Aug. 16, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Q: Do you ever feel like you're getting too old for this?
A: Well, it did when they knocked the devil out of me the other day, yeah. Years ago when we lost to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, I came home and felt that I had blown that one. We had a shot at the National Championship. I went to New York and walked around for maybe about six days. It was the only time I ever said, "Hey, you've had it. You did it. You did all you can do. You're not good enough anymore." Then, when I came home, I realized that was not what I wanted, so I decided to stay. That's the only time I really said to myself, "Hey, you can't get it done." A lot of times you guys read into something, you've got to remember that I've been able to keep my staff (together). The administration has been good. I'm having problems getting around practice, so I get a guy like (Tom) Venturino. The only time he was involved with stuff like this was running away from the cops. I've got different guys in different things. I tell them what I want to get done on the practice field. I keep talking to them about personnel. Thank God we've got things like conference calls and all of that kind of stuff. There's no need to get out of it yet. I'm going to see if I can get the job done. Right now, I'm anxious just to get back and get going.
Q: How do you feel?
A: I feel great except I'm in a lot of pain. It's interesting. I like the tidbit of (Tom) Bradley. When Bradley was an undergraduate, in about 1975, in the old days, the indoor facility was right next door to us where the ice skating rink is. He ran over me one day, but I saw him coming. He was running a passing lane and he ran over me and he bounced me off the ground a little bit and that hurt a little bit, but I knew I was getting knocked down. The thing that happened to me the other day here is I was off the field and I was writing some notes. The kid that went after the ball was running full speed and he caught the football going full speed and ran right into me. I didn't see him, so I didn't take the fall in a good way. Physically, I feel great outside of that. It hurts. If I told you I could get up here and run around, no, I can't. In about eight or nine days I should be able to do everything without having some guy driving me around telling me what to look at.
Q: Do you plan on coaching from the sideline in the first game?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Have they told you that coaching on the sideline is possible with a hairline fracture?
A: I do not have a fracture. When they first did X-rays, the doc said, "Hey, you've got a couple of cracks, but you'll be OK." Maybe four or five days later, he said let's go do some more X-rays because I want to make sure. So, they took me over there, put me on my back, get out of here already. He said, "Hey, good news, you don't have any kind of fracture. We've just get to get you started now on some therapy and then in 10 days you should be 100 percent."
Q: The players have said this is one of the toughest camps in years. Can you talk about that?
A: I'm glad to hear them say that, but I'm not so sure it's the toughest we've had in years. I went into this pre-season with the idea that we were going to have a tough camp. I think one of the things that we were not last year is that I don't know that we were tough enough, long enough in some games. With that, I think you always have to go back to the head coach. I wasn't demanding enough. We weren't physically tough enough. In the last two minutes of the football game, we had the other guy looking at the clock, worried about getting out of there. They're not quite the things you like to have when you're in a tough football game. I knew in my mind that we were going to have a tough spring, which we did. I told the kids, `You guys better work at it this summer because when you come back, we're going to have a tough pre-season.' I'm glad to hear the reaction is good. I'll tell you this thing for this squad; it has been a great squad to work with. They really have been a great bunch of kids and they've worked hard. They've gained weight to come back and different things like that and they've just about done everything we've asked them to do.
Q: Has this latest injury affected how long you want to coach?
A: I don't know. I'm enjoying it. The one thing I don't enjoy as much as I used to is the media, obviously. Unfortunately, every once in awhile I show that to you guys. I just think everything we're doing now in the media; I don't even want to turn on the television now. Everybody's critiquing the debate in Missouri and critiquing this. A guy makes one lousy, stupid statement, maybe half a joke. It isn't what he stands for, what he has done. That's the one thing that bothers me. Having said that, I still believe that there's a place for a good, solid program and there's a place for a bunch of kids coming together, holding hands, working their tails off, developing a little camaraderie and going out and having a good time playing football and playing the kind of football the fans enjoy and coaches like to coach. The day I wake up in the morning and I say, "Hey, do I have to go to practice again?" I'll know it's time to get out.
Q: You have done a great job keeping integrity in times when other teams haven't been able to. How do you keep integrity at Penn State?
A: That's very complimentary and I hope you're right. I've been very reluctant to point fingers at anybody, but goodness gracious, you don't know. We could have a kid on our squad that has a friend in the town he grew up in that wants to stick his two cents in the football program, wants to be able to compete against a guy that works in his office from another school and they said, "Hey, we've got to get this guy, we've got to get that guy." I don't know. I blame a lot of the problems we have, without really knowing what I'm talking about, on the fact that we have maybe too many rules and number two, the administrations are the first ones to kind of make the coach the scapegoat. I think the universities have a tremendous responsibility to make sure the coach is doing it the way they want the program run. When a president of an institution says that, "We're embarrassed, we're going to fire this guy," or "I can't fire that guy because he's a football coach." Where are we? We're going through the same thing in the country. One guy is getting blamed for everything. I don't know, but I'm glad that you say it. I want to stay in coaching, but not for a lot of the reasons you people may think. Not because it's an ego-trip on my part or because I think I've got to carry gauntlet, I've got to be the guy that leads the charge. No. I want to have a good, solid program. I want to be able to get up in the morning and know I've done the best I can. We're doing what's supposed to be done and we'll go from there.
