Q: Favorite Restaurant
in Greenville?
A:
I'd have to say Cracker Barrel.
Q: What did you miss
most about East Carolina while you were at South Florida?
A:
Game day. The way the fans are here on Saturdays, it was a big
adjustment being here for five years and then going to South Florida.
The fans here are great.
Q: What was different
about coaching in Germany?
A:
What was great about coaching in Germany was that I didn't understand
German and I couldn't read German. I never knew what the press thought
about me as a secondary coach, or what the people thought. I just
coached.
Q: How did you meet
your wife?
A:
I was dating her sister. Her sister and I were freshmen together in
college and I dated Brenda a little while — I met Barbara through her
sister Brenda. Six years later I was at a basketball game. I was
coaching in high school in a game between her (Barbara's) old high
school and my employer and I saw her walk out of the gym so I followed
her and asked her for a date.
Q: What's your
favorite thing about being a grandfather?
A:
You get a second chance to be a parent. You make a lot of mistakes the
first time around when you have children. As a grandparent, you're older
and you've already been through it once. I try to help my daughter make
the right decisions for the kids and be there to help her because she's
divorced. It's just a second chance at being a parent.
Q: What do you think
about East Carolina's scheduled move to the Big East in 2014?
A:
I think it's a good move. but right now you don't really know what's
happening in college football. The Big East could be something else —
you know, every year it changes. Who knows where East Carolina is going
to wind up? Who knows if the Big East will even be around. There's
rumors about FSU (Florida State) going to the Big 12, there's rumors
about North Carolina going to the SEC. I just know that we're going to
play 11 football games a year and I don't really care what league we're
in.
Q: What's your initial
impression of the Pirate personnel in the secondary?
A:
I think we have a chance to be okay back there. I think we need better
corners. I haven't been on the field with any of them but just from
watching film, I think we can be better than average at safety. I'm
hoping that we can be better than average at corner, but I'm not sure. I
know we'll do a few more things in the secondary to disguise coverages
than we did last year. For us to be a great defense we have to have
great pressure on the edges for pass rush, and we have to have great
corners.
Q: Are there any guys
that you recruited who are still in the program?
A:
Oh, yeah. I recruited (Damon) Magazu. He's the guy that comes up off the
top of my head. Drew Gentry is another guy, off the offensive line.
There's not many — maybe five or six — when I came back I talked to a
few of the guys. They were glad to see me and I was glad to see them.
Q: What do you think
about the emphasis on eliminating helmet-to-helmet contact?
A:
I think it's a hard rule to call. You're breaking on the ball as a
defensive back, you're looking at the ball and the receiver's looking at
the ball. They both go for the ball and sometimes you'll have
head-to-head contact and it's really neither one's fault. It always goes
against the defense. If I'm a defensive back coming up to make a hit and
the running back lowers his head, that's helmet-to-helmet contact and
who's fault is that? They aren't ever going to be 100% right on the
call, because it's a judgment call and I think it puts the defense at a
disadvantage. I understand why they have the rule, and I agree with the
reasoning behind the rule, but I think it's very difficult to enforce.
Q: What's been your
biggest thrill in football?
A:
The biggest thrill I've had was when I was the head coach at Marianna
High School and we were going back to play Walton High School, it was
the first head coaching job I ever had. The first year I was at
Marianna, they beat us 52-6, which was a real thrashing. Well, the next
year, we beat them 30-something to 14, after they had won the state
championship. That was my greatest win.
Q: Who had the
greatest impact on your development as a coach?
A:
Probably Rick Lantz. I was a GA at Georgia Tech and Rick Lantz was hired
as the defensive coordinator. Rick made me the outside linebacker coach
that year — my first year there. I had the privilege of coaching Pat
Swilling who played in the league for about 12 years. I worked with Rick
two years at Georgia Tech. I learned D-line play from him. He put me
with the D-line for a week, with the (line)backers for a week, and the
secondary a week. That's who my head coach was when I went to NFL
Europe. I also coached his son. I probably know more football from Rick
Lantz than anybody, but I learned from every coordinator I worked with.
Q: What's the key to
defensive improvement at ECU?
A:
Corner play. We can't give up big plays in the secondary. We've got to
contain the football when it's a run, we've got to contain the
quarterback when it's a pass. Big plays on the perimeter come from loss
of contain and of course missed tackles. Usually when you give up big
plays in the secondary, it comes from losing contain of the quarterback,
or it's back in the secondary — somebody wasn't deep when he was
supposed to be.
Q: What are you most
looking forward to about this coming season?
A:
Well, I'm not looking so much toward the season right now, I'm looking
forward to spring practice. I've met all the young men face to face,
I've talked with most of them one-on-one, and I'm excited about just
getting on the field this spring and seeing where our strengths are, and
where our weaknesses are as far as personnel. Once you know where your
strengths are and where your weaknesses are, then you can begin to work
on how you can hide your weaknesses and how you can use your strengths
to help your defense.
Q: What's important
about preparing for a team ECU hasn't played before, such as Old
Dominion in the season opener?
A:
During the summer we'll start looking at film of them and start
formulating a game plan on our first three opponents. If you look at the
schedule, we only play five teams that we played last year. I'm familiar
with some of the teams that we're playing and I'm not familiar with
some. We'll sit down as a staff and come up with a preliminary scouting
report and game plan for our first three opponents during the summer.
Q: What hobbies do you
have outside of football?
A:
Well, I don't have a lot of hobbies, but I love jogging, I like lifting
weights and yard work. I love cutting grass and working in the yard. It
gives me a nice break. I also enjoy my grandkids. I like to play catch
with them when it's baseball season and dribble with them when it's
basketball season.
