(We talked to him before his appearance in the big room, so it's an additional Q&A.)
Q: First SEC Media Days. Are you excited?
A: Yeah, obviously, if it’s media days, that means the season’s right around the corner. That’s the company line, but it’s true. We’re closer to getting on the grass, I’m happy with where we are and I’m excited about the future.
Q: What has you excited about what you’ve done in the offseason?
A: Probably that it’s been a very quiet offseason. We talked a lot about going to work and improving and enhancing our program and I think we’ve been able to do that. I think when you’re not hearing about programs in April, May, June, it’s usually a good thing.
Q: Can you talk about anything specifically that you feel good about…from the time you took the job to going into August camp?
A: I think the buy-in for the things we want to do. The things we want to do are a little different from a culture standpoint in the way we want to attack the game of football. The buy-in we’ve gotten from the players has been really good.
Q: How do they show that buy-in?
A: Their enthusiasm, their energy, their hard work. The attitude and morale in and around the building. There’s a real positive energy around our building right now.
Q: The future schedule is yet to be determined, but should it include Texas A&M and Texas playing every year?
A: Oh, yeah, I can’t see why we wouldn’t do that. When you have two programs like that in the same state, I certainly would be a priority game to get on the schedule.
Q: That game is going to be played on a Saturday this year. Do you like that or would you rather it be played on Thanksgiving day like it was for so many years?
A: I kind of leave that to the decision makers. I know historically that’s meant a lot to our fanbase and also know that television has changed. I heard commissioner Sankey talk about this the other day, that Thursday has become an NFL day from start to finish and you’re starting to see more games moved to Friday or Saturday.
Q: This game, obviously it’s at the end of the season, but these players haven’t been a part of it. Do you have a sense on how much this game matters to them, since they haven’t played in it?
A: Obviously, this is a huge talking point for you guys, but our focus is on today, not on Thanksgiving weekend right now. Long before Thanksgiving weekend, we’ve got to focus on Notre Dame. I think it’s only natural that when schools are so close proximally and there’s a connection with so many players on the rosters, obviously a lot of their players and a lot of our players played together, grew up together, that always enhances rivalry. Everyone knows what that games means to Texas A&M fans and what it means to Texas fans.
Q: Does opening with a school like Notre Dame increase the level of focus than possibly starting with an FCS team?
A: I think it goes both ways. Sometimes, as a coach, you want a game where you have a little bit of a larger margin, but also that ability to reconnect your players after the dog days of fall camp (is important). It doesn’t take much when you have a huge magnitude game … you understand the importance of coming out fast out of the gate.
Q: It’s pretty rare to bring a sophomore to SEC Media Days. What is it about Taurean (York) that made you think he can handle that responsibility?
A: I thought it was important for us to bring our captains. A new program and our first year and first time doing this, leadership is something we’ve talked a lot about, culture is something we’ve talked a lot about. Bringing them here to media days for the first one made sense. We’ve talked a lot about how tremendous a kid Taurean is, he’s a high character kid, he’s extremely well-spoken, he has the respect of everyone in that locker room and represents everything we want Texas A&M to stand for, so it makes sense.
Q: Was there excitement when you told him he was getting the nod?
A: Yeah, I think all three guys who are here were really excited. I think Taurean’s story, you’ve heard about the chip on his shoulder and it didn’t go as natural and as easy as some kids in the recruiting process to not only get to a school like Texas A&M, but to have the success that he had, then to be honored to be a captain and be here, it’s come together really well for him.
Q: There’s been a lot of heat around the program the past couple of years. How much of your job was coming in and lowering the temperature and getting back to normalcy?
A: At times when we got there it felt like we were on a ship taking on water and it was rocky and that’s not the world you want to live in. But we were able to stablize that and tried to get it a little bit quieter. We talked about that, and getting the kids doing the day-to-day things you want them to do is usually what eliminates a lot of that noise. That’s the world you want to live in, where things are a little bit quieter.
Q: Did that have any effect on when on the type of guys you went after in the portal?
A: When you talk about successful organizations, whether it’s sports, business, football, whatever, culture matters. When you talk about enhancing your product, culture has a lot to do with that. Really early on, we started talking about that, what we wanted our culture to be, what we wanted it to look like. When you recruit, you have to recruit to that culture. Whether it’s high school kids, transfer kids, it doesn’t really matter. In order to get it to look the way you want it to look, you have to be very careful about who you bring into your organization.
Q: Did you get the sense that the players felt like a change of culture was needed?
A: We haven’t talked about the past at all. It’s all about the future and moving forward.
