“I must tell you I am really happy to see everyone here. I'll tell you that since the last time we met in a similar setting a week ago it's been a long, hectic, interesting and educational week for all of us here at ASU. Why we're here today is to address two really important questions: Why is Herman Edwards being named our head coach and how will having Herman Edwards as our head coach elevate us to an elite level. So to help give some insight from his perspective, I'd like to welcome in Dr. Michael Crow.”
Dr. Michael Crow
“Thank you for the introduction, Ray. I just want to outline where we are with athletics and where we are with our football program. The main objective that Ray has is four-fold. First, he is to advance university athletics to produce graduates, championship-competing teams, build an affinity with Arizona State University and finally he wants to build the program to be self-supporting from a financial standpoint. Relating to all of that is the fact Ray has taken on the task of finding tremendous coaches to help us to those four objectives simultaneously. He also wants to forward a new way of thinking in how we build our athletic program. We want to grow on our growing capability of our football program and advance a new model that can both manage and coach our team.
“We're not happy with how this (old) model works at other schools, so we wanted to do something new and find the right individual to advance it. In the time I've spoken with Herm Edwards I have found him to be an outstanding individual, an outstanding leader and someone who can advance our new model. I'm excited about where we are. I'm excited about Ray's leadership. And we're committed towards driving to a new level of excellence. I want everyone to pay closer attention to all of our sports and what we're trying to do. We believe athletic success is critical for our entire university. I'm very excited about this coaching selection, very excited about our university's athletics and I thank Ray for his time, talent and energy.”
Ray Anderson
“I want to give you another perspective on the why, because some people will say that this a very unusual move for anyone to make. I'd like to introduce Phil de Picciotto. Phil is the director and president of the Octagon Agency. He represents high-profile athletes and executives across all sports. And now he'll share why Herman Edwards makes the most sense in this place right now.”
Phil de Picciotto
“Good morning everyone. I have been asked by Ray (Anderson) to share with you why Herm Edwards has chosen to accept ASU’s offer to become its next football head coach. To understand that, we have to start by understanding a little bit about Herm the person. At his core, Herm is an educator. And to him education is about caring and communication. Herm’s passion is, and always has been, helping young people develop their potential. He is terrific at that. It just comes to him naturally. Sometimes he teaches on a football field. Sometimes he teaches in an office. Sometimes through a television screen. Whatever the platform, Herm has the same keen insights about people and an outstanding ability to connect easily with everyone because Herm is a unifier, he is a team builder, he is a person of extreme decency and complete integrity. He has chosen to make his difference in the world by trying to enhance every other person’s life, not by focusing on himself. In fact, he looks out for everyone, except himself, always. How one wins and with whom is really important to him.
“That brings us to ASU. Herm found all of these elements in special alignment here at ASU. He saw Dr. Crow’s commitment to local community, membership in the global community, dedication to doing things well and differently and boldly, yet modestly. He saw his esteemed and his highly trusted attorney and advisor from long ago, Ray Anderson, applying Dr. Crow’s overall vision to the athletics department. Through the introduction of the men’s ice hockey program, the re-introduction of the men’s tennis program, the hiring of Bob Bowman to elevate the swimming and diving program, and so much more. He sees the dots all connected with everyone pulling in the same direction. Anyone that has worked in an organization or played on a team, knows that one wins through common purpose and shared chemistry and values it just as much as one wins with talent. That’s what Herm sees here. It’s the people who are the real keys to his desire to work here. It’s always about the people for Herm.
“There is no situation other than this one at ASU that would have caused Herm to move from ESPN. He is beloved there. Not only for his on-air expertise but also for his everyday behind-the-scenes contributions. He is referred to there as ‘Coach’ because he is always trying to help everyone. His personal qualities are as timeless as they are modern. They are entirely consistent with the combination of deep tradition and unending innovation here at ASU. That’s why Herm ended up here today. He never intended to leave ESPN but he feels he can help advance Dr. Crow’s mission because he fully subscribes to that mission. He feels he can help students here, especially those student-athletes who play football. He feels he can make the right kind of difference because everyone else here is committed to making that same kind of difference. I would say simply that Herm Edwards just fits here. I have no doubt he will put a lot of points on the scoreboard of life for everyone in this community. Thank you.”
