'Fast, physical, with discipline, with character': A conversation with Brian Ferguson
4/21/2025 9:45:00 AM | Football
There are new voices, new schemes, and new leadership on both sides of the ball for the Millersville University football program entering the 2025 season. Head coach J.C. Morgan named Brian Ferguson as offensive coordinator and Ralph Clark as defensive coordinator in the offseason, and both new coordinators have led their respective units through spring practices. With the annual spring game set for Saturday, April 26 at 11 a.m., at Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium, Millersville Athletic Communications sat down for a conversation with both coordinators to give Marauder fans insight into the new coaches' backgrounds, philosophies and coaching styles.
Ryan Zeltt looked like an All-PSAC East quarterback in the second half of his sophomore season, averaging 283 yards passing with nine TD passes and a 66.5 completion percentage in his final four full games. That's the passing production that should be expected with regularity under the direction Ferguson, who brings to Millersville a track record of coordinating high-powered passing attacks at the collegiate level, tapping into his background in the pro game and in the Arena Football League, where nearly every snap results in a pass attempt. Most recently, Ferguson was the OC and head coach at Concord, where he developed an All-America wide receiver in three consecutive seasons as well as an All-America quarterback and running back. Millersville's no-huddle style and pace of play likely won't change, but Ferguson hopes to inject some potency into a Millersville passing game that last produced a first-team wide receiver in 2017 and hasn't had an All-PSAC East quarterback since 2000.
Athletic Communications (AC): Can you take a moment to describe yourself as a coach, your style and philosophy of offense and the way you teach the game?
Ferguson (BF): To explain our style of offense and my coaching style, I have to give you a little of my background. My first real job was with the Tampa Bay Bucaneers and then I went to NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire for three years. From there, I went to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then I became the offensive coordinator at Tiffin University and went back to pro football for five years in Jacksonville. From there, I went to Tusculum as the offensive coordinator for four years and then to Concord. The first year was the COVID year, and in 2022, we had one of the top offenses in the nation. I was promoted to head coach but still ran the offense. So the last five years, we produced five All-Americans on the offensive side of the ball with back-to-back-to-back at the receiver spot. We had an All-American running back who was fifth in the nation in rushing and an All-American quarterback who led the nation in completion percentage. What we do on offense, I call the 'Sunday System.' We take the pro passing game, the things I experienced in the pro game, the way we run our routes, the way we sight-adjust, the way we make progressions at the quarterback position. We take the pro passing game and marry it with the college flavor running game. At the end of the day, the vision of the offense, everything we do, how we practice, how we play, the type of kids we recruit, we do it fast, physical, with discipline, and with character. As coaches, we'll coach elite technique. When you look at Millersville University football on offense, that's what you'll see--fast, physical, with discipline and with character. We want to get the football to our best players so we can win football games.
AC: Coach Morgan has an offensive background and was a former offensive coordinator himself. When you come in as the new coordinator, do you rip up the old and start over with your style, or are you marrying some things?
BF: I come in with my past experiences and things that were successful, and Coach Morgan has his way of doing things that have been successful. The best relationship is to marry the two philosophies together. For me, I have a growth mentality. I always want to get better as a coach and find ways to make this offense better. If I can take pieces from what Coach Morgan has done, different ideas, how to tweak the playbook, and he can take some of my ideas, then that is only going to make the offense that much better.
AC: I'm sure you watched Millersville's games from last year. What's going to be the biggest difference that people see in 2025?
BF: I did watch film, but I didn't get really in-depth with it because I didn't want to have a preconceived notion of players. I wanted all of the players to come in with a clean slate, come in and compete with a growth mindset. When I looked at it, I didn't do a whole lot of evaluating, saying, 'We are going to get better in this area.' What we've done in the spring is lay the foundation of the offense—find out what guys are capable of doing, what they aren't able to do, and tweak the offense around our strengths and weaknesses so we can win football games. I could go through and nitpick, but the kids are on a clean slate, and they are being evaluated on, 'Are they playing fast? Are they playing physical?' And we are going to put them in the right situations to succeed.
AC: Coming in for spring ball has to be an advantage because you get to lay the groundwork for the offense. But what are biggest challenges you face in installing a new offense?
BF: The biggest challenge is that you don't yet know what guys can do and what they can't do. How quickly can you go on the install process? Can you go fast with installs? Do you need to go slow? The most difficult part is learning their abilities and the players learning me and understanding what my expectations are. They may run routes differently than they used to, so they have to be able to change. The kids who are able to embrace the change are the ones who will succeed. The ones who don't will struggle.
AC: Ryan Zeltt played some productive football at quarterback in the second half of the season. What have you seen from him and the quarterback position this spring?
BF: Right now, we are playing three quarterbacks. They all have a chance to compete. Ryan is running with the ones. What I noticed from him is that he's very smart, very bright. He's able to pick up the new terminology, the new languages. He gets better on a day-to-day basis. The more he gets comfortable with the offense the more he will progress. His biggest plus is that he wants to learn. He's hungry to be good. As long as he continues to improve on a day-to-day basis, he'll have a good chance to win that job.
AC: Looking at your background in the Arena Football League and the passing game success at Concord, it would have to be exciting for the quarterbacks to know it will be a big emphasis on what you do as an offense.
BF: I love to throw the football. That's why I stayed five years in the Arena League because you throw the ball 95% of the time. It's fun to throw the football. As a quarterback and a wide receiver, you get excited about this type of offense. But we are balanced. If you look at the offense we had at Concord, we had a receiver lead the nation in catches, but we had a running back who was fifth in rushing. What we can control as an offense is time and space—how fast we play and how much of the field we use. We will control time and space, whether we are throwing or running the football.
