I love it Chise....Chud is lazy....
Chudzinski was Miami's first NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship recipient. He was an honorable mention All-American as a sophomore in 1988, maintained a 4.0 grade-point average the following season, and was inducted into the Iron Arrow Society for his outstanding leadership, character and service at Miami.
Chudzinski directs Miami machine
BY DAVE WOOLFORD
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
TEMPE, Ariz. - Miami's inspiring offense, the one that could leave Ohio State's defense perspiring profusely, is the product of excellent players and coaches, such as Toledoan Rob Chudzinski.
The Hurricanes' young offensive coordinator, who played high school football at St. John's Jesuit, is in charge of one of the most expeditious offenses in the country.
Miami takes an offense into tomorrow's Fiesta Bowl national championship game that compiled 503 points in 12 regular-season games, the most in a regular season by any Hurricanes team. Ohio State has to face the Hurricanes, whose 41.9-points per game average this season ranks third in school history, behind last year's school record of 42.7 points.
The average drive time for Miami's 67 offensive touchdowns this season is 1:58. This express-lane-only offense has accounted for 18 TDs in under a minute. The 'Canes have recorded 187 plays of 10 or more yards, which consists of 25.2 percent of their total offensive plays this season.
What can possibly flag down this non-stop attack that has produced 34 consecutive triumphs, or at least make it abide by the speed limit?
Chudzinski, 34, has a very rapid, three-word answer: “Ohio State's defense.
“It's the best defense I've seen on television or on film this season, and it's the best defense I've seen since I've been the offensive coordinator,” said Chudzinski, in his second year in that post.
“It's a huge challenge for us. We're going against the best defense in the country. We'll have to play extraordinary against this group to be successful. You look at them across the board and you just don't see any chinks in their armor. They give great effort, they have great technique, they don't stay blocked very long and they're great tacklers.”
Chudzinski isn't blowing smoke. If you think speed heavily favors the Hurricanes, he'll probably ask you what you're smoking.
“That's just a perception and I don't know if that's really the case,” he explained. “I look at the guys on their team [10 from Florida]. I know some of their guys and I remember seeing them in high school and how fast they were and how well they could run.
“Their defensive front runs as well as any defensive front you'll see. Their linebackers run as well as any linebackers and their secondary runs as well as any secondary. There's this perception that Miami is fast, and we are, but I don't think Ohio State is any less fast than we are. Look at position by position and I think they run as well as anyone in the country, including us.”
What's amazing about Miami's offense is that there are only four returning starters from last season. Eleven Miami players were taken in the last NFL draft, including seven from the offensive side. That would normally devastate most teams, but not the 'Canes.
Chudzinski is used to Miami's continual reloading (not rebuilding) process that keeps the chambers full. The former tight end, who starred on Miami's 1989 National Championship team, also played on the 1987 national-title team and was the offensive coordinator of the 'Canes' national-championship team last year.
It's ironic that a former Buckeye fan who grew up in Toledo would be coaching against the team he rooted for when he was in high school - with a national championship at stake.
“Growing up I thought I would end up, for sure, at a place like Notre Dame, Ohio State or Michigan, just growing up in that Big Ten area,” Chudzinski said.
But he was a somewhat small tight end when he was recruited out of St. John's. The Big Ten, at the time, was all about using its tight ends primarily as blockers rather than pass-catchers.
Chudzinski said Big Ten teams, including OSU, recruited him, but not particularly hard. He got a chance to visit Miami when he was recruited by Miami's current assistant head coach, Art Kehoe, and it was love at first sight.
“I really loved what I saw, just the people I was around, the atmosphere, the school itself, being a private school, and it just hit me and I knew this was the place I needed to go,” Chudzinski explained. “I liked their style of offense; Miami was an emerging program at the time and I wanted to go to someplace different.”
But there was one slight problem.
“Miami Vice was the big TV series at the time and my folks didn't have a chance to go down there with me on my recruiting visit,” Chudzinski stated. “So, when I came back I had to relay to them, and try to convince my mom that it really wasn't like Miami Vice.
“A lot of people didn't think I'd make it down there or that I'd never play down there. I just went in with the mindset that I wanted to go down there and see what I've got and see what happens. Fortunately, things worked out well for me and it's been a great experience.”
Chudzinski was Miami's first NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship recipient. He was an honorable mention All-American as a sophomore in 1988, maintained a 4.0 grade-point average the following season, and was inducted into the Iron Arrow Society for his outstanding leadership, character and service at Miami.
Upon graduation, Chudzinski worked for a business consulting firm in Miami for three years before returning to the university to get a specialization for his master's degree in Business Administration in 1994. He became a football graduate assistant at the same time.
Former Miami head coach Butch Davis, now coach of the Cleveland Browns, gave Chudzinski a full-time position coaching the tight ends in 1996. Current coach Larry Coker made Chudzinski his offensive coordinator at the beginning of last season.
Chudzinski gets back to the Toledo area in the spring and summer to visit his parents and numerous family members who live in Fremont.
“I went to a Mud Hens game last summer; their new stadium is great and it's just a great place to watch a game,” he said. “I'm a big Triple-A baseball fan now after going to that game. It's a small atmosphere and it's just a really neat experience.”
Not so neat, however, is trying to get his family tickets for tomorrow's game, especially with everyone fumbling with their loyalties.
“My immediate family and relatives are all Ohio State fans in a big way,” Chudzinski explained. “I've got a lot of ticket requests for the game and I wasn't always sure what they were going to be dressing in if they did come to the game.
“Other than my immediate family, I think a lot of them will be wearing their Miami stuff, but wearing Ohio State underwear underneath.”
