• 2 years ago
Iowa defensive coordinator
Transcript
00:00 Phil, what does it mean to you to win the Broyles?
00:08 Well if you go back and look at the history of the Broyles and look at all the guys that
00:12 were nominated and the guys that were actually wanted, it's very impressive.
00:18 But really it goes down to this shows the, you know, our players, the way they come together,
00:22 leadership here at the university, you know, it's more of a team thing to me, I think it
00:28 is, but it's a great honor.
00:30 I had a lot of great people down there in Little Rock, it was a great place to be and
00:34 it was good, I had my family there, it was really enjoyable, but really it's just an
00:39 honor.
00:40 Did you know you were going to win like before or was that a total surprise when they announced
00:43 it?
00:44 Did they give you a little heads up?
00:46 No, they really don't give you a heads up, I almost, to be truthful, I almost stayed
00:51 home so I just, I was forced to get on the plane and go on there and just to do respect
00:57 for the Broyles and that, but it was hard after, you know, the game you just went through
01:02 and then you got to turn around and head down to Little Rock, but no, they just kind of,
01:07 they treat you just like everything else, you go through a routine and you're there
01:10 for maybe 24 hours, you know, and they ship you back.
01:14 So you didn't think you were going to win?
01:16 Well it's very hard to do the things, you look at the guys that were on there, you know,
01:22 pretty impressive group of guys and it was four, I think it was four offensive guys and
01:27 one defensive guy, it's kind of a little bit outnumbered a little bit, so, but it was good,
01:32 I knew, you know, Mike Dunbrock was a guy that I was a GA with at Michigan State so
01:37 it was kind of interesting to see him there and we had time to talk about the things where
01:42 he's been and where I've been.
01:43 You're kind of in the background a lot of times, do you enjoy being in the background
01:47 and not in the spotlight and just doing your job?
01:51 Well I think, you know, why you got into coaching was to help young kids, you know, it's more
01:55 about them, I mean really what I do is just try to help kids to play at the fullest, best
02:01 potential they have and hopefully I can get them there.
02:03 If I don't, it's kind of like a failure on mine, so some kids don't get it, some kids
02:08 do reach their full potential, but I never got into it for awards or anything like that,
02:13 I just rather coach my guys and leave me alone, you know, sorry about that.
02:20 You have several guys on the defensive side who could come back next year, you know, Cooper,
02:24 but also Jay and Sebastian, guys like that, do you talk to them about their decisions?
02:29 What do you tell them?
02:30 Very little I talk to them, you know, and one thing, everybody has to make their decisions
02:34 in life what they want to do and just for example, like Cooper, you know, obviously
02:38 he's very highly rated, first round pick and what does he want to do and the one thing
02:44 you do, it's your life, I'm not going to be mad either way, you earned the right to make
02:49 that decision, other guys, you try to talk to them and say, hey, sometimes it could be
02:53 your last time playing, you know, in college ball and not everybody makes it in the pros,
02:58 it's very rare, so you got to make your own decisions for your own reasons and it's kind
03:02 of like what I've done for my career, you know, I do the same thing, I make my decisions
03:06 based on what I think is important to my family.
03:08 You talk about Castro and his rise, I mean, I haven't seen a safety close like he does,
03:15 where did that come from, that improvement?
03:17 I think it comes within, you know, we watched him when he was in high school, he's a guy
03:22 that's very active and one thing, he's full go, once he sees where the ball is going,
03:26 he knows how to get there and knows what angles to take and usually when he comes there, he
03:31 gets in there with a good attitude of, you know, wants to deliver a blow and that's one
03:35 thing if everybody would do that, you know, at all times, it would be really interesting,
03:39 you know, to see how we would be then, but you know, it's hard to do that every day,
03:44 you know, and he's just one of those guys that has it in him, he loves a game of football
03:48 and you know, it's a simple game, tackle the guy with the ball and he knows, he sees where
03:53 the ball is and he goes, goes fast and hard.
04:00 I know it was a special teams play, but one of the players you recruited and as a backup,
04:05 Cohen entering this play.