Ray Anderson
“Thank you, Phil, and let me turn to myself in terms of the why. Competitive consistency is required to elevate this football program to the place we want to be. So let me reiterate some of the things I shared with you eight days ago. Competitive consistency in our academics are really solid in large part due to the efforts of Coach Todd Graham and competitive consistency in terms of citizenship and role modeling and discipline and behavior, and conduct is at a very high level here in large part through the work of Coach Todd Graham. But competitive consistency in the performance and outcome of games frankly have not met our expectations, and after me evaluating for four years the body of work I have to be honest on behalf of this program and on behalf of this university to make the assessment and then make the hard decision that I truly believe is the best interest of this university and this football program going forward. But I want you to know that ASU football is nobody’s rebuild. This is not a startup. This is not a start over. We need to take the next step in competitive consistency and I believe Herman Edwards can take us there.
“And so what is competitive consistency that we’re looking for as we go forward? In recruiting really great student-athletes, 4- and 5-star student- athletes from all over the place where talent is. We haven’t done that well. Developing players and then coaching players to their highest potential so that those players who in fact have aspirations to go to the NFL are in fact being readied and prepared here to do that. We haven’t done that well. Competitive consistency in developing and retaining assistant coaches so we can have that continuity and that stability and that recruiting quality and consistency that we need here. And then certainly competitive consistency where in-game preparation and game day performance. We are competitively and consistently the team that nobody wants to play. And that’s what I think we will get in Herman Edwards.
“And so, Dr. Crow and myself, we have high visions for this university and I certainly came in here to try to advance forward his high vision for this athletic department, and I’m bound and determined to do that. We are going to change our model because, as Dr. Crow alluded, the traditional model in athletics under which we have operated for these years has produced very frankly unsatisfying and for the most part mediocre results. So what we’re going to do is, we’re going to pivot more to the model like you would see in the NFL and frankly other professional sports. And what that means is that the football head coach is going to get a lot of support from other folks outside of the traditional model. And Marcus (Castro) Walker, Donnie Yantis, Tim Cassidy, Kevin Miniefield, Scottie Graham, Gabe Cagwin, Frank Ferraro, Russ Glial, Don Bocchi, Ken Landphere and others who I am missing and forgive me for that colleagues. It is going to be an all-in and all-hands on board. Andrea Lore, Courtney Skipper, it is going to be an all hands on deck effort to upgrade football the way we have upgraded some of our other sports. So, it will be a collaboration. We will not have a structure where the head coach will need to or be expected to control it all and do it all. We want to recruit, we want to coach, we want to develop, and then we want to elevate. That’s what we’re going to get with Herman Edwards.
“What I would tell you is that elevated performance is not new to us at ASU. The standards and expectations are already here in our sports programs. Just this week if we were noticing: Bobby Hurley in basketball, great performance; Bob Bowman leading our men’s and women’s swimming teams, great performance; Zeke Jones leading our wrestling team this weekend in Las Vegas, great performance. Let’s just go back a little ways. Last year, Missy Farr-Kaye, national championship in golf, brand new head coach. Look what Matt Thurmond is doing in men’s golf, new to our environment. Cliff English just won the second triathlon national championship for our women’s team. Excellent, to be sure. Coach Powers and ice hockey, by the way, are doing a great job. If you go back a little bit to our tenured coaches who have competitively and consistently performed at high levels. How about Sheila McInerney in tennis? How about Charli Turner Thorne in women’s basketball? How about Todd Clapper in women’s water polo? It is happening here now and there is no way that anybody can tell me with anything that will make me listen that we can’t do it in football. In fact, we’re going to do it in football.
“So what I would say to you is that this train in football is leaving the station. For any doubters that for whatever reason can’t commit to us right now, that’s okay. We understand. We’re not going to take it personally. But as that train continues its path uphill, if for whatever reason at any time you now want to get on board, then jump on board because we’ve got a seat for you. We’ve got a seat for you. So I am proud to represent ASU Athletics and announce Herman Edwards as our new head football coach and indeed, the conductor of this train, Herman Edwards."
