The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Will Muschamp press conference transcript: Jan. 11
01.11.2008 | Football
HEAD COACH Mack Brown
Opening statement: Let me recap a little of things that have occurred after the season, since we have not been able to meet since the bowl game. Forty-three of the young men on our team finished with a over a 3.0 this semester, eight with over a 4.0, 15 of the seniors had graduated before the bowl game and all 24 will graduate by June. We're excited about those numbers. Obviously it was very important for us to get that 10th win out in San Diego. That's our seventh straight year and a top 10 finish in five out of the last seven years. It not only finished a great run for these seniors with a National Championship, a conference championship and winning four straight bowl games, but also we feel like it can be a great start up for this spring for next year. Our goal obviously continues to be to win all of our games and win another National Championship because that is something that we really enjoyed and something that it is important to this place and we want to continue to move forward to do that.
Two juniors since the game have said that they are going to the NFL. They can't really declare until the 14th. They declare on the 14th and if they don't have an agent, they have 72 hours to re-think that decision. Both of these young men have told us they are leaving and going to the NFL and so you will know what we do has not changed in 24 years except hopefully we are better at it. Our job is to gather information for each of these young guys and their families. It's not to encourage them to stay or to go and it's really not to make a determination of whether of if they did the right thing of the wrong thing. It is the families' decision completely and the worse thing we could possibly do is talk someone into coming back who doesn't want to be back and then they do not have a great senior year. We have won 10 games with whoever has been here for seven years and when one leaves, we want to thank him for all the things he has done for us and it's a great opportunity for him. I think we have 33 current guys in the NFL, but at the same time, we want to tell them to come back and get their degree and at the same time it gives other guys the opportunity to step up just like they were in that position three years ago when somebody else might have left. We are seeing more juniors leave than ever before. We asked all of our juniors to be evaluated by the NFL, the stack is getting so high now that the NFL committee that evaluates them is taking so much more time because it's hard to get to them. You turn on the TV at night and there are three more juniors gone; it's happening. For whatever reason more are leaving than ever before and it will probably encourage us to do with the potential of 14 games and more juniors leaving is to not red-shirt as many. We will probably play more guys in their first year anticipating that we will have more leave after their third year and that's okay. If the worse thing that happens is a young man comes in and has a great career goes to the NFL and makes a lot of money, it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing.
Some guys that got hurt through the season or were hurt during the bowl game have been operated on during the last three or four days. Also it's very unique, but nine new guys are on campus today as early enrollees. Much of my afternoon will be spent with those guys. Because of some of the issues we had this summer, more issues across the county with social issues with kids, and things like today with players coming in early, Bill Powers DeLoss (Dodds), and I have decided to add a new position to our department. The new positions is basically and high school relations and player development position. There are a lot of issues with young people across the county and we want to address them. It sure doesn't mean we won't have any more issues. When you have 130 kids in society you're going to have problems because they are at a learning stage in their life, they're in a decision making stage in their life and they make choices sometimes that aren't good. I still make some that aren't good at (age) 56, in some cases. What we felt is really try to take an aggressive approach to our problems this summer. Coach Rucker obviously had the prostate cancer earlier in the year, it was amazing to see the emotional outpour that our team had when he came back from his cancer, and we were not thinking about him for this position at all. Out at the bowl game he got the Admirals Award, which is an award on the ship that is given to a guy that has gone way beyond on the staff and has influenced peoples lives and it was a unanimous vote. When he got up for the award all the running backs got up and stood behind him to take pictures. Now either they were arrogant and they wanted their picture taken (laughing) or they liked him. To see an entire team cry when you tell them a guy has cancer and when you see them cry when he comes back and then to see that group go up after an award. Sally told me you know the right guy for this job is Ken Rucker because you look at the influence he has on his kid's lives.
