March 17, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
Past Mick McGrane Features
2014
Kaehler: A Thinking Man's Game (Aug. 5)
Whittaker: Long Time Gone, Never Forgotten (Aug. 6)
Life in the Weight Room: Hall's Strong Suit (Aug. 15)
Roberts: A Career Comes Full Circle (Aug. 21)
The Season's in Session, Take Your Seats (Aug. 29)
How Quickly we Forget (Sept. 7)
Looks can be Deceiving (Sept. 19)
O-Line has Aztecs' Running Game in High Gear (Oct. 23)
Falling Short is no Longer an Option for Aztec Football (Nov. 29)
Winds of Change: "Rise To 25" Fuels New Direction for Football (Dec. 23)
Pumphrey in Need of a Playing Partner (Dec. 24)
2015
Football no Longer Needs Sun to Sell Itself (Feb. 4)
Aztec Football is Flush with Experience in 2015 (Feb. 20)
Regardless of Road, Whittaker's Future is Flush with Success (July 23)
Gordon no Longer Wrestling with Football Future (July 30)
Kazee has the Corner Covered in Aztec D (Aug. 5)
Hageman has Given Boot to Aztec Kicking Woes (Aug. 14)
Life is a Snap for Aztecs' Overbaugh (Aug. 21)
Munson Shines upon Emerging From Shadows (Aug. 28)
Pumphrey Prioritizes Winning in Rush to Stardom (Sept. 2)
Aztecs Positioned to Take Next Step in '15 (Sept. 4)
Aztecs Look to Get Offense in Gear (Sept. 6)
Penny's Stock Rising on Rate of Returns (Sept. 7)
Sorry, No Apologies Forthcoming (Sept. 11)
Seeking a Solution at Quarterback (Sept. 18)
Aztecs, Hauck Have Something Special (Oct. 2)
Aztecs Positioned to Make Statement (Oct. 22)
Aztecs Deliver Message to MW (Oct. 24)
Aztecs' O-Line Removing All Doubt (Oct. 30)
Aztecs' Offense in High Gear (Nov. 15)
Long has Razed, Resurrected Aztecs (Nov. 20)
Aztecs Have Taken the Long Way Home (Nov. 27)
Aztecs Roll with Punches --- and Pumphrey (Nov. 29)
A Future Flush with Fortune (Dec. 2)
A New Dark Side Dawns at SDSU (Dec. 4)
SDSU's Potential Packed with Promise (Dec. 6)
For Aztec Fans, the Fun has Just Begun (Dec. 12)
2016
Continuity Makes a Comeback (Jan. 15)
SDSU Hits Its Stride in Recruiting Race (Feb. 4)
Aztecs Knock Down Doors on Recruiting Trail (Feb. 9)
Ernie Lawson Comes Home to New World
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs.com Senior Writer (@MickOnTheMesa)
As with any first-year head coach eager to employ a mentor's teachings, Ernie Lawson was convinced that any defense as diabolical as Rocky Long's was bound to befuddle anything the opposition threw his way.
Lawson, a former Aztec defensive tackle who had played under Long in his final two seasons at SDSU, was in his first year as head coach at American Canyon High in northern California. If Long's baffling 3-3-5 defense bewildered offenses at the collegiate level, surely high school players would find safeties masquerading as linebackers to be nothing short of mind-boggling.
Suffice, the opponent, Paradise High, wasn't exactly awestruck. The Bobcats ran a Wing-T and proceeded to run Lawson's Wolves ragged.
Paradise 63, American Canyon 16.
"It was really a stupid mistake on my part," Lawson said with a laugh. "Not only did I try to put in our whole defense, I tried to put in our whole defense in about two weeks. We got thrashed. That was my debut as a head coach and defensive coordinator and we got absolutely destroyed."
Not that Lawson hadn't been steeled for such eventualities during his first three seasons at SDSU. Tabbed to replace Osia Lewis as the Aztecs' defensive line coach last month, Lawson entered his senior season at SDSU in 2010 having endured campaigns of 4-8, 2-10 and 4-8. Only once during a freshman year in 2007 did the Aztecs lose by less than a touchdown. His sophomore season marked SDSU's worst in 25 years, one featuring a colossal 70-7 collapse loss at New Mexico, where Long was in his final season as head coach.
With Long having joined first-year head coach Brady Hoke as the Aztecs' defensive coordinator the following season, SDSU was more competitive but still closed the campaign with a four-game losing streak.
But in 2010, history, which for so long had ravaged the program's very core, reversed its field. Absent of a non-winning season for 11 years, the Aztecs finished 9-4. Their first postseason appearance in 13 years culminated in a 35-14 win over Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl.
Lawson, his eligibility exhausted, was on his way out, but winning was about to assume permanent residence. SDSU, which will stage in its annual Spring Game on campus Saturday, does so having posted six straight winning seasons, none better than 2015 when the Aztecs finished with their best record (11-3) in 46 years.
"I think it's obvious now that you have to have a toughness to play here and be able to stay here," Lawson said. "This isn't anything like it was when I first came to San Diego State.
"The first nine months after (Hoke and Long) got here were the toughest nine months I've ever gone through, not only as a player but also in life. But at the same time, it transformed the program into what it is today."
Lawson returns to SDSU after spending last year as the head strength coach at Northside High in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to that, he served as a graduate assistant for two seasons under Hoke at Michigan, where he obtained a master's degree in kinesiology.
With Lawson's arrival, every member of the program's defensive staff, including linebackers coach Zach Arnett (New Mexico), safeties coach Danny Gonzales (New Mexico) and cornerbacks coach Tony White (UCLA) has played under Long.
"There are several reasons I really respect his passion for the game," Long said of Lawson. "I really respected how he was as a player. We run a very unique defense here by college standards, a very complicated defense, and it's always best to get somebody that has background with the scheme. It's much easier for him to get up to speed and coaching the players than if we'd brought a guy in one week before spring practice who had to learn a scheme that the players would probably know better than he does.
"I also like the idea that whenever you can bring someone back to their alma mater, they seem to have a little bit more of an emotional tie, which, in my opinion, makes them a better employee."
And one happy camper.
"It's really amazing," said Lawson, who inherits a defensive line that graduated just two players (Jon Sanchez and Christian Heyward) last season. "The thing that I was most surprised about was just how big the players here are now. Even our defensive backs are huge. The offensive line is enormous. I think our starting center when I was here was 5-11. When you look at it now, the smallest guy on the offensive line last year was 305.
"I've just always wanted to coach and be able to impact kids. I'm extremely lucky that God's been good enough to bring me home. It's just great to be back with Coach Long and with so many coaches that I played for. It's phenomenal."