Football Press Conference Quotes
December 09, 2009 | Football
Dec. 9, 2009
• Complete Coverage of Charlie Strong's Hiring
University of Louisville Vice President/Director of Athletics Tom Jurich
"Thank you everyone for being here and thank you Dr. Ramsey. It was a close vote. It was tight. A lot of lobbying Charlie, but we got it passed. It was good. (laughing) First of all, I'd love to introduce Charlie's wonderful wife Vicki, their youngest daughter Hope (8) and their oldest daughter Hailee Marie (11), which I have a Haley Marie, so I'm going to remember that. We welcome all of you to our wonderful Cardinal family, and I mean that as a family. We have the most unbelievable group of people from the president to the vice presidents to the provosts to the Board of Trustees to the Athletic Board. They really take such great care of us and the university personnel."
"Charlie ... welcome. I couldn't be more pleased to have Charlie as our new football coach. We've had a lot of obstacles. We know that. We have a lot of work to do. We know that. We're going to work very, very diligently to get this program back to where we all want it to be. As I travelled around and looked at coaches, not just this year, but for many years in the past, Charlie is somebody that's always registered very highly with me. This year, specifically, I really focused in on him and spoke with his dearly and closed with his dear friend here, Seth Hancock here. I just learned so much more about him. I went around the country and talked to my people that I really trust in. You want to talk about the search committee, that's the search committee, those individuals - Mike Slive, Bill Polian, Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan, Urban Meyer, Jeremy Foley. The constant was the class and integrity and character Charlie brought to the table. His coaching ability is unparalleled. He's had incredible success. He's somebody that's very hungry and humble for this job, which is something that I've always felt ... that this is a Blue Collar job and I think that Charlie is going to be the perfect, perfect individual, not just to coach this team, but to lead this team and to be a true ambassador for the university. He's got incredible leadership skills, and all you have to do is reach out and talk to his ex-players, talk to his current players, people that have coached with him, talk to people that have coached against him, parents of his current players."
"You know, we're very fortunate in this community to have a Rick and Bonnie Robey, whose son (Sam Robey) is down there in Florida and plays for Charlie. They're a great testament and a great resource for me. We were able to talk to many parents on that team. We've talked to people in the pros and now they're in the Pro Bowl. One that I talked to is going to be Rookie of the Year. We reached out to Elvis Dumervil and just talked to Jarvis Moss. It was a constant. I got so tired of listening to how great Charlie was that I went to Tony and said you've got to be able to find me one negative. Just find me one negative, and Tony couldn't. Now, of all the advocates Charlie has, Tony Dungy is the best. To hear him, and to listen to him, and to see his conviction and to know he is what we need in this program. I don't want to be Charlie's boss. I want to be Charlie's partner. I want to do everything in my power to turn this football program around quickly. We've enjoyed success. I have not enjoyed defeat. I can promise you that. I did not come here to lose, so it has really torn me up. I want to get back there. We've got the players to get us back in the realm of a championship run in the BIG EAST. It's a great conference to be in. The stakes are a lot higher. We needed somebody that had the abilities of Charlie Strong, and I couldn't be more pleased to introduce you to Charlie Strong."
New University of Louisville Head Football Coach Charlie Strong
Opening Statement
"Thank you. I am deeply honored to be the new head football coach here at the University of Louisville. To become a head football coach had always been a longtime dream of mine. It has been my ambition and my wife, Victoria, and I had sat down and talked about it and finally, this day has finally arrived.
To President Ramsey, to Athletic Director Tom Jurich, to the trustees, 'Thank you for this opportunity.' The University of Louisville has a rich tradition in academics and in athletics. It is up to me to get a staff together to continue this tradition and get this program headed back in the right direction.
I am grateful for the people that were able to be a part of my career and to help me grow as a professional: Athletic Director Jeremy Foley (University of Florida), Urban Meyer, head football coach at the University of Florida right now, Lou Holtz who I worked for at Notre Dame, and to Steve Spurrier who I had my first stint at the University of Florida with. It is so special to when you're able to go back to a program that you have been with four different times, and it says a lot about a football coach.
My whole goal is that I want to put a product on the field that you are proud of. I want young men who get out onto the field and guys who are able to reach out to them on a staff. Right now, I want to go out and recruit, and I want to put together a staff that is responsible young people who will care about these young people. The thing that we need is that these young men need to understand that we really do care about them, and that we care about them as an individual and their sole responsibility is academics. I want them to know that their sole purpose here is to get a degree and to go win football games.
I am excited about being here in this community and I really look forward to working with it. I have a family here as President Ramsey said. My wife Victoria and my daughters Hope and Hailee are extremely excited.
