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The scene — a deflated locker room and a 20-point halftime deficit on the road — didn’t faze Nathaniel Hackett. He entered with his ever-present energy. No yelling. No chewing anybody out. The message to his offense: stick to the plan, the one that had been installed at Fort Drum two weeks before the season started. Syracuse was going to go up-tempo, run the ball, throw some pop passes and get back into the game. “These are the games why we play college football,” Hackett told them. 

Hackett was in a different position six years earlier in the same Raymond James Stadium. He was in his first year in the NFL as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers quality control assistant, working with his dad, Paul, under Jon Gruden and his West Coast offense. It was that system that Hackett brought to Syracuse in 2010, when he, along with head coach Doug Marrone, adjusted, molded and merged it with the no-huddle attack that set eight school records. 

But those 30 minutes after Hackett told his offense not to change anything displayed the jump he had made from a bottom-of-the-ladder Tampa Bay coach to a leader of his own prolific offense. He was in the same stadium, but now in charge of an SU offense scoring points the way Marrone envisioned when he first hired Hackett, jump-starting his career in the process.

Because before Hackett was plays away from coaching in the Super Bowl (twice), before he was Aaron Rodgers’ offensive coordinator and before he was the head coach tasked with leading Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos back to the playoffs, he was a young Syracuse assistant under Marrone.

Hackett got his first crack at coaching in Syracuse from 2010-12, one where he could lead an offense, develop a 2-star recruit into an All-American, NFL-caliber quarterback and help change the entire complexion of a program that totaled 14 wins in the five years prior to his arrival. And it was his signature traits — being adaptable, energetic and creative — that not only allowed him to do that, but also have persisted throughout the decade since he left SU, taking him from Buffalo to Jacksonville to Green Bay before he eventually settled in Denver this offseason as a first-time head coach. 

“He’s a savant of football, meaning his brain is constantly thinking about how to attack and to make things better on a daily basis,” said Greg Adkins, a former SU assistant.

The path to Denver wouldn’t have happened without Marrone, who worked with Hackett for eight straight years beginning in 2010. Marrone coached alongside Paul in the early 2000s with the New York Jets before becoming the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator. At both stops, Marrone worked with the West Coast offense that Bill Walsh devised — which Paul studied — with Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s. It’s an offense that emphasizes short, horizontal passing with 3- and 5-step quarterback dropbacks, looking for eventual openings that can be exploited for big run or pass plays. 

Syracuse’s offense had struggled with a spread system in 2009, Marrone’s first year, ranking second-to-last in the Big East in total offense. Hackett was hired as the Orange’s passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach before 2010 as SU moved toward a West Coast offense. 

Shortly after he was hired, Hackett spotted quarterback Charley Loeb at the SU facility and dragged him into the hallway for a conversation. After a quick introduction, Hackett told the quarterback he’d been watching his film, and his drop back technique was “totally wrong.” Hackett started teaching Loeb footwork similar to Montana’s, minutes into meeting him. 

“From day one you could tell the guy absolutely loved football. He is an absolute historian and scientist of it,” Loeb said. “It’s not like waiting for day one and practice — it’s trying to hold himself back from the first five minutes.”

Former SU running back Jerome Smith recalled once walking into Hackett’s office before practices had started one year and seeing the coach resembling a “mad man” as he was surrounded by six computers. Music played on one. Film was being cut on another. Practice scripts were typed on a third. A fully scripted practice for August 20 and a week one game plan had already been completed. 

Hackett brought that sort of energy and creativity to his install meetings and presentations, which Rodgers has called “legendary.” At Syracuse, Hackett held meetings to implement new offensive schemes and incorporated music, pictures of Justin Timberlake and history nuggets, Adkins said. Those meetings were prone to losing players’ attention, Adkins said, but Hackett had a natural ability to recapture the room’s energy. 

“When I get up in front of the guys, I always want them to never have any clue what’s potentially going to pop up in front of them. I want that excitement of, ‘Oh boy, what’s going to happen?’” Hackett told The Washington Post in October. 