Q: One group that proverbially took on whatever over the past couple of years is the offensive line. You’ve brought in coach Cushing; what have you seen from that group that makes you think we won’t see a repeat of the last year or year before that?
A: I just think kids have pride. It’s not lost on them that we haven’t been what we wanted to be or what we’re capable of. You can pull on those strings. I think they’ve all worked extremely hard. They’ve made great strides in the weight room, and that was important and needed; I think they’re in better shape physically than they’ve been in at this point in previous years and a lot of that is health-related. Look at Trey Zuhn, who’s here with us. He hasn’t had a healthy offseason (until now). For him to have a truly healthy offseason from start to finish and build into camp, as opposed to have a lot of guys who are trying to get to camp and trying to get healthy, that’ll play a big role.
Q: How has Conner’s healthy progression been like this offseason and what is he capable of if he’s healthy throughout the duration of the season?
A: I think we’re all excited to see it. He’s healthy now, like I said he would be. We knew it was coming, it just wasn’t there as quick as we needed to be for spring ball. You guys were a lot more worried about that than ever I was; I’ve been trying to calm you guys down about that for a while. He’s running now, he’s full speed and doing everything from an athletic standpoint – he’s running, conditioning, cutting and all that. I think he’s getting confident with where his body is. When you come back from an injury, it takes a mental toll on you too. These kids want to play and certainly Conner doesn’t want to sit out, doesn’t want to be unhealthy for spring. It takes a toll on you. With him being healthy now, able to go out there, you’re starting to see that energy, to start coming into himself and that’s going to be critical for us this fall.
Q: Do you see any competition this fall with Conner or are you preparing for him to be the starting quarterback on day one of camp?
A: He’s definitely going to be the starter on day one of camp, but there’s competition at every position. I don’t think you ever want to have anything locked in. We’ve told Trey Zuhn, we’ve told Taurean York, we’ve told Shemar Turner that you don’t want a program where the best players doesn’t play. Conner’s our guy, we have a lot of confidence in Conner and it’s going to take a heck of a job for someone to (beat him out).
Q: When this team kicks off against Notre Dame, what do you want people to see from this football team?
A: I want to see a program that represents Texas A&M the right way. A lot of passion, a lot of energy, a lot of physicality, a lot of spirit and goes out there and plays the game the way we’re capable of. I think we all know that if we get this played the way we’re supposed to, we can be very successful.
Q: First SEC Media Days. Are you excited?
A: Yeah, obviously, if it’s media days, that means the season’s right around the corner. That’s the company line, but it’s true. We’re closer to getting on the grass, I’m happy with where we are and I’m excited about the future.
Q: What has you excited about what you’ve done in the offseason?
A: Probably that it’s been a very quiet offseason. We talked a lot about going to work and improving and enhancing our program and I think we’ve been able to do that. I think when you’re not hearing about programs in April, May, June, it’s usually a good thing.
Q: Can you talk about anything specifically that you feel good about…from the time you took the job to going into August camp?
A: I think the buy-in for the things we want to do. The things we want to do are a little different from a culture standpoint in the way we want to attack the game of football. The buy-in we’ve gotten from the players has been really good.
Q: How do they show that buy-in?
A: Their enthusiasm, their energy, their hard work. The attitude and morale in and around the building. There’s a real positive energy around our building right now.
Q: The future schedule is yet to be determined, but should it include Texas A&M and Texas playing every year?
A: Oh, yeah, I can’t see why we wouldn’t do that. When you have two programs like that in the same state, I certainly would be a priority game to get on the schedule.
Q: That game is going to be played on a Saturday this year. Do you like that or would you rather it be played on Thanksgiving day like it was for so many years?
A: I kind of leave that to the decision makers. I know historically that’s meant a lot to our fanbase and also know that television has changed. I heard commissioner Sankey talk about this the other day, that Thursday has become an NFL day from start to finish and you’re starting to see more games moved to Friday or Saturday.
Q: This game, obviously it’s at the end of the season, but these players haven’t been a part of it. Do you have a sense on how much this game matters to them, since they haven’t played in it?
A: Obviously, this is a huge talking point for you guys, but our focus is on today, not on Thanksgiving weekend right now. Long before Thanksgiving weekend, we’ve got to focus on Notre Dame. I think it’s only natural that when schools are so close proximally and there’s a connection with so many players on the rosters, obviously a lot of their players and a lot of our players played together, grew up together, that always enhances rivalry. Everyone knows what that games means to Texas A&M fans and what it means to Texas fans.
Q: Does opening with a school like Notre Dame increase the level of focus than possibly starting with an FCS team?
