Barreiro and Kill... the comments on Norwood are the most telling...
TCU game best atmosphere going into a game since you've been at Minnesota? Great opportunity, we need all the edges we can get.
Playing TCU first game easier to get players attention? Absolutely, no motivation necessary. We have worked hard without me saying much. Not just TCU but the whole schedule is tough.
True the schedule required you to change sequence of preparation? Had to, we started the first week with colorado St and then the last two weeks now on TCU.
Was defense actually good last year vs TCU given the turnovers and field position they were defending? Defense was good enough to be in the game. We didn't help our defense at all. Can't turn it over 5X versus anybody. We are better prepared this year. Both first game....last year we were at a disadvantage. Feel much better about our preparation this year.
Concerned we don't get too hyped up. Good and bad is going to happen. Can't get frustrated. This game will come down to mental toughness.
How do you feel about the accolades you are getting? I don't read the newspaper. We have moved forward but we still got steps to take. No excuse but we do have a tough schedule.
I feel we are like Michigan State when DanTonio (sp) came there. We gotta throw better. Defense can't give up big plays. We gotta get better players.
For the offense to get better do you need to identify some players to make big plays? We are making progress. "If we don't have big plays on Thursday night..it's gonna be a long night." "We gotta make some. Again, unless we make some big plays it's gonna be tough." really starts up front. KJ Maye is improved. Wolitarsky is a year older. Eric Carter has come outta no where. Melvin Holland.. Rashad Still with excitement, size speed. Gant maybe not ready. Jones is in playin' in the slot. (That order and most excitement about Stiil and least about Jones on my meter)
They play the run really well. We gotta mix it up.
Can you identify the playmakers or just have to wait until game day to see who shows up? Little bit of both. You can identify guys in practice but truly don't know how'll they'll react to 50 or 100k people in the stands. Lotta people can practice but can you do it on game day? I'm confident, but we'll find out. There is no way to simulate that. There are no pre-season games now.
Leidner's improvement? Couple things: Manning's camp built Mitch's confidence. Adam Weber doing a job with Mitch's psyche. Sometimes he's too competitive, too hard on himself. Adam is helping with that. We know what Mitch can do now after last year...we have built some things for him to succeed. He has looked great the last two weeks.
Defensive backfield? System and people who can cover. We said we were going to build on defense. I felt we had to. "Biggest test all year in secondary" (um...we do play Ohio St?)
Kiante Hardin may well play some.
Does the pass rush matter vs TCU..(quick striking) ? Definitely hard to get to. Can't let him take off running. Hard to get pressure but TC and Ekpe need outside pressure and then we need to contain.
AD Search: Biggest thing we need...picture perfect AD would be Jim Phillips at Northwestern. I had him at Northern Illinois. I called him and said "Hey Jim, whattya ya doin'?" laughing he's making good money I'm guessing he wouldn't move...ha "He's a guy who worked great with students. Great fundraier. Worked all the time. STRONG, carried a big stick into meetings. Gotta be strong! Willing to make tough decisions and be a tremendous leader. When he went into meetings, There's a COMMAND THERE! We need somebody whoever it may be, that's a great leader and takes command of the athletic department. To me an athletic director needs to do everything they can to help their coaches be successful, whatever it is that takes. That's their job. Round a bout way...that's the fact of what we need!
Did you think Norwood did that? Well, I'm ah...you know, I'm not going say anything about it...about somebody that's been in the situation and all the turmoil and things of that nature ah but you know I think again um you know you gotta get somebody WELL ROUNDED and in fairness to Norwood he was in a situation where he came you know from VCU and came here. Minnesota's a big place and ah there's a lot of things you need to know and ah I think it's important. I do think this is somebody that does have some big time ties or somebody that KNOWS Minnesota.
