SDSU Gives Promotion to Ingalls : Football: He will be named succeed Lay as Aztecs’ offensive coordinator.

Bret Ingalls, a third-year assistant football coach at San Diego State, will be named to replace Dave Lay as Aztec offensive coordinator later this week, sources close to the SDSU football program said Monday.

Although neither SDSU Coach Al Luginbill nor Ingalls would confirm the appointment, sources said that the decision has been made and that Dave Schramm, the current recruiting coordinator, will become an offensive position coach.

“I can’t confirm or deny it,” Luginbill said. “Any public announcement I will have about the offensive staff or the total staff, I would like to make no later than the end of this week.”

Luginbill did confirm that Dan Underwood, the assistant head coach who was in charge of tight ends and running backs last season, has been re-assigned to the role of recruiting coordinator.

SDSU will not abandon the one-back offensive scheme that has been successful the past three seasons, sources said. Ingalls, who previously was an assistant at the University of Idaho for seven seasons, is familiar with the scheme--in addition to the Aztecs, Idaho ran a one-back offense during Ingalls’ time there.

Ingalls, though, would not comment on his impending appointment when reached Monday.

“I don’t know that that is the decision,” Ingalls said. “Al hasn’t made any announcement. I don’t have any comment until Al makes the decision.”

Ingalls, 31, came to SDSU on Dec. 4, 1988 as the running backs coach, then became the offensive line coach in 1990. He was offered a job as offensive line coach by new Cal Coach Keith Gilbertson in mid-January but elected to remain at SDSU because he thought he had a chance to become Aztec offensive coordinator, Gilbertson said.

“If (Ingalls’ new appointment) is true, he’s very deserving,” said Gilbertson, who worked with Ingalls for five seasons at the University of Idaho. “He’s got a good, bright mind and he is a really solid person. He is inquisitive about the game.

“I think he is a really good teacher. He’s got his own way--he’s not a yeller or a screamer, but if you watched his offensive line, you could certainly see how he has made an impact and improved things there.”

Gilbertson also had offered SDSU receivers’ coach Curtis Johnson a position at Cal, but Johnson also chose to stay at SDSU.

“It just never worked out,” Gilbertson said. “They both felt for some reason at the time that they should probably stay (at SDSU) for one more season. They felt a loyalty to Al.”

Ingalls began his coaching career as a student assistant at Idaho in 1982 and became Idaho’s offensive line coach in 1984. Idaho won Big Sky Conference championships in 1985, 1987 and 1988 and shared the title in 1982 while Ingalls was there. He also coached under current Miami Coach Dennis Erickson while at Idaho.

Lay was fired by Luginbill on Jan. 27, apparently as a result of personality differences between the two. Lay leaves quite a legacy for any new offensive coordinator: The Aztecs finished seventh, third and sixth in the nation in total offense during Lay’s three years as offensive coordinator.

Schramm, 28, who was a graduate assistant coach at SDSU in spring 1988, returned to the Aztecs as assistant recruiting coordinator in March, 1990. He was promoted to the recruiting coordinator position a few months later.

Previously, Schramm, a Patrick Henry High School graduate, was the running backs/tight ends coach at Austin Peay University in 1988 and a graduate assistant secondary coach at Nebraska in 1989.