TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

First of all, I’m sure the whole athletics department would like to welcome you to the University at Buffalo. What are some things about UB that really made it seem like a good fit for you?
[University at Buffalo President] John Simpson and [Athletic Director] Warde Manuel. Without those two people, I wouldn’t be here.

After 15 years as an assistant coach, how exciting is it for you to get your first head coaching job here at the University at Buffalo?
It’s exciting. The challenge for me, more than anything, is probably to continue to have the excitement after the football honeymoon is over, per se. We have to get down the nitty-gritty, hiring a staff, getting in here, getting with the players and getting things going. That’s what I’m going to get in my staff and vice-versa, I’m going to make sure that my staff keeps the excitement going and get the players to enjoy the college football experience.

Next year, you are going to travel to Athens, OH to face a very familiar face on the other sidelines in your former boss, Frank Solich, the current Ohio coach and former Nebraska coach. Are you looking forward to the match with your old mentor?
Each and every football game I am looking forward to. These guys, I want them to have fun and some success. I understand the environment there with a former coach, coaching together and he actually coached me as a player, and we’ve coached together so I understand the situation there, but it isn’t going to be anything having to do with Frank Solich vs. Turner Gill. It’s going to be about the football players playing the game.

In your three years as a starting quarterback at Nebraska, the team went 28-2 and had a Heisman Trophy winner in Mike Rozier. What was it like getting the opportunity to play for a national championship and wear the red and white for those three years?
It’s awesome. That’s what you play for. You want to play against the best so getting to that national championship game, you know that you’ve played against the best and that your team has played at a high level. When you play that game, it really feels good. It really is more about the journey of playing 10 games, 11 games, 12 games and being able to win every football game until that point. That’s the excitement. That’s the challenge.

As the quarterbacks coach at Nebraska, you got the chance to work with a Heisman Trophy winner in Eric Crouch, win three national championships, coach in six Orange Bowls and the list goes on. What were some things those teams and players had in common and made them so successful?
Competitors. They competed. That’s what we have to have here. I have to get them to continue to compete every single play. Every single play, I want them to compete like its their last. That’s what those guys did.

Perhaps just as important as having coached national champions, you’ve also coached a few teams that have struggled, this year at Green Bay and in 2004 at Nebraska. What did coaching those struggling teams mean to you?
They taught me to continue to be positive with guys so you don’t totally lose them. As long as the guys are still competing in games, then you’re still in good shape. That’s the biggest thing, as long as the guys are still competing, learning from coaches when the team is struggling a little bit, you can keep them going and not lose them to the locker room issues on the field. Just keep positive, that’s what I’ve learned.

You spent two years in the Canadian Football League, playing quarterback for the Montreal Concordes, leading the team to the playoffs twice. After that you spent three years in minor league baseball. What were some things you picked up during your years in pro sports that you’ve carried with you?
That you want to keep the game fun. Don’t look at it as a job. In the professional ranks, you start thinking of it as a job and I saw players who don’t enjoy it. I think if you don’t enjoy the game, enjoy practice, then you don’t perform at a high level.

You’ve also had the privilege to work the past year with the Green Bay Packers as the Director of Player Development and as an offensive assistant. What have you learned in the past year working at the NFL’s arguably most-prestigious franchise?
Great people throughout the whole organization, including the players. I, unfortunately, had a predetermined notion that I thought NFL players would not listen because they had money, they have power and they have experience. I thought they would say, “I’ve been in the league for five years. Who are you to talk to me?” That’s false. Whether you are 25 years old or 35 years old, those guys will listen. They still want direction.

In your Green Bay Packers biography, it says that in your spare time you enjoy playing golf. Perhaps the most important question of this interview then is, what’s your handicap? Are you ready to hit the Buffalo golf courses?
I probably will be doing a lot of work, so I won’t be doing a whole lot of golfing, particularly in the first year, but I have a 17 handicap. I play well enough to do some things. I enjoy it. I enjoy more than anything, my family, and spending time with them and reading the Bible. That’s probably the other thing I enjoy doing.

What has been your favorite moment while being a part of collegiate athletics?
It’s awesome to see some kids grow when they come in as a freshman and then to see them when they are a senior and seeing how they’ve matured and seeing how I’ve helped prepare them for life. That’s the excitement I get out of it.