Somebody that knows what we are doing. Sometimes that's important as anything. Because I know in my situation, I had no idea I was going to hire Dan O'Brien when I came here. Then when I met Dan and I started thinking about it, I said I need somebody from the state of Minnesota. And if I didn't have Dan kind of teach me all the places, where to go, how to handle myself, what I could do, what I shouldn't do. I had that person and to me that's also important and to have somebody that knows the state because to honest...WE ain't got time to train to go train somebody else...this is the third one that I have been a part of and we don't need--we can't, WE CAN"T take a step back. We can't get somebody and go okay we're going to train you for two years to get to know everybody. We need to get somebody in here who knows everybody and LET"S GO!
Barreiro: So, you are saying the Minnesota connection is crucial?
Try to get the best person whoever it may be, whether inside or outside that you can get. That's what AD's do when they get coaches. Very seldom do they select this one or that one. They have to identify. But I again, I think there's a bottom line: We need the best person for the University of Minnesota. That's most important to me. I would tell you right now--well, with all this turmoil, Norwood, all these these things are happening..we are doing just fine. We are on a roll! We have actually raised some money that they hadn't at that time under Norwood. We've had this thing..done a great job! Beth and Dan, you know in the athletic department who have been there and so forth..Frankly, we are doing pretty good being able to wait for whoever the AD is and all that I think we'll improve. Now again, nothing against Norwood --- that's just the bottom line. I think we'll improve and move forward right now.
Damage- Impact on the program?
It effects everybody, no doubt about it. It effected recruiting. We had to battle our tail end off with some of the recruits because that's what they see. You know, Minnesota's got turmoil..I don't know about going there. So, it was important for me to make sure I got my contract signed..where, Hey, I'm going to be here and that's what held some recruits in because usually when you have turmoil people are ready to move on...gotta get outta here....this is a mess. But I always said with adversity you gotta find a way to make it better...make it right...
Bottom line is that's over with..we can't talk about it anymore...let's move on. Athletic Department and coaches, we've moved on. People are ready to move on.
Right thing to do is to wait on the hire. It's a crucial hire! Bottom line: we'll get through it. It effects the whole state. Been able to hold all recruits in.
TCU game best atmosphere going into a game since you've been at Minnesota? Great opportunity, we need all the edges we can get.
Playing TCU first game easier to get players attention? Absolutely, no motivation necessary. We have worked hard without me saying much. Not just TCU but the whole schedule is tough.
True the schedule required you to change sequence of preparation? Had to, we started the first week with colorado St and then the last two weeks now on TCU.
Was defense actually good last year vs TCU given the turnovers and field position they were defending? Defense was good enough to be in the game. We didn't help our defense at all. Can't turn it over 5X versus anybody. We are better prepared this year. Both first game....last year we were at a disadvantage. Feel much better about our preparation this year.
Concerned we don't get too hyped up. Good and bad is going to happen. Can't get frustrated. This game will come down to mental toughness.
How do you feel about the accolades you are getting? I don't read the newspaper. We have moved forward but we still got steps to take. No excuse but we do have a tough schedule.
I feel we are like Michigan State when DanTonio (sp) came there. We gotta throw better. Defense can't give up big plays. We gotta get better players.
For the offense to get better do you need to identify some players to make big plays? We are making progress. "If we don't have big plays on Thursday night..it's gonna be a long night." "We gotta make some. Again, unless we make some big plays it's gonna be tough." really starts up front. KJ Maye is improved. Wolitarsky is a year older. Eric Carter has come outta no where. Melvin Holland.. Rashad Still with excitement, size speed. Gant maybe not ready. Jones is in playin' in the slot. (That order and most excitement about Stiil and least about Jones on my meter)
They play the run really well. We gotta mix it up.
Can you identify the playmakers or just have to wait until game day to see who shows up? Little bit of both. You can identify guys in practice but truly don't know how'll they'll react to 50 or 100k people in the stands. Lotta people can practice but can you do it on game day? I'm confident, but we'll find out. There is no way to simulate that. There are no pre-season games now.
