Calhoun's first year

Troy Calhoun will complete his first season as Air Force coach Monday when the Falcons face California in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. But his rookie campaign already has been a stunning success.

Air Force, which was coming off three straight losing seasons, was picked to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West Conference by most publications in the preseason and was seventh in the league’s media poll.

But led by Calhoun, who altered schemes and implemented a rigorous in-season strength and conditioning program, the Falcons went 9-3. The five-game turnaround from 2006 included a 6-2 record in the Mountain West — good for second place — and the program’s first bowl bid since 2002.

Two days before hitting the one-year mark in his tenure at the academy, Calhoun — who earned conference coach of the year honors — discussed his first year with Jake Schaller, The Gazette’s Air Force beat writer.

Jake Schaller: After six games you were 4-2, and you gave your team a “B” for a midseason grade. What’s the grade now?

Troy Calhoun: It’s got to be higher than that. Golly, it’s got to be A, A-minus, somewhere in there. . . . It is hard to win at the Air Force Academy in the Mountain West Conference. And I say that out of respect for the caliber of football that’s in this league. I thought this year was the toughest conference schedule an Air Force team has ever played. . . . So to win nine games, winning six in the league? Yeah, it was a remarkable season.

JS: How would you grade yourself and your coaching staff?

TC: We did a pretty solid job. As a whole, we did. And yet we should have enough

humility — and we do — to know you don’t ever stop learning, you don’t ever stop growing, you don’t ever stop continuing to develop as a coach.

JS: Is there anything that you need to do better or are there any mistakes you made this year?

TC: I think you always have got to work toward the strengths of your team, and we absolutely did not know our guys during the month of September. Even as much as we wanted to, there was no way to completely accelerate that understanding, that knowledge of what guys can do. I thought once we finished September we knew pretty well.

JS: Chad Hall was the Offensive Player of the Year in the conference but didn’t really emerge until the end of September. Had you found out what he could do earlier, how different could this year have been?

TC: (Laughs) There’s not a day that goes by — I think it’s only natural — that you don’t wonder a little bit. I looked at (tape of) every game last year, and I thought, ‘This guy’s a pretty good football player.’ And he was not involved in spring ball at all (because of a knee injury). I can remember Tony Peck, our trainer, told me this summer, ‘Hey, he can have some problems with this (knee).’ And Tony’s excellent. We went really slow the first couple of weeks with (Hall) in August. We killed everybody else. But him, we said, ‘We’ve got to make sure he’s back in shape.’ And I remember one of the first days we went one-on-one, and he was just eating people alive running routes and catching balls. And I wondered a little bit, ‘How much pounding can a guy that size take at tailback?’ But that’d be one of those I know that you wish you could have answered.

JS: What was the key point in the season?

TC: If there was one thing that really kind of stood out, it was that day we went to Fort Collins (on Oct. 13 and beat Colorado State, 45-21). I just thought we were 4-2, but we weren’t a really sturdy football team heading into that game. . . . Then we went to CSU, and there weren’t a lot of elements, initially, that were favorable. We hadn’t won or played very well up there in a long time. The game is thrown out of whack a little bit with the weather — the game starts late, pregame is altered and the whole bit. But that’s why you’ve got to love academy kids. . . . I had a hunch way back in January this could be a pretty neat group. But I didn’t know. That day I knew.

JS: How much do you see your offense changing as you get your recruits in?

TC: I think we were significantly different (this year) in all our phases. We’re no longer an option-based offense. Really, if you ask, ‘What’s the core?’ It’s a zone running game with the natural play-action passes and bootlegs that come off it. We’ll sprinkle in some option plays, but (this year) we’d go literally a quarter and a half and not run a snap of option. . . . But it will continue to evolve.

JS: You’re losing 26 seniors. Will next year be even more challenging than this year in some ways?

TC: Absolutely. I think the next few years.. . . When we’re in the Mountain West Conference and we play Army and Navy, we’ve got 10 games that are incredibly tough contests. And for us, the years we get to six or seven wins playing in the Mountain West Conference is a quality season. Now, we want to be better than that, don’t get me wrong. We want to be a team that competes for conference championships and see if we can be a team that’s ranked in the Top 25. And yet, realistically, it’s not necessarily going to happen frequently.

JS: Among the guys you lose is Shaun Carney, a four-year starter at quarterback. Will finding his replacement be the most pressing personnel issue next year?

TC: That’s a spot where we have to have somebody emerge. I think (junior backup) Shea (Smith) has done some good things. I like (sophomore) Eric Herbort, a guy that’s bright. Both of them are coach’s kids. And it could be a freshman, too. That’s something that’s quite realistic. It’s the same thing on defense at linebacker and corner. Whoever the best guy is is going to play.

ARMED FORCES BOWL

Air Force vs. California, 10:30 a.m. Monday, ESPN, 740 AM