Bowling Green State University Athletics
Urban Meyer Press Conference
March 30, 2001 | Football
March 30, 2001
Urban Meyer Press Conference Comments:
On being ready to start practice. "What I've been telling people is that the easiest way to relate to what we've been going through as a staff is to imagine my 10 and 12 year old daughters looking at a Christmas present and not being allowed to open it. We're going to rip that thing open tomorrow and I'm either going to sit down tomorrow night with my wife and tell her everything is going to be alright, or say, Oh Lord, that's not the present I wanted. So, hopefully it's going to be a positive experience."
On raising the team's work ethic. "If you look at our team, my biggest concern about where we're at as a football team is that the work ethic is nowhere near where it needs to be, but it has significantly improved. I'm appreciative we're not playing Missouri tomorrow, or in two weeks. You still have your six months to develop that (the work ethic)."
"When you deal with a team like ours, they think they're working hard, but they're doing the same thing that every school in the country is doing. Even when we make it real hard on them, they think they are doing above and beyond, and they need to understand that this is Division IA, big-time college football."
"There's a certain standard that I'm familiar with and I'm not changing, and our coaching staff is not changing. They (the players) need to raise their level and we have not achieved that. Hopefully, this time in August, when we get together before the season starts, I'm going to look at you and say, we're there. Hopefully the Tuesday or Wednesday before the first game, you'll really see it in my eyes and my coaching staff's eyes that we're there. If we had to play tomorrow, then we'd have no chance."
On his coaching staff. "The one thing I am pleased about is our coaching staff, because they're a bunch of new guys that come from a bunch of different parts of the country and different programs, and everybody has different ideas. I feel like we're all on the same page, and the first part of putting together a good program is having nine guys believe in what the head coach believes in and coordinators who believe in what the head coach is doing. Everyone is hearing the same languages. If you have different languages from different people, then you have divisions on the team. With us, that's a non-issue. Now you can concentrate on other things. I've been a part of staffs where that's not been the case."
On starting spring practice a week late. "We started spring late for a reason. I know most of the schools in Ohio and across the nation have started. We tried to get that extra week in the weight room. I think strength gains are not where they need to be. "
"We had that extra week (in the weight room) and along with these 15 practices that will be huge."
"If we don't make significant strides in the weight room, then we're not going to be competitive. We're in the process of hiring a new strength coach and revamping the whole strength program. It's not acceptable, and it's a big issue that our whole coaching staff is involved in. We started spring late to get that extra week in the weight room. I'm glad we did, but we still have a long way to go."
On the team's depth chart "There's no depth chart set. We're going to start spring ball with a preliminary set. When I took the job, I said that everybody needs to earn their spot on the depth chart during the off-season program. We've done that to that point where a depth chart is posted in the morning, and that is strictly based on their off-season performance, not from last year or two years ago. It's what they've shown thus far."
Positions of interest the media should be aware of.
"The quarterback position is wide open. Andy Sahm will take the first snap because he earned it in his off season conditioning. It has nothing to do with what he did last year or that he started last year. There's two other guys right on his tail, Josh Harris and the guy who might be one of the most impressive guys on our team, is our third quarterback, David Azzi. I haven't seen him throw a ball, but Azzi is a guy that you like to see on the field."
"Linebacker is the one position on our team where I think there's some depth. Whenever you have depth, the competition for spots picks up the level of play. I will be disappointed if the linebackers aren't one of the strengths of our team. I see six guys that can run around and move, and that's what you look for. It has nothing to do with putting on the pads, because I haven't seen them do it."
"Offensive line is the weakest part of our team. A year ago, that was obvious. The 15 practices with these two new line coaches are going to be imperative to see improvement, for us to be successful. Once again, there's no depth chart at offensive line, so there are going to be guys moving all over the place until we find the five right guys."
"Wide receiver: If we want to do what Coach (Gregg) Brandon wants to do on offense, that's spread the field, you need playmakers and you need numbers. You can't do a spread set if you don't have numbers out there. So, that's going to be significant to develop numbers and develop playmakers."
"My concern at running back is how good are we. I have no idea. Tape from last year shows me that we're not very good. You watch guys work in the off-season, there should be a chance we have some players."
On practice tempo "As an assistant coach for 14 years, I would always try to share with the staff my ideas. In 24 or 25 periods of practice, it becomes impossible to maintain the kind of tempo. It becomes phony when you hear coaches screaming and yelling and guys are supposed to be going hard for 25 periods. It's physically impossible for a coach or player to do that. I think the players and coaches need to learn that when we go from a teach tempo to a game tempo, you turn up the heat a little bit. That's coaching and everything. Everyone's demeanor changes when you hit a competitive drill, hopefully you're going to see that when you come out to practice, that when we step into that arena or scrimmage situation, I don't want it to be a regular practice, I want it to be absolute bedlam. Hopefully that will carry over to when take the field for our first game."
"Our offense will be without question way behind the defense. As an offensive coach, it's difficult for me to accept that, but that's going to happen for two reasons. We have a completely new staff, a completely new scheme, and not many starters coming back on offense. On defense, you have the same defensive coordinator, although we've changed drastically in certain areas. It's going to be similar, but we also have some returning starters, and I'm impressed with the work ethic on defense right now."
On the players character in adapting to a new coaching staff. "I think that's how you build a program. This program last year lost a lot of games in the fourth quarter. They were close, but there's a multiple amount of reasons that they didn't finish. Every time they've been around our coaches, they've had to make the decision to be part of the program. These 18 and 19-year-old kids had to sit down and decide if it was worth it. If it hasn't gone through every kids mind, then we're not pushing them hard enough. I'm proud to say that we only lost three guys. That shows what kind of character that some of these kids have. Pads go on Wednesday, if when they put on the pads, they're still thinking, Oh Lord, what's going to happen today, we'll find out what happens after that. But, we've been successful with the kids who've decided to stay with us."