Ken and (his wife) Nancy are around coaching to influence kids. They're very spiritual, they're the nicest two people I have ever met, they do influence kids lives and Ken came to me with a list of things that he thought would be really important in this job because we're still developing this position. We think only Georgia has a high school relations position in the county and we're getting a lot of calls from other schools wanting to know what this is and saying they're going to need this. Ken and Nancy sat down with me earlier in the week and said this was something they wanted to think about and Wednesday they said they wanted to do it. It's really exciting for us because they will have an office downstairs (in Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletics Facility), they will be around the kids during study hall and they will eat lunch and dinner with them. We did institute a curfew, it's hard for the off-campus kids, but we did at the end of the year, we did for the bowl game. It's something that Ken and Nancy will be checking rooms at night. We feel like it's an extra set of eyes downstairs and Ken and Nancy feel like her as a very supportive wife can be extended parents for these kids and at the same time while other guys are working on game plans, they can be working on player development. You get so busy now with coaching that some of the other things in some cases may slip. I'm very excited about the addition of these two. They will be here helping with the summer program. We feel like it's a win-win and something that will really help across the country, and I hope before it's over all the universities that can afford it, do that, and DeLoss Dodds and Bill Powers were 100 percent on board.
As far as the running backs job is concerned, I was at the convention and just got home, we have nine freshmen in so I really haven't thought about it. What I do in these positions as a head coach is I ask our staff to give me five names, they discuss it, I ask them to prioritize and tell me why those five names are important. I haven't done anything on it, haven't talked to anyone and haven't talked to the staff about it because I got home yesterday afternoon late.
DIRECTOR OF HIGH SCHOOL RELATIONS AND PLAYER DEVELOPMENT Ken Rucker
On how important he thinks this new position is: It's very important, they have needs just like your own children do and to have an extra set of eyes on staff to be there for them 24/7 is something that is very important for us. As coach (Brown) mentioned, the summer time is a vital time and it's important that we be around them at that time. It's important for us to be around them, and they open up to you. They want discipline in their life and it's up to us.
On if the new position is more about their personal life or academic life: It's the whole nine yards. I won't be heading up the academics because Brian Davis and Jean Bryant and their staff do a tremendous job in that aspect. I will be downstairs (in Moncrief-Neuhaus) to be close to them and to be there for them. I won't aid in that regard other than the fact that I'll talk to them and make sure they're in class doing the things they need to be doing and being accountable.
On what's on his list for the new position: Well, it's a long list, but you try to combine a lot of the things into one. One thing is spiritual growth and be available in that regard, because that is all part of growing, too, and behavior. Being able to be in the dorm with them is very vital and to know where they are living and how they're living, their wants and their dislikes and likes are very important.
On if this is going to be the most meaningful or toughest job he's ever had: I've been doing it for 32 years and we raised a daughter that is 36 and have been married 37 years, so I feel like I have had some experience with it and it's something that we have been doing all along, bits and pieces, but when you're coaching a position, you can't devote all your time to what you really want to do. This is something that we felt we have been lead to and we thought and prayed on it. Coach has been so great to open up and go to DeLoss Dodds and open this position for us. I believe it's going to be a win-win situation for everyone.
On his wife Nancy helping: She has always helped. Any coach will tell you the better half is the person behind the scenes. She's the coach in my life and she's going to be very influential.
On the high school aspect of the position: It's high school relations, but at the same time I can't recruit off-campus and those kinds of things, but I'll be here for them when they call and those kinds of things. I'll be in position to help them.
On the rules and regulations with contact with the student-athletes during summer: As long as they're on campus we're fine, they're ours, they have already signed. We have dead periods like we're going through now as far as our signees, and the guys that are on campus we can be around them. They have their workout schedules but we are always available for them.
On if he will travel with the team: Oh yes, nothing has changed. Coach is letting me be Ken Rucker other than the coaching and the recruiting.
On if it was a tough decision to take this position: You know, 32 years of coaching I'll be honest with you, you have to step back and look at what you have done. Football has been my life, but there is another part of it, too, that we felt we were led to do and when you take the emotion out of it, it makes a lot of sense to do what we're doing.
On his health: My health is great. Health has nothing to do with it. Coach knows that I've been strong since the second week of the season. I got my strength back gradually and it hasn't been a problem. I'm great.
