Iowa Football head coach
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00:00 - Absolutely.
00:00 - You standing on something, John?
00:02 - No.
00:03 (laughing)
00:03 - Okay.
00:04 I'll go in reverse order.
00:07 First of all, I just want to congratulate
00:08 all the people you guys visited with today.
00:11 Starting with Phil, just so happy to see his,
00:16 the work that he's done be recognized nationally.
00:21 And that's something you can't hope for.
00:22 It's a really tough award to win.
00:24 He's up against four offensive guys
00:27 that all come from pedigree schools and all that stuff.
00:30 So, but I think the whole story of Phil
00:32 is just the kind of coach he's always been.
00:35 He was a great coach here 25 years ago.
00:38 He's easily the best secondary coach.
00:40 And I say that with all due respect
00:41 to some really good people and good coaches,
00:43 but I've never been with a secondary coach
00:45 that coached to the degree of detail that he does
00:50 and has just had a lot of success stories.
00:54 Now what he's done with the defense
00:55 ever since he took it over,
00:57 it's been an evolution, but done an awful job.
01:00 And I'm sure he just got done,
01:01 giving credit to the staff too.
01:04 So it's a team effort.
01:05 I mean, we do is, so just appreciate his efforts.
01:08 And one thing I've said a couple of times now,
01:10 you know, one thing about Phil,
01:11 I think it really makes him unique in this day and age.
01:14 You know, two jobs in his entire career,
01:16 basically two paychecks from two different places.
01:18 And that's pretty unusual.
01:21 It's pretty unusual.
01:21 And he could have made a lot of moves,
01:24 including a coordinator job,
01:25 whatever that was back in '08, '09,
01:28 whenever it was, I guess before that.
01:30 So I just appreciate the fact that he's been
01:33 part of our program, a little of the program,
01:36 not that anybody owes us anything,
01:37 but the fact that he's chosen to stay here
01:39 and be part of this is just, it's really significant.
01:41 It's a big part of the reason I'm still standing here.
01:44 So happy for him.
01:45 And then the four players, you know, it's kind of interesting
01:47 they've all got a little different careers.
01:50 You know, think about Torrey's been a four-year guy,
01:53 certainly Cooper two years now, full-time.
01:56 You know, Jay, really first time
01:59 as a middle linebacker for us,
02:00 played a lot last year,
02:01 but first time as a primary starter for us.
02:03 And then, you know, Sebastian, basically, you know,
02:07 it was right at the end of the season
02:08 where he started to turn the corner last year.
02:11 So they all have different paths,
02:12 but the accomplishment that they,
02:14 level of, you know, that they played at this year,
02:16 certainly noteworthy.
02:18 And I think, you know, the commonality,
02:20 all of them have great attitudes.
02:21 They all have really strong work ethics,
02:23 work ethic, and then the way they've improved.
02:27 And every one of them, it's a story of improvement
02:29 and career of improvement.
02:30 And that's really kind of the design of our program.
02:32 That's how we're hoping to do it.
02:34 And, you know, we're not looking for a quick fix
02:36 or hoping to patch too many holes,
02:38 but, you know, I'd rather have guys
02:40 that grew up in the program that really,
02:42 you know, just take the thing forward
02:44 and just take that opportunity and keep growing.
02:46 So just really happy for all four of those guys too.
02:49 And I'm sure he enjoyed visiting with all five of them today.
02:52 - Luke LeShay, is he going to be available to the-
02:56 - I don't think so.
02:57 His rehab is going really well.
02:59 Yeah, he might be close,
03:01 but it just doesn't make any sense right now.
03:03 So no, I don't think so.
03:05 - Kirk, when it comes to guys that could potentially
03:06 come back, you know, Cooper, Jay, all those guys,
03:09 is it pretty easy for you to balance
03:11 how badly you want them to come back
03:12 versus them kind of achieving their dream
03:14 and going to that next level?
03:15 Or how do you kind of approach that?
03:16 - Yeah, it really, there's a couple of factors.
03:19 It ultimately, it's their choice.
03:21 It's like recruiting.
03:22 You know, we always tell prospects,
03:23 don't come here unless you really want to come here.