Head Coach Herman Edwards
“I’d like to thank Dr. Crow and obviously Ray and all those in the audience. I’d also like to thank all the players that are here, the former athletes. You look at their faces and you know who they are. The Mike Haynes, Darren Woodsons, you see them all. These are the guys that are apart of ASU Athletics. Not only are they great players but they are great men. I think when you are a football coach the thing you realized right away is that it’s about winning football games, that is a fact. It’s really using football to build men so when they leave this university and they have done a nice job, these guys are equipped to deal with what’s out there in the real world. But all the issues we have in this world, if they are not pro football players, they will be good fathers, they will be men, they’ll be good husbands, citizens. These men that stand before you to my left are those men. They represented this university. I understand the importance of what this university stands for. It’s not the players or athletes that play in the jerseys, it’s not their names on the back, it’s the name on the front of the jersey and the history of this place. When you think of all the donors that have contributed to these young people, contributed so they can have success here. The buildings going up, the facilities, that’s their passion for this university I have that same passion because of that vision created by Dr. Crow and Ray. I’m willing to meet that vision.
“When Ray talks about competitive consistency, I understand exactly what he’s talking about. Athletes from all over the country, whether it’s here locally, should be coming back here. Guys in California and Los Angeles should be coming here. Why is this not the destination? Why can’t it be? That’s my job. That’s my job to go into those homes, and tell those parents this is the place you want to send your son because when he leaves here he will be like one of those men standing here. He will be fully ready to deal with anything that comes across his way. He will become a student-athlete and you will have a great base here of players. You have a great community of people that support this university. I want to be a part of it. I’m on the train, by the way. I’m on the train, and I’m going to ride it. I’m going to ride the train until it stops and it’s not going to stop. We’re going, we’re going with you. If you want to board on a little bit later, we got a seat, just like Ray said. We got a seat, it might not be comfortable, but we have a seat.
“This is about this university, it will never be about me. This university is bigger than any coach, it’s bigger than any president, bigger than any athletic director. It’s about the young people that leave here. That’s what this university is all about; it’s about what they will contribute to our society. We’ll make them the best players they will be as athletes, I can guarantee that. The one thing I learned a long time ago is that coaches don’t give players talent, God does. It’s up to us to make sure that they exhaust their talent here. They exhaust it. Because when you don’t, you’re cheating yourself. We’re not going to allow that to happen. We’re going to build an environment here where we can nurture people. We are going to understand that these players have questions, they want to know why. I grew up in a football world in an era that when I played college football where if you asked a coach why you were threating authority. That’s not the world we live in anymore. These young people want to know why, they want answers. Why is knowledge. It’s up to us to give them knowledge. It’s not to question authority, they want to know. I understand that, I’ve had the privilege.
“Some people question, ‘Well you haven’t coached in a long time.’ Turn the TV on on Wednesday; I’ll be back in the studio in Bristol, and I’ll be coaching football by the way. That’s what I do. I coach football, and I’ve been coaching football my whole life, and this is why I'm here today: Because of the vision. There’s something that a great former player said here, Pat Tillman. When he talked about passion he said it ignites your soul. Football ignites my soul; it’s what makes me go, this is what I do. I’ve done this my whole life. And some people will say ‘well you know, you haven’t coached in nine years.’ There’s a man that I played for, you’ll know who he is, his name is Dick Vermeil. When that man walked out of Philadelphia's locker room, when he was burnt out, the first person he saw in that locker room was me because I played for him. He was like my second father. 13 years later after he retired from being on television, he ended up being a pretty good coach, didn’t he? He didn’t forget how to coach. You don’t forget how to coach. They’re not bringing me here to play. I can’t play. Although I’ll tell you, I’ve got one hit left. I can’t play, but I’ve got one left. I’m not here to play; I’m here to build a program on top of the foundation that’s already been built here. That’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to be relevant in the Pacific-12 (Conference). We want to be relevant. We want to be one of those teams that people say, ‘Hey if you go to Arizona State and you play in that stadium, be careful.’ I don’t want to hear about USC, Stanford, or Oregon or UCLA, I heard about that my whole life growing up. Frank Kush recruited me to come here as a high school athlete. I know the tradition of this place. I did not come here; I went to Cal. I was in the Pac-8 before they called this thing the Pac-12. Think I don’t have history here? I have rich history here, I have rich history on the west coast of playing football. I understand the importance of this game and what it does for us all.
