SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Beyond the conspicuous absence of the once-omnipresent cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, and the inexorable invasion of a little more silver in his still thick hair, Dan Henning didn't change much at all during his one-season hiatus from the NFL.

Back where he belongs after a short-lived retirement, both content and challenged as the Carolina Panthers new offensive coordinator, Henning at age 60 can still have as much fun doodling with X's and O's as he does playing with his 10 grandchildren. Maybe even more, in fact, given the creative heights he might have to achieve after a quarter-century in the NFL to shepherd the anemic Carolina offense of 2001 back to respectability in 2002.

During a long tenure as an assistant and two stints as a head coach in the league, Henning has never been afforded his due as one of the game's truly terrific offensive schemers. It might have something to do with the fact that Henning never attached to his paradigm a high-falutin' name like "West Coast" or "Run and Shoot" or "Fun and Gun."

	Weinke listens to Henning during practice at the team's training camp in Spartanburg, S.C.

He might, however, be anointed a latter day miracle worker if he can divine a blueprint for transforming the dubious assemblage of players that he has inherited at his 10th NFL stopoff into a viable unit capable of consistent production. After all, the Panthers ranked statistically as the second-worst offense in the NFL a year ago.

The task of reversing such pernicious production, Henning acknowledged here after the team's Wednesday morning practice, will be neither immaculate nor immediate.

"We're going to have to dig in, get our hands a little dirty, really work at it," allowed the ever-candid Henning. "You don't just become a 1-15 team, like this one was last year, overnight. And you don't get it turned around just like that (snapping his fingers), either, you know? You wish you could, but it doesn't happen, not often."

Not even the brilliance of Henning, whose playbook probably hasn't varied much from the one that he utilized when he entered the league 30 years ago, can enact an improbable quick fix of such prodigious proportions. Review just some of the wreckage of 2001 and it is obvious there is no panacea in the world that can bring instant relief to Carolina.

The Panthers averaged a league-worst 4.72 yards per pass play, roughly 20 percent below the NFL average, and rookie quarterback Chris Weinke had the second lowest efficiency mark (62.0) among league starters. Leading rusher Richard Huntley posted 665 yards, the third lowest total for the leading ground gainer on any team. Carolina scored 253 points, third lowest in the league, and only 21 offensive touchdowns. Panthers backs averaged a minuscule 3.7 yards per rush and the team's 236 first downs were an NFL low.

"By all accounts," conceded standout wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, "it was pretty pathetic. It's hard to imagine things could get any worse than they were (in 2001)."

Well, maybe, but the Panthers still have some tall hurdles to overcome simply to reach the level of mediocrity.

Despite logging 15 starts as a 29-year-old rookie a year ago, Weinke must now adapt to a completely different offense, and move past the inconsistencies that marked 2001. Unless the lanky wide receiver Patrick Jeffers returns from four knee surgeries that have limited him to nine games and 14 catches since his 1999 breakout season, the Panthers don't have a proven complement to Muhammad, largely a possession receiver.

Five-time Pro Bowl tight end Wesley Walls is coming off a knee injury and, at age 36 and in his 14th season, is a question mark. Starting tailback Lamar Smith, who was signed as a free agent in the spring, looked used-up at times in '01, when he averaged a measly 3.1 yards per rush with the Miami Dolphins. At some point in the season, second-round draft choice DeShaun Foster of UCLA could supplant Smith, but he must still prove to all the skeptics that he is over the fumble problems that plagued him as a collegian. The line is solid enough, but nearly every player on the unit wears a knee brace as a reminder of past surgeries and future concerns.

"We've got work to do, no doubt about it," said first-year head coach John Fox.

	“	We'll look carefully at the pegs we've got. If it's a square peg, we'll put it in a square hole. If it's a round peg, we'll find a round hole for it, believe me. It doesn't do you a lot of good to start forcing people where they don't belong or ask them to do the things you know they really can't do anyway. ”
		— Offensive coordinator Dan Henning

Fortunately for the Panthers, the engaging Fox was sly enough to lure Henning back to the league after he sat out the 2001 season. Fox has assembled an impressive staff, one with veteran assistants of note, and aides on the career fast track. But none are arguably any more important than Henning, who has tossed the West Coast playbook of a year ago into the cylindrical receptacle and replaced it with his own tried and true design.

