Intense Fangio has settled Stanford's defense

(12-30) 04:00 PST Miami - --

There are titles galore on the Stanford football coaching staff.

There's a director of football who is also the head coach (Jim Harbaugh). There's an associate head coach who is also the assistant head coach of the offense as well as the offensive tackles coach and the tight ends coach (Greg Roman). There's an offensive coordinator who is also the running backs coach (David Shaw).

And there's one lord.

That would be Vic Fangio, whose more conventional title is defensive coordinator. Linebacker Shayne Skov dubbed him "Lord Fangio" early in the season because of his "maniacal voice" and because he's "like an evil genius."

Cornerback Richard Sherman said his first impression of Fangio when he joined the staff this year after 24 years in the NFL was that of a "stone cold killer."

"You think he's the meanest guy," Sherman said. "He rarely smiles. The other team might have no points or three points at halftime, and he'll come in and say, 'That was a s- half.' "

The hiring of Fangio, 52, was one of Harbaugh's key moves after last season, during which a porous defense kept the 8-5 team from an even better season. Statistically the defense was one of the worst in the nation, mainly because of a propensity to give up the big play.

Fangio has been defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. In the four years before he arrived, he had been a special assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, working for Harbaugh's brother, John.

Jim Harbaugh had tried to lure him to the Farm before. Now the time was right after Fangio left the Ravens in what he termed a "very mutual" parting.

Fangio's impact at Stanford was forceful and immediate. Turnovers by the Cardinal defense increased dramatically, and so did sacks as opponents tried to cope with an unpredictable maze of blitzes. Stanford moved to what was called a base 3-4 alignment but played just as often in a 4-3. In either formation, Chase Thomas and Thomas Keiser were unleashed as pass rushers on the edge. The secondary, under another newcomer from the NFL, Derek Mason, is far less vulnerable to the long pass.

"Lord Fangio has brought a sense of calm, a feeling that's it's going to work," Sherman said. "There's a belief in one another, that we have the athletes, that we can play with anybody.

"Other people would say, 'Oh, Stanford has slow (defensive backs). They have a slow defense.' They don't turn on the tape and look at us. He didn't look at us like that. He's confident in everybody on the defense and uses our talents well."

Fangio said he didn't even know about the "lord" sobriquet until it was reported in the newspapers. "I think it's kind of funny," he said. "I'd rather be called the lord than the devil."

He thinks Sherman's "killer" label is over the top, "but I am kind of serious." He has high standards, as befits someone who coached the great Saints group of Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling, Sam Mills and Vaughan Johnson, possibly the best linebacking unit in the history of the NFL. He also had Kevin Greene and Lamar Lathon with the Panthers, Cornelius Bennett with the Colts and Ray Lewis with the Ravens.

Fangio impressed on the Cardinal the need for turnovers and drilled them almost daily in stripping the ball and grabbing passes. "When you're confident and executing," he said, "you're in better position to make those plays."

The wider hash marks and different rules of the college game forced him to adjust strategically. In the NFL, there has to be at least one eligible receiver on either side of the line. College ball has no such rule, allowing a wider variety of formations. "You can really get some unbalanced looks," Fangio said.

The option game, of course, is far more prevalent in college ball. And screen passes are tougher to defend in college, he said, because "any ball thrown behind the line of scrimmage is treated like a run play. Linemen can be downfield blocking" unlike in the NFL.

One thing that hasn't changed is Fangio's preference to sit in the press box rather than stand on the sidelines. "You don't see the game well down on the field," he said. "You don't waste time with the emotional stuff on the sideline, like yelling at an official."

For practically the first time in his career, he has reinvented himself as a recruiter, an aspect of the job he says he enjoys.

"Stanford is easy to sell, and now with the status that Jim has brought this program to, it's even easier," he said.

Would Fangio like to return to the pros? "I'm very happy here," he said. "Maybe someday I'll go back to the NFL, but I'm very content here now."

No distraction: Jim Harbaugh says talk of other jobs hasn't taken away from preparation. B4

Bowls: Illinois, Maryland and Oklahoma State win big. B5

E-mail Tom FitzGerald at tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle