Blue White Illustrated

A coach just left for the NFL from this job and there was rampant speculation that you would be having interviews with National Football League teams. What is it about the collegiate game that you enjoy the most? I had a great experience in my time in the NFL. I think it was something that was very important in my development, no doubt about it. But I'm a college guy. I'm a relationship guy. You guys are going to ask me what our offensive philosophy and defensive philosophy and special teams philosophy are. I really don't care. To me it's about people. I love kids. You're not going to find a coach who cares more about their players than me, and their complete development, academically, athletically, socially, spiritually, the whole package. That's what drives me. I didn't grow up saying I wanted to be a football coach. I got my undergraduate degree in psychology, I wanted to get my doctorate in psychiatry or psychology, and started to coach the game of football as a graduate assistant to get it paid for, and realized I could have just as much of an impact on people and kids' lives through the game of football than through psychology and psychiatry and caught the bug. That's what it's all about for me. That's why it was so difficult in leaving Vanderbilt, because those kids were my family. That's what we're going to build here. Were you a Penn State fan growing up? Did you go to games, things like that? Did you ever get a recruiting questionnaire from Penn State or any kind of look? I think I printed my own questionnaire off and filled it out and sent it in. They weren't sending it to me. But I think everybody in this state grows up as a Penn State fan. We didn't come to Penn State football games [because] I was playing. I was playing football games. I was out playing basketball. I was running around with my buddies in the neighborhood competing. It was something that these kids don't understand. They're sitting in the air conditioning, playing video games all day. We were out running the streets, playing basketball, competing. But, yeah, I grew up a Penn State fan. Always dreamed of this opportunity. And it's funny. Me and my wife were talking about it on the ride over here, and we discussed this when we first started dating about my dream jobs, and my answer to her was Penn State. I didn't know if I'd ever have the opportunity because I didn't think the guy who was coaching when I was growing up would ever leave. So I'm very, very proud to have this opportunity. You talked about realizing your passion for coaching early on in your career at schools like East Stroudsburg and in the PSAC. Talk about getting from there to here now. I went to East Stroudsburg University, which has historically been a phys ed teacher's college. All my buddies are out coaching throughout the state. I think that's going to be a tremendous resource for us, as well as the PSAC in general. Again, I was a Division II guy who has had to work for everything he's gotten in this profession, but I've had great experience and had a chance to work for a bunch of really good guys. Denny Douds was my college coach. I think he's been there 48 years, something that I'm going to try to challenge him with. My quarterbacks coach, Mike Terwilliger, has been there 27 or 28 years. My college roommate, Mike Santella, has been there 12 or 13 years. I think being around people like that, obviously working for Ralph Friedgen and Mike Sherman, and experiencing all the great people I worked with at Vanderbilt, I've been able to steal great things from everybody I've worked for. I'd like to mention Debbie Yow, who has been an unbelievable mentor to me. To this day, I can still pick up the phone and call Debbie Yow, one of the most respected athletics directors in the country. So I've been fortunate to be around some great people and been able to steal things that I felt were tremendous characteristics, leadership characteristics that fit my personality. And that's been integral to my success. You've got a pretty talented team with a great quarterback. How excited will you be to have these guys out on the field and seeing what you've got in your offense and defense? Can you give us a peek as to what that might look like? Very excited. But we have a lot of work to do between now and spring ball, but I'm very excited to get out there. I know they're anxious as well to get playbooks, to get video. We're going to run a multiple pro-style offense, defense and special teams. I'm not a guy who is going to pigeonhole what we're going to do. My philosophy is you go out and hire really smart people and have a system that has flexibility to take advantage of all your strengths and hide your weaknesses. I think that's what we all try to do in whatever organization or whatever business you're in. You play to your strengths and hide your weaknesses, and that's what we're going to do. I don't believe one offense or one defense or one special teams philosophy is the end-all-be-all. It's about taking advantage of the assets that you have, and that's what we're going to do. We'll be aggressive in everything we do. When we get off the bus, we'll be aggressive. The way we call the game, we'll be aggressive. I think that's very, very important. I think the fans want to see an exciting style of defense. I think the fans want to see an exciting style of offense and special teams. We'll take calculated risks. We're going to have fun. It always helps to have a quarterback. I don't care whether it's little league, high school, college or the NFL. If you have a quarterback, you've got a chance. We feel very, very good about the quarterback we have in our program right now. You know the history of this place the past couple of years. It's been tough. It's been really rigorous and tough for everybody. I'm sure what

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