Henshaw's House Returns! Talking FSU Football, big games and coaching continuity

George Henshaw, who coached for two decades in the NFL as an offensive coordinator and position coach and also worked at the college level — including seven years under Bobby Bowden at Florida State — will offer insights to Warchant.com readers during the 2022 season.

Henshaw, whose son Matt played quarterback and tight end at Florida State in the early 2000s, has a wealth of experience at the college and pro levels. He was an assistant coach at West Virginia, his alma mater, in the early 1970s before coming to FSU with Bowden in ’76. He later would serve as offensive line coach and offensive coordinator at Alabama in the mid-1980s before taking the head coaching position at Tulsa and then embarking upon a lengthy NFL career.

Henshaw coached under Dan Reeves with the Denver Broncos from 1988-’92 and the New York Giants from ’93-’96; he then served on Jeff Fisher’s staff with the Tennessee Oilers and Titans from ’97-2005; and the New Orleans Saints from ’06-’07; before wrapping up his career with the Titans in 2013.

In this edition of Henshaw’s House, which features a conversation between the veteran coach and Warchant managing editor Ira Schoffel, Henshaw explains one of the reasons why he is optimistic about the Seminoles’ chances of having an improved season in 2022.

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WARCHANT: First of all Coach, welcome back to Warchant! We’re thrilled to have you back on board for this season, and I know our readers feel that way too. We have a lot of great ideas for columns that we will get to in the coming weeks, but let’s start out this week with a big-picture topic — the 2022 schedule. As a coach, when you look at this schedule, what stands out to you?

HENSHAW: Well, I think one thing that’s interesting about this schedule is I think there are some great opportunities with all five of the so-called really big games we have. You’ve got LSU, you’ve got Florida, you’ve got Clemson, Miami and North Carolina State. Those are the games most fans are going to look at when judging this season, and three of them — LSU, Florida and Miami — have totally different coaching staffs. That is a significant challenge for those teams and something that shouldn’t be overlooked.

The thing that happens when a new staff comes in is that before the season starts, everything is great. Everybody is working together, and it seems like there aren’t any problems whatsoever. I bet if you talked to every one of those first-year coaches today, they’re all saying the same thing as every other coach at this time of year: “Oh, our players worked so hard over the summer! We’ve got great discipline, we’ve got great unity, we’ve got a great culture. Our program is fantastic!” I mean, every coach is saying exactly the same thing. Now, once those games start … things can change quick. Once you start playing games, things become different. And because those players don’t have deep relationships with those staffs, that can present major challenges.

That’s something that we went through here at Florida State a few years ago. But we don’t have to worry about that anymore. So I believe we have an advantage over those three teams in that area. And one of the other two teams, Clemson, lost their offensive coordinator, their defensive coordinator and some of their support staff. So while the head coach is still there, you’ve got a lot of change they’re going to have to deal with.

The only one of those five opponents that’s really stable compared to a year ago is North Carolina State. Everybody else has got major changes to deal with, and there are usually growing pains with those changes.

*ALSO SEE: Corey Clark’s observations from FSU’s Wednesday practice

Q: So when you talk about things becoming “different” when the games start, what are some examples of that? If these new coaches have been with those players for all of spring and summer, what happens in the fall to make it different?

A: There’s a couple of things that change in the fall. Number one is when you start keeping score, things always change. Whether you’re talking about football or any sport, that makes a difference. Because some guys just struggle when you start keeping score. Other guys, it doesn’t bother them at all. They’re going to keep performing just like they did in practice, if not better, during a game. But some guys will struggle when you start keeping score, and a new staff has no way of knowing that until the real games begin.

Another thing that is different is when those pads go on, and you start hitting for real. That’s different. There are a lot of guys that can look pretty out there during the spring and during summer workouts. They can run and jump and all those things and be absolutely phenomenal. And all of a sudden you put those pads on, and those players from other teams are hitting back, that makes a difference.

And the other thing that happens when you start playing games is that not everything is going to go your way. That’s just the reality of it. So when things don’t go your way, how are you going to react? How are those players going to react? And how are those coaches going to react when everything isn’t perfect like it is right now before the season? So for me, when you look at your two most important games of the year, Miami and Florida, and the fact that they both have new coaching staffs … well, a lot of things are going to happen to those teams between now and November. How they react to those things will have a big impact on how they play when we face them.

WARCHANT: While the bulk of Florida State’s roster now is filled with guys who have been here one or two years or more, there also is a big contingent of transfers who came in this year. And a bunch of them are competing for starting jobs. Won’t the ‘Noles face some of the same questions about how those players are going to handle different circumstances?

A: Well first of all, I think we as Florida State fans should be so thankful that you have the portal because you have a chance to improve your roster a lot faster than if you didn’t have it. So it’s been a good thing overall. But yes, the challenge for your coaching staff when you have so many transfers come in from different places … the question is how are they going to be able to mesh together as a team. It’s the coaching staff’s job to be able to get the guys to play together as one.

And I think one thing that Mike [Norvell] has been very smart to do is he has gotten most of those guys to come into the program in January. So they’ve had the whole spring, and then they’ve had the whole summer. That’s something that I don’t know if people realize — how important that time is between the end of spring practice to the start of fall practice. That’s actually the longest period of time the players will have all year to be developed. You’re talking about almost four months where they are learning and getting developed. So most of those guys should have a good understanding of what this program is all about and what is going to be expected of them.

Q: And I guess that would be a difference for programs who are bringing in new coaching staffs. The coaches at Miami, Florida and LSU, for example, were all fired because their programs were going in the wrong direction. So it’s not like those players have had a successful blueprint in place and they’re just adding to it. Their returning players and their new players are all learning at the same time.

A: Yeah, there was a reason for the changes. And unfortunately for those particular schools — and hey, we’ve had to go through some of that here, too — but there were obviously problems or they wouldn’t have made those changes. So I think that is a big, big advantage for us. Now, those teams might have other advantages that we don’t have, in terms of personnel or something else. But I do believe that’s an area where we have an advantage.

Q: I think it’s interesting that you, as a former college and NFL coach, don’t mind classifying some games as “big games.” At the beginning, you mentioned those five particular games — Miami, UF, Clemson, LSU and N.C. State — as being in that category. And I know you’ve always said that Florida and Miami are different than all the rest. But some coaches don’t ever want to admit that. They act like all games should be treated equally.

A: Well, you have to get yourself ready to go to start with for all the games. But you have to be really ready to go in November, because I believe the games in November are probably twice as important as the games in September. And I know some people don’t want to hear all that. But people will remember what you do in November, especially in a year like this one where we are playing both of those rivals in November. And I promise you, if you’re good enough to beat Miami and Florida, then you’re going to have a football team that we’ll all be proud of.

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.