Opening comments:
"You all are probably more of a morning person than I am, that's for sure. I'm definitely not a morning person, I'm a night owl, so this is all new to me to have to talk so much nowadays in the morning but that's okay, it's for a good cause. I'm happy to be the head coach right now here at the University of Southern California and this has always been a dream of mine. I'm looking forward to this challenge just like this team is looking forward to this challenge and I think practice this week has been pretty darn good. I think the energy's been high. You start off with a kind of a little down luster of the things portrayed from last week. The guys have truly put that behind us. We have moved on and took the 1-0 mentality of the day and you can see it. How Tuesday practice went, it started off kind of slow and to me the energy picked up as the practice went. And then you look at Wednesday's practice, there was no low in it at all. From the get go right away it was high energy. Both days were in full pads so guys were flying around. At the same time, we were studying, we was trying to stay up as much as possible and at the same time being physical, and it was competitive. It almost seemed like a game-like atmosphere. I'm all about making practices as hard as possible on Tuesday and Wednesday so that the game is easy. And you know, the transition, to be honest, has been good, and it's mainly been good because the guys on this team, the locker room and mostly the coaches. The coaches have not only handled their responsibilities but a lot of these guys have took on more responsibilities. Take somebody like Craig Naivar, now he's kind of took on the role of coaching the whole secondary. Mike [Hutchings] has now became from a quality control to a linebacker coach, which nowadays, the quality control guy, you can't even coach really. So a lot of guys have took on a bigger role here and they've embraced it. They've embraced it so I'm pleased with that. Washington State presents a couple challenges for us, that's for darn sure. They have a quarterback that is a gun slinger. He's gonna run around, he can beat you with his legs and he also can beat you with your arm. He sees one-on-one matchups, he's gonna take advantage of that. And you know, you look at some of these throws that he's making, they're NFL-type throws. You look at Washington State as a 10-personnel team that doesn't use tight end and you would think that maybe they don't run the Air Raid and you think of them more as a soft team and things like that, but when you look at this film nothing's soft about them. They have two running backs that are NFL-caliber running backs that run the ball. Their run-pass is 50-50, their o-line can do both very well. You look at them on defense and up front they're slanting, they're moving, they're twisting, so it can cause a problem, especially someone like us who like to throw the ball around a lot a little. They can create some problems up front for us and then you talk about a fifth-year starter at middle linebacker and you have some corners with some length that can go up there and press guys and create problems for our receivers on the outside. So we embrace the challenge that they present themself. Some of the things that we have to make sure we do for our success is on defense we have to tackle in space. That's key. We have to tackle in space, we have to be able to handle their slot receivers. We have to be able to control and make sure we keep their quarterback in the pocket. We have to contain their running backs where there's no explosive plays. That's the biggest thing on defense, we have to eliminate the explosive plays. And that's where we're at. Because they're definitely committed to running the football and we got to make them more one-dimensional. On offense as always we have to take care of the football and we have to create explosive plays of our own and we have to finish in the red zone. Right now we been getting a good rate down in the red zone but we've been kicking field goals. We're leaving four points on the board a lot that we have to make sure that this week that we go out there and get. And we have to be physical and run the ball effectively. I think from last year to this year at this time, we're running the ball like 100 yards more per game and we have to continue that. And we want to make sure at the line of scrimmage we're winning on both sides of the ball. And when it comes to special teams, we have to like always as a whole team, we have to make sure we commit no penalties. That is key right now. We have to make sure we commit no penalties and we have to win the field position battle. I think last week we struggled a little bit when it comes to controlling the field. So those are keys to it. At the same time we've got to make sure we field every kick cleanly and start with the best field position possible and we have to be physical."
What has surprised you most with the new role and what's been the biggest obstacle in getting the game plan in place?