03:26 'Cause, you know, it's not good for anybody
03:29 if somebody's, you know, 80% committed to something.
03:31 So, but I think, yeah, I think it's all about them,
03:35 making a good choice, what's best for them,
03:37 just like a recruit.
03:38 And to do that, you got to have all the factual information,
03:42 not hearsay, what your uncle says, or this guy, that guy.
03:46 So, and we try to provide that the best we can.
03:49 We'll go out and get more information if they need it.
03:51 But if their heart's not in coming back,
03:53 and Riley Moss is a great example.
03:55 You know, he came back and really made it work for him.
03:57 And he made it work for us, but he made it work for him.
03:59 And that's how it works.
04:01 You know, it's a mutually beneficial thing.
04:02 If a guy comes back with the right attitude
04:03 and just goes to work and keeps getting better,
04:06 which most players do, most good players I've been around do,
04:09 you know, at least through their 20s.
04:11 And then, but if a guy's not sure,
04:15 then it's probably a good sign he maybe shouldn't come back.
04:17 'Cause he'll probably be looking over the fence next year
04:19 during the season.
04:20 That doesn't do anybody good.
04:21 But, you know, I think our role really is,
04:25 if a guy's looking to make just a really bad decision,
04:28 you just try to alert them to that.
04:31 But that doesn't always mean you can stop it either.
04:33 So, yeah, whatever.
04:35 But now we just try to give them, A, the information,
04:38 and then B, the support that they need.
04:40 And, you know, let them figure it out with their family.
04:43 Let them figure out what's best for them.
04:45 - Coach, I had a chance recently to talk to Jason Baker.
04:47 I know him and Torrey have a nice little relationship.
04:49 - Yeah.
04:50 - Is that kind of thing something that you foster
04:51 among a lot of your guys,
04:53 or is that something special that may be set up
04:54 just between Jason and Torrey?
04:56 Or do a lot of that where guys kind of mentor
04:58 their predecessor?
04:59 - It's a benefit of being here, you know, 34 years now.
05:03 You know, you guys saw Lon walking off.
05:05 I mean, Lon played here in the '80s.
05:07 But there's a, I think, probably a unique thing.
05:10 That's one of the, there's some downsides
05:11 of being somewhere a long time, too.
05:13 But the upside, I think, is that you just have,
05:16 I don't want to call it a network,
05:17 but there's a lot of guys that really care
05:19 about this program and the people in the program,
05:21 and always looking to try to help out any way they can.
05:24 And in Jason's case, you know, punters, kickers,
05:28 it's a little different.
05:29 It's like guys in the bullpen.
05:29 It's a little different world they live in,
05:31 different psychology to the way they perform.
05:34 And Jason's had real life experience in that,
05:36 and a long, long real life experience.
05:38 And, you know, he, same thing,
05:40 I was just talking about improvement,
05:41 his best year was clearly his senior year here.
05:44 And just performed at a high level,
05:45 had a really nice NFL career.
05:47 Ups and downs, couple teams, you know,
05:49 all that kind of stuff, which is not uncommon.
05:51 But, yeah, all the things that he's been through,
05:54 he can share that better than any one of us can,
05:56 'cause none of us were professional punters,
05:59 or punters, for that matter.
06:01 So, but that's the nice thing about, you know,
06:03 you think about guys that stay connected to this program,
06:06 and it's really a great thing.
06:09 Yeah, that's the fun part about it.
06:10 It's a benefit.
06:11 - You're looking at the stage
06:13 of your offensive coordinator right now.
06:16 I mean, are you still in fact finding,
06:18 are you narrowing the scope?
06:20 I mean, what--
06:21 - Yeah, I think we opened the search officially last week,
06:23 into last week.
06:24 So, yeah, it's out there.
06:26 It's gotta be posted, I think, for two weeks.
06:28 I'm not sure, I should know this by now,
06:30 but anyway, it's, by the time we're legally allowed
06:35 to really do something, that'll coincide with my schedule,
06:38 and really my first and foremost thoughts
06:40 have been on this team,
06:42 and they will remain that way through New Year's.
06:44 You know, we have an opportunity right now.
06:47 I think we'd be one of five teams
06:48 to win more than 10 games here in the history of the program.
