TERRE HAUTE —
With close to six decades of combined NCAA football coaching experience, new Indiana State head coach Mike Sanford and his defensive coordinator and associate head coach, Brian Cabral, foresee a smooth transition from the previous coaching staff.
Cabral had spent the past 24 years at the University of Colorado. The former Chicago Bear linebacker spent most of the time as linebackers coach while spending time as an associate head coach. He worked under five different head coaches, so he has a good understanding of the transition process.
“I want to pick up where [coach Trent Miles’ staff] left off. That’s going to be the trick, to pick up where they left off,” Cabral said. “To see where [the players] are, what they know. Try not to upset things a great deal. It’s going to be interesting to be able to blend where they are and what they know and what they can do, with how to move them forward.”
Cabral inherits a defense that ranked fifth in the Football Championship Subdivision rankings in yards allowed. But the Sycamores will graduate 2012 All-American cornerback Johnny Towalid and 2011 All-American defensive end Ben Obaseki.
“The program is in a very good place right now,” Cabral said. “We feel like we have great responsibility to these guys to take them a step farther. Everything you want in a team, they’re there. … It’s up to us to help them take that next step.”
Sanford is thrilled to have Cabral on board.
“I’m very excited to have Brian Cabral, No. 1 because of what type of person he is,” Sanford said. “He’s great with relationships with players and having the ability to get the most out of players. His background of some NFL experience, being part of that Chicago Bear defense with Buddy Ryan and he played on a national championship team at CU.
“I’m excited about what he’s going to bring. Also the knowledge and wisdom and the ability to get players to play hard, that’s a lot about what defense is.”
Sanford said that Cabral was one of the first couple people he called after being hired by Indiana State — the first being running back Shakir Bell, who had said he was mulling the possibility of leaving school a year early for the NFL.
“To me, that was priority No. 1, to recruit the players that are here,” Sanford said. “He’s arguably the best running back in FCS football. I wanted to make sure he was coming back.”
With that taken care of, Sanford turned his attention to recruiting — both a coaching staff and some new players. He said he recently completed his staff and hopes to announce a recruiting class of more than 20 players on Wednesday in Hulman Center prior to the men’s basketball game.
The focus of his recruiting will be on wide receiver and linebacker, said Sanford, who was also happy to gain commitments from several players that the previous coaching staff had offered scholarships to.
The next piece of business will be preparing for spring football, a crucial time for a program transitioning coaching staffs.
Sanford will serve as offensive coordinator to start out. He spent time in that role at Utah under Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.
“I want to move toward a more spread offense, but I want to take advantage of the talent we have,” Sanford said. “We’ve got fullbacks and other guys that give us the capability to line up in some pro-type sets and run the football at people. We can also run the football out of spread sets. We want to create opportunities to set up for wide receivers to make some plays. That’s going to open up things for Shakir.”
Sanford helped Alex Smith develop into a 2004 Heisman Trophy candidate. So what does he think of the Sycamores’ talent at that significant position?
“Mike Perish did a really good job last year. They won seven games last year with him at quarterback. That said, the QB position’s going to be wide open,” Sanford said. “Robert Tonyan is a really good young player who redshirted last year. I think there’s going to be a really good competition with those two this spring.”
Sanford said the spring schedule, which will begin in about six weeks, will be about mastering new terminology so that the Sycamores can avoid haphazard mistakes that can derail an offense.
“That’s a huge thing in the first year is to be efficient, understand the system and understand the snap count,” Sanford said. “Not have mistakes before the ball is snapped. We’re going to want to do some things with tempo offense. We’ll want to get that in this spring, having a system where you can huddle and go no-huddle.”
While Sanford is new to the FCS football scene, he got a glimpse when watching Missouri Valley Football Conference foe North Dakota State take the national title a couple days after he was hired.
“When I watched that, one thing I noticed was they ended up 14-1, and the one loss was to Indiana State. That shows we have the capability to play at that level. As long as we approach it like we still have work to do, we have players hungry to get there,” Sanford said.
Sports
New ISU football staff sees smooth transition
- Sports
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IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, stands in his team pit box as he waits for the start of the final practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
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For the sixth time in his Indy career Friday, three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves won the Pit Stop Challenge on Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
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Freshman Hambrock, THS seek semistate tennis title
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Coach adds regional host to job description
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Prep roundup: South Vermillion reaches baseball sectional final
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Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
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Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
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West Vigo advances to sectional championship with walk-off win in ninth
High school baseball sectional games between West Vigo and Edgewood have had a tendency to be unpredictable over the years, but the Vikings and Mustangs outdid themselves in that area Thursday evening — and Thursday night.
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Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
BOYS TRACK REGIONAL: North gets three winners, South two at Evansville
Terre Haute North had three winners, Terre Haute South two, and the Patriots and Braves finished second and third respectively at the Evansville Regional for boys track on Thursday at Evansville Central.