"Just time management, to be honest with you. That's been the biggest thing is you don't know what you don't know. So when you sit in this seat right now you don't realize how much a head coach actually does when it comes to the media, when it comes to these different obligations because it's different from controlling a position group to worrying about not just the team but everyone in the organization. Making sure everyone is held accountable. At the same time, making sure I'm held accountable myself. So you know, it's no time to waste. And really the most free time I've had is when practices ended and I have a chance to take a shower. So other than it's been non-stop, whether it's getting home at 1 o'clock in the morning and being right back up here at 5:30 in the morning. So it's a quick turnaround. It's almost like I go home and just basically take a shower and close my eyes and I'm right back at work. But I embrace that. And this team embraces that. So I guess the biggest challenge has just been time management. At the same time, everything and new recruiting has been enhanced."
How is everything working with the cornerbacks?
"I think it's been really good. I think it's been really good. I think it will enhance those guys, especially being in a room together and having more of making sure they're all on the same page communication-wise, which I think will help us moving forward a lot. And for me to even take a step back. I sat in one of the meetings for about 20-30 minutes because I've taken the role of kind of sitting in everybody's position meetings, and it's not just to see what they're doing; it's more to just hear them to make sure I know what's going on. I sat one day in Clay McGuire's room the whole position meeting just to hear what the O-line is saying. My biggest thing is making sure I understand the offensive verbiage. I know what I would do if I was playing our offense, but that's a whole different animal when you hear the verbiage and all the things that goes on. It's almost like I stepped in the room and they were speaking a different language. But after you sit in here all day and watch cut-ups, you start to pick up on different things. I'm appreciative because the offense has took me in and it's like everybody I'm learning Football 101. I feel like I'm a freshman. So that has been a plus, and Craig has done an awesome job with those guys as far as teaching them and stuff like that. My GA Aaron Williams has been great with teaching them technique, and then I've still been able to step in some meetings with them also. So we've been working at this together as a unit."
Is there any benefit to going on the road this week?
"I think it always is. I think in life and in football you have to embrace the suckiness. You have to embrace that. You have to embrace when everything is against you, when the chips are stacked against you. And I think right now this team embraces that and I think we're going to show the world on Saturday what we're all about, just as being young men -- and we do have some women in our organization -- so just us being as a unit, as a team, being able to go on the road and show how united we are is major for us. I think we're going to stick together and that's what we're going to do."
"You all are probably more of a morning person than I am, that's for sure. I'm definitely not a morning person, I'm a night owl, so this is all new to me to have to talk so much nowadays in the morning but that's okay, it's for a good cause. I'm happy to be the head coach right now here at the University of Southern California and this has always been a dream of mine. I'm looking forward to this challenge just like this team is looking forward to this challenge and I think practice this week has been pretty darn good. I think the energy's been high. You start off with a kind of a little down luster of the things portrayed from last week. The guys have truly put that behind us. We have moved on and took the 1-0 mentality of the day and you can see it. How Tuesday practice went, it started off kind of slow and to me the energy picked up as the practice went. And then you look at Wednesday's practice, there was no low in it at all. From the get go right away it was high energy. Both days were in full pads so guys were flying around. At the same time, we were studying, we was trying to stay up as much as possible and at the same time being physical, and it was competitive. It almost seemed like a game-like atmosphere. I'm all about making practices as hard as possible on Tuesday and Wednesday so that the game is easy. And you know, the transition, to be honest, has been good, and it's mainly been good because the guys on this team, the locker room and mostly the coaches. The coaches have not only handled their responsibilities but a lot of these guys have took on more responsibilities. Take somebody like Craig Naivar, now he's kind of took on the role of coaching the whole secondary. Mike [Hutchings] has now became from a quality control to a linebacker coach, which nowadays, the quality control guy, you can't even coach really. So a lot of guys have took on a bigger role here and they've embraced it. They've embraced it so I'm pleased with that. Washington State presents a couple challenges for us, that's for darn sure. They have a quarterback that is a gun slinger. He's gonna run around, he can beat you with his legs and he also can beat you with your arm. He sees one-on-one matchups, he's gonna take advantage of that. And you know, you look at some of these throws that he's making, they're NFL-type throws. You look at Washington State as a 10-personnel team that doesn't use tight end and you would think that maybe they don't run the Air Raid and you think of them more as a soft team and