What's your mindset about stepping into this job?
"I told those guys when I interviewed for the job that I was really excited to get here and start working -- pitch in and do whatever I could to help. That's what I'm doing full speed ahead. It has been a little bit of a blur. You asked if it has hit me yet. Maybe. I'm working toward coaching the inside linebackers every day but I haven't had time to sit back and think about it. I just have to get ready for tomorrow. But I sure am happy I'm here."
What about your experience here in 2015 made it so that when this job opened you wanted to come back?
"I really like the type of kids who I worked with when I was here in 2015. They seem to be exactly the same kind of kids now. I really like the coaches who I worked with and many of the same coaches are here now. They're smart guys, good guys, hard workers, collaborative. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Shaw. Every time anybody would ask about him, I have so much positive feelings toward the man that the opportunity to work for him again was a no brainer."
You've talked about this being a whirlwind, but what has been the process so far of getting to know your guys? What do you feel you've learned in the very early stages about them?
"We started having meetings because spring ball started and they've been able to have brief sit-downs. I watched their tape to see them as players. I watched their high school highlights. Some of them, not all of them because I haven't been here very long, have come in to tell me about their families, where they're from, what they study -- trying to introduce myself to them, really. It's been great. They're really good kids. I've enjoyed working with them. It has been outstanding."
This may be tough to describe about yourself: How would you describe the teaching method you've developed as a coach? What should these guys expect from you?
"Well, I really try to ... at all points be positive and enthusiastic. I'm going to build them up. I'm going to coach them with a lot of energy and hopefully they will reflect that back to me. And I'm going to try to be step by step with them to build them up piece by piece. We're not going to just jump to Step C before we have 'A' down. That's my philosophy to get the basics done right: do them over and over again until we can't help but do them right."
"I told those guys when I interviewed for the job that I was really excited to get here and start working -- pitch in and do whatever I could to help. That's what I'm doing full speed ahead. It has been a little bit of a blur. You asked if it has hit me yet. Maybe. I'm working toward coaching the inside linebackers every day but I haven't had time to sit back and think about it. I just have to get ready for tomorrow. But I sure am happy I'm here."
What about your experience here in 2015 made it so that when this job opened you wanted to come back?
"I really like the type of kids who I worked with when I was here in 2015. They seem to be exactly the same kind of kids now. I really like the coaches who I worked with and many of the same coaches are here now. They're smart guys, good guys, hard workers, collaborative. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Shaw. Every time anybody would ask about him, I have so much positive feelings toward the man that the opportunity to work for him again was a no brainer."
You've talked about this being a whirlwind, but what has been the process so far of getting to know your guys? What do you feel you've learned in the very early stages about them?
"We started having meetings because spring ball started and they've been able to have brief sit-downs. I watched their tape to see them as players. I watched their high school highlights. Some of them, not all of them because I haven't been here very long, have come in to tell me about their families, where they're from, what they study -- trying to introduce myself to them, really. It's been great. They're really good kids. I've enjoyed working with them. It has been outstanding."
This may be tough to describe about yourself: How would you describe the teaching method you've developed as a coach? What should these guys expect from you?
"Well, I really try to ... at all points be positive and enthusiastic. I'm going to build them up. I'm going to coach them with a lot of energy and hopefully they will reflect that back to me. And I'm going to try to be step by step with them to build them up piece by piece. We're not going to just jump to Step C before we have 'A' down. That's my philosophy to get the basics done right: do them over and over again until we can't help but do them right."
