Back as Coach, Back to ‘Work’ : Arnsparger Returns to Designing Defenses and Couldn’t Be Happier

B.J. Arnsparger is seeing less and less of her husband, Bill, these days. But she said their marriage of 35 years has never been better.

“The twinkle’s back in his eye,” B.J. Arnsparger said. “I’m happy when he’s happy. And I can see he’s very happy now.”

The twinkle’s return can mean only one thing: Bill Arnsparger is back to being a football coach.

After coaching college and pro football for 36 years, Arnsparger, 65, spent the last five years as the University of Florida’s athletic director.

“To see him on Saturday, all you had to do was look at his face and see he missed it,” B.J. Arnsparger said.

Now that he’s back in football, coaching the Chargers’ defense, Bill has reverted to his former self, B.J. said.

“He came home Tuesday night night at 9:30 after he left the house at 6:30 in the morning,” she said. “I said, ‘Do you realize you worked 15 hours today?’ He said, ‘Ah, but it’s not really work.’ ”

He might not call it work, but turning around the Chargers’ defense, ranked 19th in the NFL last year, will be no easy undertaking for Arnsparger. Yet if anyone can perform magic with a defense, it’s Arnsparger.

While serving as the defense coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, Arnsparger’s group ranked first or second in the NFL for fewest points allowed in nine of 11 seasons. He built the Dolphins’ famed “No-Name Defense” in the early 1970s around an unheralded linebacker named Bob Matheson. Then in the early 1980s, he developed the “Killer B’s” defense, which was led by a not-so-fast collection of players whose names began with B.

But Arnsparger, even when pressed, will talk little about his glory days in Miami. Many of the Charger players, especially the younger ones, know nothing about his background.

“I had never heard of him,” said Chris Mims, the Chargers’ rookie defensive end.

Cornerback Gill Byrd, a 10-year veteran, said he is having a hard time believing Arnsparger is known as one of the best defensive minds in football.

“He is really unassuming,” Byrd said. “Almost to the point where you don’t even notice he’s out there. But when he speaks, everybody listens and you know who’s in control.”

Dale Lindsey, the Chargers’ linebacker coach, said Arnsparger has given a surprising amount of control to other assistants.

“He’s shown remarkable flexibility,” Lindsey said. “It’s always ‘we,’ and he’s very team-oriented. He open to ideas and he’s very secure in himself.”

Arnsparger doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. He figures his philosophy is not that much different than any other defensive coach.

“We want to eliminate errors, line up right, know what to do and win the physical battle,” he said matter-of-factly. “As a coach I can accept losing the physical battle. What I can’t accept is when an error keeps us from doing those other things.”

That is why Arnsparger spent three days a week during the off-season, two mini-camps and a training camp teaching his new players the fundamentals of his defense. The only noticeable changes Arnsparger has made are: He has switched from a three- to four-man front, and he has his secondary playing more zone and less man-to-man.

Safety Stanley Richard, who attended most of the off-season meetings, considers himself enlightened.

“His whole attitude is detail,” Richard said. “There is more concentration this year on doing the things we know how to do and doing them well. Rather than doing a bunch of things and barely being able to get one thing done.”

Richard is even beginning to speak like his coach.

“An offensive play is designed to beat the defense and, given the opportunity, it will,” Richard said. “But if we pay attention to detail, we can eliminate those errors and big plays.”

The Chargers’ defense gave up plenty of big plays and points in their first exhibition game, a 35-14 loss at Phoenix. Two of the Cardinals’ touchdowns were pass plays of more than 60 yards.

But since then, the Chargers have allowed only 49 points and one gain of more than 30 yards.

“As you can see, something’s happening,” Richard said.

Arnsparger would not say what specifically is happening. He’s rarely specific about anything. But he is encouraged.

“The core people--Junior Seau, Burt Grossman, Leslie O’Neal, Gill Byrd--have all played well in the preseason,” he said. “There is some talent here. These guys are an intelligent group, and they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do.”

But can they get back to the level they were at in 1990, ranked fifth in the NFL? Again, Arnsparger spoke in generalizations.

“I’ve never believed in a five- or four-year plan,” Arnsparger said. “You can be as successful as soon as you accept things to act upon them. That’s Kilpatrick’s theory of learning. The good musician reads the music. We’ve got to read the music. We can’t play by ear.”

Arnsparger’s concerns going into this season, his first in the NFL since 1984 when he left Miami for the head coaching job at Louisiana State, are not typical. They’re not on the defensive line where Blaise Winter and George Thornton, two unproven commodities, will start. Or at cornerback, where Cleveland castoff Tony Blaylock is starting.

His concerns?

“It’s always in preparation,” he said. “Making sure we’re adequately prepared from a coaching standpoint. And then, making sure the players learn as much about their opponent as they need to.”

Arnsparger has been interested in learning about opponent’s strengths and weaknesses since he met Blanton Collier, his high school coach in Kentucky. Later, Collier went on to coach the Cleveland Browns to an NFL championship.

“Blanton had one of those old crank viewers, and he’d sit there and dissect every opponent, every player,” Arnsparger said. “That’s how I grew up.”

Lindsey, who played for Collier in Cleveland, said there are other similarities between Collier and Arnsparger.

“Neither man ever sought attention,” Lindsey said. “They were people-oriented. Good to all people. The situation does not change their personality or their philosophy.”

Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard said he realized Arnsparger was something special in 1973.

“We had just won the Super Bowl and Bill had announced he was leaving to coach the (New York) Giants,” said Beathard, then player personnel director for the Dolphins. “You can’t believe how many guys were crying in that locker room. The guys just got so choked up that he was leaving. It was really tough for the players to accept.

“He and the players were so close. They seemed to know each other so well. The players under him, they really seemed to get interested about playing football because of him. That defense didn’t have a lot of talent or speed, but they didn’t make mistakes. And they’d have done anything for him.”

Now, it’s not so hard to understand why the twinkle is back in Arnsparger’s eyes.