In close-knit coaching fraternity, Pronschinske preps for another familiar foe

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The college football coaching profession is a close-knit fraternity, a fact that SIU defensive coordinator Lee Pronschinske is keenly aware of during this stretch of back-to-back games versus North Dakota State and North Dakota.

Last week, Pronschinke’s defense squared off against an NDSU program where he spent two seasons on the defensive staff and helped the Bison win a national championship. Despite the loss, there were warm exchanges after the game among coaches and players.

This week, Pronschinske’s defense will play a North Dakota squad whose offense is coached by close friend Isaac Fruechte. The two coached together at Division II Northern State. As the offensive coordinator for the No. 9-ranked Fighting Hawks (4-2, 2-0), Fruechte has guided a high-powered UND attack led by dual-threat quarterback Jerry Kaminski.

StrongDawgs Coordinator's Corner with Lee Pronschinske

SD: After the first play at NDSU, there were a lot of positives in the first half, with three 3-and-outs, and essentially holding the Bison to a field goal until the final minute of the half.

LP: One of the bright sides from the game is that our guys did a good job responding after giving up a touchdown on the first play. Obviously, it's not ideal when you allow an explosive, 75-yard touchdown, but then we answered back with three really good drives. One resulted in a field goal, but against good teams like that, you gotta force drives to end with kicks, not touchdowns. In that two-minute situation, at a minimum, we needed to force a field goal, because we all know that was a big momentum-changing moment in the game.

SD: How much did Cole Payton affect your play-calling, when you know he has the ability to make a big play with his feet?

LP: Cole's obviously playing high-level football right now and has the ability to break a game wide open. If you start changing what you're doing and get soft in zone, he’s capable of sitting back there and picking you apart. You bring pressure in certain situations, and that really good offensive line picks it up, you can get creased in the run game. So you try to formulate a really good game plan and come with the right call, and sometimes the call on the other side's a little better than yours.

SD: It looked like you blitzed a little less often than usual. Was that by design?

LP: Against some of their heavier packages we brought a little bit more pressure, but as I alluded to, the talent they have across the board, you got to be really picky when you do bring it, because if it's picked up, all it takes is Cole Payton getting out of the pocket and making one guy miss, and you got a really hard time bringing him down in the open field. Also, we felt our D-line could get pressure with just our four-man rush.

SD: The D-line graded out well on PFF. Thoughts on their performance against the Bison?

LP: I thought our defensive line did a good job of gap-control up front and knock-backs. We had seven TFLs, which against that offensive line in that run game, that's a good job up front.

SD: You’re rotating 10-11 guys pretty consistently on the D-line. Is that by design to keep them fresh?

LP: It’s 100 percent trying to keep those guys fresh and allow them to have that extra gear. I think we have guys inside playing at an extremely high level, the Reeves brothers, Bern (Bernadin Fleurima Jr.), Noah Friedt, Amir Dwight. When you are five or six guys deep at the 3 technique, and then on the edge, you have four or five guys they're keeping fresh, we have the opportunity to come after people on third downs and in long distance.

SD: On the plus side, you forced NDSU into 12 third downs, but on the down side, they converted eight of them. Thoughts?

LP: If you told us we were going to force them into six, 3rd-and-longs, you’d feel pretty good about it, and so a lot of it comes down to the ability to execute. I think that's one of the bittersweet things of that game — we have a lot of stuff we can learn from, but there's a lot of stuff when we turn on the tape, if we do our job to the level that we expect, we're off the field in those situations. We're at the halfway point of the season and we have to continue to improve across the board, but especially on third downs.

SD: North Dakota quarterback Jerry Kaminski has thrown 17 touchdown passes and just one interception, and he’s another mobile QB. What have you seen from him on film?

LP: Jerry is an extremely talented young man, and if you follow his story, he was part of a three-person quarterback battle last year, and loses the job. He stays there this season, and it turns into an open competition with the returning starter, himself and a transfer from San Diego State. Jerry ends up winning the job. That’s an extremely impressive feat, and I think it speaks volumes about not only his talent, but who he is as a leader.

SD: They are almost perfectly balanced in yardage on the ground, and through the air, both about 1,300 yards. Describe their offense.

LP: Coach (Eric) Schmidt understands the mindset of playing complementary football, and I think it's a lot of credit to Coach (Isaac) Fruechte, the offensive coordinator. He's one of the best at the FCS level. He played in the league with the Vikings and Lions, and that shows up on tape. They operate a pro-style offense with multiple personnel groupings, do a really good job with unique formations and shift-motion, and with their disguises.

Isaac Fruechte

SD: You and Fruechte coached together at a previous stop. There’s a lot of overlap in this business, but what’s it like coaching against someone you know so well?

LP. Yes. Me and Coach Fruechte actually lived together for a few months at Northern State. I consider him one of my best friends. The first game I ever coordinated, he was the offensive coordinator on the other side of the ball, so it's not our first song and dance. I have all the respect in the world for him. Honestly, we don’t make it bigger than it is. We both understand how competitive we are, and we both want each other to be extremely successful, but you're lying if it doesn't make you want to beat the other one a little bit more, too.

SD: You also had the chance to catch up with your NDSU counterparts last week. It’s really a coaching fraternity, isn’t it?

LP: It's two weeks in a row now. Funny how the schedule fell, but there's a lot of guys on that staff that I sat in a defensive staff room with for 14 hours a day. I actually stayed with Coach (Kody) Morgan for a couple weeks one summer and helped build his deck at his house in Fargo. When you have the opportunity to work with really good men, like we have here at Southern Illinois, with Coach Hill, our defensive staff, everyone on the entire staff, it makes everything a lot more fun.

SD: Coming off a loss in a highly anticipated game, what’s the messaging to the defense this week?

LP: If you look at the last three weeks, we haven't played to the standard that all of us in the defensive unit know we can play to. The messaging right now is our attention to detail on the way we get to Saturday. We have a top 10 team coming into Carbondale, an opportunity that's going to have implications down the road. You got to hop back up in the saddle and you can't let that last one beat you twice.