Hurdlers Cam Stewart and Cole Seward and discus thrower Lee Davis were the winners for North, enabling the Patriots to finish with 60 points to 59 for the Braves.
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Top guns, again
- Local Interest
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METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman's Evans honored as Great Lakes' top athlete
Rose-Hulman senior Liz Evans earned her fifth career NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year honor, according to results released Wednesday by the U.S. Cross Country and Track and Field Coaches Association.
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Terry enjoys strong year with Wildcats, and still enjoying suiting up to play
South Vermillion’s Tim Terry is the longest tenured coach in Wabash Valley high school baseball as his Wildcats are set to begin sectional play Thursday against Owen Valley.
But on the Yankees, a 35-and-over team in the Terre Haute Men’s Senior Baseball League, Terry is “just a youngster” if you ask Larry Roesch, his 68-year-old teammate on the Volkers Group Yankees. -
Softball sectionals up for grabs
All three Vigo County high schools and Northview appear to have a realistic chance of winning sectional championships in softball this week.
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Indiana State baseball series canceled
Heavy rain from Thursday through Saturday has forced Indiana State and Tennessee Martin to cancel their three-game weekend baseball series in northwest Tennessee.
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METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman baseball to play DePauw on Thursday after Tuesday's rain
The Rose-Hulman baseball team has rescheduled its non-conference game with DePauw to Thursday night.
The start time remains 7 p.m. for the single nine-inning game that was originally scheduled for today. Tuesday’s scheduled Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game at Anderson was moved to Sunday because of rain.
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METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman's Evans honored as Great Lakes' top athlete
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Freshman Hambrock, THS seek semistate tennis title
Having already claimed Terre Haute North Sectional and Greencastle Regional championships in girls high school tennis, Terre Haute South will try to add a semistate title to its 2013 list of accomplishments today as the Braves battle No. 25-ranked Greenwood.
- Prep roundup: South Vermillion reaches baseball sectional final
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- College
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Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
-
Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
Senior Liz Evans capped the top career in Rose-Hulman athletics history with her fifth national championship and eighth All-American award at Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
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Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
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Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship
Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.
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Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
- Sports Columns
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RAMBLIN' RECK: Sunday promises to be big day in Indy
Sunday promises to be a super day in Indianapolis.
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RAMBLIN' RECK: Sunday promises to be big day in Indy
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Luck having fun with his first OTAs
A year ago, quarterback Andrew Luck was unable to attend the Indianapolis Colts’ organized team activity practices due to school commitments at Stanford.
Luck, though, went on to have a stellar year for the Colts despite the lack of summer work with the team. Still, in a sense, he is a rookie during this year’s OTA workouts.
“These are my first OTAs. I missed these last year, so I think it’s great. It’s great to get on the field with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff. Obviously, some of us ran some of this stuff [offense] at Stanford [under new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton]. But to get out there with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff is good,” Luck said Wednesday as the team wrapped up its first week of on-field voluntary practice sessions. - Colts hoping for more high marks on draft picks
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Luck having fun with his first OTAs
- Terre Haute Rex
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Consultation: Rex manager Brian Dorsett talks with his pitcher and players during a time-out Sunday, July 15, at Sycamore Field. (Tribune-Star file/Bob Poynter)
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2012 an up, down season for Rex
The Terre Haute Rex went through plenty of trials and tribulations during the summer of 2012.
The team got off to a sluggish start to settle for third place during the first half of the Prospect League race, but manager Brian Dorsett rallied the troops to a second-half title. - Metro Roundup: Dorsett, Rex players honored in Prospect League postseason awards
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2012 an up, down season for Rex
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Luck having fun with his first OTAs
A year ago, quarterback Andrew Luck was unable to attend the Indianapolis Colts’ organized team activity practices due to school commitments at Stanford.
Luck, though, went on to have a stellar year for the Colts despite the lack of summer work with the team. Still, in a sense, he is a rookie during this year’s OTA workouts.
“These are my first OTAs. I missed these last year, so I think it’s great. It’s great to get on the field with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff. Obviously, some of us ran some of this stuff [offense] at Stanford [under new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton]. But to get out there with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff is good,” Luck said Wednesday as the team wrapped up its first week of on-field voluntary practice sessions. - Colts' coordinators enjoying getting rookies acclimated
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Luck having fun with his first OTAs
- Auto Racing
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IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, stands in his team pit box as he waits for the start of the final practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
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Top guns, again
For the sixth time in his Indy career Friday, three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves won the Pit Stop Challenge on Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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- TRACKSIDE: Local drivers, owners looking to have strong night at Tony Hulman Classic
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Top guns, again
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