“Before I open up for questions, I’ll tell you this about football: The thing you miss most, and these players will say it when you don’t play, or you don’t coach, it’s the huddle. You miss the huddle. You miss the ability to walk in the room where collectively there are players that are from everywhere. Every race, every religion, every color, it doesn’t matter because you have a common goal. You’re trying to be something special as a team. We don’t huddle anymore in our society. That’s the problem with it to be quite honest. When you become a part of a team, and you become a part of a football team and you look to the left and you look to the right, there’s this bond that says, ‘I’m not letting that guy down. Not today. Not ever.’ These guys know what I’m talking about. We were all fortunate enough to be in a different huddle when we left college, the National Football League. Those men right there, we’re all united. They get it, that’s what football does to you. And when you play football, there's nothing like it. Competition, walking in the huddle and looking at your teammates and saying, ‘I’ve got your back. I’ll fight for you.’ That’s what football is all about. I’m proud to be the head coach here, and I promise you, whatever I have, and I have a whole lot, I’ll work tirelessly and I’ll be committed to the vision of Dr. Crow and Ray Anderson. Thank you, I’ll open up for questions.”
Media Questions
On his time left at ESPN
“[I’ll be there until] Friday and then I’m out recruiting. We have some young people coming in here this weekend and I can’t wait to meet them and tell them why it’s important to come to this university. But I owe ESPN to go back. There’s a lot of people there… I’ve been there nine years. They’ve given me the ability to coach from a monitor. They’ve given me the ability to come in your home and coach. I have a lot of friends there. This was a very tough decision for me. I’ve had chances to come back and coach, trust me. But I’m not a guy to publicize it, I don’t do that. I think it’s a bad look for the university. Because then the next coach that takes the job, if I would say I’m not interested, then they say ‘well you got the second guy.’ I know how that works, I’m a media person too. So I don’t do that. I don’t put people in embarrassing situations. This was the right place. But I owe those people back in Bristol. When you sign on to do something, you finish. You finish. You don’t tap out. You don’t say ‘Well I got something else so I’m going to leave you hanging.’ No I’m not. I’m going to commit to what I’m supposed to do. I’m going to finish my work week out, and I’ll be here Saturday. And then I’m going on the road next week, and I can’t wait to go on the road. I know a lot of people are concerned. ‘You know, Coach, you’re not a football coach, you’re 63 years old.’ Who put a number on when you could coach football? Don’t tell that to Nick Saban, he’s 66. Don’t tell that to Roy Williams, Tom Izzo. Tom Izzo is a good friend. He called me, he said ‘Coach, thank you for what you do.’ So yeah, I’m going back to work, but guess what? When they introduce me on Wednesday morning, [they’ll say Herman Edwards,] Arizona State’s head coach. That’s what they’re going to say. It’s pretty powerful.”
On what aspects of his career will help him be successful at ASU
“All three [parts of my career on ESPN, as a coach and as a player]. It’s knowledge. We all search for knowledge. I think I can contribute knowledge. I delegate things to people. I believe you delegate things to people so they feel like they’re part of it. That’s important to me, delegating people. They understand that I’m going to delegate it to you. I’m a good listener. I don’t have all the answers. Trust me, I don’t have all the answers. But I’m always in search for knowledge. I think when you delegate responsibility to coaches you uplift them. You give them the courage to say ‘Coach can we think about this.’ I’m not one of those coaches that says ‘Hey we can’t change.’ I think sometimes changes is growth, and you have to be able to do that. So I’m okay with that.”
