Rice quarterback coach faces decision as season opener looms

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News Staff

Coming to coach a football program that has just lost its career leader in total offense might seem to be a thankless task. But Rice’s new quarterback coach views life in the backfield without Chase Clement as a challenge.

	RICE SPORTS INFORMATION
	Ed Zaunbrecher, left, brings his years of experience and success coaching at universities across the nation to the Owls as the new quarterback coach and offensive coordinator.

Ed Zaunbrecher acknowledges that there’s no single option to lead the Owls as they head to their first game of the season at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Sept. 5. But he does have several prospects, two of whom will alternate in a quarterback-by-committee arrangement. “We’ll see how it plays out from there,” Zaunbrecher said, emphasizing flexibility.

The Owls enter the 2009 season with two leading candidates for starting quarterback: Will Rice College senior John Thomas Shepherd and Will Rice sophomore Nick Fanuzzi. It’s Zaunbrecher’s job to evaluate which one takes the snap — and for how long. “Each one gives us a different style of play,” he said. Shepherd is more experienced and quicker on his feet, while Fanuzzi has a stronger arm, Zaunbrecher said.

“A lot of things enter into the decision,” he said. “One guy’s style of play may be better suited to one situation and the other guy’s style of play to another situation.”

Zaunbrecher has lots of experience on which to base his decision. He’s coached at University of Arizona, Wake Forest, LSU, Michigan State, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Marshall, University of Florida, University of Illinois and, most recently, Purdue. Some of his charges have gone on to achieve distinction in the NFL, including Rex Grossman, Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington. “I’ve been spoiled,” he joked, referring to the talent he has nurtured over his career.

Despite coaching gigs all over the country, Zaunbrecher said the Gulf Coast weather doesn’t bother him. Born in southern Louisiana, he said Houston’s August heat “feels like home.”

With Clement’s departure, the Owls will of necessity have a different look. Asked if the wide-open offense of last year is a thing of the past, Zaunbrecher, whose full title includes offensive coordinator as well as quarterback coach, described the new approach as “more balanced.” 

He relies heavily on statistics to grade his players and find the appropriate quarterback for the moment. He cited data from practices that cover his quarterbacks’ passing accuracy, completion percentage, interception rate and other categories that he uses to help his athletes. “If I can show a player his accuracy percentage drops on passes over 20 yards, for instance, I can get him to work on some things.”

On the other hand, a quarterback might be passing well but other factors — like pass interference or a receiver running the wrong route or dropping the ball — intervene. Zaunbrecher’s statistics are designed to provide an informed perspective on the incompletion. “If this guy’s getting the ball in the right spot 80 percent of the time,” he said, “that gives us a good chance to win the football game.”

Zaunbrecher has seen lots of changes in his decades of coaching football. “Defensive guys have gotten so good, especially in terms of speed, that [the offense] just can’t pound it in there like they used to.” Still, Zaunbrecher is quick to point out how much of the game is really just a variation on earlier plays. “I’ve been doing it long enough,” he said. “People think they’re reinventing football, but most of it’s been done before.”