Dec. 13, 2007
Can you please discuss the contributions that Brian Norwood made to your staff, and why you picked Kermit Buggs to replace him?
Brian's been a really good asset to my staff and to me. He's been a good recruiter, good coach. His family has been a great addition to the community, and I'm going to miss him.
He's a very, very likeable guy, and his family have been great people in the community, and I'm going to miss him.
But, Kermit Buggs has been a guy that came here as a G.A., and I liked him. I liked way he worked. I liked the things he did. He's bright. He stayed close to the program even though he was not on the field. And I think Kermit will do an excellent job.
So you hate to lose a guy like Brian, but I'm glad we have a guy like Kermit hanging in the wing.
Do you know how Jared Odrick and Jerome Hayes are progressing in their rehab? I am assuming they won't be able to play in the bowl game?
You ask me a medical question; I can't answer that. I doubt that either one will be ready in the spring. Obviously, that's two big losses. We've lost a lot of good football players. (Lou) Eliades and some other kids who aren't going to be ready to play, had operations. (Brennan) Coakley, you all know about Coakley, the young tight end who had to have an operation.
So I don't know, really what to say about that. I'm really not good about it. I'm trying to concentrate on what we have right now and that's it.
I was wondering will Knowledge Timmons and Chris Baker be able to play in the bowl game. Are they going to make the trip?
They will make the trip. And what I want to do is we'll see.
Could you comment on the decision by the Big Ten to extend the season past Thanksgiving starting in 2009? Also, if you could talk about adding Oregon State, and the way that you managed to get a bye weekend next year, too.
We are adding Oregon State. I think that would be a good addition. And the coach, and the whole situation, I think it would be a good addition to our schedule.
As far as getting beyond Thanksgiving, I think we need it. You sit around and you watch every other conference in the country's defense....How you work the open date in, we've got to figure out how we do that, because after Thanksgiving, that's fine. I like that. I like the idea it brought out things academically as well as physically. Everybody has a chance to have a couple of days off. It is a good move.
With Dan Connor winning the Bednarik Award, it means linebackers from Penn State have won three in a row. Who knows, Sean Lee may be a candidate for a fourth. Can you talk about the evolution of Penn State as Linebacker U? Way back when, when you took over as head coach, was getting good linebackers something that you identified something that the program needed?
You know, to be very honest with you, I have no idea why that happened. I think we were fortunate that we have as Jack Ham. Jim Kates, he was as good as any of them. In fact, we played Kates, the inside linebacker on the split 6 defense and stuck them down and played him as a nose guard. He was a heck of a football player. Good athletes attract good athletes.
I haven't got the slightest idea. You're right about Sean Lee. Sean is a heck of a player. Jerome Hayes was a heck of a football player. Hayes was not only an outside linebacker or a defensive end, but probably as good a pass rusher as we had.
I can't tell you the answer to that. I wish I was that smart. Your observation is correct. We've got a lot of good linebackers. Which ones are better than the other ones people ask me sometimes, and I hate to compare. Because I think what you give to one, you take away from the other, as many of you have heard me say before. But I think he certainly deserves all that he's getting. He's been an awesome football player for us for three years.
Keeping in mind that you're not playing on New Year's Day this year, could you talk about managing the time and what your time schedule is going to be? How much you're going to get to practice and all that kind of stuff from now until the bowl?
Well, we just had a big, long meeting this morning. That's why I'm late...trying to figure out what is the best way to do it. Our problem is the university calendar is strange. We're going to be in the middle of final exams next week. And there is absolutely no space that we can practice next week, except for 6:00 o'clock in the morning. And to do that, the kids would have to run over and take final exams. So it's going to be very difficult.
I'm a little uneasy about how we're going to do it. We're going to practice tomorrow and Saturday. And we're debating whether we'll go Sunday and maybe one day next week, maybe Tuesday, because a lot of kids don't have final exams. A lot of kids are through after Friday's classes because they don't have exams next week.
You hate to keep them around just to practice. So I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do here. We're still debating that.
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the exam schedule is. I've talked to our academic advisor this morning. He gave me what we have right now with the idea that maybe some of the professors have changed some of the exam schedules.
I'd like to get seven or eight more practices in before we play the game. We're going to go down there and try to get everybody down there by the 23rd, Sunday. Which would be Sunday of a game week. Playing on Saturday, try to get four or five good days down there.
But I'd like to get three or four before we get down there. I'm not sure exactly how we're going to do that. It's been a little bit of a battle for us.
What sort of reaction have the players had to what happened in East Lansing, and do you sense they're very anxious to get back out on the field and erase that memory at the end of the season?
We'll find out. I don't know. So far the workouts that we've had; we've had four workouts, I think they've been good. The coaches have been on on the road recruiting. JT Thomas, our strength coach, and Jeremy Scott, who works with him, works on the conditioning and the running, says that the kids are doing a good job.
So I think they're anxious to get going, get back out on the field. My job is to make sure they're prepared to do the job. As I said, I'll work on that in practice.
Have you started watching tapes of Texas A & M, and what are you seeing?
