Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
ORLANDO ? Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher knows what got him his first head coaching job in college football - calling offensive plays.
And despite recent struggles by his offense, Fisher isn't about to give that up.
"Why do you give up what you do well?" he said.
Fisher has been calling plays for more than a decade, since he was an assistant at Cincinnati in 1999. And he has been juggling play-calling and head-coaching duties since taking over the Seminoles for the 2010 season.
But never has his judgment been questioned the way it has been recently.
FSU enters Thursday's Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando against Notre Dame ranked No. 73 nationally in total offense with 375.8 yards per game. The last time FSU finished so low was 2007 - Fisher's first year at Seminoles offensive coordinator - when it was No. 80 with 369.2 yards per game.
His offense drew criticism Nov. 19 when the Seminoles lost at home to Virginia, 14-13. There were more questions a week later when FSU beat Florida 21-7 but the offense had only 95 yards, the lowest total by a winning FBS team since 2000.
Fisher called a conservative game - E.J. Manuel threw only 13 times, completing six for 65 yards - and said he was satisfied with the result.
"Whatever happed to the strategy to win a game?" Fisher said. "People forget that. You want flash. How about wins?"
Fisher also pointed to the Seminoles' mid-season string of six consecutive games in which they scored at least 30 points. He said injuries contributed to the dip in offense that led to an average of 19 points and 246.7 yards in the final three games.
"At one time we had four true freshmen starting," Fisher said.
He and Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson are the only head coaches in the ACC who call their teams' plays. Several other head coaches around the country do it, including Notre Dame's Brian Kelly.
"You have to get used to it," Kelly said. "Some won't do it because you're calling plays from the sideline and you can't sometimes see the areas that you want. But that's an acquired trait more than anything else because I did it my entire career."
Former FSU coach Bobby Bowden called plays for most of his early career before handing off the duties in 1992. Fisher called the plays for three seasons as Bowden's top aide.
Bowden labels Fisher an "excellent" play-caller but wonders if that task is too much for a head coach these days.
To call plays, "you have to spend so much time studying film and you don't have time," Bowden said. "You have too many other responsibilities."
When Bowden was at West Virginia, he let his coordinator call plays for his first three seasons. But when Bowden was in danger of losing his job after a 6-5 record his fourth year, he took over the duties.
"I said if I get fired I'm going to go down doing it my way," Bowden said.
Bowden kept calling plays after getting the FSU job in 1976, finally giving the task to coordinator Brad Scott and quarterbacks coach Mark Richt after 16 seasons. Bowden said it takes time to mold a coordinator to think like his head coach.
"You have to find a guy who can call them like you want," Bowden said. "If (Fisher) got somebody who called them like he liked, that's probably what he would do."
James Coley, the tight ends coach for FSU, also carries the title of offensive coordinator. He came from Florida International where he installed a new offense - and called the plays - in his only year at the school. That year, 2006, FIU went from averaging 211.7 yards in the first half of the season to 327.7 yards in the second half.
But for the foreseeable future, play-calling responsibilities will remain with Fisher.
"He calls according to the situation and what he feels like he needs to do to win," Bowden said. "Maybe it ain't pretty, but it wins the game."
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