Offensive Philosophy, Family Atmosphere Led Jack Bicknell Jr. to Louisville
(Photo of Louisville Centers: Michelle Hutchins/Special to Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When he was let go by Auburn as part of the coaching staff shakeup following head coach Gus Malzahn's firing, Jack Bicknell Jr. more than likely could have elected to go anywhere he wanted. Between the NFL and the college ranks, he has over twenty years coaching experience exclusively on the offensive line, as well as a seven-year head coaching stint with Louisiana Tech.
But, Louisville had an early advantage to land him, thanks to connections with wide receivers coach Gunter Brewer. Larry Porter, who served as Auburn's tight ends and running backs coach during Bicknell's lone year with the Tigers, was the running backs coach at North Carolina from 2014 to 2016, when Brewer was the Tar Heels' co-offensive coordinator.
A connection with Brewer helped set up an interview with head coach Scott Satterfield, but this was not Bicknell's first exposure to the Cardinals. In fact, even if he was not let go by the Tigers, he wanted to observe Louisville's usage of the outside zone run, something that Satterfield loves to run and what Bicknell wanted to get back to.
"I fell in love with the outside zone, so it's kind of ironic because, I actually wanted to come here and study Louisville even if I was still at Auburn," Bicknell said Saturday. "I was gonna try to get up here and see what they were doing with the outside zone."
Bicknell's love of the outside zone run stems from his one-year tenure with Kansas City, when the Chiefs had one of the most effective run games in the NFL. Jamaal Charles finished fourth in rushing yards with 1,509, and the Chiefs as a whole had 2,395.
"People couldn't stop us at all," Bicknell said. "Jamaal Charles, and I know that was a while ago in 2012, but you can look it up, man. I wanted to get back to that, because I felt like that's a really good, effective run."
But schematic preference was only one part of the equation for Bicknell. He immediately was attached to the family atmosphere that Satterfield runs in the Louisville program, and actually calls it the primary reason for wanting to join the Cardinals.
"Number one, is the way Coach Satt treats everybody, and the people that he brings in," he said. "Usually the head coach is gonna bring in guys like him, so there's no ego guys here. They're all great people, they're all family men, they all care about you and all those things.
Bicknell also noted that after a career full of constant relocations, he is wanting some continuity at this point of his coaching career. He has been at 10 different stops over that last 15 years, including Louisville.
"Thank God that I was able to get to a place like this, because I've been a head coach, I've been in the NFL, I've been in some of the big schools in college," he said. "At this point, I want to stay somewhere. I want to build something. I want it to be a long term deal with good people. That's all I care about. I had a blast out there today."
Louisville will kickoff the 2021 season against Ole Miss in the annual Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, Sept. 6.
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