Canadian Football League

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Newest additions to Oregon State’s football staff: offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf, linebacker coach Robin Ross and defensive graduate assistant Keith Heyward-Johnson. Langsdorf, 32, is receiver coach for the New Orleans Saints. Heyward-Johnson, 26, was a cornerback at OSU from 1997-2000. Langsdorf will be the youngest coordinator in the Pac-10, but coach Mike Riley believes he is ready. “Danny is very bright and a really good coach,” Riley says. “We’ve had a close relationship for a long time. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have him working with me again.” Langsdorf’s father, Ed, coached with Riley at Linfield in the 1980s, began scouting for San Diego when Riley was the coach and is still with the Chargers. After starting his college career at Boise State, Danny quarterbacked at Linfield in 1994-95 and was all-conference his junior year. He served as graduate assistant under Riley at OSU in 1997-98, coached three years at Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League — ending as offensive coordinator — before spending the last three years with the Saints. Ross, 50, has coached special teams and tight ends at Oregon the past four years. Greg Newhouse, who has coached linebackers the last two years, will move over to coach the defensive line. Bruce Read, who served as a graduate assistant last season, has moved to full-time status with special teams. Read, an NFL special teams coach for five years, came to OSU with the promise that he would be elevated after the 2004 season. nOregon State lost three assistants from its 2004 staff — offensive coordinator Paul Chryst, linebacker coach Charlie Camp and tight end coach LeCharls McDaniel. Camp and McDaniel were easily replaceable, but Riley will miss Chryst, who left to become offensive coordinator at Wisconsin. Chryst, who had coached under Riley for nine years, had many ties with Wisconsin. He played for the Badgers, and his father, George, played and coached there. His in-laws, mother and brother live in Madison. Coach Barry Alvarez bettered the offer twice, from tight ends coach to co-offensive coordinator to offensive coordinator. “Paul told me he has always made career decisions based on football,” Riley says. “This one was based more on family.” • Expect the four OSU players suspended in December after a Corvallis nightclub incident — Joe Rudulph, Anthony Wheat-Brown, Whitfield Usher and walk-on Ryan Rainwater — to soon be reinstated on some sort of probationary status. Riley, Athletic Director Bob De Carolis and President Edward Ray met recently to discuss a solution. nThe Beavers have signed Josh Cohen, a 6-0, 230-pound deep snapper from College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Cohen turned down offers from South Florida and Central Florida, says his coach, Steve Kazor, who coached special teams for 11 years in the NFL and spent 15 years in the league. “Josh has good times, is very consistent, didn’t have a bad snap all season,” Kazor says. “He will be good for (the Beavers).” nOSU is likely to offer a scholarship to Tim Clark of Cathedral High in Los Angeles. Clark rushed for 223 yards and a pair of TDs on 16 carries in a playoff game this fall, but the Beavers will play him at cornerback. nRiley considered Boston College defensive back coach Kevin Lempa before choosing Ross to add to his defensive staff. • If he were a betting man, Mychal Thompson would place a wager on Larry Brown as the next coach of the L.A. Lakers. “Jeanie Buss is lobbying for Phil (Jackson) to come back,” says Thompson, the longtime Lake Oswego resident now doing an afternoon radio sports talk show in L.A. while serving as the Lakers’ radio analyst. “The job will be there for him if he wants it, but he will be awfully tempted to take the Knicks job, complete his coaching triangle (L.A., Chicago and New York) and finish up where he had fond memories as a player. “Larry is under contract with Detroit, but if he is available, how can you not take Larry Brown? Kobe (Bryant) and he are good friends. That won’t work against him.” Thompson says he has been impressed with Bryant this season. “Kobe made some drastic mistakes in his personal life, acknowledged them and moved on,” Thompson says. “He shows up every night with 100 percent effort. He works harder than any player on the team and has been a good leader. I’m impressed with the way he has conducted himself this season.” • Arizona State’s Ike Diogu is not only the best player in the Pac-10 but a classy player. “After he makes a dunk, he doesn’t thump his chest, or pull his shirt and point to his heart,” Oregon Duck TV analyst Rob Closs says. “He acts like he’s been there before. He works his tail off but doesn’t try to draw attention to himself. I love that about him. In this day and age where so much is ‘me, me, me,’ he chooses not to be that way.”

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