"We don't want to dink and dunk," Cignetti saidjavascript:window.location.href=('c...d=2251&style=2&rid=109065742&tid=109065742');CHAPEL HILL - That can't be North Carolina's new offensive coordinator in the baggy blue shorts, layered T-shirts and grungy baseball hat yanked down to his eyebrows.
Frank Cignetti, impossibly 40 years old, looks more like the backup quarterback than the brains of the Tar Heels' offense.
The laminated play card, which he waves around like a conductor's baton, gives away Cignetti's real occupation, because his wardrobe and fluid movements around the practice field certainly don't.
"Your first impression is 'Who is this guy?' " said Paul Pinegar, Cignetti's starting quarterback at Fresno State from 2002 to 2005. "Then you get on the field with him and you realize he really knows his stuff."
Despite his hyperactivity and Generation X appearance, Frank Cignetti is indeed a football coach, one from a family of football coaches. His dad, Frank Sr., was a football coach, once Bobby Bowden's offensive coordinator at West Virginia and then the head coach of the Mountaineers. His older brother, Curt, is a football coach, an assistant at N.C. State.
What else could he be?
"I mean this in the nicest way possible, but he's a maniac," Carolina running back Ronnie McGill said. "He's really into what's going on and he gets out there with us all the time."
Cignetti, who came to UNC after a successful stint as offensive coordinator at Fresno State, represents a change in the Tar Heels' coaching staff. He replaces the Yoda-like Gary Tranquill, who at the age of 66 imparted wisdom with an unabridged playbook, not by demonstration.
The Heels hope Cignetti's energy and the run-oriented version of the West Coast offense translate to a better offense than the Carolina one that struggled to score points and run the ball in a 5-6 season in 2005.
As UNC head coach John Bunting, who worked with Cignetti in 2000 with the New Orleans Saints, pointed out, "We were awful in the red zone last year" scoring just 19 touchdowns last season, compared to 56 by Fresno State.
"It doesn't happen overnight," said Cignetti, whose 2004 and 2005 Fresno State teams ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense.
"It took time at Fresno, but I'm committed to doing whatever is best to win a football game. Our goal is to minimize mistakes, turnovers and penalties."
Normally, the typical Bill Walsh version of the West Coast offense equates to short, timing passes. Not so in Cignetti's playbook, which he implemented in spring practice after being hired in January.
Cignetti's offense borrows from his father, with whom he coached from 1990 to 1998 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and from longtime NFL coach Alex Gibbs. It will feature two running backs; zone blocking, a tactic perfected by Gibbs and the Denver Broncos; play-action passes; and more downfield "home run" type passes.
"We don't want to dink and dunk," Cignetti said. "There are situations for that, but we want to be an aggressive offense. We want to get the ball vertically down the field."
Cignetti believes the run sets up the pass. Fresno State's 2005 season will be remembered for putting up 42 points on Southern California and a 98-yard touchdown pass against Boise State, but the Bulldogs' real success came on the ground.
At Fresno State, Cignetti had four different 1,000-yard rushers in four seasons. The Tar Heels haven't had one of those since 1997 (Jonathan Linton).
"When the defense can't stop the run, they're in trouble," said Cignetti, whose Fresno State team attempted 476 rushes and 430 passes in 2005.
Last season, the Heels couldn't run. Carolina averaged just 101.5 rushing yards per game, which ranked 106th nationally, and a lowly 2.8 yards per carry.
Part of that was the absence of McGill for four games with a pectoral muscle tear. The other part was how Tranquill's offense was built.
McGill, a 5-foot-11, 220-pound bowling ball of a back, often had to wait for pulling guards and trap blocks. The result was too many negative plays or runs back into the line of scrimmage.
As McGill puts it, Cignetti's zone blocking scheme, which asks the linemen to block an area instead of an assigned defender, allows him to run "downhill." There's less movement in front of him and less waiting.
"It opens up gaps, instead of forcing you to go one way," said McGill, who gained 530 yards in seven games last season. "It gives you options. Some of the plays last year, you had to stretch and try to outrun the defense."
If McGill can stay healthy, and the talented Barrington Edwards (397 yards) can improve from last season's disappointing campaign, Bunting says Cignetti's offense will work, despite the step up in competition from the Western Athletic Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Bunting was quick to point out that Cignetti's offense scored 42 points on USC and 37 against Virginia in a 2004 bowl game.
"The scheme is not going to improve anything unless you have the players to do it," Bunting said. "The players are buying into what we are doing. We're going to see if they can do it."
Undaunted by the new challenge, Cignetti goes about every practice with the same energy and enthusiasm, moving from group to group and dissecting every play with his red Sharpie on his play card.
If his offense doesn't work, it won't be for a lack of energy.