AC: What's been the most encouraging thing you've seen in spring ball so far?
BF: The type of kids we have here. They are passionate and hungry for success. They show up and work every single day because they want to be a winning football program. It's nice to be a part of a university that cares about its football program and its football coaches. It's a breath of fresh air to be here around coaches who love to coach football, a university that loves its football team and players who want to get better.
Ryan Zeltt looked like an All-PSAC East quarterback in the second half of his sophomore season, averaging 283 yards passing with nine TD passes and a 66.5 completion percentage in his final four full games. That's the passing production that should be expected with regularity under the direction Ferguson, who brings to Millersville a track record of coordinating high-powered passing attacks at the collegiate level, tapping into his background in the pro game and in the Arena Football League, where nearly every snap results in a pass attempt. Most recently, Ferguson was the OC and head coach at Concord, where he developed an All-America wide receiver in three consecutive seasons as well as an All-America quarterback and running back. Millersville's no-huddle style and pace of play likely won't change, but Ferguson hopes to inject some potency into a Millersville passing game that last produced a first-team wide receiver in 2017 and hasn't had an All-PSAC East quarterback since 2000.
Athletic Communications (AC): Can you take a moment to describe yourself as a coach, your style and philosophy of offense and the way you teach the game?
Ferguson (BF): To explain our style of offense and my coaching style, I have to give you a little of my background. My first real job was with the Tampa Bay Bucaneers and then I went to NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire for three years. From there, I went to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then I became the offensive coordinator at Tiffin University and went back to pro football for five years in Jacksonville. From there, I went to Tusculum as the offensive coordinator for four years and then to Concord. The first year was the COVID year, and in 2022, we had one of the top offenses in the nation. I was promoted to head coach but still ran the offense. So the last five years, we produced five All-Americans on the offensive side of the ball with back-to-back-to-back at the receiver spot. We had an All-American running back who was fifth in the nation in rushing and an All-American quarterback who led the nation in completion percentage. What we do on offense, I call the 'Sunday System.' We take the pro passing game, the things I experienced in the pro game, the way we run our routes, the way we sight-adjust, the way we make progressions at the quarterback position. We take the pro passing game and marry it with the college flavor running game. At the end of the day, the vision of the offense, everything we do, how we practice, how we play, the type of kids we recruit, we do it fast, physical, with discipline, and with character. As coaches, we'll coach elite technique. When you look at Millersville University football on offense, that's what you'll see--fast, physical, with discipline and with character. We want to get the football to our best players so we can win football games.
AC: Coach Morgan has an offensive background and was a former offensive coordinator himself. When you come in as the new coordinator, do you rip up the old and start over with your style, or are you marrying some things?
BF: I come in with my past experiences and things that were successful, and Coach Morgan has his way of doing things that have been successful. The best relationship is to marry the two philosophies together. For me, I have a growth mentality. I always want to get better as a coach and find ways to make this offense better. If I can take pieces from what Coach Morgan has done, different ideas, how to tweak the playbook, and he can take some of my ideas, then that is only going to make the offense that much better.
AC: I'm sure you watched Millersville's games from last year. What's going to be the biggest difference that people see in 2025?
BF: I did watch film, but I didn't get really in-depth with it because I didn't want to have a preconceived notion of players. I wanted all of the players to come in with a clean slate, come in and compete with a growth mindset. When I looked at it, I didn't do a whole lot of evaluating, saying, 'We are going to get better in this area.' What we've done in the spring is lay the foundation of the offense—find out what guys are capable of doing, what they aren't able to do, and tweak the offense around our strengths and weaknesses so we can win football games. I could go through and nitpick, but the kids are on a clean slate, and they are being evaluated on, 'Are they playing fast? Are they playing physical?' And we are going to put them in the right situations to succeed.
AC: Coming in for spring ball has to be an advantage because you get to lay the groundwork for the offense. But what are biggest challenges you face in installing a new offense?
BF: The biggest challenge is that you don't yet know what guys can do and what they can't do. How quickly can you go on the install process? Can you go fast with installs? Do you need to go slow? The most difficult part is learning their abilities and the players learning me and understanding what my expectations are. They may run routes differently than they used to, so they have to be able to change. The kids who are able to embrace the change are the ones who will succeed. The ones who don't will struggle.
AC: Ryan Zeltt played some productive football at quarterback in the second half of the season. What have you seen from him and the quarterback position this spring?
BF: Right now, we are playing three quarterbacks. They all have a chance to compete. Ryan is running with the ones. What I noticed from him is that he's very smart, very bright. He's able to pick up the new terminology, the new languages. He gets better on a day-to-day basis. The more he gets comfortable with the offense the more he will progress. His biggest plus is that he wants to learn. He's hungry to be good. As long as he continues to improve on a day-to-day basis, he'll have a good chance to win that job.
AC: Looking at your background in the Arena Football League and the passing game success at Concord, it would have to be exciting for the quarterbacks to know it will be a big emphasis on what you do as an offense.
BF: I love to throw the football. That's why I stayed five years in the Arena League because you throw the ball 95% of the time. It's fun to throw the football. As a quarterback and a wide receiver, you get excited about this type of offense. But we are balanced. If you look at the offense we had at Concord, we had a receiver lead the nation in catches, but we had a running back who was fifth in rushing. What we can control as an offense is time and space—how fast we play and how much of the field we use. We will control time and space, whether we are throwing or running the football.
AC: What's been the most encouraging thing you've seen in spring ball so far?
BF: The type of kids we have here. They are passionate and hungry for success. They show up and work every single day because they want to be a winning football program. It's nice to be a part of a university that cares about its football program and its football coaches. It's a breath of fresh air to be here around coaches who love to coach football, a university that loves its football team and players who want to get better.
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QB
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