06:51 That's pretty significant.
06:52 So, for me not to be focused on that first and foremost,
06:55 would really be negligent of my duties.
06:57 And then, you know, we've had a couple balls in the air,
07:01 recruiting our own guys, actually recruiting,
07:03 being out of the office and doing some stuff.
07:05 But, and then, you know, trying to map out a plan
07:08 for this month and make sure we're doing the right things.
07:11 So, you know, now I'm still flying by the seat of my pants,
07:14 but I've made all three phone calls, I'll give you that.
07:17 A little tidbit, three phone calls so far.
07:20 Hopefully get one more in this week,
07:21 and then, you know, we'll really turn our attention to it
07:25 when we get back here, 'cause, you know,
07:27 you gotta have some face-to-face meetings
07:28 and those kinds of things.
07:29 But I feel really, based on what I know right,
07:32 as I stand here right now, I feel total confidence
07:34 that we'll have a really good person here.
07:36 And I think there's some strong interest in people
07:38 that would make a lot of sense that really fit.
07:40 And I think we'll fit what we need.
07:42 And yeah, so it's gonna work out just fine,
07:46 unless, you know, unless the bottom falls out,
07:48 it could always happen.
07:50 But I'll promise you too, there's gonna be a new market
07:51 of people out there in January or February.
07:54 - What's your relationship with Paul Christ, respect level?
07:57 - I've always had tremendous respect for Paul.
08:00 I think it's publicly stated and, you know,
08:03 I mean, he did an outstanding job at Wisconsin.
08:05 Ironically, yeah, I mean, just, you know,
08:08 he really did a great job and that's, you know,
08:11 since we got here 25 years ago,
08:12 that's a team we've been chasing, you know,
08:14 at that time they were the champs and we weren't,
08:15 but we're obviously not.
08:17 So that's the program that we've really aspired to try to,
08:21 you know, compete with.
08:23 And, you know, the good news is our last five years,
08:26 you know, we've got more wins than they do.
08:28 And I'm happy about that.
08:30 You know, not that we can't do better, but, you know,
08:34 so yeah, I mean, I've always had great respect for Paul.
08:36 He's a really good person, really good coach.
08:38 - When you mentioned, coach Filden,
08:39 you mentioned the coming back.
08:42 Does that mean you're expecting to have that decision
08:44 after the bowl game?
08:46 - Yeah, I mean, there won't be a decision for the bowl.
08:47 I can pretty much assure you that.
08:49 I don't know if there legally can be a decision by then.
08:51 So I'll double check that, believe me,
08:53 I'm not going to make that mistake, but yeah, I mean,
08:57 yeah, we'll figure it out and we'll get it done sometime
08:59 in January for sure.
09:01 - How about coach Filden and someone that you've been around
09:03 for so long and how important and what a fit that would be?
09:06 - Well, I mean, I got great respect for Joe too.
09:08 He's a tremendous coach here.
09:10 We caught a lot of crap for hiring him out of Harvard.
09:13 Yeah, I guess, you know,
09:14 would have been good if it was a junior high quiz,
09:16 but not for football.
09:17 So, you know, but he did an excellent job here.
09:20 He's an excellent coach with Green Bay.
09:22 I think they set records when he was a coordinator there.
09:26 You know, had a couple of coffees in NFL head coach,
09:28 which is how that works typically.
09:30 And yeah, I got great respect for him.
09:31 Great person, great football coach.
09:33 And you know, no question about that.
09:35 - You know, Brian's got to think about his future too.
09:38 Is his plan to coach in the bowl game right now?
09:40 - I think he's intended on it and you know,
09:43 we'll know certainty next week, but yeah,
09:46 he's got to worry about himself right now too.
09:48 And that's probably first and foremost on his mind.
09:51 I'm not sure how he did coach for the last five weeks,
09:54 five games, but I give him a lot of credit for that
09:56 and a really deep amount of appreciation.
09:59 And I think he does it out of the,
10:01 first and foremost, the players.
10:02 That's why all of us do things.
10:04 And he is a former player, you know, he loves his program.
10:09 So I think he'll do all he can to help the program,
10:12 but he also has to, you know,
10:13 look out for himself too right now.