On why this hire extends past the athletic department
Michael Crow: “I think the only thing I would add is it’s important because it seems to be happening in college football that you can see with the coach changes that are going on this year that the model just keeps going and going and going where entire crews of coaches are fired, new coaches are brought in from some other school. The antic goes up, the cost goes up, the model just keeps moving back and forth. Interchangeable parts, back and forth, back and forth. Somewhere along the line a model of consistent performance, consistent structure, a team of individuals supporting that are supporting the football program over longer periods of time, that’s what we’re looking for. Coach Edwards has experience in this model. Ray has experience in this model, and we’re looking to see if we can form a college version of this model.”
Herm Edwards: “What Dr. Crow said is exactly right, and that was our discussion. I’m going to meet with the assistant coaches later on today, by the way.”
On how much his relationship with Ray Anderson influenced him to come to ASU
“Well it was two parts — it was Ray and Dr. Crow. I mean, this is why you have these discussions. This is why these discussions before when people would call me I would say ‘It’s not aligned right for me. It’s not the right situation.’ As I said, I had a great job. I can go back tomorrow and continue to work. But I’m committed to [coaching]. This fuels me right here. This is special. This is a special place, and I think sometimes when you get immersed in your community, you don’t really realize the good things that are happening. You know, it’s kind of funny because we worry about so many other things. You say, ‘What is this university really doing?’ You don’t step back and say, ‘Look what this university has accomplished already.’ And it has a lot to do with the vision and where they want to go, and I want to be a part of that — it’s important for me.”
On innovation in coaching and how he has kept up with that innovation during his time away from coaching
“Well I don’t have to make up because I visit college campuses all the time. And when you sit where I sit, when you sit at the ESPN desk, I’m not just watching professional football, I’m actually watching college football. That is our farm league. When I’m invited to go to Alabama and when I’m invited to go to Michigan and these places where I’ve talked to the teams and visited with coaches, I see the innovation. I sit down there. I’m always constantly learning. So that’s not a problem for me. The thing we have to realize now is there’s so much innovation and there’s so much change. How do players learn? That’s the critical part for me, how do we teach players better? Especially in college because they’re student-athletes first. They’re not professional football players. They’re student-athletes first. Well how do we teach them in the time restraints we have with them? And this is why I think where we are now with the ability to get information quickly — you know, this is the new generation, they process information very quickly. And you know they multitask, their brains multitask. I know that because I coach the Under Armour All-American game every year for the last eight years. Some pretty good players down there by the way. And I see that. How about this, I coached it my first year and I go down there and you get 95 5A players and so in my first meeting I’m sitting in there with the players and I said, ‘OK, Jameis Winston. Are you Jameis Winston?’ and he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘You know this guy over here?’ And he says, ‘No, who is that?’ And I said, ‘His name is Amari Cooper!’ And I told them to stand up. The offensive coach was sitting there and I said, ‘Jameis, this is Amari, Amari this is Jameis,’ and I said, ‘Here’s the plan. Jameis, you throw it to Amari. Amari, you catch it.’ Scored 40-something points, ended up going pretty good. That’s kind of football, you know? You’ve got a good quarterback, you’ve got a good player, give them the ball. Doesn’t change.”
On what it took to convince him to take the job
“I’ve known Ray for over 20 years and we’re friends. We’re life friends. When this situation arose I said, ‘Well, I’d like to listen because it’s you and I understand you.’ And I said obviously Dr. Crow has to be a part of this as well and just the more we discussed it and the more we talked about it I said this is a great model. This is making a difference. Our legacy in our life is this: Do we understand that we all have this ability, regardless of what we do. We sit here as media people and there have been people sitting covering football way before you folks walked in this room. Did they make a difference with tomorrow in mind for you? Will you do that? That’s kind of our life quest. Will you make a difference for the next generation? And sometimes we don’t think about that. We think about our own self rather than those that will follow us. That’s your legacy, that’s your mark. I was taught that by my father. The most powerful possession you own as a person is your last name. It can’t be bought. And how you live your life will tell your story. It’s the most powerful possession you give your children, your last name. When they receive it you want them to receive it in good standing. That’s your legacy and you put it on your children to make sure they carry that name. That’s important to me. Football has been my life. It’s taken me and given me opportunities I could never imagine. I’m honored to be an ambassador for the great game of football. That’s my life’s work, it’s always been my life’s work. I understand it."
