Utah’s Brian Johnson ready to prove his mettle

College football » New offensive coordinator eager to prove himself.

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In the end Johnson was left standing alone with the trophy, literally. The rest of the team took off to celebrate the win, mistakenly leaving Johnson behind at the Superdome. So he walked the trophy back to the hotel by himself through some iffy parts of downtown New Orleans.

A new challenge

The path that stands before him looks just as unsettling, with many possible foes waiting in the shadows.

How can a guy with just two years of experience craft an offense that can win in the Pac-12 when the program itself is still learning about the league? How will he manage a possible quarterback controversy with upstarts Travis Wilson and Chase Hansen pushing the injury-prone Jordan Wynn for playing time?

How will he keep returning running back John White happy and find room for highly touted signee Kelvin York? How can he keep Whittingham from meddling in his business to the point where Johnson is nothing more than a yes-man?

Moreover, is Whittingham nuts for promoting Johnson? After all, he said he had more than 70 applicants with impressive pedigrees. But in the end, Johnson won him over.

"After I looked at everything, he was the best candidate," Whittingham said. "It’s just the way he conducts himself."

Johnson said he’ll do all things to make the Utes successful by using the same attitude that made him successful on the field.

"The biggest challenge we have is creating a culture where we are aggressive and thinking outside the box," he said. "We have to be innovative and be demanding with the players."

Pushed to reveal more about his coaching philosophy, Johnson offers little in the way of specifics, other than saying he has been influenced heavily by his former coordinator, Mullen, and he plans to use a multiple attack.

"You have to be aggressive in football these days," he said. "The days of slugging it out are over. You have to take some risks and not be afraid of thinking outside the box and coming up with better ways of doing things."

It’s a vision thing

If Utah fans are a little uncomfortable with the fuzziness of such statements, those who spend significant time with Johnson say they shouldn’t fret.

Johnson was the same way on the field, said former offensive lineman Zane Beadles. Yet, he always put the Utes in position to win.

"He has something you can’t quantify," said Beadles, who will be protecting Peyton Manning this season as starter on the Denver Broncos’ offensive line. "It’s one of those things you either have or you don’t, and he has it. He is a humble guy and I know he is going to go into it by taking the team approach, getting the opinions from everybody on the staff and doing what is best for everyone. He’ll put his ego aside. I have faith in him for sure."

If there is any place he could take a misstep it’s in doing too much, Mullen said. Johnson likes to be in control so much that he still considers the years when he couldn’t drive the most frustrating period of his life. "Bumming rides off everybody when I was a senior, it was the worst," he said.

Yet now the irony of his position is that he is so much in charge of the Utes’ offense he needs to let go of many areas, Mullen said.

"We all learn you can’t micromanage everything," Mullen said. "You have to let the other coaches worry about their positions; he has to take care of the quarterbacks and then on game day, it’s your show as a coordinator. Being able to shift responsibility to other coaches and focus on the play-calling is going to be a big thing. That is what separates the good coordinators from the bad ones."

To that end, Johnson knows he still has a lot to learn. But learning, maturing and using that knowledge has always been a strength.

"I don’t want this whole year to be about me," Johnson said. "It’s about the players and putting them in roles where they can be successful. That is my job, finding their competitiveness, creating a successful format and helping them strive to be the best they can be every day."

lwodraska@sltrib.com

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