I intend to build a team that will merge their talent and effort and will combine academic excellence and relentless effort. I want to be in this community and I want to be a part of this community. My family wants to be in this community and we all want to share our thoughts and our beliefs and become a part of this community in enabling this program to get back to where it needs to be. Thank you and I look forward to being the head football coach here. I am deeply honored."
(On the difficulty of making the decision to come to the University of Louisville)
"It was an easy decision because I know Tom Jurich. We met six years ago at an Orange Bowl Splash. I think that is what it was, and we had dinner together. Just by watching this program and the success that they have had in the past, I know that I can come in and be successful. With the young men and the talent that is already here, we just need to move ahead and get this program headed in the right direction."
(On the number of players returning and the BIG EAST Conference)
"I just really haven't had the chance to look at all of the numbers, but just being in the BIG EAST Conference is going to be a challenge with all of the competition that you have to play with West Virginia, South Florida, and Cincinnati who Florida is going to end up playing in the Sugar Bowl. The challenge is to make sure that we have enough talent here and I feel that we do to go out and represent this university."
(On whether or not Charlie Strong will coach for Florida in the Sugar Bowl)
"My soul purpose right now is to recruit and to fill this staff. I think I am going to go back to coach in the Sugar Bowl. I have been there for awhile and I am the coordinator there, so I feel like I still owe it to them. Tom (Jurich) and I spoke and he feels comfortable with me going back to coach in the bowl game."
(On Dan Mullen)
"Dan (Mullen) and I have spoken and last years game was a National Championship Game and this is kind of a little different here with the Sugar Bowl, but it's still a good game."
(On the main differences of being a head coach versus being a coordinator)
"Now that you're a head coach, you have a whole team to worry about. As a coordinator, I just had my defense and I coordinated my defense. Now, you have to coordinate the offense and the kicking game. The whole key is just making sure that you understand the players and the players understand that you really do care about them. When you discipline them that they need to understand why you are doing it. I just think that they kids will understand you and that as the head football coach, you handle the whole program."
(On what to look for in an offensive coordinator)
"I just want to make sure that we put a product on the field that is exciting and aggressive. When you look at the offense, people always talk about the spread offense. Even with the spread, you have to be able to run the football also. You can't just go out there and just spread it around without running. Running the ball allows you to be a physical team and be an aggressive team. That is what we want to do: be physical on offense, be physical on defense, be aggressive on offense, aggressive on defense, and even in the kicking game."
(On the keys to being a good defense)
"An aggressive tackling defense."
(On who has had the most influence on his coaching career?)
"What I have been able to do is just to take a piece from each one. Like Lou Holtz, with teaching you to respect and his character. With Urban Meyer, Urban and I were able to coach together with Coach Holtz at Notre Dame at the same time. With Coach Spurrier, the thing Coach Spurrier did was he changed college football when he came into the Southeastern Conference as far as moving the football and throwing it around. You are able to just take a piece from each one and just store it into your memory, and when you have a chance like I have right now, you are able to take each piece and apply it."
(On his message to the current players who were present at the press conference)
"We are just going to start over. What we need to do right now with the current players, is for them to go and finish their finals, as they're in finals time right now. Then we just need to start over as a football team. When we get back in January, let's have a team meeting so we can just talking about the direction of this program and what we need to do."
(On the transition from defensive coordinator to head coach)
"I've wanted to be a head football coach and this opportunity has come finally. Being a defensive coordinator is good, but when you can run your own program you always want to go and see if I can win a National Championship. I have won as a defensive coordinator and let's go win us (Louisville) a National Championship."
(On being considered before at different universities and then accepting the job offer at Louisville)
"Well, just the success that has occurred here. When you look at what Louisville has done, three years ago, they went to the Orange Bowl. Then you look at this conference and the competition in this conference. Cincinnati is undefeated and was a second away from playing for the National Championship, so you know that you are in a conference that can go and play for the National Championship."
(On if Coach Strong has talked to anybody about coming onto his staff)
"I have some guys in mind, but just with the timing. We played on Saturday, and then I met with Tom on Sunday, then boom, I went to the Bronko Nagurski Awards on Monday. We got back home last night at one in the morning. It is amazing with the number of phone calls you get and the number of friends you never knew you had."
(On the frustrations of not getting a head coaching job in the past)
"When they offered me this job, my wife and I looked at each other and got so emotional. It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
(On slow increase of minority head coaches in college football)
"The process is still slow. What we need to do, and I have always said even though I was a defensive coordinator. 'If I do my job, it may not happen for me, but another African American down the road might be able to come along after seeing the job that I do, and it will pave the way for somebody else.' That is all I ever try to do. 'Charlie, make sure you are doing a good job. It may not happen, but if you do a good job, people will recognize what you will do, and it will pave the way for someone else.'"
