Fresno State finally made the promotion of Bert Watts official, the Bulldogs’ linebackers coach moving up to replace Orlondo Steinauer as defensive coordinator.
That is no small step. The Bulldogs last season ranked second in the Mountain West Conference in scoring and total defense, allowing only 17.9 points and 320.6 yards per game, their best since 1991 in both statistical categories. And on a defensive staff that includes defensive backs coach J.D. Williams and defensive line coach Jamar Cain, Watts’ likely is not the most recognizable name to most.
So who is Bert Watts?
He played for coach Jeff Tedford at Cal from 1998 to 2002 and was a graduate assistant coach there, as well. Watts was the defensive coordinator at UC Davis before coming to Fresno State, and also called plays for one season for the Raiffeisen Vikings in Austria. He spent a season in the NFL as a staff assistant with the Denver Broncos, and two seasons at Colorado.
Watts knows his defense and his players.
“He sees things that you normally don’t see until you get into the film room,” linebacker James Bailey said. “He’ll point it out to you and you’re like, ‘Oh, wow.’ He’s just really smart.
“We’re in the game and we see this and this and he says, ‘Nah, it’s this ...’ We’re like, ‘Are you sure?’ Then we go out and do it and we come back to the sidelines and he says, ‘I told you I was right.’
“He just has that vision. A lot of coaches may not see it, unless they’re in the box. But being on the field, he really does see it like he’s in the game himself.”
Linebacker George Helmuth spoke about the inspirational side of Watts, seen as they were preparing to play No. 1 Alabama.
“Coach Watts, he knows my favorite movie is ‘Braveheart’ and there’s a scene between William Wallace and another guy and they’re getting hit by arrows.
“He recited that entire scene to me before the game and I was like, ‘All right ...’ That’s when I knew he was my guy.”
Tedford said, “I’ve known Bert for a long time. I know his work ethic. He was really instrumental in last year, as the whole defensive staff was. He has had experience as a defensive coordinator before, understands what we’re doing.
“It was critical to keep the same terminology and not change a lot of things that we were doing for the kids’ sake, so there’s consistency there. That’s the goal in doing that. He’s very organized and detailed.”
In their second of 15 practices in the spring the Bulldogs on Wednesday were running the same drills, playing with the same urgency and energy they did a year ago when putting together one of the most stunning turnarounds in college football history.
In going 10-4, Fresno State became only the second team ever to win 10 or more games the season after losing 10 or more.
Steinauer got a lot of well-deserved credit for that turnaround. He left Fresno State after one season to return to the Canadian Football League. He is the assistant head coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, where he spent four seasons as defensive coordinator.
“Orlondo did an awesome job of bringing in everyone’s input into our plans last year and allowing everyone contribute, and that’s not going to change,” Watts said.
Tedford said seven returning starters — linebackers Bailey, Helmuth and Jeffrey Allison, corners Jaron Bryant and Tank Kelly and safeties Juju Hughes and Mike Bell — can help keep that momentum.
“It was a group effort last year with what we did on defense,” Tedford said. “They were all learning from each other. Bert will take some of those things that Orlondo brought us last year and carry some of those things over. But I think consistency is the big key.
“I think it’s a good transition when you coordinate from the middle, meaning the ‘backers. You have an idea of the back end and the front end because they’re all together. The back end may not necessarily know what the front is doing and so on and so forth, so it’s a really good mix there.”
The goal was to attack quarterbacks, running multiple fronts, disguising coverage. Fresno State did it very well; it was tied for first in the Mountain West with 34.0 sacks, second in tackles for loss with 90.0, first in third-down defense allowing opponents to convert only 34.8 percent of those plays into a first down. That number is more impressive when factoring in the Bulldogs defended 201 third-down plays, fifth most in the league.
The expectation is they take another forward step this spring, adding layers to the defense, improving fundamentals, tightening communication on the field.
“With the exception of Orlondo, we’re all coming back so all of the same things that we’ve talked about, that maybe we wanted to adjust or tweak to make better, all of those things we can move forward with,” Watts said.
“That has definitely helped in the process and then we have a lot of players coming back as well. With those guys, those veterans have had a lot of reps and now they can really get to the second level of learning. They can get their master’s degree versus their GED.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2018 2:45 PM.