A: I think it goes both ways. Sometimes, as a coach, you want a game where you have a little bit of a larger margin, but also that ability to reconnect your players after the dog days of fall camp (is important). It doesn’t take much when you have a huge magnitude game … you understand the importance of coming out fast out of the gate.
Q: It’s pretty rare to bring a sophomore to SEC Media Days. What is it about Taurean (York) that made you think he can handle that responsibility?
A: I thought it was important for us to bring our captains. A new program and our first year and first time doing this, leadership is something we’ve talked a lot about, culture is something we’ve talked a lot about. Bringing them here to media days for the first one made sense. We’ve talked a lot about how tremendous a kid Taurean is, he’s a high character kid, he’s extremely well-spoken, he has the respect of everyone in that locker room and represents everything we want Texas A&M to stand for, so it makes sense.
Q: Was there excitement when you told him he was getting the nod?
A: Yeah, I think all three guys who are here were really excited. I think Taurean’s story, you’ve heard about the chip on his shoulder and it didn’t go as natural and as easy as some kids in the recruiting process to not only get to a school like Texas A&M, but to have the success that he had, then to be honored to be a captain and be here, it’s come together really well for him.
Q: There’s been a lot of heat around the program the past couple of years. How much of your job was coming in and lowering the temperature and getting back to normalcy?
A: At times when we got there it felt like we were on a ship taking on water and it was rocky and that’s not the world you want to live in. But we were able to stablize that and tried to get it a little bit quieter. We talked about that, and getting the kids doing the day-to-day things you want them to do is usually what eliminates a lot of that noise. That’s the world you want to live in, where things are a little bit quieter.
Q: Did that have any effect on when on the type of guys you went after in the portal?
A: When you talk about successful organizations, whether it’s sports, business, football, whatever, culture matters. When you talk about enhancing your product, culture has a lot to do with that. Really early on, we started talking about that, what we wanted our culture to be, what we wanted it to look like. When you recruit, you have to recruit to that culture. Whether it’s high school kids, transfer kids, it doesn’t really matter. In order to get it to look the way you want it to look, you have to be very careful about who you bring into your organization.
Q: Did you get the sense that the players felt like a change of culture was needed?
A: We haven’t talked about the past at all. It’s all about the future and moving forward.
Q: One group that proverbially took on whatever over the past couple of years is the offensive line. You’ve brought in coach Cushing; what have you seen from that group that makes you think we won’t see a repeat of the last year or year before that?
A: I just think kids have pride. It’s not lost on them that we haven’t been what we wanted to be or what we’re capable of. You can pull on those strings. I think they’ve all worked extremely hard. They’ve made great strides in the weight room, and that was important and needed; I think they’re in better shape physically than they’ve been in at this point in previous years and a lot of that is health-related. Look at Trey Zuhn, who’s here with us. He hasn’t had a healthy offseason (until now). For him to have a truly healthy offseason from start to finish and build into camp, as opposed to have a lot of guys who are trying to get to camp and trying to get healthy, that’ll play a big role.
Q: How has Conner’s healthy progression been like this offseason and what is he capable of if he’s healthy throughout the duration of the season?
A: I think we’re all excited to see it. He’s healthy now, like I said he would be. We knew it was coming, it just wasn’t there as quick as we needed to be for spring ball. You guys were a lot more worried about that than ever I was; I’ve been trying to calm you guys down about that for a while. He’s running now, he’s full speed and doing everything from an athletic standpoint – he’s running, conditioning, cutting and all that. I think he’s getting confident with where his body is. When you come back from an injury, it takes a mental toll on you too. These kids want to play and certainly Conner doesn’t want to sit out, doesn’t want to be unhealthy for spring. It takes a toll on you. With him being healthy now, able to go out there, you’re starting to see that energy, to start coming into himself and that’s going to be critical for us this fall.
Q: Do you see any competition this fall with Conner or are you preparing for him to be the starting quarterback on day one of camp?
A: He’s definitely going to be the starter on day one of camp, but there’s competition at every position. I don’t think you ever want to have anything locked in. We’ve told Trey Zuhn, we’ve told Taurean York, we’ve told Shemar Turner that you don’t want a program where the best players doesn’t play. Conner’s our guy, we have a lot of confidence in Conner and it’s going to take a heck of a job for someone to (beat him out).
Q: When this team kicks off against Notre Dame, what do you want people to see from this football team?
A: I want to see a program that represents Texas A&M the right way. A lot of passion, a lot of energy, a lot of physicality, a lot of spirit and goes out there and plays the game the way we’re capable of. I think we all know that if we get this played the way we’re supposed to, we can be very successful.