On things needing to be accomplished organizationally
“Well, the key things I think is for me to meet with the staff, first of all, because our lifeblood is the athletes. The next thing I want to know is when I meet with the staff and the recruiting department we have here and all the things we go through to evaluate players is, and I have told Dr. Crow this and Ray this, ‘What is our DNA?’ I don’t know that. I got a perception of what I think the DNA is of a player that plays for Arizona State. If I asked you this question, a Stanford athlete that plays football, I know what their DNA is. It isn’t hard to figure out, you just know. They are going to get these kind of guys, they are going to graduate, some are going to play pro football, but they are always going to have good teams. I don’t know, I know Coach [David] Shaw over there. Like I said, I watch a lot of football. I look at their DNA and say ‘Okay, what is our DNA? Who are the athletes that we are going to recruit?’ We need to know that as a coaching staff. We need to know that as a scouting department so when we look at players we understand that these are the type of athletes we want. We have to determine that. I don’t know what that is. I haven’t met with those folks but I am going to meet with them. I might have a couple of suggestions. Just to say. We will see.”
On the new model and retaining assistant coaches
“That question was proposed to me before, they said, ‘What about coaches that have already been retained?’ People want to phrase it this way that they’re his coaches. No they’re not. They’re football coaches. If they’re good football coaches, they’re good football coaches. When I turn the tape on and watch your player play, what are you doing to help this guy? That’s what I want to know. Can you make this guy a better football player? You can’t give him talent but fundamentally and mentally, is he a better football player because he played under your watch? That’s all I want to know. Can you develop the players we have here? That’s all I care about. That is my main goal. As far as administration goes, with Dr. Crow and Ray there’s constant communication. This is like a little bit of an NFL model. When you’re the head coach, you’re always talking to ownership, you’re always talking to the general manager, it’s constant. There is a link between those three and if you really historically go back to the NFL for instance, if you look at some of the successful organizations that are in the championship games, now, they might have a dip or two, but if we talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New England Patriots, you watch certain organizations and they continue to have this success, this consistency. There’s times when they might not make the playoffs, but it never drops where it’s like, ‘What just happened?’ That’s the model we’re looking for. That’s the model we’re trying to build in football. They’ve done it on other levels of sports here, why can’t we do it in football? That’s our mission. That’s why I’m here, that’s my task. I get it, I love it."
On how he will recruit
“Well its obviously looking at their family members and asking them this question: ‘What do you expect out of your son, but more than that this is what I’m going to do for your son.’ When he leaves my watch, hopefully, he will be a graduate from here because I’m going to press him for that. Whatever talent he has, I’ll exhaust it. If he’s a good enough athlete to go to the next level he will be prepared, mentally and physically. If not, he will leave here at this university with a degree and hopefully he’ll say this, and I’ve had a lot of players tell me this, ‘I’m a better man playing for that guy. I’m a better man.’ That’s my mission, we’ll see if it works. I think it will by the way.”
On complex recruiting rules
“It’s real easy, you ask questions and don’t do anything. I know I can’t mention an athlete’s name, I know that. So when I get to work Wednesday hush is the word. I will do nothing to embarrass this university when it comes to rules. I’m rules kind of guy. When you grow up in a military family, when your dad is a Master Sergeant, you get the rules. You understand rules and regulations, you get that part. Sometimes you don’t agree, but they’re there for a reason. I’m not going to edge the rules or fudge the rules. I am not going to embarrass my father’s last name or this university. I can promise you that. We will do it the right way, no exceptions. We are going to do it the right way, that’s how it should be done. Because when you start doing things the wrong way and you’re showing 18- and 19-year-old young men that you can move the line, you keep moving the line, and all of a sudden when they leave this university they think that’s what life’s about. It’s not about structure. It’s about how my talent allowed me to move the line. No. If you want to build them right, there are always rules in life. We don’t always have to agree with them, but they are there for a reason. They are there for structure and that’s important to me.”
