Fresno State Athletics
CFL or FBS, football is football
12/15/2016 3:29:00 PM | Football
Fresno State's newest hire Orlondo Steinauer looks to bring success from the CFL to the south
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The decision struck some with a question mark, going to the Canadian Football League ranks, but those that know Steinauer knew that Fresno State was in good hands.
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"I understand that," said Steinauer about those questioning the hire. "I don't look at it as a negative. I look at it as fans and supporters that are passionate. I don't think it would be any different whether Jeff hired a guy that was a coverage guy or a pressure guy, there's always going to be people that have questions, and I think that's good."
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The difference in the CFL expands to 12 players on the field, three downs to make a first down, and a field that is goal-line to goal-line 110 yards, with the 55-yard line at midfield and 65 yards wide vs. the traditional 100 yards by 53 and 1/3 yards wide on the collegiate field. The CFL's end zones are even deeper, 20 yards deep.
@FresnoStateFB letssss gooooo!! Great coach! Excited to see the energy he will bring to Bulldog Football!?? #GoDogs
— Karl Mickelsen (@Haniki_43) December 15, 2016
But Steinauer is no stranger to the game. In 1995, his final year at Western Washington, he was a consensus first-team All-American and the CFA Defensive Player of the Year leading the United States in pass interceptions with 10 and ranked ninth nationally with an 11.6 yards punt return average. Steinauer finished his collegiate career with 20 interceptions, 160 tackles, a forced fumble, and 89 punt returns for 965 yards (10.84 yards per punt ret. avg.) and a touchdown.
In 1999, he was named to Western Washington University's All-Century team and was the only player named to two first-team positions, at cornerback and punt returner.
"Here's the thing to remember," said Steinauer. "Football is football, between the whistles. You're going to pass it or you're going to run it. You have to get them on the ground and you want to keep them out of the end zone. The fact that the field is long and wider up here makes it definitely more difficult – there's a lot more motion. But the game of football is the same. It's still to tackle people. To score touchdowns or to prevent people from scoring touchdowns. Nothing changes there. What transfers, it's still the game of football. There are some intricacies as far as the field dimensions and an extra layer, but it's still the game of football."
Terrific player, great coach, class act. All the best to Orlondo Steinauer at Fresno St. Hopefully we'll see him back in the CFL as a HC.
— Chris Cuthbert (@CCtsn) December 15, 2016
What type of defense should the Bulldogs expect?
"My perspective is we need to see the personnel that we have," said Steinauer. "You have to basically marry what you have and then you build a plan around the players. Once the staff and I get in a room and we sit down and decide what players we have, I think we'll be better able to describe what type of defense we will be.
"Up here, I can speak of what I have been, I've been more of a pressure guy. But at times we've been coverage. I would say that we have a good chance of being a multiple defense. We played a 4-3 mostly, a 4-2, 4-3 box, however you want to phrase it, and there are times we played some three-down and I think that's where multiple comes in. I think we will be able to get in and out of different fronts at any given time."
Coach Tedford has only seen what Steinauer's defenses have produced from the opposite sideline. Which was most apparent in 2015, the year Tedford was the head coach of the B.C. Lions. Steinauer's Tiger-Cats scored eight touchdowns on defense that season, including six interception returns and two fumble returns for touchdowns. The eight defensive touchdowns were exactly double the amount produced by the next closest CFL team in 2015, and nearly one quarter of the defensive touchdowns generated by the entire league. The unit's six interception return touchdowns was just one shy of the CFL record set by the Toronto Argonauts in 2006, a team that Steinauer played on.
Hamilton's defense also accounted for the league's most takeaways (52) in 2015, and points off turnovers (184), most interceptions (tie-26) and most turnovers on downs (15) in 2015, and generated the East Division's Most Outstanding Defensive Player in linebacker Simoni Lawrence, as well as four 2015 CFL All-Stars in Lawrence, defensive backs Craig Butler and Emanuel Davis, and defensive tackle Ted Laurent.
Coach O is going thrive where ever he is that's how he's built so happy he's down the road from my Cali house !!!
— Simoni Lawrence (@Simoni_Lawrence) December 15, 2016
"Outside of handshakes before the game and just some small talk that coaches do," Steinauer said about the extent of his previous relationship with Tedford. "This is not like we're longtime friends and finally get a chance to work together. It's not that story at all. I didn't know Jeff well, I just competed against him and definitely respected what he brought and what he did and obviously there was a mutual respect in what he was preparing against."
An unusual marriage, yes, but 'football is football' as Steinhuer says.
"Coach Tedford, he has been successful wherever he has been and he's going to assemble the guys that he believes give them the best chance to win football games," Steinhuer said. "You hire people who give you the best chance to win. I don't want to speak for him, but I don't see it as a difficult thing at all. I'm a people person. I'm not a 'me first' person. This is not going to be my defense, this is going to be our defense and it's going to be something that the city of Fresno can be proud of. I see us flying around and having fun and doing what we do, having fun making plays."
I don't think my city and @FresnoStateFB understands just yet, that they have a great man that will change the culture there! #greatness
— Johnny Sears Jr (@JJr0) December 15, 2016
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A message from Orlondo: pic.twitter.com/qgsTuEYsqe
— Hamilton Tiger-Cats (@Ticats) December 15, 2016
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