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f o o t b a l l f e a t u r e : j o h n s h o o p Commitment, Knowledge Define Shoop Coordinator has reputation for molding quarterbacks BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com By 27, he was an NFL quarterbacks coach. By 31, he was an NFL offensive coordinator and play-caller. After 12 seasons in the NFL, he took an offensive coordinator job in the college ranks. In 2013, he���ll be Purdue���s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. ���It���s kind of crazy how it all happened,��� he said of his coaching journey. A week after Catavolos left, Shoop got a call from Dom Capers, who had been hired to coach fter growing up in suburban Pittsburgh in the the Panthers in their first season. 1970s and ���80s, John Shoop insists he had no Capers told Shoop he���d been choice but to love sports. highly recommended. He offered Not with the Steelers winning championships him a job as a ���quality control��� nearly every season and the Pirates reaching their orcoach on offense. It���d mean mostganization���s peak with the World Series title in 1979. ly grunt work, breaking down tape And not with being the youngest of three active, and doing statistical research for energized boys. other coaches on the staff. It���d pay ���If you didn���t have a little bit of drive, you were next to nothing. going to be left behind,��� he said. But Shoop accepted. Shoop knew early he wasn���t destined to play footSo, at 25 with no real coachball beyond college ��� his father is only 5-foot-9 and Quickly rising ing experience, he was on an neither of his brothers are taller than 6 foot, nor is he. NFL staff. Maybe being a Boilermaker Tom Campbell But that only fueled a desire to be involved in the was God���s plan all along. He wasn���t going to waste the John Shoop grew up in suburban Pittsgame in other ways. Even in the face of divine callings. Soon after making the deci- burgh with a love for sports, a passion opportunity, diving into the work A religion major at the University of the South, where sion to stick with football over that grew into a career in coaching. relentlessly. And he quickly imhe started three years at quarterback, Shoop thought ministry, Shoop landed a gradpressed with his quality of work, about entering the seminary to become a preacher. uate assistant coaching job at Vanderbilt. He was detail-oriented approach and knowledge. ���But then I thought to myself, I never once went there for three years. As he was planning to take the The first chance Capers had, he made Shoop to my preacher with a problem that I had. But I never teaching exam to become a high school football coach quarterbacks coach. once made a major decision in my life without talking in middle Tennessee, the Commodores hired George ���It was maybe a surprise to some in terms of him to my high school coach or my college coach,��� he said. Catavolos as their defensive coordinator. not being a real recognizable name and being as ���So I decided I wanted to be a coach. I ended up marCatavolos was a member of Purdue���s 1967 Rose young as he was,��� said Steve Beuerlein, who was a rying a minister.��� quarterback for Carolina from 1996-2000. ���Really it Bowl team. With the decision made, Shoop locked in with dogged Shoop showed Catavolos around for only about a was our offensive coordinator at the time, Joe Pendry, determination to quickly move down his new path. week until Catavolos bolted to take a job with the Car- that I think had some input into that as well. I think By 25, he was on an NFL staff. they respected him as an incredibly committed hard olina Panthers. worker and incredibly intelligent, a guy who could pick it up and really move up the ladder fairly quickly.��� West (Coast) Lafayette approach Shoop wasn���t only young ��� he looked it. Though John Shoop will mold Purdue���s offense around the talents of its quarterback, whoever that may He didn���t have an ���imposing appearance,��� Beuerbe, there are some knowns. lein said with a laugh. The Boilermakers will be a progression-read team, a staple of the West Coast-style of offense Shoop And yet, in 1997 in his first official game as quarhas used in some fashion in most of his coaching stops. terbacks coach, Shoop found himself standing in front It���s a style that stresses accuracy and quick decision-making and doesn���t rely on reading defenses, of Troy Aikman, Steve Young and the Panthers��� own perhaps a key ingredient considering Purdue���s relative inexperience at the position. Kerry Collins. In the system, every route that���s called, there���s a first, second, third and fourth read, the last typically It was the Pro Bowl, the Panthers��� staff earning the a dump-down that���s not often reached in college. The quarterback doesn���t hold on to the ball long enough. right to coach the NFC by virtue of advancing to the Play-action and drop-back principles can be applied to the system, too. title game the year before. ���Coming from high school, my high school was in a spread, I got to college and learned the progression Shoop handled it flawlessly, showing his dry sense system from him,��� former North Carolina quarterback Braden Hanson said. ���It was a steep learning curve. of humor by tossing out a joke about being ready to I had to work pretty hard to understand it, but once you get it, it���s pretty cool. Depending on how good your teach the players everything he knew. quarterback is, the sky is the limit with that system.��� Shoop wasn���t afraid to offer opinions but also Shoop wants his quarterbacks to be ���absolutely obsessed��� about being completion-driven. Freshman Dandid so in a professional way, approaching it as an ny Etling said Shoop already warned him that he���d get yelled at for every incomplete pass, even in practice. He opportunity to help the quarterbacks be sharp and told Etling he wouldn���t be impressed by his mechanics or his arm strength. He���ll be impressed if he is 30-for-30. thoroughly prepared. Not that Purdue will necessarily throw 30 times a game. That helped him form a strong relationship with In Shoop���s last coaching stop as offensive coordinator at North Carolina, he showed a willingness to Beuerlein, who was entering his eighth season in the adapt to his personnel. league when he joined the Panthers in 1996. ���I think that���s another of his great qualities that, when we needed something else, something new, he But his work ethic helped to gain instant respect, too. was one of the most creative guys, whether it was formations, shifts, motions, looks, schemes, anything He���d be in the office until the early morning hours, we could do to muster something up when we needed a play or a spark in the offense,��� former Tar Heel go home for a few and then be back at it at 6 a.m. quarterback and current Houston Texans QB T.J. Yates said. ���I played in the NFL for a long time and played at ��� Stacy Clardie Notre Dame before that, and I���ve been around a lot of coaches and you see all different shapes and sizes and A 38 ��� Gold & Black IllustrateD ��� volume 23, issue 4 GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com