Not a lot of tapes. I wish I had looked at more (before today). I don't know if we've played anybody with more talent than Texas A & M from what I've seen. I just bounced more questions off the staff. They look like that have awfully good athletes, great competitors. They've run really well on defense.
I had not really looked at enough tape for me to answer that question as specifically as I'd like to, because I had a busy week last week. We had a lot of recruits up; we had almost our entire recruiting class here this past weekend, which took up a lot of time. As I look at them...you lose to Missouri, you lose to Oklahoma, and you lose to Kansas, they're three of the better teams in the country. Then when you beat Texas with the kind of talent Texas has, certain things jump out at you.
As I said, I haven't really gotten in there and studied positions. I've looked to what kind of schemes are they going to use when we start talking about doing some things. I can have some input, though the staff will do most of it. This is going to be a real challenge.
Given what Michigan's going through in its head coaching search right now, and what Wisconsin has done in the past and Florida State is doing with the succession plans, is the succession plan the better option in your view in situations where the current head coach has had a longer tenure?
I haven't got the slightest idea what you're talking about, to be frank with you. What's Michigan going through? Didn't they hire a coach?
Not yet.
Oh, I don't know. I think every school is a different situation. I think Barry Alvarez in Wisconsin, I asked that question, of Barry and Bret when he went up to the Athletic Director's job. He was comfortable with Bret being the head coach, and that was nice. That was a nice transition. I don't have the slightest idea what would be better for...what's Florida State doing?
They appointed Jimbo Fisher as the next coach when Bobby Bowden retires.
I ought to call Bobby and see when he's going to roll over (laughter). I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I don't mean to be flippant, because I think that's a serious question, but I haven't got the slightest idea what you're talking about. And I mean that, I'm not trying to be ...
The last time you played Texas A & M was in the '99 Alamo Bowl. That game being so close to A & M's campus, did that change the atmosphere of that game? You won 24 0, but how does that change the way you prepare for the game?
Not really. We're going to have a good time. I'm hopeful we'll have a good crowd there. I hope they sell the place out, have a lot of fun and have a good football game. But I really haven't felt that about that (A&M campus being close).
We played Texas A & M at their home field and it was a great, great football environment and atmosphere. Enthusiastic and the whole bit. I'm assuming that would be what we're going to have at the Alamodome.
You know, hopefully, we can play on the road, if we consider it a road game. Hopefully, we'll have more people there at the Alamo Bowl than when playing Texas A & M down there.
But, it's a bowl game. Fans are going to have fun, and we're going to go down there and have a good time. San Antonio is a great city. It really is, it's one of my great favorite cities.
I have a son who was in Austin for a couple of years and I made a couple of speeches in San Antonio and been to a couple bowl games down there. We're looking forward to that part. I think we'll play well.
Obviously, we haven't practiced enough for me to say what we have and haven't, but I think we'll play well. I just hope we can stay healthy. Not get carried away and get banged up in practice and that kind of stuff, because we're banged up enough as it is. But, you know, we're treating it as a bowl game.
The bowl game is your 500th game as head coach. Is that of any significance to you? No, really, no. This is about playing a game. Bowl games are something that both clubs deserve. We obviously want to go down there and play and fight it out and try to win it as best we can. But I have not thought about it.
How has Anthony Morelli's demeanor been since the Michigan State game?
I don't quite get that question. I think he's been fine. I think he's been fine. He's kind of an unsung hero of this football team.
Justin King has filed paperwork to receive an evaluation from the NFL. Have you spoken to him about leaving?
Oh, I think that's up to him. I have not talked to Justin about it.
What are you going to remember about this senior class?
Well, as I told them at Quarterback Club banquet, I said, I really appreciate the fact that they took a chance on us. And the first year wasn't a great year, but they've had three good years. They came within that close playing for all the marbles (in 2005), and I appreciate that. I really do.
I think it's a been a good group. It's been a good group. I hope they can go out with a win. The Michigan State thing was not an easy loss for us. Not to take anything away from Michigan State, but we didn't do the job we should have done. And it would be nice to be down there with the Alamo Bowl and have a good win and have a good feeling.
Have you made a decision on whether Chris Baker, Navorro Bowman and Knowledge Timmons will play in the bowl game?
I said they would be making the trip.
Will the different academic calendar affect your ability to work with some of the younger players like you like to do at the bowl game?
Well, I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle it. I'd like to do both. I'd like to win the game, give ourselves a chance to win, for some of the young people. If we can get that, I think that's the best of all worlds when we can do that.
It's tough to do that with the schedule, the academic schedule with final exams and all of that, and we're debating how we do that. If we're not careful, we're going to end up making it hard for the young kids and the chance to go out on a limb.
I think we've got to balance it. So it's almost a day by day thing. Whether we get it done; we're going to practice tomorrow, practice Saturday. After practice Saturday I'll take a look at some things and decide, "hey, can we do this? We can." We've got to emphasize one other aspect of it is stronger than the other.
It isn't exactly 2 plus 2 equals 4. You've got to carry a little bit by the seat of your pants.
