Bowling Green State University Athletics
Interview With John Lovett
May 16, 2005 | Football
May 16, 2005
Q: How did you become involved with this position?
"At the time when I was at Louisiana Tech, I actually got a call from Coach Stud (assistant head coach Greg Studrawa) who was a GA at Cincinnati when I was there. We just talked and visited about the great season they had last year. Out of the blue, later he called me again when Tim [Beckman] left and asked me if I would be interested. To be honest with you I did not even think about it and just said yea, I think I would be. I did not know if it would go any further then that. I did not know if he was just throwing out a feeler or if coach had asked him. I did not know where any of this was coming from."
"We had another discussion a few days later. He talked about everything that had been going on here over the past couple of years. We talked about the Sebo Center and at that point I indicated to him that I would be interested in talking to the head coach."
Q: What did you see here that you like?
"There were a couple of things that hit me right in the face. I met four or five kids on the team and I was really impressed. I got a chance to talk to them and find out about their work ethic, aspirations and what's going on here. Those kids were really excited about this place, and they were fired up about the coaching staff. I told myself if these guys are that excited, there must be something good going on."
"Over the weekend I got to meet almost every one of the coaches and a couple of their wives. It is a tight knit group, like a family. You can tell there is a real trust and a real caring that emanates throughout the staff, which makes a great atmosphere to work in. This is a very stressful environment during the season and in recruiting and you have to trust one another. Those two things were really big factors that impressed me about this place.
Q: What is your defensive philosophy?
"When I was at Auburn we ran a 4-3 and when I was at Ole Miss we were a 4-3. When I went to Clemson, because of personnel, we went to a three-man front."
"We are going to find out who the best players are and get those guys into position where they can have some success. We will have a mixture of three and four man fronts especially in passing situations."
"My initial thought is not to come in here and do a lot of changing. My initial thought is to come in here and do subtle tweaking to make it better. They have a good solid program and I am not here to make a bunch of wholesale changes right now. I am here to get the best kids on the field and get them playing as well as they can."
