UTSA offensive coordinator Frank Scelfo relieved of duties

UTSA Head Coach Frank Wilson made a swift move to replace offensive coordinator Frank Scelfo after the Roadrunners failed to move the ball into the end zone in the final eight quarters of the regular season.

Scelfo came to UTSA from the NFL ranks where he had served as a quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. While Scelfo’s experience mentoring quarterbacks helped UTSA senior quarterback Dalton Sturm take a huge step forward as a signal caller through the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Scelfo’s antiquated smash-mouth philosophy was a poor fit at UTSA and ultimately led to his demise.

The Roadrunners’ offense showed improvement in Scelfo’s first season but the improvement was short-lived. In 2016 the Roadrunners ranked 65th in the nation in points per game (29.2) but dropped to 109th in 2017 (20.8) despite playing one of the weaker schedules in the nation.

Moving on from Scelfo so quickly seems to imply that Frank Wilson plans to stick around at UTSA for the 2018 season. Scelfo was a mentor to Wilson early in his career and it’s tough to imagine Wilson abandoning him if he feels that he might not be at UTSA next season.

With Scelfo out the door, UTSA’s wide receivers coach Jeff Kastl will take up playcalling duties for UTSA’s bowl game, should they be awarded a bid next Sunday. Kastl is in his second season at UTSA and has playcalling experience from his lone season as an offensive coordinator at Ashland University in 2011. Kastl played quarterback at Michigan under Lloyd Carr from 2002 to 2005.

I would be very surprised to see Kastl be promoted to UTSA’s full time offensive coordinator and would expect Frank Wilson to use his deep industry ties to identify his next offensive coordinator. My guess is that Wilson will be looking for a coach with experience in a power spread offense similar to what Ohio State or Auburn currently run. Scelfo didn’t bring much to the table as a recruiter, so expect Wilson to target someone who can relate with and engage high school prospects.

Here are a few guys I would reach out to gauge interest from:

Chris Weinke - Currently an analyst at Alabama, Weinke won the Heisman trophy in 2000 and played quarterback in the NFL. Weinke lived in Austin, Texas following his NFL retirement so he may be interested in moving back to Texas. He also worked as the director of the IMG Madden Football Academy, providing quarterback training to many big name quarterbacks.

Dameyune Craig - While Craig is currently earning minimum wage as “Quality Control of Offense” at Florida State, he still holds an impressive resume with a lot of notable mentors. Craig coached under Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban, Gus Malzahn, and Les Miles. Formerly a co-offensive coordinator at Auburn, Craig recruited Jameis Winston to Florida State.

Phil Longo - I’ve vouched for Longo to be offered the UTSA offensive coordinator spot before, but he ended up securing the same role at Ole Miss. Following the coaching change there, Longo could very likely be looking for a new job this offseason. It would be a big change for UTSA to move to an air raid offense but Longo has proved he can build an explosive offense anywhere. As of last week Ole Miss is ranked 10th in the nation in offensive S&P+ and 37th in points per game.

Shaun King - While King has coached both quarterbacks and running backs at USF, he certainly has the chops to be an offensive coordinator in 2018. King actually played under Scelfo at Tulane where he set the NCAA passing efficiency record in 1998 and became the first NCAA QB to pass for 3,000 yards and run for over 500 yards in the same season. He enjoyed a very successful career in the NFL and helped mold USF quarterback Quinton Flowers into one of the top quarterbacks in the Group of Five.