Q & A with East Carolina Pirates offensive coordinator Rick Stockstill

Pirate Notebook Special
Wednesday, May 7, 2003

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

A: I was at Clemson for so long — I was there 14 years. I worked with some really, really good coaches, but I think that I just reached the point in my career where I felt that I was ready to become an offensive coordinator. I wanted the opportunity to do that. I've known about East Carolina and we played them when I was in college as a player, then following them throughout my coaching career. I knew they were a very well-respected program. They are in a great conference. That part about it was attractive.

I didn't know coach Thompson before this. I knew who he was from his days as a defensive coordinator. Everybody in the coaching profession had a lot of respect for him. It was just an opportunity that I thought was too good to turn down.

Q: East Carolina is a school that has built its tradition on offense. Was that an exciting aspect of coming to Greenville?

A: I don't think I saw East Carolina this past year, so I wasn't really familiar with what they had done offensively, but I knew in the past that they had good offensive teams. Now, last year they struggled. I think they ended up 92nd in total offense in the country. I looked at it more of not what East Carolina has done offensively in the past, it was more I felt I was ready from a professional standpoint to be able to handle this. I knew a few of the guys on the staff here. I knew I was coming to a good staff offensively, defensively. Those things were more attractive than what East Carolina had done in the past.

Q: Because of the strong football cultures, do you see a few similarities between Greenville and Clemson?

A: There's no question, and that was the other thing. I came from a place where football was very, very important. Basically, they cared about three seasons: football season, recruiting season, and spring practice. For me, it was fun to coach at a place like Clemson where they had so much passion and commitment for the program, and that's what I see at East Carolina.

From an outsiders point of view, when I was at Clemson, we would always say that East Carolina is a football school. At North Carolina, basketball is No. 1 there. Duke — basketball is No. 1. At N.C. State, up until the past couple of years, football was an afterthought. Wake Forest, the same thing. But East Carolina is very, very passionate about its football. For a coach, that's what you want. You want to come to a place where they anticipate good things and they want good things to happen. They care about if you win and care about if you lose.

Q: You bring with you the reputation of being a very strong recruiter. Over the years, do you feel that there are certain regions where you have developed the stronger relationships?

A: My first six years, I was at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Central Florida in Orlando. There, we didn't have a lot of money and all we did was recruit the state of Florida. We recruited Florida, and then I came to Clemson and recruited some South Georgia, a lot of South Carolina, and a lot of Florida. In my 20 years of coaching — going on 21 now — I've gotten most of my ties in South Carolina and Florida.

Q: Coach Thompson has said when he was looking for an offensive coordinator that he wanted someone who understood the vertical passing game and power running. What are your basics of offense and the basic types of things that you like to accomplish?

A: In the 14 years I was at Clemson, I was under four different head coaches. From Danny Ford, who was a tough, hard-nosed, physical, option, power running game. He didn't really want to throw the ball unless it was third-and-forever. I learned the toughness part from him; the physical part of the running game.

Coach Hatfield came in and it was a little more open to the passing game, but you still had a lot of option wishbone in his background. Tommy West came in and we were a lot of three-wide, two-back. We spread the ball and threw it and still had the ability to run the ball out of two-back sets. Then Tommy Bowden came in and it was all four-wide, spread the field, throw it, and run the ball out of the shotgun.

I've been around a lot of different offenses and I've taken what I felt was the good and bad of each one. We've got some really good running backs here. I've been really impressed with our offensive line. I see us being able to run the football, and in this day and age, you've got to be able to run the football. I want to have a tough, physical, hard-nosed running game, a tough, hard-nosed physical offense. When it's third-and-two or three, you can run the ball and get the first down. I think that helps your defense when you do that. Then, I want to be able to spread the field with four receivers, three-wide, two back and be able to take advantage of the open space. I want to be a tough offense. I want to be able to run the football. And then, I want to be able to spread people out and throw the thing around.

Q: When you talk about formations, do you see one particular set in which East Carolina will specialize?

A: We've had a lot of success this spring out of the two-back, tight end set. We've had a lot of success out of the one back, tight end, three wide receivers. We've had a lot of success out of the four-wide, one-back set. I want to be very multiple in our formations. We've probably put out there more than 50 different formations. Right now, I really can't say that we're going to be in this more than the other one.

Q: The most talked about battle this spring was who is going to win the starting quarterback job. When you look at Paul Troth and Desmond Robinson, a casual observer might suggest that they possess very different skill sets. Is that an accurate assumption?

A: When I first got here, I didn't watch any film and I still haven't. I didn't want to have any preconceived ideas of what this kid could or could not do. Dez is not as fast as I thought he was going to be. He's not as quick as I thought he was going to be. They're very similar. Dez is a better athlete than what Paul is, but I think we can do the same thing with both kids in there.

Dez has a good pocket awareness and presence. He struggles sometimes because of his height; the pocket collapses and he can't see as well as Paul can. I've been very impressed with both of them and I think we can win with both quarterbacks. It's not going to be a situation where if Paul is in the game, we'll do this, or if Dez is in the game, we'll do that.

A: I know that is what everybody wants to talk about. I tell them it's a day-to-day thing. You may be the starter today, but if you don't perform, you're not going to be the starter tomorrow. The next guy will.

They understand that. We can come out in spring and say this guy is the quarterback, but that doesn't mean he's going to start that first game against Cincinnati. I'm not in a hurry to name a quarterback. I've got an idea how they're doing and how they're progressing, but I want them to work this summer in two-a-days and continue to compete every day to earn the starting position or to keep the starting position. We're not in a big hurry.

Q: Steve Spurrier started a system where he rotated quarterbacks. Is that a system you like and would consider implementing? Or, would you rather have your guy, and as long as he doesn't mess up, he would remain the starter?

A: Yeah, that's the way I feel about it. I think it's unfair to the quarterback and I think it's a little unfair to the rest of your team. You put a little undue pressure on a kid if he's looking over his shoulder and can't go out there and play. Mistakes are going to happen. If they go out there worrying that 'If I make this play, throw an interception, or miss this guy, I'm going to get pulled,' I think they play a little cautious and I don't want our kids to do that.

Q: You spoke earlier about running backs and the offensive line. With guys like Art Brown and Marvin Townes, they need only a little bit of room, and once they get through there, it could be lights out.

A: I hope so. I've been very impressed with both Art and Marvin — and Vonta Leach, also. I think Vonta's got a very bright future ahead of him. He's a great blocker. He's a physical runner with the ball in his hands. And he can catch the ball also.

That's the other thing about Marvin and Art. They both catch the ball so well out of the backfield that they just give you a lot of different weapons and different options that you can utilize. I've been very impressed with all three of those backs. Jerry McManus has done a great job with them over the years.

Q: The tight end position is something that has been missing from the program the last couple of years. Have you seen some guys make an impact there that you think might contribute at that position this fall?

A: East Carolina is not any different than any other program in the country. It's hard to find tight ends. We had one at Clemson, but we went three or four years there where we were trying to make somebody a tight end. It's a tough position to find.

We've moved James Myrick to tight end and Kort Shankweiler. And with Tutu Moye — if he can come back — I think we'll have enough guys there, that with a good workout program this summer, we'll be fine at the tight end position. We're not going to be a big threat there with our passing game, but (the tight end) can be a big factor in our running game for us.