On being a ‘CEO’ and coach
“Well I think a lot of coaches when they get these jobs they become dominated in the fact that they have to do everything. I think this is where I need to learn to delegate. That’s what good CEOs do. They hire people with talent and they allow them to succeed. When you’re a leader, your number one goal is this: You serve them, they don’t serve you. You serve the people you hire. This is why you go out and hire good people, then you give them the vehicle so they can be successful. They’ll be held accountable. I will be in every room as a coach. Do I follow the defensive side of it? Yeah, I follow the defensive side of it but I will be in every room. When I became a head coach it’s kind of ironic because some people said ‘well you’re the head coach and you’re on the defensive side.’ I never went in the defensive room. I sat with the offense. You know where I learned that from? Tony Dungy. We came out of college at the same time together, played in all-star games [together]. I was one of the coaches on that staff when we built that Tampa Bay thing. The first thing Tony told me was this: ‘The defensive players will assume that I’m going to their room. You’re in their room, you’re the assistant head coach. I’m going in the offensive room.’ I will delegate responsibility to coordinators and to assistant coaches and then I will hold them accountable for how those players play. Anytime I see something going awry, I will make mention of that. That’s what you do. You don’t just coach the players, you’ve got to coach the coaches. You actually coach the coaches because they deliver your plan when they walk in that room. You can’t be in 10 meeting rooms. I’m not one of those guys who wants a camera in every meeting room and says what are the coaches doing. I’m not doing that. I’m just going to walk in there, and I’m going to sit in there. I might ask a player a question, say ‘hey you ran the power aren’t you supposed to get on the backer?’ That’s just how I coach, you have to have fun with it. Football is fun. It’s the good stuff, it’s what we do.”
On how much competitiveness of players made him want to come here
“[The players] are very competitive. This is a very competitive group. Offensively, they have done a lot of good things. There are a lot of players coming back. I think defensively, there are some things that I’ve looked at that we need to upgrade. This is just me from a far view as I’m looking at the players. Look, college football is unique in a sense that it’s a wide open game and I get that. But I still think this in football and I’ve been around a lot of football and I’ve watched college players and the pro players. You’ve got to have smart, tough people and you want big people by the way. You want big people. If you look in this conference on defense and I haven’t looked at everything, but I know who is who. If look at that defense up there in Washington, it’s kind of interesting. If you look at them play now they’re giving up about 18 points (per game). That’s pretty good in college football. Those are the lofty goals that when you look at things, we know that college football is exciting because they score points and no fan wants to see a final score of 7-10. I get it. I don’t want to see 7-10. But I know that in the last two minutes all the fans, unless you play fantasy football, holler at the defense in the last two minutes, ‘Stop them, can we make one stop, Coach, just one.’ I want to score points as much as we can, but your defense has to come along. In my opinion defense travels. Defensive football travels. It always has traveled. It’ll never stop traveling and if you look at some of these great college football teams like Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and you turn the television on and you go, ‘oh boy look at that defense. Look at that defense. Why can’t we have that type of defense here. Is it against the rules?’ But you have to have the players. That’s why I said earlier, what is our DNA? I don’t know. We’ll find out and maybe we’ve got to work on it.”
On what comes to mind when it comes to Territorial Cup and college football rivalries
“[I think of] Tedy Bruschi. Come on! I’ve been on TV with him on Friday when we were taping and he was mad at me. He said, ‘Coach, you’re going down there to interview there for Arizona State.’ I said “yeah are you mad at me, Tedy?’ That’s what is so unique about college football, where it has changed in pro football because there is history and families grow up watching it. You understand the rivalries. Look, I played in the ‘Big Game.’ I was a ‘Big Game’ guy at Cal. We played Stanford. I understand all of that. In pro football it used to be that way before free agency. When free agency came into pro football players didn’t stay on the same team. In my era, unless they traded or cut you you stayed on the same team. Fans followed their team and they knew the players. Well now every four years players leave. So the fan base is passionate about it, but the players are not because the players don’t know the history. If you come here, you will know the history of those games because I’m going to talk about it. I’m going to tell them. I’m going to bring back these guys that were a part of our history. I’m going to bring these guys back and say, ‘tell them about the game you played in.’ Are you kidding me? That’s what college football is all about. Sign off.”