It was first known last week that Portland State added a new assistant coach, Richard Seigler, to its football staff. Since then, I’ve been wondering if anyone was going to write anything about the hire.

I like new PSU head coach Nigel Burton a lot. Seems like a very solid, intelligent and hard-working guy. I wish him the best. But Seigler has quite a past and I’m surprised the Vikings didn’t get out in front of the story immediately when they hired the former Oregon State linebacker. But there has been no mention of his past at all anywhere that I can find.

There is more on Seigler here and it should be noted that he eventually beat the rap. In fact, he may have been the victim of a very unfortunate circumstance in which he was accused of an unseemly crime that he didn’t commit. But this messy story was big at the time — come on, an NFL linebacker being accused of living off the earnings of a prostitute? — and the sad thing about tales like this is that people often remember the accusations a lot longer than they do the end result of a trial.

All that said, it was interesting to see the quote from Burton in the official Portland State press release about the hiring of Seigler:

“Our staff had a chance to watch Richard work our camps this summer. He showed great enthusiasm, rapport with the kids and a great deal of detail and knowledge,” Burton said. “In addition, I think he is a great story for our kids to emulate in that he was one of the last guys to receive a scholarship at Oregon State his senior year of high school. He went on to become one of the greatest linebackers in the history of the program, as well as winning a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

That part about “a great story for our kids to emulate” strikes me as an interesting thing to say, given the circumstances.

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Nevada, where new Portland State head football coach Nigel Burton was the defensive coordinator, ranked just 88th in the country in total defense last season, allowing nearly 400 yards per game. Nevada also ranked 113th in pass efficiency defense.

Now part of that, I assume, is because Nevada’s high-powered offense — that “pistol” thing with the tailback deep behind the quarterback, who is in the shotgun formation — scores quickly and keeps the defense on the field a lot.

My understanding is that Burton is planning on bringing that offense with him to Portland State.

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I’m getting a bit of second-guessing lately about my sources and some things I’ve said that are going on. And certainly I have never claimed to get them all correct.

But I had this one right last week. After all these years in the business, I don’t go out on too many limbs without knowing how strong the tree is.

Doubt this blog at your own risk.

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Jim Beseda has a very complete story up already right here. Included is a list of potential replacements. It’s a big hire for that athletic director — critical to that school’s athletic future. I hope he does his due diligence.

The name that interests most football people around here is Robin Pflugrad, a very experienced assistant coach in the Northwest and also a former Viking player. Be nice to get a Vik to head up the program. He might even invite Mouse back to help — as he should have never been pushed out of the program last summer. The offense wasn’t broke, the defense was.

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…  it’s worse than that. His pants are on fire. Really, he should be gone by the end of the day.

I thought it was the right move to hire him — but only with Mouse Davis as his offensive coordinator. When he started messing with Mouse’s offense, he had to know Mouse would walk. Bad move.

The result was that then they couldn’t play offense OR defense, because as we all have seen this season, the only thing Jerry knows about offense is that he can’t stop it.

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Will Portland State bring Jerry back next season? I keep hearing that it’s likely that he won’t be back.

Man, this is a guy whose football identity is tied into defense. He’s supposed to be able to stop people. That’s his thing. It was his thing throughout his entire National Football League coaching career. But his Portland State Vikings can’t stop anyone. Not even close.

I was a big advocate of hiring him in the first place. I admit that. I thought it was a great idea, particularly as a package deal with Mouse Davis. But Mouse is gone after walking away last summer when Glanville wanted to mess with his offense.

Now the Vikings not only can’t stop anyone, they can’t move the ball, either. The string of three-and-outs in the second half Saturday was an embarrassment at a home game.

I just don’t see how it can continue.

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Just a few thoughts before the games get going:

– Purdue is better than you think, Duck fans. If your team’s offense doesn’t get going, this one is going to be a real struggle. I do, though, expect a few first downs in the first half — no matter what.

– And Beaver fans, UNLV is better than YOU think, too. I expect a lot of points and a real shootout.

– Portland State fans, you’re not as good as you’re going to think you are after playing Southern Oregon this afternoon. Really, if you’re going to drop down and play a team at this level, at least play Linfield — so they’ll bring a large contingent of fans and make you some more money.

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Just a few quick hits:

– Did we think after the first weekend there would be concerns about the Duck offense? I don’t think so. I can’t get over how poorly Boise State played in the second half of that game Thursday night. Yet the Ducks’ offense couldn’t get much traction when the game was on the line. Strange.

– I was suprised at how well Portland State played in Corvallis. That wasn’t a bad performance at all, given the Vikings’ youth. I thought the Beavers would get to PSU’s quarterbacks but that didn’t happen. At the same time, after that opener, I have some serious doubts about the Oregon State pass defense.

– Wow, California. The Bears were really something against Maryland, which may or may not be a good team. Kevin Riley out of Beaverton? Sensational with 298 yards and four TD passes.

– Washington hung in with LSU for a while. . . could that mean the sleeping dawgs are rousing from their long sleep? I’m not ready to say that yet.

– Washington State drew about 22,000 for its home opener. That right there tells you what you need to know about that program.

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Man, just about the only thing Portland State football had going for it was Mouse Davis. The man’s a legit offensive genius and from the first down of the season two years ago, he had the Vikings dashing up and down the field scoring points.

His offense is still, all these years later, about the coolest thing in football.

It certainly appears, though, that head coach Jerry Glanville has tried to mess around with the offense, with has always been a no-no with Davis. He’ll bring the circus to town, as long as he can be the ringmaster, but he doesn’t put up with a lot of interference.

UPDATE: Kerry Eggers has the story from Mouse… and yes, Glanville wanted to make some changes.

I’m sorry, because I like Jerry — but I’ve been a Mouse guy since he was coaching at Sunset and Hillsboro High School. I love the guy. And if he’s not running the offense at PSU, why, exactly, would I be going to the games?

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There is little doubt, in most people’s minds. My pal, The Bean, has the RPI to back it up.

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