CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- First-year University of Charleston football Coach Pat Kirkland won't be putting all of his eggs in one basket, but you can bet he will have his stamp on the Golden Eagles' defense.
Kirkland began his first spring in his first head coaching assignment Tuesday at University of Charleston Stadium.
That included a new group of coaches, with all but three of the assistants under former Coach Tony DeMeo being replaced.
At the top of that list is former West Virginia University player George Shehl.
This will also be the first coordinating assignment for Shehl, who was a four-year letterman for the Mountaineers (2002-06) as a holder on special teams. He had been the head of defensive quality control at The Citadel (2006-07), a graduate assistant for defense at WVU (2008-09) and Marshall (2010).
"He brings a tremendous special teams background," Kirkland said of Shehl, who is a graduate of Robert C. Byrd High School. "When he was at WVU, he spent a lot of time studying and has his hand in quite a bit in special teams."
Shehl replaces one-year defensive coordinator Kasey Teegardin, whose Golden Eagles ranked fifth in the West Virginia Conference in total defense last season (383.4 yards per game).
The first goal, Kirkland said of the defense, is to be able to play a base defense, before they think about being an attack-oriented group.
"Once we get that base defense down, katy bar the door," he said.
Offensively, the Golden Eagles will move away from DeMeo's triple-gun attack and be more multiple.
Handling the chores as offensive coordinator will be former Syracuse graduate assistant Jason Vrable.
He served as the quarterbacks coach at Marietta College (2007) and Robert Morris University (2008) before being named an offensive assistant for quality control (2009) and an offensive graduate assistant (2010) at Syracuse.
The best of Vrable's resume is in his playing. He holds single-season and career passing records in every Marietta passing category, including completions (495), attempts (902), yards (6,102) and touchdowns (41).
Despite Vrable's impressive passing numbers in college, Kirkland said his team won't necessarily be throwing it all over the field.
"We'll do what our personnel dictates," Kirkland said of Vrable, who holds the single-game pass attempt record at Marietta with 58 in a 2005 game against Muskingum College. "I would love to say we'll be 50-50, run to pass ratio. They've been a great running team in the past. We're going to be able to run the ball first and foremost, but I want to make sure we have some playmakers on the outside.
"I've been impressed with the ability of the quarterbacks. All I heard was we had running QBs, but they can do both. They can run it, but they can spin it pretty good too."
The Golden Eagles used two quarterbacks last fall - junior Blaine Wilson and freshman Maurice Leak - who combined to complete 92-of-185 passes for 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
There are three holdovers from DeMeo's staff in wide receivers coach Tate Gregory, running backs coach Steve Shuster and tight ends coach Shane Ziats.
Other newcomers are offensive line coach Paul Johnson and defensive line coach Cullen Homolka, a former Kansas running back. Johnson, a former Ohio University player, is the older brother of WVU linemen Josh Jenkins and Justin Johnson.
Johnson also is a former graduate assistant at WVU and Marshall, while Homolka spent time as a defensive graduate assistant at Marshall under two coaches - Mark Snyder and Doc Holliday - from 2008-10.
UC's spring practice will continue until April 14, with the Maroon-Gold spring game on April 16 at 5 p.m. The Golden Eagles open the 2011 campaign at 1 p.m., Sept. 3 on the road against Mars Hill (N.C.).