Smith recalled watching a scene from “Jaws” at an install meeting while learning a play called “shark.” Hackett also dished out “tipsheets” with detailed information for players to review before every practice and game but made sure to connect them back to the key themes — or opponent — of the week. 

Nathaniel Hackett helped Syracuse’s offense post record-setting numbers during the 2012 season. Courtesy of Syracuse Athletics

Before one game against Cincinnati, Hackett devoted his tipsheets to the characteristics of the team’s mascot, the Bearcat, Loeb said. Those weeks’ sheets featured a definition of what a bearcat is, pictures of the animal and even pop culture connections. Quarterback tipsheets would have complex details about defensive linemen alignments, like if a tackle was in a 2i or 3 technique, Loeb said. Hackett’s coaching ensured that players knew if the Cincinnati defensive tackle was in a 2i, they needed to check out of the play because it related back to the bearcat — which has two eyes. 

“He had a very unique ability to make even some pretty mundane and tedious information become very interesting and leave a lasting impression,” Loeb said. “He was just a master at it.” 

The Orange went 8-5 in 2010, Hackett’s first season as an assistant, and won a bowl game for the first time in nine years. The offense, though, struggled again, averaging just 22.2 points per game. So before the next season, Marrone handed offensive coordinator duties over to Hackett. But the offense still didn’t improve much, and SU lost five straight to end the season.

In his two-year stint with the Bills, Hackett had learned the details of the no-huddle offense from Jim Kelly and Alex Van Pelt. Both told Hackett that if a team wanted to go up-tempo, it had to make a full commitment.  

So after testing out the system at a week-long training camp at Fort Drum, and seeing the offense run it successfully, Hackett, Marrone and Syracuse went all in. Instead of having close to 80 options in the playbook, the Orange would have just 12 — their best 12 plays, with some variations incorporated, and only 2-3 different formations. 

Hackett wanted Syracuse to play fast and think less, and the 12-play menu, combined with shorter play calls and a no-huddle attack resembling Montana’s two-minute drills and Kelly’s “K-Gun offense,” allowed that to transpire. The complex, NFL-style play calls that could be near 20 words were replaced with one-word calls. Practices increasingly focused on two-minute and other situational drills, Smith said. That involved the offense getting the ball on its 40-yard line with 1:48 left and one timeout, needing a touchdown to tie. It was similar work that helped Syracuse in that second half against USF, Smith said. 

“Just one of the sharpest people you’ll ever be around. Probably should be a doctor, not a football coach,” Loeb said of Hackett. 

To help implement the changes, Hacket pulled up Montana’s two-minute drives and showed the importance of checking down to a running back while moving up-tempo, former Syracuse wide receiver Alec Lemon recalled. And after showing film to other coaches, Hackett brought plays from the video board out to the practice field. 

Syracuse opened the season by scoring 41 points against Northwestern and finished by scoring at least 30 points in its last four games, all wins. Ryan Nassib threw for over 1,000 more yards than he had the prior year, Lemon recorded the most single-season receptions ever by an SU wideout, and Smith ran for almost 1,200 yards. The Orange’s 476 yards per game that season are still the most in program history. 

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“That was a year where I think it really showcased just how sharp and creative he was,” Loeb said. “And the offense exploded.”

After that season, Marrone was hired as the Bills new head coach and quickly brought Hackett in as his offensive coordinator, his first of three NFL offensive coordinator gigs. After launching Nassib’s NFL career, Hackett helped Kyle Orton complete 64.2% of his passes in 2014, led a Jaguars offense that lost in the AFC championship in 2017 and was the offensive coordinator for two Rodgers MVP seasons in Green Bay.

Hackett’s career has been full of turnarounds.They’re the ones that took him from SU back to the NFL in the first place, and the ones that took from assistant to head coach. Hackett still plans on calling plays as head coach, and with the recent acquisition of Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowler, the Broncos appear to be the next recipients in line of his unique coaching style. 

“He’s going to bring that same type of energy,” Lemon said. “The amount of football that he knows and the knowledge he can bring to everybody, he can make them successful real quick.”

Published on March 28, 2022 at 1:03 am

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_