Q: Do you prefer to play one or two quarterbacks?
A: I think the team and everyone would prefer to have one guy in the huddle and in the clutch, you always know what you're going to get from him. And sometimes that doesn't work out. Sometimes you get a couple guys that are good enough that either one of them can do it. You sit as a staff and they all feel the same way about each one of them. I've tried to not make up my mind until I have to. But I do think that it's a decision that, obviously, has to be made sometime down the line. We've been in practice for only a week and a half, almost two weeks. When we started out pre-season, I challenged the staff to make every kid believe he has the chance to play, every guy. I want them to do everything they can for each kid. We aren't going to go as far or fast into learning scheme or techniques as we ordinarily have done in other years, because I want to make sure everybody on that football field feels they have an honest chance to play. I said at the end of a week and a half to two weeks, and we're getting into that stage now, we have to make some decisions on who's going to play this and do that and what can we handle scheme-wise. I think those kinds of things are the tough decisions to make in coaching. I think it's a legitimate question, but right now I just don't know which way it's going to go. I think both kids (Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin) have done a really good job. The kids like them, they're great in the huddle, they've gotten better every day. I think the coaches have done a real good job with them and the kids are feeling good about them. I think we're making progress. I'm more worried about the offensive line than anywhere else. I don't think we've got enough tough guys yet, but I'm still encouraged.
Q: What does it mean to you that you are an important part of the 125 years of Penn State football?
A: I'd love to give you an answer with something like, `Paterno says this about his experience at Penn State.' I try not to put myself in that kind of perspective and that's all I'm saying. You know, Penn State had great football a long, long time ago in the late teens, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922. Penn State had great football teams. They had a guy by the name of Bob Higgins who's the grandfather of the Suheys and the great-grandfather of the kid that's playing for me now (Joe Suhey). And then the Suheys were All-Americans here. I had nothing to do with that. I had nothing to do with the kids that were here when I came here in 1950. The assistant coaches, unfortunately, all are gone; the Jim O'Hora's, the Frank Patrick's, the J.T. White's, and those guys...Bob Phillips. I learned from them. A guy named George Welsh used to work right next to me and Jim O'Hora was right behind me. I always tell a story. We had one room, seven assistant coaches, one head coach, and a secretary. And Priscilla, God love her, was the secretary and we're going back to 1951, 1952. And Priscilla had beautiful legs and her desk, the bottom was wide open. And the poor girl would sit down and seven guys would look at her. She finally got smart and got herself a great big cardboard placard. She'd come in every morning, first thing she would do is paste that cardboard to the front of the desk so she could relax all day. I hope that I've brought a lot of enjoyment to people at Penn State and Penn State; the people that have been part of it. Maybe we've set some standards. I'd be less than honest if I said it wasn't flattering to have some people say that I run a good program. I was delighted to be on that show with Mike Krzyzewski three, four weeks ago. I think Mike's a really good person and a very committed guy. He has stayed at Duke, turned down other opportunities. A lot of guys, unfortunately, can't get into that attitude, because trustees give money and they want you to play this guy or that guy. When I first got here and we got new facilities, I said, "we have to go out and raise some money for new facilities." I went around and I always said, `I want your money, but not your two cents.' Very few coaches these days can say that to a guy that gives them $8-10 million bucks a year.
Q: What is the status of Stephfon Green?
A: I doubt that he'll be back. Stephfon has had some problems with me and right now I think for the benefit and especially the good of the football team, it might be better if he backs away right now.
Q: Can you talk about your offensive line?
A: I think it has a chance to be good. We have some pretty good players in there. I just don't know yet that they understand what it takes to be tough. I've got two great offensive line coaches in Bill Kenney and Dick Anderson. Two years ago they took (A.Q.) Shipley and that group and made a heckuva offensive line out of them. A lot of those guys like Shipley and those guys wouldn't be near the athletes we've got out there right now. Some of these kids have been spoiled a little lately. I blame myself a little. I haven't got them in a room yet and said, `You better start busting your rear end and knock someone on their back or I'm gonna knock you on your back.' I have to be careful. I talked to the squad earlier that day before I got hurt. I said, `You know what I'm tired of, some of you guys babying yourself. You get knocked down and get hurt a little bit and you walk around like, `oh boy, does it hurt.' I said the Good Lord has a way of doing things.' After my thing, they joked around..."Bounce back kid, let's see how tough you are".
Q: When do you expect Curtis Drake back, if he comes back?
A: He's working at it and Curtis has done a good job (in his rehabilitation). Curtis has to do a better job academically. He's adequate but you hate to see a kid just "get by" when you know he can be something. We're out here yesterday and who's out there practicing with us...Michael Haynes. I said, `What in God's name are you doing up here now?' He said, "I'm here for the Ag Progress Days." He's here with a couple companies. He's working on his master's degree. And that's the kind of stuff you like to hear. Drake has a lot of leadership qualities and he's a great athlete. The sooner he gets back, the better I like it. But right now, I think the docs still aren't comfortable yet that we can put him out there without a good percentage that he might get hurt.
--NITTANY LIONS--