Address barely changes, but relocated coach brings big plans

What was the most remarkable coaching change of the winter? Bobby Petrino deserting the Falcons? Bobby Knight quitting on his players at Texas Tech? Jim Zorn proving he's still alive by getting hired by the Redskins?

My favorite occurred in the heart of the Twin Cities and involved two struggling Division III programs 10 blocks from one another. "I still come up Fairview when I drive to work," said Glenn Caruso. "Only now, instead of taking a right on Summit for a quarter-mile, I take a left and wind up at the other stadium."

The St. Thomas football team finished 2-8 last year. Tommies athletic director Steve Fritz conducted a national search that found a local target. Strangely, that target was the coach of the recently dormant Macalester football team.

If Miami (Ohio) is the Cradle of Coaches, Macalester is a cemetery of coaches, or at least it was until Caruso started recruiting in the school's hallways. After working as the offensive coordinator at North Dakota State and South Dakota, Caruso, 33, went 2-7 and 4-5 in his two seasons at Macalester. The Scots had gone 2-25 in their previous three seasons.

Caruso had scheduled St. Thomas as a means of upgrading Macalester's schedule.

Now, the change in his route to work also means Caruso will be on the other sideline for the teams' 2008 opener.

"When we were at Mac and scheduled St. Thomas, we did so with the idea of beating them," Caruso said. "I'm hoping I didn't create a monster that's going to bite me on Sept. 6."

"I didn't even have to pack a single box when I took this job," Caruso said. "I'm probably the only coach in the nation that got the caliber of job I got without having to move a single stick of furniture. But, being here, I still have very strong feelings for them."

He's also got a lot of ideas, most of which are expressed in a voice that reveals his upbringing (Connecticut) and enthusiasm (boundless). When someone called to ask for an interview, Caruso didn't say, "Yes." He said, "Sweet!"

During an hourlong chat in his office, Caruso asked more questions than he answered. He was interested in Vikings history, the coaching philosophies of Jerry Burns and Denny Green and the ideas in Michael Lewis' books "Moneyball" and "The Blind Side."

At one point, he jumped up to diagram the subtleties of the New England Patriots offense. It is clear that he is addicted to coaching.

Asked if he could put his philosophy into words, Caruso said:

After a tangent in which he mentioned Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, Caruso said he believes St. Thomas should be a conference power and that he hopes to spend the rest of his career here.

Referring to St. John's legend John Gagliardi, Caruso said, "I told someone the other day, I just hope the great state of Minnesota can embrace two Italian football coaches, even if we're 50 years apart."

Caruso might like coaching and football enough to maintain a high opinion of Gagliardi even if John runs up the score on him. "Although I respect my chemistry teachers and Miss Pagano, who was my Algebra 2 teacher, you know how many times in my life I've used a quadratic equation?" Caruso said. "But the lessons I learned in football I still apply every day, and those are lessons I learned in a completely different school, from 4 to 6 p.m., from my football coaches.

"I think St. Thomas exudes excellence, both academically and athletically, and when I saw and felt that here, I couldn't say no to this job. No, I'm not hoping to turn things around here and parlay that into another job. If they'll have me, I'll stay here as long as I can, and they'll have to pry my cold, dead body out of this chair with a crowbar."

Even then, Caruso might still be talking.