Mack Brown (again)
On the rules and regulations of the new position: Ken can't coach them; he will not coach on the field. He'll walk around and hug their neck, those types of things, but he will not meet with them about football. We're still working with compliance to see exactly what Ken can do with the high school coaches, obviously Nancy's part in this position is like Sally's with mine, she'll be there and be supportive, but she's not being hired for this position, Nancy is a full-time nurse so she has all she needs now. Ken's involvement will be personal. He can't make recruiting calls. One thing that is important is that Ken will stay on the road and continue to recruit until we hire a running backs coach and he can do that until the day that we hire. The moment we hire, Ken has to be back in (the office) even if the new coach is not out (recruiting). This position has been approved for a long time.
On the curfew: The problem with instituting curfew is that half of our team lives off-campus. We had to text them and tell them, 'It's 10 (p.m.), get in.' You have to have some trust and obviously the problem is that unless (the media) finds them out or someone tells us they are out, it has to be a trust factor. Our kids were in every night during the bowl game, every one of them and no one was late. We can have a curfew in the dorm and I asked the commander of the ship when Ken got his award if he let these sailors get off the ship and he said, 'No, they work for us.' So the guys in the dorms, we can make sure they're in, the guys out of the dorm we have to ask them to be honest.
The reasons why he hired Coach Muschamp: I have been following Will's progress. We played them in an early 2000 bowl game. When you look at three of the great coaches, Tony Dungy and what he has done on defense and he was involved with Monte Kiffin and then you look at what Bill Belichick has been able to do is just phenomenal. Those guys are just taking over and doing something that a lot of coaches can't continue to do, and that's win, year after year. Nick Saban comes from Bill Belickick's program. Will, who was a great player played with two of our staff members, George Wynn and Donnie Maib and played for Greg Davis and Mac McWhorter. Nick Saban has done a tremendous job in being a head football coach, he's won a National Championship. He's won everywhere he has been. Then you look at what Tommy Tuberville has done, Tommy has been a great defensive coach as an assistant, he won at Ole Miss and now he's done a tremendous job at Auburn, and people forget that Will worked for Roy Kidd who is probably the winningest football coach in I-AA football up at Eastern Kentucky. Then you also mix in the year that Will worked for the Dolphins. There is a lot of experience in a short period of time, he's high energy, he's tough, he coaches like he played, he's really aggressive, he's smart and everyone that I have talked to says he is as good at adjusting to his talent and to what the other team is doing during the ball game as anybody possibly can be.
He is friends with Gene Chizik which really helped us because he could talk to Gene about his transition from Auburn to Texas, and when Will went into Auburn, he kept a lot of the names and thoughts that Gene had to have continuity in the Auburn program. He worked with Richard Smith at Miami and Richard worked with Duane at Arizona, so they are very close. There are a lot of ties with Will.
Duane will be the assistant head coach; Duane is the ultimate staff guy. Duane has been involved with all the coaches that have been hired. This was a real natural hire if he would come. Will's dad is a retired high school football coach, Will's brother is a high school football coach in Atlanta, so the minute he got here on campus I asked Coach Royal to come over and recruit him. I thought that had an impact on Will.
Is Will a coach in waiting for me? I'm probably going to wait until I'm 78 before we do that. Will is one of the really bright young guys in America that will be head coach when he wants to be. He turned down jobs this year. He's one of those guys that wants to go where he has a chance to win a National Championship as a head coach. He met with the defensive staff and had a very good meeting with them and all of them came out of it saying they hoped he would come. If Will gets offered a head job that he wants next year, there is no better compliment to a program than a guy getting a head coaching job, and we can sure hire another one. That is great if that happens. We need more young coaches like Will to become head coaches. He's honest, he's tough, he's aggressive, the kids like him and he gets it. His long-term goals are to win a national championship here and I would hope that would present an opportunity for him to become a head coach at some point.
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR Will Muschamp
On his defensive style: I think physical and mental toughness is obviously an issue you want to be accredited with your defenses. There have always been some questions about the scheme. I've been exposed to a lot of different things. At LSU we were more of an attacking man coverage scheme because of the athletes we had. We matched up well with a lot of the people we played. We went to Miami and we couldn't cover a bucket of water. So we were more of a zone pattern match, had a hard time giving people negative plays. We went to Auburn and we were more of a man scheme my first year there. Then this past year we kind of went to more of a pattern match zone scheme and we couldn't give up big plays.