(On dealing with players at a younger age than what Tony Dungy did in the NFL)
"Yes, because of the number of kids you are dealing with. That is all coaching is, taking young men and being able to have that impact and anything else on their life that makes them better kids. You look at where some of them come from, and some of them have never had a real mom and some of them never had a father, so you have to be that father figure for them. All kids need discipline and you have to discipline kids and if they understand that you really care about them, then that is when they are going to play for you."
(On talking with Urban Meyer before making the decision to come to the University of Louisville)
"I had spoken with him. The thing about Urban is that he and I have grown so close and we are kind of like brothers. It is like anything else, where you do not want to see no separation, but he finally realized that this was a great opportunity for me and that I need to take it. I even sat down with our athletic director, Jeremy Folley, and Jeremy said the same thing. When I said that I wanted to become a head football coach, the conversation kind of stopped."
(On recruiting)
"You need to go recruit Florida, you need to recruit Ohio, you need to recruit Georgia, and you need to go out and find football players and to go get the best ones. That is why it is so important to go and get a staff together that has ties in those particular areas."
(On the different aspects of recruiting now as a head coach versus being an assistant coach)
"What's great is that I know a lot of head high school football coaches that have really good players, so I am able to pick up the phone and say, 'Hey, I recruited your school before and I know you have an outstanding player there. Is there any way I can come in and recruit that young man?'"
(On the facilities at the University of Louisville)
"I was like wow, but I have been up here before. My friend and I have come up here a couple of times for the Derby. We haven't been on the campus but we had seen the facilities, and they are really nice facilities."
(On a reporter talking with Ben Foos about Charlie Strong)
"It means a lot, especially when you coach a young man who comes back to speak highly of you. I actually got a text I showed Tom on the way coming here that I got from a young man who is on the team at Florida right now. His parents texted me and said, 'I am sorry that you are leaving. You have had such an impact on my twin boys and I am sorry that you are gone. You have meant so much to us.'" (On Joker Phillips coaching at the University of Kentucky, who Coach Strong has a good friendship with and on the rivalry with Kentucky) "Now that Joker is at Kentucky, I don't know if we are going to have that relationship anymore. Joker and I are good friends, and we have been good friends for a long time and to see him get his position where he is coaching at is really good for him. Now that he is at Kentucky and I am here, I understand that this is a big rival game and there is going to be some interesting match-ups."
(On his intensity compared to Tony Dungy's)
"I am a little more fiery than him. I kind of get a little excited and like to jump around a lot. You just have to know when those situations come about. I can be laid back and understand when it's time to get fiery."
(On what's more important to accomplish first: recruits or a staff)
"A combination of both. You have to look at what's already committed and we have some scholarships still out there that we need to go and recruit someone. We need to see what's on the board and see if we have some areas to fill. You may not have enough linemen; you may not have enough running backs. Then, you have to go out and find those guys."
(On how much planning Coach Strong has done to being a head coach)
"I have had a number of interviews over the years. What has happened is that you plan it. What I was able to do when I worked for Coach Holtz was to sit down for every interview and go through it. He would be like, 'No, you can't say that. This is what I want you to say. You can say it however you want to say it.' It was good that I had him as a model for me. Now, I have a book put together that prepared me to be a head coach."
(On if Coach Strong is an emotional coach)
"The players will know exactly where they are. You have to just tell them that this is the way it is. You know what happens when you have kids, they sit there and are like okay can I really do this, can I really get away with this? You really have to tell them where you stand and what you're about, and they understand that."
(On if Florida made an offer for Coach Strong to stay)
"What happened was, I have been at the University of Florida for so long and that when I sat down with Jeremy or Urban and said, 'This is what I want to do', and everything kind of stops and it's like, 'Okay, Charlie, I know that's what you want and we aren't going to stop you because you are going to an outstanding program and you are going to work for an outstanding athletic director in Tom."
(On picking a staff)
"What I am going to do is take my time with this staff because what happens is if you rush into it, maybe a guy didn't pop up that you are like, 'Wow, I can't go back now.' The key thing about staff is to make sure that you get some good recruiters and good teachers. You need to get some guys with good character and then you have to get some coaches that can relate to your players. It's going to be critical, so I am not in a hurry to go out and to get that staff right now. I want to make sure I get the right people that are the right fit for the University of Louisville."
(On the possibility of talking to recruits that are already committed to the University of Florida)
"No, I wouldn't talk to them because I don't think that is right. If they called me, then I would talk to them, but I'm not going to pick up the phone. There are some guys that they are recruiting that I know they are not going to take that I am going to call. Their guys that are already committed, and that I know they really want, I am not going to touch."
(On his impression of Tom Jurich)
"What you always try to do, and it is so important is to try to work for somebody who's kind of like you and has the same qualities that you have and I felt like that with him. I felt that he's somebody who really cares and wants this program to be the best program in the country."
(On the weather)
"I just know that this morning I got up and went on a run with shorts and a t-shirt."
