He’s Not Fiery but Gutierrez Stokes Aztecs : College football: Former Santa Clara High quarterback erases Tollner’s doubts, leads San Diego State to a 2-0 start.

SAN DIEGO —  The relationship between quarterback Tim Gutierrez and new Coach Ted Tollner, two men charged with bolstering an underachieving football program at San Diego State, got off to a shaky start.

Gutierrez was upset when San Diego State fired Coach Al Luginbill last year and was apprehensive when Ted Tollner was hired to replace him. Tollner didn’t think Gutierrez had enough spark to lead his new no-huddle offense.

The relationship is on solid ground now, and so, apparently, are the Aztecs. With Tollner and staff flashing signals from the sidelines, Gutierrez, 23, led San Diego State to a 22-20 victory over Cal last week. It was the Aztecs’ first victory over a Pacific 10 Conference opponent in 10 seasons.

The former Santa Clara High standout led the Aztecs on a nine-play, 65-yard drive to set up the game-winning, 32-yard field goal by Antelope Valley’s Peter Holt with 3 minutes 22 seconds left. The 40,922 fans at Jack Murphy Stadium cheered away years of frustration, and San Diego State is 2-0 heading into a game Saturday at Minnesota.

The Aztecs have come a long way in a short time. So have Gutierrez and Tollner.

“I didn’t know (Tollner) in the past,” Gutierrez said of the long-time NFL assistant who was head coach at USC from 1983 to 1986.

“I didn’t want the old coaching staff to go. I guess I was being selfish in thinking like that. But I didn’t want to have to prove myself all over again to a new coaching staff.”

Gutierrez, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior, had to prove himself to Tollner, despite passing for 3,033 yards and 24 touchdowns after replacing injured David Lowery in the third game of the 1993 season.

“I didn’t know how to read (Gutierrez),” Tollner said. “Is he excited about being a football player or is he not? I was initially concerned if he’d be able to do what we want him to do.”

Tollner was looking for someone to lead a full-throttle, no-huddle, run-and-shoot offense. He was concerned about the quiet, almost-docile demeanor of Gutierrez.

“My early read was a quiet indifference,” Tollner said. “But, really, it was a composed confidence. The more we asked of him in spring ball, the more he responded. From what I’ve seen, the closer it gets to the game, his composure becomes more and more of a strength.”

Gutierrez gunned down Cal, completing 25 of 43 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns in the come-from-behind victory. The Bears beat the Aztecs, 45-25, last season, and were coming off a 37-3 rout of Iowa in the 1993 Alamo Bowl.

Tollner had nobody else to turn to. Marshall Faulk was taken in the first round and receiver Darnay Scott in the second round of the NFL draft.

Both would have been seniors this fall. Ten other players signed free-agent contracts, leaving Tollner with few returning skill players and no starters on the offensive line.

Gutierrez has responded with six touchdown passes and only one interception. His quarterback rating (163.2) is 10th-best nationally.

Tollner credits Gutierrez for his composure and his ability to read defenses quickly. He also likes his accuracy, quick release and sense of when to throw the ball.

“He doesn’t have a lot of foot speed,” Tollner said. “He’s not going to scramble and make any big, giant runs. But that doesn’t matter if you can do these other things.”

Gutierrez has appeared in only 15 games for the Aztecs--starting 11--but he has passed for 3,727 yards and 31 touchdowns.

With 14 more touchdown passes, Gutierrez would pass Brian Sipe and Dan McGwire in the school record book and move into third place behind Todd Santos (70) and Dennis Shaw (58).

His personal goals are much loftier. Gutierrez wants to complete 70% of his passes (he’s at 67.6%) and pass 5,000 yards--a feat accomplished only by Houston’s David Klingler and Brigham Young’s Ty Detmer in Division I.

“You might laugh, because that’s a high goal,” said Gutierrez, who threw for 7,272 career yards (third highest in Southern Sections history) at Santa Clara. “But in order for us to reach the next level, you’ve got to set your goals high.”

The victory over Cal was a good starting point. San Diego State had not beaten a Pac-10 opponent in 17 tries dating to 1985. But “the next level” has eluded the Aztecs since they jumped to Division I in 1978.

The goal was to establish San Diego State as perennial Western Athletic Conference champion. Sixteen years later, the Aztecs are still trying.

Santos, who became the nation’s career passing leader in 1988, and Faulk, the top running back in college football in 1991, could not lead the Aztecs out of mediocrity.

With San Diego State capturing only one conference championship and two bowl berths since 1978, the fans still dream of the Aztecs’ glory years in Division I-AA.

During a 12-season span from 1966-77, San Diego State compiled a 111-17-3 record. Playing an independent schedule three of those seasons, the Aztecs captured championships in eight of the other nine: two in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and five in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.

But from 1978-93, San Diego State was 87-94-6, having won only one championship despite sending 47 players to the NFL.

“I want to take this team by the horns and take them to the next level,” Gutierrez said. “As a quarterback, that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Gutierrez said his disappointment over Luginbill’s firing was erased when he met Tollner.

“Tollner’s respect was earned right when he stepped through the door,” Gutierrez said. “I see an excitement in his face. He wants to go out there and win. Guys who didn’t want to practice in the past are excited about practicing now.

“This new coaching staff is experienced. I think they could take us over the hump that we’ve been trying to get over.”

Gutierrez defended Luginbill, but he admits he got tired of Luginbill’s constant nervous pacing on the sidelines.

“It was in the back of our heads that our coach was walking around frantic,” Gutierrez said. “You would see it on TV and think, ‘God. What’s the whole country looking at?’ ”

San Diego State’s new gun-slinging, no-huddle assault could also be described as frantic. But Gutierrez likes it.

“This is really just a 60-minute, two-minute drill,” he said. “I think I work better with tempo. It’s my style of play. I couldn’t have come into a better situation.”