Photo by: Oklahoma State Athletics
Sean Gleeson: Fast, Physical, The Ball
Jun 08 | Football
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson is happy to be back in New Jersey.
"Growing up in New Jersey, I had an opportunity to watch and admire the job coach Schiano did during his time here," Gleeson said. "He was able to build a program that made the entire state proud and I'm excited to have the chance to help him do that again."
From Glen Ridge, he started his career at Delbarton School before moving to the collegiate ranks at Fairleigh Dickinson. Then in 2013, Gleeson started a six-year run at Princeton, working his way up to offensive coordinator, where he led one of the most creative and explosive offenses at the FCS level. The Tigers claimed three Ivy League championships and averaged 36.9 points per game, highlighted by an undefeated 2018 season.
A main reason for the success is Gleeson's ability to adapt to personnel and the belief that each year is a new challenge in building a system tailored to fit the strengths of the roster. That included switching from a pro-style passer in Chad Kanoff, who set the Ivy League record with 3,474 passing yards, to dual-threat quarterback John Lovett, who averaged 303 yards of total offense per game. Lovett also became Princeton's first two-time first-team All-American since 1964 and both signed with NFL franchises.
Oklahoma State took notice and hired Gleeson as offensive coordinator. The 2019 Cowboys featured a balanced unit (2,985 rushing yards, 2,916 passing yards) with consensus All-America pick Chuba Hubbard leading the nation with 2,093 rushing yards and rookie quarterback Spencer Sanders earning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.
"I believe your offense is an indication of where you played, who you've coached with and what you've studied," Gleeson said.
Now back in New Jersey, Gleeson, who played quarterback at Williams College, is using his experience and past influences to engineer a fast and physical up-tempo offense at Rutgers. He was recently named No. 17 in FootballScoop.com's "most important assistant coaching hires for 2020."
"Sean is one of the brightest young offensive minds in college football and we are happy to welcome him and his family to Rutgers," head coach Greg Schiano said upon the hire. "He has worked his way up the ranks with a history of developing quarterbacks and highly productive offensive schemes. Sean has shown an ability to devise game plans each week that are adaptable and capitalize on what would bring success against a given opponent. This is an exciting hire for our program and having another New Jersey guy come home to represent his state is special."
What does Gleeson value as he works to install a new offense in Piscataway? In a recent WebEx with the media, Gleeson stated fast, physical and the ball as the three foundational pillars.
"In regard to fast, we want to be a fast, no-huddle offense. If you could envision the best press basketball team you've ever watched, that's kind of how we want to do our business. We'll be operating primarily out of the shotgun. You'll see an aggressiveness in the way our guys line up and address the next snap that should be different. It should be something like, 'wow, these guys are going at a pretty good clip.'
"We want to snap the ball every 15 seconds. That's our time stamp for no-huddle football. The no-huddle operation is the first layer of fast. The second is we literally want fast people. Our playing surface is enormous. We have 110 yards of vertical space at most and we have 53 and a third yards of width. If we can get some guys that can move from point A to point B, we'll be in great shape.
"The last thing I say is that if you take Usain Bolt and you put him on the football field, even though he's a fast person, he's not going to play very fast. I feel like being at Rutgers under coach Schiano, we've always been on the cutting edge of how to teach human beings. He's studied the brain extensively, he understands how we're going to coach in sound bites, not sentences. I really want to teach the game of football in such a manner that we win the battle of fast thinking."
As far as physical, Gleeson emphasized the importance of tackling in practice, blocking on the perimeter and finishing runs from the backfield.
"The old adage is that the guys that don't fumble are the usually ones that finish their runs the best," Gleeson said. "It should be their guys going backwards and our guys going forward consistently."
The third pillar is the ball and understanding the importance. Gleeson cited the correlation between turnovers and winning percentage.
"In the Big Ten in the last four years, if you don't turn it over, you win 71 percent of the time," Gleeson said. "If you turn it over once, you win 57 percent of the time. So we've got to address that the ball is the program. We know that's directly tied to winning percentage."
As Gleeson works to find the best ways to utilize the Rutgers personnel, he is also eager to coach with an offensive staff that is filled with New Jersey ties. Gleeson spent six years together with offensive line coach Andrew Aurich at Princeton, while tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile (Fair Lawn), running backs coach Augie Hoffmann (Park Ridge) and wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood (New Brunswick) all are from the Garden State.
"I'm fired up to be with the staff we've assembled here," Gleeson said. "These are great men. Coach said it, one of the most important values of the guys he's hired on staff has been the simple question of 'would I let my sons be coached by this guy?' I think that we've hit a home run in every category in that regard."
May 26: Robb Smith: Stop the Run, Eliminate Big Plays, Create Takeaways
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding football, follow the program on Twitter (@RFootball) and subscribe to the YouTube channel.
