There are some benefits to owning Texas roots for new Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Schultz.
For starters, any player who complains about the heat during August training camp will be met with a hearty laugh from the Houston native who spent the last 11 seasons at Texas Christian University.
“I think it’s funny,” Schultz said after practice Friday morning. “The hot’s a little hotter there than it is here.”
Schultz gave up the comfort of the two things that define his home state — stifling weather and stellar football — for what he saw as a chance to work with a coach who matches him in enthusiasm and intensity.
“A huge attraction was the opportunity to work for coach [Ron] Zook,” Schultz said. “A lot of people talk about a family atmosphere, and I hate to say it, but that can be lip service at some places.
“He really believes that.”
It won’t hurt that Schultz, who replaced Mike Locksley after he left for the top job at New Mexico, can help the Illini break into the hotbed of recruiting in Texas as well.
Schultz has a long history of developing running backs, including LaDainian Tomlinson. Five times in his tenure, a TCU running back rushed for at least 1,000 yards.
But Schultz isn’t planning to take the air out of Illinois’ attack, led by quarterback Juice Williams and receiver Arrelious Benn.
“It doesn’t matter if we run the ball 60 times or throw the ball 60 times, we have to do what we have to win the game,” Schultz said. “That’s the focus.”
Zook’s and Schultz’s coaching paths never intersected before. They were put in touch by their common friend, former Pittsburgh coach Mike Gottfried.
The Illinois and TCU offensive systems were fairly similar, so the transition has been smooth.
“He’s about one thing — that’s winning,” Zook said. “There’s no question you’ll see his personality in the play-calling and so forth. He had us coming in early to talk two three things at a time to make sure we were all on the same page.”
Schultz has spent only seven seasons of a 30-year career outside Texas. His father, Carroll, was an assistant at Houston from 1962 to 1974.
But Schultz adores the pomp of the Big Ten.
“I’m a college guy,” he said. “I really embrace the history and the pageantry of college football … the great rivalries. When you start looking at things like that a lot of things started in the Big Ten. It’s pretty neat.”
Since spending his first two weeks in January on an air mattress in an empty new house with wife Cindy — their three grown daughters live in Texas — Schultz said they have embraced the Midwest.
They visited a King Tut exhibit in Indianapolis and shopped on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
“I probably know more about Prada and Gucci and Coach than you could ever imagine,” Schultz said with a laugh.
And now more about cool summers and orange and blue ensembles.
“I don’t think transition is ever easy,” he said, “but it’s nice to be up here.”
———–
sryan@tribune.com