You've said you'd like to coach another 3,4,5 years. How will you handle that with the University since your contract ends after next season?
I don't know. It's up to them whether I coach three, four, five more years, I don't know. I like to coach. I feel comfortable I can get up in the morning and do a good job. Maybe two, three, four, five, I don't know how many years.
Hopefully, I'm not going to be a crotchety old man, and you know, not handle it. When it's time to go, go, right? I don't know. I just feel so good right now. I hate to put a timeframe on when I'm going to get out of here.
I think when I start to get the feel, I'll sit down with the right people and say, "Hey, maybe we ought to start talking about my getting out of here if it benefits us." But right now that hasn't even come up.
Does how long you're going to stay factor into recruiting? You've told us in the past kids ask how long you're going to be there, and you say I can't tell them. But does it not come up that your contract's up after next year?
I tell them exactly what I just said. The way I answered the last one, I don't know how long I'm going to go.
How much do you think it has helped the program that there's been so much stability through the years?
You know, I can tell you I don't know. You guys ask me questions that I never think about. I don't know. It's a year by year thing. And I try like the dickens to try to make sure we can do a good job. If I've said it once, I've said it 50 times; it's the staff that's important.
Do you think it will help your program if the next coach stays a long time?
I haven't got the slightest idea.
Can you assess the play of Jeremy Boone and will he be a scholarship player next year?
Well, he's done a great job. We haven't filled all the scholarships yet. Still, with the numbers and things like that, but he sure has done a great job.
Do you have any indication of any other assistant coaches that might be moving on?
I don't, really. I was surprised that Brian moved on. But I got a call from the head coach, and he and Brian had worked together at Texas Tech and are close friends and their families are close. Brian had been at Texas Tech, so he has some connections there. But nobody's really given me any indication.
Have you looked at anyone at any different positions?
Not yet...there are a lot of kids out there that are young kids that we have not played that are going to be really good football players. I keep counting on younger starters.
I've played a couple of freshmen. But you've got to give them a chance to play in the position and have some time to really work with them before you start moving them around.
I have a plan to do that. It may happen after three days. We've worked with some of those kids at different spots, not at different spots, but where we could get a look at them at the position they've been practicing. And that gives us a chance to revise. We'll look at that. We're going to look at that.
So, some of the younger players have gotten more work in practice?
Oh, yeah, we practice them. We practice them. We've been trying to work them in right now without stepping back from what we want to do; what I'll eventually do.
How do you manage to sequester yourself from information that others know?
I don't have any email. Okay? I don't have any of that stuff, that's number one. Number two, when you don't pick up the paper, you can't read it, right? Let me give you a little of where I'm coming from as far as my attitude about getting up in the morning and going to work.
If somebody says to me, "Brian is interested in this job, okay?" All right. I don't pay any attention to them. Okay? I rarely spend a lot of time upstairs. Most of the time I spend is at home (office) because I've got everything there. I've got tapes, the fax machine on, I've got all that stuff going.
So in order for them to tell me "so and so, and so and so," they've got to call me on the phone. And if they call me on the phone, they don't. I have other things to do, forget about it.
Say all that kind of stuff, every once in a while my wife will come home and say she was at the grocery store and, "so and so said this." She says; "is that true?" And I say, "what the heck are you talking about?" I'm not protecting myself in that stuff; I'm just not interested in it.
You don't do the shopping, then?
Once in a while I'll get a case of beer, yeah (laughter).
Is that a luxury because of the stability of the program?
I don't think there's any question. I think I can operate. I'm not naive about my age and my energy, and I don't waste it. I don't waste any energy. I only waste what I've got to get done.
I get up in the morning, I know what I've got to get done, and I get that done. There's a lot of things to do, and that's a luxury. But yeah, I think that's part of it. I think that is.
How did the Oregon State game come about?
Well, we were trying to get a 12th game. And Fran's (Ganter) really done most of the scheduling. Our choice was a couple of people. Oregon State said they'd like to come east and play. They'll ask me, "any issues about playing Oregon State?" And I said "well, you know, is there someone easier?" (laughs)
But we thought we needed it. A team that has had the kind of background that Oregon State has. And it's very encouraging. We thought it would be a good move, and that the fans would like it, so I said fine.
Is there a return trip?
Not that I know of. They may have sneaked one in on me, but I don't know about it.
Can you talk about the development of the linebackers and the job Ron Vanderlinden has done?
The reason I hired Ron was because we played against Northwestern, and I was looking for a guy that could handle linebackers. When we played Northwestern, they beat us (1995). The kid (Pat Fitzgerald) is now the head coach of Northwestern, the former linebacker. They were really well-disciplined. They played hard and tough on every play. And I always said to myself, "boy, somebody out there is doing a heck of a job with that squad. "
We had a player on our team, (Mac) Morrison who was an outside linebacker, his brother played at Northwestern. Two kids from up in the state of Washington. I needed a defensive coach. And I called him up and said, "how about you and your wife having dinner with me tonight?" Ron's a heck of a coach. I've got a lot of good coaches, that's why I'm not ready to get out of here.