The Henning offense is heavy on a power running game and on throwing vertically up the field after the run has been established. It is typically a one-back formation, with the tight end and H-back performing critical roles. And there must be at least one deep threat able to keep opposing safeties from constantly walking down to the line of scrimmage to put eight defenders "in the box" to stop the run. Henning is also slowly installing a shotgun package, something the Panthers have never used before.

Even the candid-to-a-fault Henning isn't certain yet if he's got all the pieces, or if there are enough competent players for the significant roles, but he is prepared to be flexible if that is what is called for. His basic offense won't change, but he will tweak it to suit the modest talents of the players on hand because, quite frankly, Carolina was in no position capwise to make meaningful additions outside of the draft.

"We'll look carefully at the pegs we've got," Henning said. "If it's a square peg, we'll put it in a square hole. If it's a round peg, we'll find a round hole for it, believe me. It doesn't do you a lot of good to start forcing people where they don't belong or ask them to do the things you know they really can't do anyway."

Two of the more important pegs, at least to this point in camp, are Weinke and second-year wide receiver Steve Smith, the one potential deep threat on the roster.

In the months preceding this year's draft, a lottery in which Carolina owned the second overall choice, Henning pored over videotape of Weinke from 2001. Actually, he set up two video machines, side by side. He would routinely review one quarter's worth of tape on Fresno State star David Carr. Then he would watch a quarter of Weinke. He would peruse a quarter of Joey Harrington, the former Oregon standout. And then it was back to Weinke once again.

What he discovered was that Weinke, who won huge games while at Florida State but who was also placed in some untenable situations during his rookie season in Carolina, possessed talents comparable to those of the top two quarterback prospects in the draft. He noted that the gaudy statistics authored by Carr and Harrington in '01 were strikingly similar to the numbers Weinke posted in his final season with the Seminoles.

His conclusion: The Panthers would be better served as a team to exercise their choice on a defensive end (Julius Peppers) or on a cornerback (Quentin Jammer) than to invest $50 million on a quarterback and start again from scratch at the position.

Team officials had not apprised Weinke before the draft of their decision to put their faith in him and pass on the top quarterback prospects. Sitting at home watching the draft, he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Peppers' name called with the Panthers' choice. He viewed the decision then, and even more so now, as a vote of confidence in his skills and potential, and the ability of Henning to enhance his tools.

There is, however, this conundrum: Most players make their most quantum leap in the NFL between their first and second seasons. And for Weinke to take a giant step, he has to first assimilate a new offense, a task akin to learning a foreign language in one of those cram course Berlitz classes.

"That's the challenge, yeah, but I've got a great tutor," Weinke said. "Just look at all the quarterbacks he's worked with and what they've done. Coach Henning has a track record and I just hope I can add my name to the list of quarterbacks he made better."

Part of the success of Weinke and Henning might rest on how quickly Smith develops into a legitimate starting wide receiver. Smith returned three kicks for touchdowns last season and earned Pro Bowl honors. But he played sparingly from scrimmage and had just 10 receptions. Carolina desperately needs him to emerge as a vertical component.

Said Fox: "Typically you move the ball in this league in small bites. But you always need a guy who can get you the big chunk with some regularity. We think Steve Smith has the potential to be that kind of explosive receiver. If he can be, that's one less piece of the puzzle we have to fit into place."

That said, progress is apt to be incremental for the Panthers in 2002, no matter how well or quickly Carolina players adjust to Henning's new master plan. No one is more aware of that than Henning himself.

"We're using our own alphabet and our own grammatical structure," Henning allowed. "Somebody has to write the poetry. If we have a poet, we're going to write poetry. If we don't have a poet, then we're going to have to write prose, short stories and anecdotes."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.