Former Wisconsin Badger hired as new linebackers coach

Three years removed fromThree years removed fromRose Bowl appearance,Three years removed fromRose Bowl appearance,Orlando joins Penn staff Three years ago, Todd Orlando was a supporting character in one of the great rags-to-riches stories in recent sports history. During his senior season at Wisconsin in 1993, the Badgers tied Ohio State for the Big 10 championship and made their first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1962. Orlando's new job will not require any such miracle turnarounds. Hired this summer as the new linebackers coach at Penn, the former Badger inside linebacker will try to help the Quakers regain the glory of 1995, the year they captured the second of back-to-back Ivy League championships. "Fortunately, I'm coming into a program that's been very successful in the past," Orlando said. "But the key is hard work. At Wisconsin, we slowly built up to that championship season. Even in the 1-10 season and the 5-6 season, we kept working. We believed in what the coaching staff was telling us, and it was all true." Orlando has spent the two years since his college graduation coaching high school football in the greater Pittsburgh area. In the fall of '94, he was the inside linebackers coach at Central Catholic High School, before moving on to coach the defensive backs and running backs at Fox Chapel High School last year. Orlando beat out 30 to 40 candidates who sought to replace Clay Moran. After only one year at Penn, Moran left to become linebackers coach at Fairfield. At Wisconsin, Orlando played for Barry Alvarez, who was courted by the Philadelphia Eagles last year to replace former coach Rich Kotite. Alvarez removed his name from consideration and the job eventually was given to then-San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes. "Almost all of my football knowledge comes directly from Coach Alvarez," Orlando said. "He had the ability to make every player better, to make everyone work harder. He turns his players into great coaches." Orlando believes that his time under Alvarez will ease what may be a difficult adjustment, going from the high school to the collegiate level. "My advantage is that I have had the opportunity to work with great coaches at every level. So it's not going to be that hard to make the jump from high school to college, like it might be for someone with a different background." Orlando got his coaching break in large part because of his brother, Steve, a former football coach, who was friends with a number of assistants on the Penn staff. Bagnoli and a few assistants also had some contacts at Wisconsin, who put in a good word for Orlando. "He came highly recommended, so we took a long look at him, and we're glad we did," Bagnoli said. "He's done a nice job." The major difference in the coaching duties of a high school and college coach, according to Orlando, is the added recruiting responsibilities that exist at the college level. "That's something I'm going to have to prove," he said. "I'm going to have to show that I can go out and get quality players to come to the University of Penn." As the linebackers coach, Orlando will be training what has traditionally been the centerpiece position in head coach Al Bagnoli's 5-2 defensive system. In the 5-2 scheme, the defensive linemen are asked to contain their offensive counterparts at the line of scrimmage. That frees up the linebackers to stuff any holes before the opposing running back can find it. It is also necessary to have two agile linebackers who are comfortable dropping back into pass coverage. Bagnoli's system is in stark contrast to many defenses, which use three, or even four, linebackers. "Actually, I've been involved in similar defenses throughout my career," Orlando said. "We did a lot of that at Wisconsin." Orlando's top priority will be to smoothly bring two first-time starters into the Penn system. One year after losing Joey Allen to graduation and Tim Gage, first to the defensive line and now to injury, the Quakers have promoted junior Mark Van Meter and sophomore Darren MacDonald to the first team. Coming in as the new guy, just two years removed from college himself, Orlando remembers a little piece of advice his high school coach gave him. "He said there are three things you need to do to be successful -- keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut. That's what I intend on doing."

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