With a New Coach Comes a New Attitude at SDSU : McConnell’s Magic

Before getting carried away by San Diego State’s defensive success in beating Brigham Young, 10-3, Saturday, maybe it’s time to reflect.

After the Aztecs had won their season opener against Cal State Long Beach, 27-24, defensive players also felt pretty good.

“They were smiling after that game, and we just ripped into them,” said Tim McConnell, SDSU defensive coordinator. “They thought they had played well. They didn’t understand the echelon you have to rise to in order to win.”

Understanding did not come right away. In the next three games, the Aztecs allowed 30 points against Utah, 45 against UCLA and 34 against New Mexico.

That defense, which allowed an average of 33.3 points in its first four games, has allowed an average of 15.3 points during the final seven.

Players think their turnaround was a matter of learning a new system under a first-year coaching staff. McConnell, 31, thinks it may be an entirely different matter.

“I don’t think they had a lot of confidence in themselves,” McConnell said. “They had been downtrodden and beaten upon for so long. When someone tells you how bad you are, you start believing it. We told these kids how good they were.”

One couldn’t blame the players for being Doubting Aztecs early in the season. Their defense, made up primarily of holdovers from last year’s team, had allowed an average of 26.4 points in 1985.

In retrospect, players think a coaching change is the greatest thing that could have happened.

From the first day of spring practice, McConnell told the players that they should expect to be successful. Some players now say those expectations were foreign under Burnie Miller, last year’s defensive coordinator.

“Last year, Coach Miller didn’t really express himself to a lot of players,” linebacker Richard Brown said. “A lot of players wondered if Coach Miller liked them. Coach McConnell is young, understanding and relates to what we’re going through. I never talked to Coach Miller because I was always afraid of him. There was a wall in our communication.”

Miller coached what players believed was a complicated defense. He had several variations on how to react to certain plays, which some players say caused the Aztecs to allow too many long gains.

“This year’s defense is not as confusing as far as coverages,” safety Steve Lauter said. “When a guy is in motion this year, you just stay in your position. Last year, we would switch around and do different things.”

McConnell said he has never been a defensive “philosopher,” instead calling himself a “bottom-line” guy. The bottom line now is that the Aztecs are going to play Iowa in the Holiday Bowl because of their defensive performance against BYU.

“Defense is keeping things simple enough so that players don’t get confused,” McConnell said. “Confusion breeds hesitancy, and hesitancy breeds confusion. If a kid knows his assignment and his head is clear, he can concentrate on making plays.”

McConnell is not a rah-rah coach, preferring to present a low-key personality.

“If you make a mistake during the game, he never loses his cool,” linebacker Mike Wilder said. “He realizes you made a mistake, and you realize it. He just lets you know what adjustment needs to be made. He does it with such calmness that when you go out to play, you don’t even worry about making mistakes.”

However, McConnell is not averse to chewing out the team after a game. Players received an earful after the Long Beach and New Mexico games, both of which were won by the offense. McConnell, whose primary responsibility is linebackers, made one change this season, replacing Chuck Nixon with Wilder in the final four games.

“He must be a good guy,” Nixon said of McConnell. “I’m not playing now, and I still think he’s a good guy.”

Some players think McConnell is a carbon copy of Coach Denny Stolz. Both are described by such words as personable, straightforward and accessible.

“Those are things I admire in any person and try to portray to the team,” Stolz said. “Tim and I are probably similar along those lines. Maybe that’s why we have worked together for so long.”

McConnell and Stolz have worked together since McConnell became Bowling Green’s wide receivers coach in 1981.

Previously, McConnell was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin in 1978 and a Northern Arizona assistant in 1979-80. He attained the Bowling Green job by recommendation of a former graduate assistant at Wisconsin, who was then on Stolz’s staff.

In 1983, when Bowling Green’s defensive coordinator left, McConnell was elevated to the position. After last season, when Stolz announced he was leaving for SDSU, Stolz recommended McConnell to be Bowling Green’s head coach. But when Bowling Green officials said they would wait 30 days before naming a new coach, McConnell opted for a definite position with Stolz at SDSU.

“He’s head coaching material, and he will be a head coach in a few years,” Stolz said. “If you asked 50 different head coaches what head coaching material is, you’d get 50 different answers. A head coach has to have organizational ability and knowledge, and he has to get along with people. Tim certainly has those qualities.”

McConnell began his football career as a quarterback and cornerback at Darlington High School in Wisconsin. Darlington, a town of 1,800 people, is located in the southwest corner of Wisconsin, an hour from Madison.

After high school, McConnell was among 65 walk-ons at Wisconsin in 1973. He was one of two who made the team--and the other guy later quit. McConnell, a collegiate cornerback and safety, made the travel squad as a sophomore and junior and started as a senior.

While at Wisconsin, McConnell became an avid hockey fan because that seemed to be the thing to do. He met cheerleader Sandi Johnson at one of the games, and they later married.

Sandi’s father, Bob, is coach of the Calgary Flames. Her brother, Mark, plays for the New Jersey Devils.

In 1980, Mark Johnson led the U.S. Olympic hockey team in scoring when it won the gold medal at Lake Placid, N.Y.

After the Aztecs beat BYU three days ago, McConnell compared it to the thrill of watching his brother-in-law’s team win the gold medal.

“All of us across the country had a feeling of national pride when the hockey thing happened,” McConnell said. “This championship (at SDSU) is a much more personal thing for the coaches and players. Don’t get me wrong. We’re thrilled to death to win for this city. Most of all, we’re thrilled for the players who have come this far.”