User:Pistoloffenseguru

 Michael Taylor of Mill Valley created and developed the Pistol Offense (called the "Shotgun I" at that time) in 1999 while playing softball. Michael's teammate was a college football coach at Division III Ohio Northern University named Tom Kaczkowski, and during a conversation, he mentioned that his team needed to go into a new direction because his running back was quick, but his quarterback was tall and slow.

Michael Taylor developed a new concept which he called the "Shotgun I". Armed with this new idea Michael, spent weeks developing new formations and schemes as a way of maintaining a downhill running game, while allowing his quarterback to be comfortable in the pass game. The plays worked, the backfield set was exclusively two back and included a full complement of runs to both the I back and the offset back (aligned next to the quarterback). University of Nevada head coach Chris Ault popularized the single back alignment (and renamed it the "Pistol") in 2005.[6][7] While the pistol offense has been experimented with by dozens of college football teams such as LSU, Syracuse, Indiana, and Missouri, Ault's Nevada Wolf Pack is most strongly associated with the formation. Using the Pistol Offense, during the 2009 season, Nevada led the nation in rushing at 345 yards a game and were second in total offense at 506 yards. The Wolf Pack also became the first team in college football history with three 1,000-yard rushers in the same season: quarterback Colin Kaepernick and running backs Luke Lippincott and Vai Taua.[8] Football Championship Subdivision team James Madison University used "The Pistol" to help beat #13 ranked Virginia Tech on September 11, 2010. The pistol has also made the transition to the NFL, mainly being used by the Carolina Panthers with Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins, as well as the aforementioned Kaepnernick with the San Francisco 49ers, who in the NFL Playoffs versus the Green Bay Packers set the all-time single game rushing record for a quarterback with 181 yards. Along with the wildcat, the pistol has added more of a college "playmaker" aspect to the professional game. On December 5, 2010, the Pittsburgh Steelers utilized the Pistol offense so quarterback Ben Roethlisberger could play with a bad foot