Latest football idea: All 11 eligible

Kurt Bryan might be onto something. Bryan, the head football coach at Piedmont (Calif.) High, e-mailed recently to spread the word about the A-11 offense, a formation in which all 11 offensive players are potentially eligible.

Piedmont created it and -- after much discussion with officials about its legality -- ran it for the first time this past season to the tune of a 7-3 record. Intrigued, we decided to give Bryan a call. Turns out we're not the only ones around the country -- or even in Minnesota -- that want to know more.

"Some coaches are more open and some are more cryptic about who they are," Bryan said of interest generated among his peers. "There are two from Minnesota that are using anonymous names. They're definitely coaches. You can tell by the lingo they use."

The spread offense was hot in Minnesota last year. But it's a copycat game, and the A-11 offense could be "the next step in the evolution of the sport," Bryan said.

Frustrated by Piedmont's lack of size, coaches developed the offense, which is described on the website www.a11offense.com as "blending aspects of the spread option, West Coast and run-and-shoot." Anything beyond that gets a little too technical for this confined space, but the website does a good job of breaking it down and also provides video examples.

Bryan said coaches of large high schools are interested in it as a change-of-pace package, while smaller schools are curious about using it as their base offense. Bryan said he even has been contacted by college teams and one NFL team.

While Bryan couldn't reveal the identity of the interested Minnesota schools, he does think there eventually will be more than only two intrigued coaches in this state. Fans might even see it locally as early as the fall.

"It takes a little bit to just get your mind around it. It's so unique," Bryan said. "That's what we're hearing from coaches. 'We can't believe we didn't think of this.' They're sending us ideas and plays."

St. Paul Academy, a boys' soccer powerhouse for much of the 1980s and '90s, recently decided not to retain Tod Herskovitz, the varsity coach there for two seasons.

"It was just a combination of factors, [including] wanting a coach to develop a program throughout all levels of soccer," SPA athletic director Dave Montgomery said of the move, which was not popular among some soccer parents. "He's very good at the high school level, but there were some things that needed work in our estimation."

Montgomery said the school anticipates a strong pool of applicants for the opening. The SPA boys were previously coached by Buzz Lagos and Amos Magee, both of whom went on to become head coaches of the Minnesota Thunder pro soccer team.

• Three coaches who took teams to the state basketball tournament in March have resigned. They are girls' coaches Lamar Detert of Rogers and Len Messerschmidt of St. Francis and boys' coach Tim Anderson of Maple River. Anderson had also served as president of Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association.

Staff writer Ron Haggstrom contributed to this report.