10:15 And tell you this, I mean, if he gets a job tomorrow,
10:17 I don't expect him to be here.
10:19 If he is, I may have to visit with him about that.
10:23 - When you look at the offensive coordinator,
10:26 whoever it may be,
10:27 will they have to marry their scheme
10:29 to what you like to do foundationally
10:32 or how much leeway would you give somebody
10:34 when they come in?
10:35 - Yeah, the parallel I'd give you is
10:37 when we hired Norm,
10:39 spread the single best decision I've made in my career,
10:42 going with Norm.
10:44 And we had three outstanding candidates.
10:45 One of them's a major college head coach right now.
10:49 So obviously a pretty good coach for a long time.
10:53 I mean, he's done it for a long time,
10:55 but the deciding factor was just, you know, who he was.
10:58 His personality, I was pretty convinced, you know,
11:01 he'd been through some things in his personal life.
11:02 I was pretty convinced it was gonna be hard to rock his boat
11:05 and I knew there was gonna be some boat rocking,
11:08 you know, going into that 99 year.
11:10 So, and he was also on top of it,
11:13 an excellent coordinator, excellent for our staff,
11:16 just total fit.
11:18 And it's not a lot different 25 years from now.
11:20 I mean, later it's, you know,
11:22 our program's a little stronger than it was obviously,
11:24 but you know, you're looking at, in my opinion,
11:26 you're looking for the same kind of thing.
11:28 And so the analogy I give you is like, you know,
11:31 I wouldn't hung up on a three man front, four man front,
11:34 not locked into that or fixated on that,
11:36 but to play defense, you gotta play blocks,
11:39 no matter what front you're in,
11:40 you gotta run to the football in a smart way.
11:43 You gotta be able to tackle.
11:44 Yeah, you can't give up big plays, those kinds of things.
11:47 Like those, those were not negotiable.
11:50 That's just how you gotta do it if you're gonna play defense
11:52 but it was totally up to him to design, you know,
11:54 the ABCs, all that stuff.
11:56 And I feel the same way about this,
11:58 you know, it's the same thing,
11:59 but anybody comes in here has to have an appreciation.
12:02 You know, we have won a few games.
12:03 I know sometimes we all forget about that.
12:05 We've won a few games here.
12:06 I probably wouldn't be standing here after 25 years
12:08 if that weren't the case.
12:10 And, you know, complimentary football
12:12 is the best way to win here, in my opinion.
12:15 And I've got 34 years here.
12:16 It was no different in the eighties.
12:18 You have to play complimentary football.
12:20 You've got to respect the ball.
12:21 Ball security is critical.
12:23 We got away with it in '09 a little bit, but, you know,
12:27 there's certain things that are paramount
12:29 and I'm really not worried about points per game,
12:31 excuse me, passing yardage per game,
12:34 you know, all the stats stuff.
12:37 Points per game isn't as interesting and it's important,
12:41 but, you know, I got another one,
12:42 I'll hold that in my pocket until January for you.
12:46 But what is important is wins per game.
12:47 And if you want to evaluate a quarter, in my opinion,
12:50 you know, check the wins per game column,
12:51 'cause, you know, I can think of a guy that
12:54 entered the conference recently
12:58 that came with widely acclaimed, you know,
12:59 offensive stats and all that.
13:01 And that's usually how those guys get to become well-known
13:04 'cause of their, you know, whatever they're doing,
13:05 throwing it, running it, wishbone.
13:07 But, you know, then you look a little deeper.
13:10 So what's this guy's wins per game?
13:12 And there's usually a correlation.
13:14 You know, people that just throw the ball around,
13:16 you know, it makes it tougher to win.
13:18 It makes it tougher to be on good defense, good on defense.
13:21 I think Phil would tell you that.
13:22 So there is a team concept here
13:25 that is really important to me.
13:27 It's the only way we can win, in my opinion.
13:29 In my opinion, and come right back to it.
13:32 Oh, I lost my train of thought.
13:35 Damn.
13:36 Yeah, I mean, but yeah,
13:39 it still gets down to wins per game.
13:40 Like, you know, oh, I know the other one.
13:42 There's a school on the West Coast right now
13:44 that's going to recommit to defense.
