New Kansas Jayhawks defensive backs coach D.K. McDonald speaks with the media during spring practices.
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00:00What's it been like bringing you to them and them to you and that adjustment period so far?
00:06It's been really good. It's been really good. They're great young men.
00:09They love football. They love to compete. And they really enjoy being around each other. So
00:14they make it really easy. Make it easy to work. When guys love football, it's an easy thing. So
00:19it's been fun. Just the relationships we've had, the conversations privately that we've had
00:24about football and what it takes to be great in this game and just great as people. So
00:28those guys have reached out to me a lot. And it's been a great relationship so far. So I'm
00:32just excited to see it build. And they got tons of talent. So that's an exciting part too. You're
00:37always a better coach with better players. Did you do homework on that before deciding
00:41this was the place for you? Like ask other people about some of the personnel and not staff,
00:46but players? A little bit, but a lot of it was the staff. The big thing about the job is just
00:53being around great people. You want to be around great people, people like mine, people who love
00:56the game of football and love young men. I want to see them be successful on and off the field.
01:00So that's really what it was, just being around coach and the rest of the staff and kind of
01:04researching the staff more than the players. Then once when I got here, the players were just icing
01:09on the cake. Just the type of people that they were. Like I said, the way that they love football
01:13and want to compete and be the best they can be. And kind of the proof is in the pudding. Like if
01:17you're around football, you know who Mello and Kobe are. So that's not hard. I heard a lot about
01:22them even at the next level. How do you feel like you grew as a coach in your time in the NFL
01:28that you're now like bringing back with you to the college level? The biggest things that you learn
01:33is just it's all football, like everybody says. It's just a lot of football, but dealing with
01:39people is, you know, dealing with people. You operate with people. That doesn't change at any level
01:44that it is. So that was good. It's just a different way of teaching, doing schemes, and helping guys
01:50be successful with some things that we learn, which was fun. It was fun to be in the playoffs
01:56for three years. It was fun to be in the Super Bowl one year. So those are memories that I always
02:00take with me. With the coaching aspect of getting to know the coaching staff, when you're doing the
02:05research, what stood out about his coaching staff here at Coach Lightpole College? Just talking to
02:11a lot of people around the country, you could tell that Coach Lightpole really cared about
02:15people, and that's important to me. This wasn't a cookie-cutter program where people were just a
02:21number. I'm kind of trying to run them through and just trying to get them on the field. Like, he
02:25really cared about the guys, and so that was really important to me. Most of the guys that I've coached
02:30with have been those type of guys, so that's what I'm attracted to, and that's what really attracted
02:34me to the guys. Then you get around guys like Coach Borland, Coach Simpson, you know, those other guys
02:39on the defensive staff. They're the same way. There's not egos here. Everybody's just trying
02:44to go north and win football games to help these guys graduate and be successful, and so
02:49I've had a lot of opportunities, but this one was the most attractive to me just for the simple
02:53fact of how they care about people and how they go about doing quote-unquote business. That was
02:58big to me, and it's proven on the field. I mean, they have won a lot of games in these last two years.
03:02They've won bowl games, and that's because these guys behind me and on the field, they care about
03:09each other, and the coaches care about them in the shows. You know these guys all want to get where
03:13you just were, and I wonder, does that give you any extra street cred with them? Like they look at
03:19you different, say he's been in the NFL. That helps me understand that this guy knows, and I'm
03:25going to use him, and I mean, have you seen any of that yet, especially like Melo and Kobe?
03:30Oh, you've seen the questions with everybody, you know, because that's the goal. I mean, every guy here
03:33wants to play at that level, and so just being there does give you some credibility of just, hey,
03:39I've been here. I can show film during a meeting of what I've coached and what guy's done, you know,
03:44and I was fortunate enough at that level to coach, you know, Darius Slade, who's been an all-pro and
03:49a pro bowl guy, you know, and just a lot of other guys at that level. So, you know, I can kind of
03:54give some examples to Melo, to Kobe about that, and it's been really good. They've just been
03:59eating it up, and it's fun to see their growth, and it's going to be fun to see them going out
04:02of this place playing the best football.