Nothing can be by the book if there isn’t one.

Offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert’s new system for the Eastern football team is built on repetition and is without a playbook.

It’s an offense of tempo and open space.

It’s success is dependant on players’ instincts, improved through running nearly 150 plays in practice.

“It’s kind of like a puzzle,” Gilbert said.

The more repetition the offense gets in practice, the more the players will start seeing the field, what the defense is doing, what they know they’re capable of, and how to execute it, Gilbert said. The players can visualize it.

“It’s all (in their minds),” Gilbert said. “When they start growing and learning, you start giving them more and more (information) and they start seeing how it all fits.”

Last year, the Panthers ran a season-high 76 plays against Murray State, a team that makes opponents play faster, under former offensive coordinator Roy Wittke.

The Panthers’ new offense only ran 69 plays Saturday against Western Michigan, but it ran 3.26 per minute with only 21:14 of possession time.

In comparison, Eastern only ran 2.16 plays per minute last year against Murray State in 35:13 of possession.

“It’s high tempo. We’re going to move fast, be fast, know fast, excel fast,” Gilbert said.

It’s also a process, from taking an offensive unit that wasn’t used to playing in a fast-paced, no-huddle, spread offense and teaching it to them.

But the offense has continued to make strides since last spring, when the new coaching staff started working the players out. Gilbert said junior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, or “Jim Bob” as Gilbert calls him, has been a leader during the transition.

“He comes in daily with a sponge, trying to get better,” Gilbert said.

As a whole, the Panthers are trying to rebuild after a 2-9 record last year with the former coaching staff. Gilbert is no stranger to this situation.

Gilbert has rebuilt programs since he began coaching Texas high school football in 2003.

Gilbert became head coach of San Angelo Lake View High School in Texas in 2008, trying to rebuild a program that had only won three games in as many years before he arrived.

In his first year, Gilbert’s team won the Bi-District Championship and won its first playoff game in 12 years. He was named West Texas High School Coach of the Year that season.

Rebuilding is something Gilbert is used to and when it came to take his first collegiate coaching job at Eastern he was comfortable going into the situation.

“With change, comes change,” Gilbert said. “You’ve got to change the mentality, the attitude, the direction you’re going.”

He knows what’s at stake, too, having been in a “cut throat” Texas football atmosphere, where head coaches have up to 15 assistants and team’s play in front of crowds of 20,000 passionate fans – a college-like environment.

“You’re pressured to win,” Gilbert said. “If you don’t produce, then (the school) will find somebody else that can – that’s as a head coach and as an assistant.”

The scenarios from the movie “Friday Night Lights” are true, Gilbert said, where the whole town hypes up Friday’s football game, fans from both schools fill each side of the stadium in their school colors and all eyes are on the players and coaches.

“It’s an unbelievable week – I get cold chills right now talking about it because it’s just awesome,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert graduated from Angelo State University in 2002, the same school Gary Gaines, the Permian High School head coach from the movie, got his degree.

Gilbert said he thinks Eastern’s new offense could attract a Texas-like fan base because people are going to want to see it.

“Whether you’re in Texas, Charleston, Illinois, or Montana, we think if our product is there, we’re intriguing enough to bring fans in and excite people,” Gilbert said.

But the team has to be successful to pique interest, and Gilbert knows that. He also knows his offensive style gives the players a chance to do that.

“The simplicity of this offense allows our guys to play fast,” Gilbert said. “When you know better, you do better. Know fast, play fast.”

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-2812 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.