13:46 You know, you have a 42 to Tulane last year in a bowl game.
13:49 So, you know, at a place where like, you know,
13:52 Ronnie on plate.
13:53 So I just find it, you know,
13:54 now they're going to think about defense.
13:55 Like, you know, to me,
13:57 that was the first thing we thought about 25 years ago.
14:00 That ain't going to change.
14:01 Like that just ain't going to change.
14:03 So the coordinator coming in is going to have to understand
14:04 like, this is who we are.
14:06 It's worked pretty well.
14:07 We're looking to improve.
14:08 Always looking to improve.
14:10 But you know, we're not going to be coming to run and shoot.
14:12 Mouse, you know, Mouse Davis isn't coming.
14:15 So, or June Jones.
14:16 - So it comes down to doing what you guys do better
14:18 as opposed to making all these huge changes
14:21 some fancies along.
14:22 - Yeah, well, I mean,
14:23 I think the objective still is to win.
14:25 Okay, now we had a little exception to that.
14:26 Okay.
14:27 But the objective has always been to win football games.
14:30 First and foremost, that's 25 years ago.
14:32 It was important to me when I came here as an assistant.
14:34 That was important.
14:35 Certainly important to coach Fry.
14:37 And so you do what's best to win.
14:39 And every, every week's a different situation.
14:41 Every game's a different situation.
14:43 Certainly every team presents different.
14:45 You know, I mean, we had five guys get the next man up
14:48 awards in our banquet last week.
14:50 We had one on defense, five on offense.
14:53 So now what do you do?
14:55 Yeah. How do you, how do you fix it?
14:56 How do you work around that?
14:57 We still found a way to win 10 games.
14:59 So, you know, I would argue our staff did an unbelievable
15:03 job, our assistants, not me.
15:04 The assistants did an unbelievable job this past year.
15:07 I would say the same thing about our players
15:09 because they do the work.
15:10 They're the ones playing.
15:11 And that's why you don't hear our defensive guys, bitch.
15:13 Cause they know what's going on.
15:15 They know what, what is real, what isn't real.
15:19 And it's genuine.
15:20 You know, Jack Campbell stands in front of you and says,
15:22 Hey, that's all bull crap.
15:23 Like, you know, we're, we're together.
15:24 There's a reason why that is.
15:26 - One of your former assistants got a head coaching job.
15:29 - Yeah. That's awesome.
15:31 Really happy for Tim.
15:32 - Connecting that to you.
15:33 Do you feel like you are good at hiring assistant coaches?
15:38 And, and what, I mean, you alluded to some of it,
15:41 but what are the things that really, that you focus on?
15:46 - You know, first, first answer is yes.
15:50 I do think we've had pretty good success there.
15:52 You know, not everyone's worked out perfectly, but again,
15:55 we wouldn't be here after 25 years if that weren't the case.
15:58 Phil's a great example.
15:59 You look for guys that are team players,
16:02 first and foremost, good teachers, good mentors.
16:05 It's not pro football.
16:06 It is very different.
16:07 Pro football, some of the criteria is very different,
16:10 but first of our first job is to be mentors,
16:12 to show our guys how to act, how to do things.
16:15 And, you know, handling bad situations is a big part of it.
16:20 And, and you gotta be a good teacher.
16:21 You know, you gotta be,
16:22 and you gotta be a football guy too.
16:23 I mean, that's, you know, but what we do is not, you know,
16:27 it's not nuclear science.
16:28 Like this is not a, it's not all that complex.
16:31 We try to make it complex, but it really isn't.
16:34 And the basics are still the basics.
16:35 A lot of intricacies in there, but you know,
16:38 you gotta get people that, you know,
16:41 are gonna convey those things well to the players.
16:43 They gotta be able to teach them football.
16:44 They also have to teach them a lot of other stuff too.
16:47 And be good team players.
16:48 You know, we can't expect our team to be a team
16:49 if our guys are selfish.
16:52 And, you know, we got guys, you know,
16:53 jocking for position, all that stuff.
16:55 I've seen that act before.
16:57 It doesn't work so good.
16:59 - All right. Thank you.
17:00 - Okay. Thank you.