LOGAN, Utah – As soon as he got the call from
Gary Andersen, he was all in.
Andersen, in his second stint as Utah State's head football coach, hired
Dave Schramm away from Weber State back in February to be the Aggies' running backs coach.
It's not the first time the two have worked together, so when Andersen called Schramm about the job opening, it didn't take the veteran coach – he's got 29 years of college coaching experience – to switch schools.
Schramm has coached in 13 bowl games and 10 playoff games at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. He has also been a part of eight conference championship teams. Most recently, he spent two seasons (2018-19) as the offensive coordinator at Weber State, helping the Wildcats to a 21-7 overall mark and 14-2 conference record as the Wildcats shared back-to-back Big Sky titles.
In 2018, Weber State advanced to the FCS Playoff Quarterfinals and was ranked as high as third in the nation, its highest in school history. In 2019, the Wildcats were again ranked as high as third in the nation and advanced to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs for the first time in school history.
Schramm spent four seasons (2012-15) as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Fresno State. Prior to his stint with the Bulldogs, he was at Utah for seven seasons (2005-11) as an assistant coach. Three of those years were spent alongside Andersen. He was the offensive coordinator with the Utes in 2009 and the co-offensive coordinator in 2010. Utah averaged 33.1 points per game in 2010 and 29.1 points per game in 2009.
Schramm spent the 2003 and 2004 seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Montana. He was at San Diego State for 12 seasons (1990-2001), where he was the recruiting coordinator, while also coaching the offensive line, safeties, tight ends and running backs. He also spent one season coaching at Southwest Texas State in 2002, where he was the assistant head coach and running backs coach.
A native of San Diego, Schramm was a college quarterback at Cornell (Iowa) and Grossmont Junior College before playing at Adams State in Colorado. As a freshman at Cornell, he led all of Division III in touchdown passes and helped the team to a No. 1 national ranking in total offense.
His first coaching job was at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, where he was an assistant coach from 1984-87. He began his college coaching career at Austin Peay, coaching the running backs and tight ends. A graduate assistant coach at Nebraska in 1989, he coached the Cornhuskers' secondary.
We recently caught up with Schramm for a Q&A.
Q: What have your first few months on the job, and being a part of coach Andersen's staff again, been like?
Schramm: It's been good. Unfortunately, we got cut short and the development in this position is really huge for the offense, so I don't know what we can do about it. It's hard to get good if you're not playing the game. It's not like you can get good by playing video games. It is what it is, and we'll just have to get in at the ground level and go. This is a good group, they're attentive and they work hard. We haven't even been able to get them in pads yet, so it's hard for me to even evaluate any of them other than I like their mentality in the classroom in the few meetings that we got to have, and their attentiveness to the stuff on the field. They work extremely hard and they want to be good, so that's always a good start.
Q: What is your relationship with Coach A like?
Schramm: We go way back to the days when I was at San Diego State and he was at Utah. We used to recruit against each other quite a bit and kind of got to know each other. When I got hired at Utah it was really because of Gary. Gary put it in Kyle (Whittingham's) ear to hire me. We had a good run there at Utah, then we both went our separate ways. Being able to come back to Weber State was good. (WSU head coach) Jay (Hill) was on those same staffs, but when Gary called about this opportunity I jumped at it. He knows me, he knows what I'm all about, and I know what his expectations are. One thing I told him is I want to help you in any way that I can. I'm grateful to be here, excited to be here, and ready to help out with whatever I need to do.
Q: You have a long history with football in the state of Utah. Was that one of the main things that appealed to you about coming to Utah State?
Schramm: Gary is what appealed to me about coming to Utah State. I wouldn't have come here if Gary wasn't here. I had a good job at Weber State, and we were good running the offense. I was there a few years and we finished fifth and third in the country. It was a good situation down there. I have a son that goes to the University of Utah and a son that goes to Boise State, so my wife wouldn't have let me move too far away. But, I came here for Gary. He called and I told him I'll come help out in any way I can.
Q: Obviously you're familiar with Utah State, but is there anything that has surprised you about it now that you're here?
Schramm: The last time that I played a game here, I was coaching at the University of Utah and none of this was built. The end zone complex wasn't built, the press box wasn't built, the weight room wasn't built. When my sons were in high school, we actually got in the car and drove around, and this was one of the places we stopped. Stacy (Collins) was recruiting my sons and Mark Tommerdahl was here at the time, so that gave me a fresh opportunity to see it. The press box wasn't done yet, but the weight room was. The improvements that they've made here in a 10-year period have been phenomenal. I've been around this league a lot. There is nobody really in the conference that has a facility, from a building standpoint, that we have here. I kind of knew that, though, and I knew that the guys that Gary recruited and that he is recruiting, he'll put his stamp on this place again pretty fast. When we go out on the field, and I don't really know a lot of the guys' names because I haven't been here long enough, but I see a good young football team, and we've got a bunch of nice young players. If we can stay healthy and all of that stuff, I believe the future is going to be bright here in being able to build on what Gary came back to do.
