Saturday, January 22, 2011

Prairie View hires Mark Orlando as offensive coordinator

PVAMU O.C. Coach Mark Orlando
Bethune-Cookman offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mark Orlando has been hired to fill the same position at Prairie View A&M.

Orlando, a former offensive coordinator at Texas Southern, spent one season at Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats had one of the Football Championship Subdivision's best offenses under his watch, finishing second in scoring (38.17 points per game), 12th in total yards (425.6 per game) and 13th in rushing (212.8 yards per game) en route to a 10-2 finish and share of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.

Orlando, who played quarterback at ...

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NOTE: This is a major hire for first year Panthers head coach Heishma Northern and more importantly gives Prairie View a tremendous advantage over Bethune-Cookman for the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando, Florida on September 4, 2011.

Sources say Coach Orlando will be paid $90,000 per year plus bonuses, a major increase over his B-CU salary.

Orlando also holds a "Rattler Card" earning his Master's Degree from Florida A&M University in 1984. He served as a a member of the Florida A&M coaching staff  under head coach Rudy Hubbard, that won the first Division I-AA National Championship in 1981, and served as the Rattlers' offensive coordinator for six seasons, then moved on to Tennessee State University as offensive coordinator for four seasons.

He collaborated with Pete Richardson at Winston-Salem State University in 1991 before moving to Southern University with Coach Richardson where he remained until Richardson was let go in 2009.

This puts Bethune-Cookman in a very precarious position.

Coach Orlando is the architect of the Wildcats "Speedway Offense" and quarterbacks coach of the offense that ranked 12th nationally in the FCS in 2010. His leaving for PV may impact the Wildcats signing of Mr. Florida Football 2011 -- quarterback Quentin Williams, Jefferson High School (Tampa) on February 2, 2011, the first day that high school players can sign binding "National Letters of Intent."

Williams has verbally committed to B-CU, but continues to take visits to other schools.

Losing Coach Orlando is devastating; losing quarterback Quentin Williams will be catastrophic for the Wildcats program that ranked 40th in average home game attendance (7,093 per seven home games) last season. Let's see if second year head coach Brian Jenkins respond like a true champion with a monster hire and the signing of blue chipper Williams.

If you are keeping score, PVAMU 10, B-CU 0 and we are more than seven months away from kickoff.

(beepbeep)

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