The two most critical factors in winning and losing games is turnover ratio and big-play ratio. Defensively, you can't give them up and offensively you have to make them to change the vertical field position. You can't give up turnovers and you have to get them on defense. When you really look at winning and losing football games, the teams that are going to the playoffs every year, the teams winning in the BCS every year are the teams that have those factors. Being good on defense is tackling well, playing in space and it's hard being a defensive coordinator nowadays because in college football, one week you face a spread offense that's going run the ball, the next week you're going to face a two-back power running game, the next week you're going to face a spread offense that's going to throw the ball, so each week you're changing schematically what you do and you have to be multiple in what you do. I hear a lot of coaches saying they're a man guy or I'm a zone guy well you better be multiple in what you do because you're going to play quarterbacks that are very effective in what they do and you look at the quarterbacks in this league, at Kansas, Missouri, Texas Tech and Oklahoma, they are all outstanding and they are all on our schedule next year. You have to be multiple in your scheme and what you do, you can't be one-sided in what you do and that's one thing you will see from us. We're going to be multiple; we're going to be fast, we're going to be physical, the kids are going to play hard or they're not going to play.
Schematically, I can't really go in and tell you what we're going to play, we're going to get 11 like coach (Brown) said, and if we ever have 12 we'll probably get a penalty and he'll find someone else (laughing). Your most important job as a coach, to me, is sitting down and evaluating your talent, evaluating your players and putting them in the best situation so they can be successful. You can't ask a kid to play man-to-man if you can't play man-to-man. You have to put your guys in the best situation where they can be successful. That's your job as a coach, and that's what we're going to try and do.
On why he chose to come to Texas: Well, when my wife and I flew out here, we met with Coach Brown and his wife Sally and met with DeLoss (Dodds) and President Bill Powers and we really felt like everyone was on board. Everyone is pushing the same direction here, everyone wants to be successful and they see the vision of winning the Big 12 Championship and winning the National Championship. We are going to do everything within our resources, which is obviously here from a facilities standpoint, to do that. Everyone is on board to do that and that really excited me.
On if he saw anything at Texas that he was excited about or ready to change: I only saw a little bit of the bowl game. We're so busy during the season you don't really see other teams play. If you play early in the morning, you have recruits in, so you're with recruits, and if you play at night, you're nervous all day so you don't watch many games. You always think about what's going wrong in your game. I just have great respect for Coach Brown and the job he has done in his 10 years here, and I know Greg Davis. Mac McWhorter recruited me out of high school, so that tells you how old he is (laughing) and then there are two guys I played with, (Assistant AD for Football Operations) George Wynn and (Strenghth and Conditioning Coach) Donnie Maib, so I have a personal relationship with those guys and of course I knew Gene (Chizik) when he came here. He did a great job here and won a national championship, so there were a lot of relationships, and personally I felt like it was the best decision for the Muschamp family, that's why we decided to do it.
On what advice Coach Chizik gave him about coming to Texas: He had nothing but positive things to say about Coach Brown and the Texas community, the fan base and fan support, the school, Austin is a great town to live in, and we're looking forward to moving.
On if he feels he has a better chance to win a National Championship here than at Auburn: I wouldn't say that. I think they are both great programs and they both have outstanding coaches and fan bases. It was a very difficult decision, but we just felt that personally for my family this was the best situation for us.
On when he made the decision to come to Texas: My wife and I were flying back and we just kind of talked about it and wrote the pros and cons down of the situation and what we felt like we were looking for. We decided this would be the best move for our family.
