It’s not too often the 5-6, 165-pound holder gets the cheerleader in college football. But let that stand as a warning about Dowell Loggains: Don’t underestimate this guy.
The 35-year-old Loggains, named the Bears’ offensive coordinator in place of Adam Gase, rarely looks the part, but has a knack for getting where he’s going. He’s often been nearly a foot shorter than the quarterbacks he’s worked with. He was a walk-on at Arkansas who practiced almost exclusively as a holder but talked his way into the quarterback room with the intent of going into coaching. And then went further faster than maybe even he thought.
When he was turned down for a graduate assistant’s job at Arkansas following his senior year in 2004, he ended up as a scouting assistant with the Dallas Cowboys — working for Bill Parcells, Sean Payton, Tony Sparano and Todd Haley. He’s been on the upswing ever since. In 2006, he was hired by Titans head coach Jeff Fisher as an administrative assistant. He married his wife Beth, a former Arkansas cheerleader. He was promoted to quality-control coach, then quarterbacks coach, then offensive coordinator.
When the Bears requested permission to interview Loggains for their vacant quarterbacks coach position in 2012, they were denied by head coach Mike Munchak. When Munchak was told to fire Loggains and five other assistants after the 2013 season, he refused and himself was fired.
Ken Whisenhunt didn’t hire Loggains when he replaced Munchak and went 3-20 and was fired seven games into his second season in 2015. When Munchak interviewed for the Lions head coaching job, he brought Loggains to the interview as his offensive coordinator.
The Bears probably would have preferred a more proven coordinator to replace Gase. But Loggains seems like a pretty safe Plan B (and if the Bears in fact chose him over pursuing Whisenhunt, how satisfying must that be for Loggains after getting bypassed by Whisenhunt in 2014?). In Loggains’ lone season as an NFL offensive coordinator, the Titans were 22nd in yards, 19th in points, 19th in rushing yards per attempt, 14th in passing yards per attempt and eighth in third-down efficiency. But that was in a new offense, with an overhauled playbook, six new starters and Jake Locker and Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback.
With the Bears, Loggains will have more going his way — the second year of the offensive system, Jay Cutler coming off a career-best passer rating (92.3) and presumably many other key pieces in place — including Kyle Long with a full offseason at right tackle and rookie wide receiver Kevin White, the No. 7 pick of the 2015 draft, ready to go.
The one known is that Loggains is in many ways an extension of Gase — a football geek who hustled his way into coaching, runs the offense the head coach wants to run and is very flexible when it comes accentuating his quarterbacks strengths, including playing up-tempo and utilizing roll-outs — two particular strengths of Cutler.
It remains to be seen what kind of play-caller Loggains will be, but like Gase he has a reputation as a guy who can think clearly under pressure. He’s been thinking like a coach for a long time — he provided scouting reports and signaled in plays in his final two seasons at Arkansas, a virtual player-coach as a senior. When Loggains was a sophomore, the Razorbacks drove 81 yards in 25 seconds in the final minute for a tying touchdown against Nick Saban and LSU in 2002. The euphoria resulted in an excessive celebration penalty, pushing the tie-breaking PAT to 35 yards. When Saban called time out to ice the kicker, Loggains pulled his kicker off the field to practice kicks into a net on the sideline. The longer PAT was good — barely— and Arkansas won 21-20 to win the SEC West title.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/1247312/dowell-oc-loggains-knack-getting-job-done
The 35-year-old Loggains, named the Bears’ offensive coordinator in place of Adam Gase, rarely looks the part, but has a knack for getting where he’s going. He’s often been nearly a foot shorter than the quarterbacks he’s worked with. He was a walk-on at Arkansas who practiced almost exclusively as a holder but talked his way into the quarterback room with the intent of going into coaching. And then went further faster than maybe even he thought.
When he was turned down for a graduate assistant’s job at Arkansas following his senior year in 2004, he ended up as a scouting assistant with the Dallas Cowboys — working for Bill Parcells, Sean Payton, Tony Sparano and Todd Haley. He’s been on the upswing ever since. In 2006, he was hired by Titans head coach Jeff Fisher as an administrative assistant. He married his wife Beth, a former Arkansas cheerleader. He was promoted to quality-control coach, then quarterbacks coach, then offensive coordinator.
When the Bears requested permission to interview Loggains for their vacant quarterbacks coach position in 2012, they were denied by head coach Mike Munchak. When Munchak was told to fire Loggains and five other assistants after the 2013 season, he refused and himself was fired.
Ken Whisenhunt didn’t hire Loggains when he replaced Munchak and went 3-20 and was fired seven games into his second season in 2015. When Munchak interviewed for the Lions head coaching job, he brought Loggains to the interview as his offensive coordinator.
The Bears probably would have preferred a more proven coordinator to replace Gase. But Loggains seems like a pretty safe Plan B (and if the Bears in fact chose him over pursuing Whisenhunt, how satisfying must that be for Loggains after getting bypassed by Whisenhunt in 2014?). In Loggains’ lone season as an NFL offensive coordinator, the Titans were 22nd in yards, 19th in points, 19th in rushing yards per attempt, 14th in passing yards per attempt and eighth in third-down efficiency. But that was in a new offense, with an overhauled playbook, six new starters and Jake Locker and Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback.
With the Bears, Loggains will have more going his way — the second year of the offensive system, Jay Cutler coming off a career-best passer rating (92.3) and presumably many other key pieces in place — including Kyle Long with a full offseason at right tackle and rookie wide receiver Kevin White, the No. 7 pick of the 2015 draft, ready to go.
The one known is that Loggains is in many ways an extension of Gase — a football geek who hustled his way into coaching, runs the offense the head coach wants to run and is very flexible when it comes accentuating his quarterbacks strengths, including playing up-tempo and utilizing roll-outs — two particular strengths of Cutler.
It remains to be seen what kind of play-caller Loggains will be, but like Gase he has a reputation as a guy who can think clearly under pressure. He’s been thinking like a coach for a long time — he provided scouting reports and signaled in plays in his final two seasons at Arkansas, a virtual player-coach as a senior. When Loggains was a sophomore, the Razorbacks drove 81 yards in 25 seconds in the final minute for a tying touchdown against Nick Saban and LSU in 2002. The euphoria resulted in an excessive celebration penalty, pushing the tie-breaking PAT to 35 yards. When Saban called time out to ice the kicker, Loggains pulled his kicker off the field to practice kicks into a net on the sideline. The longer PAT was good — barely— and Arkansas won 21-20 to win the SEC West title.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/1247312/dowell-oc-loggains-knack-getting-job-done
