Gus Malzahn

Arthur Gustav Malzahn III (born October 28, 1965 in Irvine, Texas) is the current head coach for Auburn University. Malzahn is a high school coaching legend in the state of Arkansas and the former offensive coordinator at both Arkansas and Tulsa. He is known as one of the innovators of the wildcat offense and has been described as "one of the sport's most innovative offensive minds, not just in the college ranks, but in all of football."

Playing career

Malzahn graduated from Fort Smith Christian High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1984 and was a walk-on receiver at Arkansas under then-head coach Ken Hatfield in 1984 and '85 before transferring to Henderson State University located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where he was a two-year letterman (1988, '89) and earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1990.

Coaching career

High school coaching career

Successful at every stop of his career, he actually got his start as the defensive coordinator at Hughes High School in 1991. He became head coach in 1992 and in 1994 Hughes reached the state championship game with an upset of Pine Bluff Dollarway. Hughes fell just short in the title game, losing to Lonoke on an interception in the final minute.

His success at Hughes and his wide-open attack landed Malzahn a head coaching position at Shiloh Christian in 1996. From 1996-2000, Malzahn transformed Shiloh Christian into one of the most dynamic offensive prep squads in the nation. In 1998, Shiloh Christian set a national record with 66 passing touchdowns for the season, while quarterback Josh Floyd nearly set an individual national record with 5,878 total yards (5,221 passing, 657 rushing). Malzahn guided the Saints to back-to-back state championships in 1998 and 1999. In 2001, Malzahn took over for legendary coach Jarrell Williams at Springdale High School. Malzahn continued the rich tradition of the Bulldogs’ program. He led the program to two state championship game appearances in his last four years, winning the title in 2005. Malzahn led his squad to the state title game in only his second season in 2002. The Bulldogs lost a hard-fought 17-10 decision to Fort Smith Southside.

Springdale was on track for another state title game appearance in 2004 before Little Rock Central sidetracked the Bulldogs’ title hopes in the state semifinals. Springdale was upset by the eventual state champion, 31-20. The Bulldogs finished the season at 12-1. His 2005 squad at Springdale went 14-0, easily won the state’s Class 5A championship, outscored its opponents 664-118, including a 54-20 victory over West Memphis in the state championship game, and was consistently ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation. Included on the championship team were prize recruits Mitch Mustain, Ben Cleveland, Andrew Norman, and Damian Williams who all eventually joined their coach at the University of Arkansas. Offensive tackle Bartley Webb decided to leave the state to play for the University of Notre Dame.

College offensive coordinator coaching career

University of Arkansas

Malzahn joined Houston Nutt's staff on December 9, 2005, as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, following an impressive five-year run at Springdale High School capped by one of the most dominant seasons by any high school in 2005. Given that much of Springdale High's football talent decided to follow Mr. Malzahn to Arkansas and the fact that Mr. Malzahn had never coached in college, many questioned what Houston Nutt's motives were. Malzahn was part of the Razorbacks 2006 season in which they won the SEC Western Division championship. However, their season ended with three straight losses to LSU, Florida in the SEC Championship Game, and Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl to finish with a 10-4 record.

There was a widely reported tension between Houston Nutt's reliance on the ground game (which turned out to be one of the best running games in the nation in 2006) and Malzahn's philosophy of spreading the field with a no-huddle offense. The poor ending of the season only added stress to the already tense coaching relationship. Malzahn was named the National Offensive Coordinator of the Year by Rivals.com.

In January 2007, Malzahn received an offer from the University of Tulsa and his friend, new head coach Todd Graham. Malzahn took the Tulsa job to be offensive coordinator and Assistant Head Coach. Damian Williams and Mitch Mustain, prize recruits and Malzahn's former players, also left the Razorback program. Shortly afterward, both Mustain and Williams decided to transfer to the University of Southern California.

University of Tulsa

During the 2007 season Malzahn emerged as one of the premier offensive coordinators in the nation, as Tulsa ranked 1st in the nation in total yards per game, ahead of Texas Tech and Hawaiʻi, and with a more balanced attack than both teams. The Golden Hurricane also ranked 3rd in the nation is passing and led their conference in scoring. Tulsa became the first team in NCAA history to have a 5,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher and three 1,000-yard receivers in a single season.

After the regular season, Malzahn interviewed for the open position at Arkansas once Nutt resigned in November 2007.

In 2008, Tulsa was again the nation's most prolific attack, leading with nearly 7,980 total yards of offense averaging 570 yards per game. The Golden Hurricane were ranked 2nd in the nation in scoring behind Oklahoma, scoring over 47 points per game. The offense was also the nation's most balanced attack, ranking 5th in the nation in rushing and 9th in passing. The Tulsa quarterbacks finished 3rd in the nation in passing efficiency, behind only Oklahoma and Texas.

Auburn University

Malzahn was named the offensive coordinator at Auburn University on December 28, 2008. He coached 3 years under head coach Gene Chizik including the 2010 National Championship season when he won the 2010 Frank Broyles Award (given to the nation's top assistant coach).

College head coaching career

Arkansas State University

Malzahn accepted the head coaching position at Arkansas State after the 2011 season. He led the Red Wolves to a Sun Belt Conference championship during his one-year tenure.

Auburn University

On December 4, 2012 Malzahn was announced as Auburn's head coach, replacing Chizik after a 3-9 season.

Offensive Philosophy

Coach Malzahn is known for his no-huddle offensive philosophy. In January 2003, he published a book and instructional video titled Hurry Up No Huddle — An Offensive Philosophy (ISBN 9781585186549), that became the blueprint for the offensive wave engulfing the state of Arkansas. Several NFL teams adopted some of Malzahn's offensive strategies. Malzahn is perhaps best known for his formation, the "Wildcat", which became famous during his year at the Razorbacks, but is actually a variation on the Single Wing, a play that dates to Pop Warner.

Malzahn has been involved as a guest speaker and instructor at numerous coaching clinics around the nation.

Personal

He is married to Kristi Otwell Malzahn and together they have two daughters, Kylie and Kenzie Malzahn.

References

• Gus Malzahn. (2009, December 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:05, December 12, 2009 [1]

External links

• Official Auburn bio
• Official Tulsa bio
• Official Arkansas bio
• TulsaWorld Profile

Preceded by: Tony Franklin

Auburn Tigers Offensive Coordinator 2009–2011

Succeeded by: '