On his style of coaching during the game: I really enjoy the interaction with the players. That's important to me. The players have to respect you, but if they like you and they believe in what they are doing, they have a belief in your scheme, I think that a lot of that goes through track record. People can look back at LSU and see that we had pretty good defenses there, and they look at the Miami Dolphins and can say that they played pretty good defense in the NFL. You bring a little credibility with you with the players. They understand that you have been around some pretty good places and have played some pretty good ball. I'm a big believer in belief, and they believe in what you're doing and they believe in what you're telling them, they believe in 3rd-and-3 this is the call that's going to get us off the field. I think the players take the personality of how they are coached, and that's what I have believed for a long time. I want the kids to play hard, I want them to play relentless, I want them to play with toughness and I want them to strike for four quarters and that's what we are going to do.
On if he is a blitzing coach or an upfront kind of coach: I go back to game situations, game management, what do you need to do to win the game. If you win 3-0 you have done a lot to win the game. If you win 48-45 you did something to win the game and I think that I go back and evaluate the talent and evaluate what you think your kids can and cannot do. That is your most important job as a coach; to put them in situations they can be successful and be able to be prepared for all the things you face week to week during a season. We're going to pressure when we can pressure and we're going to pressure as much as we feel like we can at times. We're going to pick our points because too much chocolate cake can make you sick. You pressure too much and get blitz happy, they'll turn the scoreboard around on you real quick. You can't let the vertical field position change in big plays and that's what happens a lot when you pressure, so you pick your points and you have to be multiple. You have to be a good mix zone team, pattern match, play some middle field coverage and mix the things together.
On how familiar he is with the defensive personnel he has available: Not as well as I should be. They sent some DVDs to me this past week as I was helping my wife pack the house so I have watched some tape. I know they have recruited well; Coach Brown does a great job of evaluating. Of course the Texas talent is pretty unmatched as far as the kids that come to the colleges here, and we just have to go a good job of evaluating the players we have here and evaluate the ones we are recruiting and make sure we're taking the right ones.
On Coach Tommy Tuberville: Tommy is great. Tommy is a great boss, he's an outstanding football coach, his track record speaks for itself. He understood.
On if he wants to be a head coach someday: We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I took this job to be the defensive coordinator at Texas. That's really all I see here right now. I see being the defensive coordinator and doing a great job for this school, for Coach Brown, for these fans, for everybody that wants Texas to do well. That's my job and that's why I go to work every day. Too many guys in my profession worry about the next job. That means they don't always do a good job with the one the have. I'm going to do a great job, or try to do a great job and work hard for Texas as a defensive coordinator and if something comes along and it's something I think our family should look at, then we will. There have been a lot of opportunities and some opportunities for us up to this point we haven't felt like were the best opportunities for us.
On if it's going to be a clean slate with the players: I think it's a clean slate every day. What I mean is it is a day-to-day operation. It's consistency and performance defensively. You have to play well for a 12-week span during the season and hopefully 13, 14 and 15 games. It's consistency and performance and you try to promote that every day with your kids. If they understand they have to do it every single day, then it's really not hard for them to get up 12 Saturdays out of the fall and that's what I'm pushing for.
On why Texas fit: I think when you came on the visit and you see the facilities, the resources, you see the administration, everyone is sailing in the same direction. Again you look at the track record of Coach Brown, the respect I have for Greg Davis, Mac McWhorter, the people I've been involved with and the people I have a lot of respect for in this business, I really felt like this was the best place for us.
On Greg Davis: We obviously know each other very well, but I have great respect for Greg. It think he is an outstanding football coach, I think he does a great job of mixing the run and the pass, of doing enough to make sure you have a hard-nosed football team. To be able to run the ball on offense and stop the run on defense is something you have to practice and work on, it's not something you can just talk about, and I know he is committed to doing that. You're going to go into a game and you have to be able to look at an offensive coordinator and say, 'You need to light them up today.' You know as a coordinator going into a game that this may be a game we might struggle a little bit or this is a game you feel pretty good in so you free wheel a little bit and take some shots. I think that is a good working relationship and every coordinator I have been around has been that way. I have been very fortunate.
