
Tormey also will recruit in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas in California.
When I asked Tormey about the current make-up of the defensive coaching staff at UW with Marty English going from defensive coordinator and linebackers coach to just coaching linebackers, and Matt Rahl and Danilo Robinson coaching the defensive line, he said: “I know there are three coaches there that have shown the ability to coach at this level. I’m excited about meeting all three of them and working with them. We’ll see how it works out.”
Tormey has yet to see any film on the players he will inherit, but said he watched UW’s 37-15 loss to Temple in the New Mexico Bowl where the Cowboys allowed 255 rushing yards. The team had one of the worst rushing defenses in the country last season with 232 yards per game. Tormey said stopping the run “will be a focus.”
As I put in Thursday’s story in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and Laramie Boomerang, Christensen followed a similar pattern with this hire as he did with offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon back in February in terms of coaching experience. Tormey will enter his 33rd year of college coaching in 2012.
As we sit now, Christensen enters his 28th year as a college coach and his coordinators enter their 33rd (Tormey) and 31st (Brandon) years, respectively. English enters his 26th year, offensive line coach Pete Kaligis enters his 18th and Rahl and receivers coach Derek Sage both enter their 11th. I like that kind of experience on a coaching staff.
Any thoughts or opinions on this hire?