"Growing up in New Jersey, I had an opportunity to watch and admire the job coach Schiano did during his time here," Gleeson said. "He was able to build a program that made the entire state proud and I'm excited to have the chance to help him do that again."
From Glen Ridge, he started his career at Delbarton School before moving to the collegiate ranks at Fairleigh Dickinson. Then in 2013, Gleeson started a six-year run at Princeton, working his way up to offensive coordinator, where he led one of the most creative and explosive offenses at the FCS level. The Tigers claimed three Ivy League championships and averaged 36.9 points per game, highlighted by an undefeated 2018 season.
A main reason for the success is Gleeson's ability to adapt to personnel and the belief that each year is a new challenge in building a system tailored to fit the strengths of the roster. That included switching from a pro-style passer in Chad Kanoff, who set the Ivy League record with 3,474 passing yards, to dual-threat quarterback John Lovett, who averaged 303 yards of total offense per game. Lovett also became Princeton's first two-time first-team All-American since 1964 and both signed with NFL franchises.
Oklahoma State took notice and hired Gleeson as offensive coordinator. The 2019 Cowboys featured a balanced unit (2,985 rushing yards, 2,916 passing yards) with consensus All-America pick Chuba Hubbard leading the nation with 2,093 rushing yards and rookie quarterback Spencer Sanders earning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.
"I believe your offense is an indication of where you played, who you've coached with and what you've studied," Gleeson said.
Now back in New Jersey, Gleeson, who played quarterback at Williams College, is using his experience and past influences to engineer a fast and physical up-tempo offense at Rutgers. He was recently named No. 17 in FootballScoop.com's "most important assistant coaching hires for 2020."
"Sean is one of the brightest young offensive minds in college football and we are happy to welcome him and his family to Rutgers," head coach Greg Schiano said upon the hire. "He has worked his way up the ranks with a history of developing quarterbacks and highly productive offensive schemes. Sean has shown an ability to devise game plans each week that are adaptable and capitalize on what would bring success against a given opponent. This is an exciting hire for our program and having another New Jersey guy come home to represent his state is special."
What does Gleeson value as he works to install a new offense in Piscataway? In a recent WebEx with the media, Gleeson stated fast, physical and the ball as the three foundational pillars.
"In regard to fast, we want to be a fast, no-huddle offense. If you could envision the best press basketball team you've ever watched, that's kind of how we want to do our business. We'll be operating primarily out of the shotgun. You'll see an aggressiveness in the way our guys line up and address the next snap that should be different. It should be something like, 'wow, these guys are going at a pretty good clip.'
"We want to snap the ball every 15 seconds. That's our time stamp for no-huddle football. The no-huddle operation is the first layer of fast. The second is we literally want fast people. Our playing surface is enormous. We have 110 yards of vertical space at most and we have 53 and a third yards of width. If we can get some guys that can move from point A to point B, we'll be in great shape.
"The last thing I say is that if you take Usain Bolt and you put him on the football field, even though he's a fast person, he's not going to play very fast. I feel like being at Rutgers under coach Schiano, we've always been on the cutting edge of how to teach human beings. He's studied the brain extensively, he understands how we're going to coach in sound bites, not sentences. I really want to teach the game of football in such a manner that we win the battle of fast thinking."
As far as physical, Gleeson emphasized the importance of tackling in practice, blocking on the perimeter and finishing runs from the backfield.
"The old adage is that the guys that don't fumble are the usually ones that finish their runs the best," Gleeson said. "It should be their guys going backwards and our guys going forward consistently."
The third pillar is the ball and understanding the importance. Gleeson cited the correlation between turnovers and winning percentage.
"In the Big Ten in the last four years, if you don't turn it over, you win 71 percent of the time," Gleeson said. "If you turn it over once, you win 57 percent of the time. So we've got to address that the ball is the program. We know that's directly tied to winning percentage."
As Gleeson works to find the best ways to utilize the Rutgers personnel, he is also eager to coach with an offensive staff that is filled with New Jersey ties. Gleeson spent six years together with offensive line coach Andrew Aurich at Princeton, while tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile (Fair Lawn), running backs coach Augie Hoffmann (Park Ridge) and wide receivers coach Tiquan Underwood (New Brunswick) all are from the Garden State.
"I'm fired up to be with the staff we've assembled here," Gleeson said. "These are great men. Coach said it, one of the most important values of the guys he's hired on staff has been the simple question of 'would I let my sons be coached by this guy?' I think that we've hit a home run in every category in that regard."
May 26: Robb Smith: Stop the Run, Eliminate Big Plays, Create Takeaways
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding football, follow the program on Twitter (@RFootball) and subscribe to the YouTube channel.
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