On how he has changed through his years coaching: I think at LSU we were talented and we had a belief and a scheme of pressure and we had a lot of success. When we went to Miami, we kind of said, 'Woah, we can't cover, we can't do some of the things we could do.' In the NFL you have to take the players you have and mold them to the scheme you think they can run. I think that was the biggest growth spurt for me as a coach was being in a situation where you're going to lineup and they're going to have better players at some positions, but you have to make the adjustments or be able to cover those guys up to be able to be successful defensively because the bottom line they're going to match their third receiver on your nickel and you can't win. The NFL was all ball, there were no classes, no recruiting, you were concentrating on football all the time, that is all you study and I think as a growth spurt that was in the NFL.
On if he enjoyed coaching in the NFL: I did enjoy it, we had a great organization and I did enjoy being in the NFL for the year I was there. Jason Taylor and Zac Thomas are the ultimate professionals. We had a great group of guys, great veterans and some of the guys were older than me, but they worked hard, and as long as they knew you could help them as a coach, they will do anything you ask. The perception of the NFL I had going in wasn't exactly what it was when I got there. It was a great learning experience.
On the highlights from last season with Auburn: We played pretty consistent through the year, other than the Georgia game, but I would say the Arkansas game was a game (that was a highlight). I think Darren McFadden was the best football player in college football this year, I think that Felix Jones is outstanding and I think that the year before that they had scored 27 points and had a good day running the football against us and we had a hard time stopping them. So to go in and play as well as we did up front and to go out and tackle as well as we did in space and get them down on the ground was what you could say was a highlight. We played well in spots through out the year, but that would probably be the one that stuck out in my mind.
On if he's always been on the sidelines:
Yes, I have always been down on the sidelines. I think from an adjustment standpoint, when you get into a situation where things aren't going well, I think the kids need to understand and they need to have a calming face of a guy telling them, 'This is what went wrong, this is what we need to do, this is the adjustment we're going to make and we're going to be fine.' Instead of sending it from the box to somebody, I like doing it from the sideline.
On the differences he sees between the SEC and the Big 12: A little more spread offenses in the Big 12. You look at Missouri and Kansas, the job they did this year was outstanding. Oklahoma does a good job with the mix and the two back and the spread. Mike Leach over there in Lubbock does a great job, and I'm very familiar with Oklahoma State and Larry Fedora from when he was with Florida. I thought Larry was a really good offensive football coach. He would give you a lot of problems throughout the week as far as preparation. Texas A&M with Mike Sherman will probably be more of a two back pro style, a little more of what you saw with the Texans I would imagine. I think you get more of a variety in this conference as opposed to the SEC. A lot of these offenses have guys back, they all have talent coming back and they all put a lot of numbers up this year.
LB Rashad Bobino
On Will Muschamp: I think he's a really good guy. He really knows what he's going to be doing. He's worked with all kinds of defenses from the NFL to college, he's coached on a National Championship team, and he's coached every defense you can name. I think he's going to be a great fit for us. I like his style. These days, you have to be energetic and aggressive because offenses are improving every year. I think he's going to fit very well, and it's going to be great to see what happens.
It means a lot as a senior to come in and meet a guy and feel comfortable with him. I really just can't wait to see what's going to happen. I think it's going to be great.
DE Brian Orakpo
On Will Muschamp: I think the hire of Coach Muschamp was a great hire. He comes from Auburn, and they always have a great defense. He brings that enthusiasm, being a young and very inspiring coach. He can bring his enthusiasm and combine it with Coach (Duane) Akina and Coach (Oscar) Giles and Coach Tolly (Mike Tolleson). I think it's really going to benefit us in the long run.
This is the second coach we've gotten from Auburn. Coach (Gene) Chizik was another great, high-energy coach, and we see a lot of Coach Chizik in Coach Muschamp. Coach Chizik had the defense for the National Championship year, and we feel like Coach Muschamp will do a lot for us in trying to get us to that level once again. That energy and excitement he brings will be great taking us into the spring and leading to the fall, as well.
RB Chris Ogbonnaya
On Ken Rucker: This is a great move for coach Rucker because not only do the running backs love him, but the whole team loves him. It will definitely be hard not having him coach the running backs, but he can do a lot of good in this new position. It's great that he will always be around and I think he will be most helpful to the young guys who are trying to get used to the differences between high school and college.
