|
["In
the sport of football, you have to have a sense of urgency. It has
to be done now, because you never know when…" – Coach
Tomczak]
Let’s talk philosophy and styles!
Q:
Since you’re still evaluating personnel, I won’t ask you if you’re
going to run pro sets or out of the wishbone or what type of defensive
fronts will you go with. But, how would you characterize your coaching
philosophy?
A:
As far as position players, I’m more skilled in coaching receivers,
running backs and quarterbacks, and defensive backs. Fortunately, my
father was a football coach and I played a lot of different positions
for him. I played quarterback, tight end, linebacker, defensive end,
and in college I played defensive back.
One
of my strengths is in coaching special teams. My coach at Western
Illinois was Pete Rodriguez, who is now the special teams coach for
the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL. I was on special teams from my
sophomore through my senior year. I also was a pretty good punter.
If
I had to characterize my coaching philosophy as a whole, I’d like to
say that I’m a little bit more defensive oriented. I believe in
defense...that offense sells tickets, but that defense wins games. My
specialty is defense. I still have a lot to learn on offense.
Hopefully, I will be learning the rest of my career...that’s what
makes a great teacher and a great coach. I will be the one with the
headset on, and I will be calling the plays. I won’t call all the
plays solely, because I want input from all of my coaches. If they see
something going on and say, coach, the slant’s there or the safety’s
way over on the other side, I’m going to use their knowledge. We all
know that two heads are better than one.
 We’re not going to be
primarily a running team, but we do have to establish the rush. That’s
especially true in this conference. They may be a little stronger than
us and a little quicker. They all will have established running games.
The worst thing for an offense is to go three and out. It puts too
much pressure on the defense. We need to have long, sustained drives.
I want to have 10- to 15-play drives. The first time we get the ball,
we have to establish ourselves. We need to drive it down the field and
put some points up on the board. That’s a key to staying in a ball
game and winning a ball game. That first series we want to come away
with a field goal or better yet, a touchdown. Or at least take the
ball deep in their territory and pin them back. Those are some key
areas that are going to win football games.
(To
top of second column)
|
