First year head coach Larry Fedora has taken Hattiesburg by storm. Few times in recent memory has this level of excitement surrounded the Southern Miss Football Program. Athletic Director Richard Gianinni would have been hard pressed to find a better "fit" for the program and community than Larry Fedora. An infectious aura of excitement surrounds the man everywhere he goes. I challenge anyone to talk with Fedora for more than 5 minutes and not come away impressed.

Fedora also surrounded himself with one of the best overall coaching staffs to ever be assembled in Hattiesburg. This staff has a little something for everyone. Coordinators Darrell Wyatt and Todd Bradford each bring a wealth of experience from a broad spectrum of the game. Both are well organized and top notch X's and O's coaches. Recruiting aces Tony Hughes and Frank Wilson were key in bringing in the top ranked recruiting class in USM history this past spring. David Duggan and Art Kaufman are solid veteran coaches who have seen it all, solid X's and O's guys who are some of the best "teaching" coaches around. The staff also includes two young fireball coaches in quarterbacks coach Blake Anderson and offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic. Not to be forgotten is Barney Farrar who is charged with coaching TE's. To call Farrar a "jack of all trades" would be a slight because he's much more than that. An accomplished on-field coach, recruiter and administrator, Farrar was the first coach hired by Fedora after he accepted the position in Hattiesburg.

Interestingly enough what seems to have excited Southern Miss fans the most is the new "Attack Offense" being implemented by Fedora and the offensive staff.

You've probably heard by now, that Fedora has been lauded in the ranks of collegiate football as an expert regarding the spread offense. But, exactly what is the "Spread Offense" and what should Eagle Fans Expect this coming season? In this three part series we're going to try and breakdown the spread in easy to understand terms and talk about what makes Fedora's version of the spread a little different.

If you were to go back and research the spread offense you would find that there is some debate over who really invented the spread. It's not really that important who "invented" the spread because it really wasn't invented, it evolved. Today's "spread" offense evolved from the "Run and Shoot" that was devised by Middleton (OH) High School coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison as early as 1958. When Ellison first devised the Run and Shoot it was just that a run first offense. And the evolution began.

In 1962, half way across the country a young high school head coach named Mouse Davis began to study the theories of Ellison. He would breakdown play-books and manuels and began polishing and putting his own touches on Ellison's Run and Shoot. In fifteen years of coaching high school ball in Oregon he amassed a 79-29 record including the 1973 State Championship with Hillsboro High School.

Ellison published the definitive book on the subject: Run and Shoot Football, The Offense of the Future, in 1965. If you can find a rare first edition of this book, be prepared to pay at least $1000. This is a special piece of football history and is highly sought after by collectors and football historians. Second editions (c. 1984) are easier to find but you'll likely still pay several hundred dollars for a copy.

In the 50-years since Ellison first devised the run and shoot, it's undergone substantial changes, Steve Nuss was the first to actually call it a "spread" offense after tweaking and putting his own changes in the play-book.

Today, the spread offense is utilized at every level of competitive football from youth league to professional.

In part two of the series we'll take a look at the different types of spread offenses that are popular in today's world of collegiate football.

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