LOS ANGELES — Kevin Coyle first knew Tim Skipper in 1997 as the “sawed-off” undersized middle linebacker he met during spring camp, whom he thrust into a starting role after an off-the-field roughhousing incident left Fresno State’s starter injured on the sidelines.
Coyle watched as Skipper developed into a “field general” on the gridiron, becoming an extension of the Bulldogs’ coaching staff as a leader on the field. Coyle may have called the plays, but Skipper made the calls, the checks.
Late in his career, 69 years old and gruff with a white stubble, Coyle returned to Syracuse as an analyst, where he once served as defensive coordinator early in his career. In his 48th year of coaching, Coyle was happy to help with the Orange defense. He didn’t have to pack up his belongings and move coast-to-coast to step in for a potentially temporary role trying to revitalize UCLA’s winless defense – a group that was trounced by its first three opponents.
But when Skipper came calling, it was Coyle’s turn to jump in as a starter for his former player – he’s called plays for the Bruins (3-4, 3-1 Big Ten) ever since, a sustained run of defensive improvement, week to week, against the never-ending challenges of conference play.
“When Skip presented the opportunity, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, to be quite honest with you,” Coyle said Wednesday, his first time speaking to the media as UCLA’s defensive play-caller. “But because of Skip and because of the uniqueness of this challenge, I made a decision that, yeah, I’m gonna give it a swing.”
Coyle’s first swing came with an introduction to his new players. The coach, whose career has spanned 47 years from when he began as a graduate assistant at Cincinnati, looked at the room of players with zero preconceived notions. He said he did not know about their pasts or how much money each player made in their name, image and likeness – but just wanted to see Bruins excited to play defense and get better.
“This is quite a unique situation,” Coyle said when asked if he’d ever had to install a defense midway through a season. “As I told the players in the very first meeting, that I was here, that first Sunday when I flew in, I said, ‘Great challenges like this present great opportunities.’ So now it’s, ‘How far can we take it? And, ‘Let’s just roll our sleeves up and go to work every day.’ And fortunately, players said they were willing to do that.”
He credited the assistant coaches for being willing to join him on this blue-and-gold path away from the system of former defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe – and into a defensive system that has flourished across recent weeks, most recently holding Maryland to just one offensive touchdown in UCLA’s 20-17 victory Saturday.
Coyle prided his defensive philosophy on providing multiple schematic looks, keeping the opposition off guard while emphasizing stopping the run. Each week in Westwood has provided the former Fresno State defensive coordinator under Skipper with a chance to expand upon the foundation of his playbook.
No defensive game plan will appear similar to the one before it in the Big Ten, he said. That’ll be no different Saturday against No. 2 Indiana (7-0, 4-0) in Bloomington.
“It’s been fun, but it’s a week-to-week exam and we got our biggest exam of the year so far, coming up this week,” Coyle said.