Q: Utah State has been to eight bowl games in the past nine years. Can you speak from an outside perspective on how people view Utah State football now as compared to 15 years ago when you were at Utah?
Schramm: This is a place where you're going to have to lace up your cleats every game. I don't care what league you play in, everybody knows that when you play Utah State you better bring your A game. The reputation is that it's a tough, hard-nosed football team, very sound, and talented enough to beat you. They've gone to so many bowl games consecutively because of that. The Mountain West is a good league. Anybody can beat anybody. Without question, Utah State is an upper-echelon team in the mindset of everybody in this league. It's not a doormat football team, it's not a doormat program. It's a program, that, especially as young as we are, it's a program that's going to keep getting better and better. I think people know that.
Q: How did you get into coaching?
Schramm: When I got done with school, actually I was still going to school at San Diego State where I graduated from, my high school coach just asked if I'd ever thought about being a coach and at the time I had, so that's kind of how I got started. As I did that for three years or four years, whatever it was, I just felt like maybe I'll be a teacher and a coach. I got hired at San Diego State as a graduate assistant, then I got into the coaching carousel and went from there. That's kind of how it all started. It was never initially the plan, but it's been good. It's been a good profession and it's changed quite a bit. I don't think we are in the coaching business anymore, we're in the entertainment business. Back when I started coaching as a graduate assistant, we had coaches on our staff that had other jobs. Nobody was making any money, you just coached football because you were a teacher. We had a couple of coaches on our staff that taught classes, that's how long ago it was, but that's just kind of how it was though. Nobody ever thought you were going to get rich being a football coach. I think with TV and all this stuff that's happened, and when you get agents involved and all the dollars start coming out, now it becomes a bit of a different deal where people are making a living that people never anticipated that they'd be able to make coaching football. It's changed kind of the dynamic of who we are and what we do. At the end of the day, it's still about the kids, it's about the players, and that's one of the things I really love about Gary. It's my philosophy, too, that we wouldn't have these jobs if it weren't for the players. The players are the reason we're here and if we can help them get a degree, that's going to help carry them on for the rest of their lives, even though most of them don't have that vision, they have tunnel vision for football only. But, we know 10 years from now that degree that they're going to get is going to help them a heck of a lot more than football. It's the players first, and again, Gary and I have the same philosophy when it comes to that and that's why I'm excited to be here working for him.
Q: Is that what you get the most enjoyment from in coaching football?
Schramm: Absolutely. Helping the kids, like I said earlier, helping them do something that is going to help them for the future that they don't even know about. You get in this profession and all of a sudden you get an email from a guy that you coached 15 years ago and he says "Hey, I remember when you were telling me all this and that, and I appreciate you." It's a little bit of a cornball thing, but when we started coaching, that's why you did it. You weren't making tons of money, but you did it for that. You knew you were helping guys, and down the road they were going to realize it at some point in time. To me, that's why I still do it. It's just in my blood, that's why I coach football. There are a lot of lessons that you learn that you can carry on for the rest of your life. That's still the most important thing to me."
Q: What are your general coaching philosophies, and what can Aggie fans expect to see from your group on Saturdays?
Schramm: Toughness. It's still a game where you have to knock the other guy off the ball. I know offenses have taken on the spread and there's a little bit more of a flashy mentality, but the bottom line is this is a game where the physicality of the game still wins. There are no teams that are any good that don't have physical people. We have to establish a toughness, and not just a physical toughness, but a mental toughness, to our group. We've got to solidify that group, because while
Jaylen Warren has played a little bit, the rest of those guys have never played, which means that we're probably going to use a lot of them. We're expecting a couple of freshmen to come in and help out, and you get what you earn. Nothing's going to be handed to you, so we'll have great competition in the room, but we'll also have the ability to play a lot of different guys, which I think is going to be critical, as well. We've got to establish a toughness and a mentality to take care of the football. In a one-back offense like we're going to run, you've got to be ready because you're going to get hit or hit somebody on every play whether you're picking up a blitz or running the football. Those are the things that we're going to need to do in order to be successful. Like I said, I like the mentality of the group. I haven't seen us in pads yet, so it's hard for me to look at that, but all that stuff will come. We've just got to get a chance to go out on the field and do it.
Q: How do you utilize your time when you're not coaching?
Schramm: My family. I have two sons, they're both in college, but we're pretty close. Whether I'm going down to Salt Lake City to watch my son play baseball or I'm going to Boise when I've got time to play golf or fish, we're a pretty tight-knit group. Mainly just being with my family and living life. I'm 56 years old and our sons are twins, and they're the only ones that we have, so we were empty nesters pretty fast. That's just who we are, and most of the stuff we do, we do together. It's been fun, we've traveled around a lot. The Utah baseball season's done, but we would travel and watch him play. My wife and son go to all the Boise State games when they're home. That's who we are, a close-knit family.
Q: Do you have any hobbies or hidden talents?
Schramm: No, I don't have any hidden talents. I like to go golfing, but I don't say that I play golf, because I don't. I like to be out there, it's just fun. Other than that, football and family.
Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball or on Facebook at Utah State Football, as well as on Instagram at instagram.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.
-USU-