things like that, but when you look at this film nothing's soft about them. They have two running backs that are NFL-caliber running backs that run the ball. Their run-pass is 50-50, their o-line can do both very well. You look at them on defense and up front they're slanting, they're moving, they're twisting, so it can cause a problem, especially someone like us who like to throw the ball around a lot a little. They can create some problems up front for us and then you talk about a fifth-year starter at middle linebacker and you have some corners with some length that can go up there and press guys and create problems for our receivers on the outside. So we embrace the challenge that they present themself. Some of the things that we have to make sure we do for our success is on defense we have to tackle in space. That's key. We have to tackle in space, we have to be able to handle their slot receivers. We have to be able to control and make sure we keep their quarterback in the pocket. We have to contain their running backs where there's no explosive plays. That's the biggest thing on defense, we have to eliminate the explosive plays. And that's where we're at. Because they're definitely committed to running the football and we got to make them more one-dimensional. On offense as always we have to take care of the football and we have to create explosive plays of our own and we have to finish in the red zone. Right now we been getting a good rate down in the red zone but we've been kicking field goals. We're leaving four points on the board a lot that we have to make sure that this week that we go out there and get. And we have to be physical and run the ball effectively. I think from last year to this year at this time, we're running the ball like 100 yards more per game and we have to continue that. And we want to make sure at the line of scrimmage we're winning on both sides of the ball. And when it comes to special teams, we have to like always as a whole team, we have to make sure we commit no penalties. That is key right now. We have to make sure we commit no penalties and we have to win the field position battle. I think last week we struggled a little bit when it comes to controlling the field. So those are keys to it. At the same time we've got to make sure we field every kick cleanly and start with the best field position possible and we have to be physical."
What has surprised you most with the new role and what's been the biggest obstacle in getting the game plan in place?
"Just time management, to be honest with you. That's been the biggest thing is you don't know what you don't know. So when you sit in this seat right now you don't realize how much a head coach actually does when it comes to the media, when it comes to these different obligations because it's different from controlling a position group to worrying about not just the team but everyone in the organization. Making sure everyone is held accountable. At the same time, making sure I'm held accountable myself. So you know, it's no time to waste. And really the most free time I've had is when practices ended and I have a chance to take a shower. So other than it's been non-stop, whether it's getting home at 1 o'clock in the morning and being right back up here at 5:30 in the morning. So it's a quick turnaround. It's almost like I go home and just basically take a shower and close my eyes and I'm right back at work. But I embrace that. And this team embraces that. So I guess the biggest challenge has just been time management. At the same time, everything and new recruiting has been enhanced."
How is everything working with the cornerbacks?
"I think it's been really good. I think it's been really good. I think it will enhance those guys, especially being in a room together and having more of making sure they're all on the same page communication-wise, which I think will help us moving forward a lot. And for me to even take a step back. I sat in one of the meetings for about 20-30 minutes because I've taken the role of kind of sitting in everybody's position meetings, and it's not just to see what they're doing; it's more to just hear them to make sure I know what's going on. I sat one day in Clay McGuire's room the whole position meeting just to hear what the O-line is saying. My biggest thing is making sure I understand the offensive verbiage. I know what I would do if I was playing our offense, but that's a whole different animal when you hear the verbiage and all the things that goes on. It's almost like I stepped in the room and they were speaking a different language. But after you sit in here all day and watch cut-ups, you start to pick up on different things. I'm appreciative because the offense has took me in and it's like everybody I'm learning Football 101. I feel like I'm a freshman. So that has been a plus, and Craig has done an awesome job with those guys as far as teaching them and stuff like that. My GA Aaron Williams has been great with teaching them technique, and then I've still been able to step in some meetings with them also. So we've been working at this together as a unit."
Is there any benefit to going on the road this week?
"I think it always is. I think in life and in football you have to embrace the suckiness. You have to embrace that. You have to embrace when everything is against you, when the chips are stacked against you. And I think right now this team embraces that and I think we're going to show the world on Saturday what we're all about, just as being young men -- and we do have some women in our organization -- so just us being as a unit, as a team, being able to go on the road and show how united we are is major for us. I think we're going to stick together and that's what we're going to do."
