Former Boston College head coach Frank Spaziani joined the staff of Doug Martin, a longtime friend of his, this off season and Martin tasked Spaziani with taking over the Aggie defense.
Spaziani, who was let go at Boston College following the 2012 season, has spent the last few seasons out of coaching spending his spare time attending the sporting events of his high school aged kids. Now, after three seasons away from coaching, Spaziani is back in the saddle, trying to turn around a defense in Las Cruces that ranked 126th out of 128 teams in scoring defense, allowing 45 points per game.
It's a tall order, and coach Spaz gave some insight into his philosophy with AggieVision.
"My philosophy is basically no long runs, no long passes, and we're technicians, not magicians. We'll make sure that we're in the right spot and then the players have to make some plays."
After being asked about Luke Kuechly, one of Spaziani's star pupils at Boston College (now a star NFL player with the Carolina Panthers), Spaz shared one of his key beliefs to a good defense.
"The key to a lot of defense is linebacker play - they have to be "The Erasers". The guys up front have to keep them off the linebackers, and the linebackers have to make the play and the secondary guys have to make sure the ball doesn't go over their head. Pretty easy, right?"
Hear more from Spaziani below.