Utah football: Roderick: 'I'm right where I want to be'

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Assistant coach Aaron Roderick watches during a recent practice Tuesday November 3, 2009.

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Utah receivers coach Aaron Roderick is downplaying his role change with offensive coordinator Dave Schramm in which he'll call the plays from the booth while Schramm is on the sideline in the quarterback's ear.

"I've coached from both, so I'm comfortable either place," he said.

He is comfortable, as long as that place is at Utah.

Roderick, often behind the scenes as the receivers coach, is best known for his reversal of plans in January. After accepting a position with the Utes as co-coordinator along with Schramm to fill the vacancy left by Andy Ludwig, Roderick decided hours later to accept an offer at Washington to coach the Huskies' receivers.

Only nine days later he was back with the Utes, feeling grateful that coach Kyle Whittingham would allow him to return.

His indecisiveness likely not only cost him a promotion and nice raise, since the coordinators make $160,000 a year and he makes $130,000, but also a little pride.

He was willing to take the hit monetarily and personally though to return to the Utes. It took him less than two weeks to realize that Washington might be in a BCS conference and a raising program under Steve Sarkisian, but it still wasn't Utah.

"I'm right where I want to be," Roderick said. "Whether it's calling plays or not, this is where I wanted to be. I like it here, I love living here and this is home. I hadn't even given it anymore thought until it came up again this week because

Searching for any kind of spark to get the stagnant offense producing points, Whittingham decided to switch the coordinators as well as the quarterbacks.

He said he preferred to have the more fiery Schramm on the sidelines and felt confident with Roderick calling the plays because he did so while the coordinator at Southern Utah.

"We're just looking for ways to make things happen," he said.

While the switch might make some believe Whittingham wasn't happy with Schramm's play-calling, Roderick waved off any such thoughts.

"It wasn't a big deal in this building or with the players and coaches," he said. "Coach Whitt had his reasons, he wanted Schramm on the field to coach the quarterbacks which is good for the quarterback situation right now and he trusts me up there."

Although there were some changes in Utah's game against Wyoming, with DeVonte Christopher throwing a pass and Luke Matthews taking snaps in the wildcat formation, Roderick said he isn't looking to overhaul Utah's offense and that the offensive scheme is a collaborative effort.

"Even adjustments in the game are done as a staff in between series and on headsets when this or that happens," he said. "Most decisions are made as a staff. There aren't many that are made with your gut feeling. Most of the time calls are about the planning and preparation that have gone into it."

Nevertheless, as the acting coordinator Roderick still has a large responsibility to keep the offense moving, something that hasn't happened to Whittingham's satisfaction.

The Utes rank 57th nationally in third down conversions (43-of-108) and 106th in red zone offense (20 of 28 drives, nine rushing touchdowns, four passing touchdowns, seven field goals).

"We need to convert those third downs," Roderick said. "Just focusing on those is going to help us score more in the red zone."

Some of the Utes' biggest issues have been penalties such as false starts or bad decisions that have led to sacks in the red zone. While it's hard to blame the coordinator for such failings, Roderick feels the responsibility to help the Utes improve.

"When you're upstairs you are watching the whole field, on the field you are worrying about just your positions," he said. "But it's something I've done before, I'm just trying to get better at it."

lwodraska@sltrib.com