Leidner's improvement? Couple things: Manning's camp built Mitch's confidence. Adam Weber doing a job with Mitch's psyche. Sometimes he's too competitive, too hard on himself. Adam is helping with that. We know what Mitch can do now after last year...we have built some things for him to succeed. He has looked great the last two weeks.
Defensive backfield? System and people who can cover. We said we were going to build on defense. I felt we had to. "Biggest test all year in secondary" (um...we do play Ohio St?)
Kiante Hardin may well play some.
Does the pass rush matter vs TCU..(quick striking) ? Definitely hard to get to. Can't let him take off running. Hard to get pressure but TC and Ekpe need outside pressure and then we need to contain.
AD Search: Biggest thing we need...picture perfect AD would be Jim Phillips at Northwestern. I had him at Northern Illinois. I called him and said "Hey Jim, whattya ya doin'?" laughing he's making good money I'm guessing he wouldn't move...ha "He's a guy who worked great with students. Great fundraier. Worked all the time. STRONG, carried a big stick into meetings. Gotta be strong! Willing to make tough decisions and be a tremendous leader. When he went into meetings, There's a COMMAND THERE! We need somebody whoever it may be, that's a great leader and takes command of the athletic department. To me an athletic director needs to do everything they can to help their coaches be successful, whatever it is that takes. That's their job. Round a bout way...that's the fact of what we need!
Did you think Norwood did that? Well, I'm ah...you know, I'm not going say anything about it...about somebody that's been in the situation and all the turmoil and things of that nature ah but you know I think again um you know you gotta get somebody WELL ROUNDED and in fairness to Norwood he was in a situation where he came you know from VCU and came here. Minnesota's a big place and ah there's a lot of things you need to know and ah I think it's important. I do think this is somebody that does have some big time ties or somebody that KNOWS Minnesota.
Somebody that knows what we are doing. Sometimes that's important as anything. Because I know in my situation, I had no idea I was going to hire Dan O'Brien when I came here. Then when I met Dan and I started thinking about it, I said I need somebody from the state of Minnesota. And if I didn't have Dan kind of teach me all the places, where to go, how to handle myself, what I could do, what I shouldn't do. I had that person and to me that's also important and to have somebody that knows the state because to honest...WE ain't got time to train to go train somebody else...this is the third one that I have been a part of and we don't need--we can't, WE CAN"T take a step back. We can't get somebody and go okay we're going to train you for two years to get to know everybody. We need to get somebody in here who knows everybody and LET"S GO!
Barreiro: So, you are saying the Minnesota connection is crucial?
Try to get the best person whoever it may be, whether inside or outside that you can get. That's what AD's do when they get coaches. Very seldom do they select this one or that one. They have to identify. But I again, I think there's a bottom line: We need the best person for the University of Minnesota. That's most important to me. I would tell you right now--well, with all this turmoil, Norwood, all these these things are happening..we are doing just fine. We are on a roll! We have actually raised some money that they hadn't at that time under Norwood. We've had this thing..done a great job! Beth and Dan, you know in the athletic department who have been there and so forth..Frankly, we are doing pretty good being able to wait for whoever the AD is and all that I think we'll improve. Now again, nothing against Norwood --- that's just the bottom line. I think we'll improve and move forward right now.
Damage- Impact on the program?
It effects everybody, no doubt about it. It effected recruiting. We had to battle our tail end off with some of the recruits because that's what they see. You know, Minnesota's got turmoil..I don't know about going there. So, it was important for me to make sure I got my contract signed..where, Hey, I'm going to be here and that's what held some recruits in because usually when you have turmoil people are ready to move on...gotta get outta here....this is a mess. But I always said with adversity you gotta find a way to make it better...make it right...
Bottom line is that's over with..we can't talk about it anymore...let's move on. Athletic Department and coaches, we've moved on. People are ready to move on.
Right thing to do is to wait on the hire. It's a crucial hire! Bottom line: we'll get through it. It effects the whole state. Been able to hold all recruits in.
