Nov. 19, 2001
By Tom Musgrave – Host Communications
Brent Pease may be in his first year on the Wildcat football coaching staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, but his connection to UK athletics has been a work in progress since before he moved to Lexington.
“This relationship started a long time ago when the original (Hal Mumme) staff got here,” Pease said. “I got to know Chris Hatcher, Mike Leach, Sonny Dykes, Tony Franklin … and along those lines I got to know coach Morriss.”
When Pease was on the coaching staff at Montana from 1991-98 he frequently had contact with coaches from other teams who were interested in some innovative things the Grizzlies were doing in their training camps.
“We had what we called one-back clinics. At that time when (the original Mumme staff) got their jobs they sent some people out to see what we were doing at Montana. So I decided to sort of do the same thing. I figured I would be a sponge and get some of the things that Kentucky was doing and take the opportunity to increase our package at Montana.
“From about 1995 on it kind of became a growing relationship of something I wanted to do each year. I’d come out to Kentucky and work camps, meet at one-back clinics and steal some ideas.”
But it would still be a few years before Pease decided to join the team from which he’d gained a lot of ideas. After eight years at Montana, Pease held a two-year stint with Division I-AA Northern Arizona. He was an integral part of the Lumberjack coaching staff, serving as assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and aiding in Northern Arizona’s 1999 Division I-AA playoffs showing.
Even still he soon heard a Wildcat knocking at his door. “I kind of jumped at this opportunity,” Pease said. He also jumped up from Division I-AA back to Division I-A. His time in I-AA accentuated to Pease just how different the two divisions were. “For one thing, there are greater facilities (in Division I-A),” Pease said.
“There’s much more support staff there to aid in your success. As far as the kids go, there are way better athletes and much more speed,” Pease continued. “Linemen are bigger and quicker and particularly some defensive kids are faster. At the I-AA level you can hide a kid here or there, but at the I-A level I don’t know if you can hide kids. You’ve got to have good kids all over.”
And he’s doing his level best to make sure the UK offense is “good all over.”
“The biggest challenge I faced coming in was developing the quarterbacks into my philosophy of what we’re going to do,” Pease said. “We’re going to improve in all aspects of the game and make a commitment to the running game, which I’m happy to do.
Already his philosophy is taking root. Pease tells fans to look for a gradual improvement in the offense over the remainder of the season. “Each week you look for expansion,” Pease said. “We can expand on what we’re doing every week, especially with Shane (Boyd) being there. He can step in and handle things.
“And Jared (Lorenzen) too because each week we’re getting more at it in practice, trying to improve how we attack people and what we’re doing with our route scheme,” Pease added. “We’re looking for a better success ratio.”
With the Wildcats’ situation at quarterback evolving week to week, Pease said he’s pleased to have two capable signal-callers ready to play at a moment’s notice.
“I feel really good about our quarterback depth,” Pease said. “(Boyd and Lorenzen) are capable guys to have starting. I think the younger kids coming on are going to be good players too. I like the kids’ work ethic.” Along with the chance to mold UK’s offense into a force to be reckoned with and his return to Division I-A, Pease is also excited about living in Lexington, a town he said has been very warm to his family.
“I love Lexington. The people are great,” said Pease. “It’s a little more difficult to make moves when you have kids and I have two (daughter Halle, 6, and son Karsten, 4). Lexington has a good school system. My kids have found friends easily, they fit in and the transition was easy for them.
“I’ll tell you what else made it easier: it wasn’t just the people outside the program, but also the people of the coaching staff. We’ve got a lot of similarities,” Pease said. “Not all of us have kids, but some of the guys who do have families went through the same situation and they helped me in the transition. We all went through these endeavors together. That’s what made it so easy.”
