With your team´s impressive win streak under your tenure, how do you keep your players humbled and prepared for each game?
I am very fortunate to work with players who are outstanding people. I think they have a great understanding of where football fits into their lives. It is very important to them as individuals and as a team, but it is not the number one priority, that would be academics. This year´s senior class came in to our program when we were still struggling to reach our goal of being competitive at a national level. It was through their leadership that we were able to accomplish that goal. They still remember the lean years and what it took to get to where we are now. We are in a unique position with no automatic bid to the playoff for winning the conference, so we feel we must win every game on our schedule to qualify for the playoffs. This keeps our players and staff focused on each week´s opponent, knowing each game is an important step towards reaching our goals.
What coach did you most admire growing up and why?
Growing up, I did not pay much attention to coaches as I was focused on the players. Woody Hayes was the first coach that I was aware of; I think that would be standard for any football fan in the State of Ohio growing up in the 1970´s. As a young coach, I was very fortunate to study two of the greatest Division III football coaches of all time, Larry Kehres of Mount Union and the late Bob Packard from Baldwin Wallace. Their teams were successful, executed the fundamentals of the game and had confidence that I thought came from the leadership of their head coaches. I spent a great deal of time in the offseason watching as much of their game film as possible and learning as much as I could from what I observed on film.
What values and principles are your players learning through football?
Commitment to family is number one. From day one, we let our players know that our number one priority as a team is to become a family. We have to work together to achieve our goals and that can be accomplished much easier if we have players that care about each other.
Do you require your football players to volunteer in the community? If yes, what are the requirements?
I´m not sure requirement is the proper word. Service to the community is just part of being a member of our football team. As a team, we help move in the freshman class to their dorm rooms. Our players wear their uniforms and meet the students and parents at their cars to carry all of their belongings in to their dorms. My daughter is a freshman in college this year and is attending Case. When we moved her in I had a greater appreciation of how helpful this service is. We are also heavily involved with Case for Community Day, where approximately 300 inner-city school children spend the day on our campus. We get involved in the field day aspect of the program. The team also helps with a Special Olympics program that the Cleveland Browns host at their practice facility.
How do you incorporate the philosophy of "winning the right way" with your team?
I believe that it all starts with the type of people our coaching staff brings in to the program. Of course we try and recruit the most physically talented athletes that we can, but if a person does not have good character, good work ethic and does not possess the desire to succeed as a team before thinking about individual success, then we will not go far. I think we have done a good job of identifying recruits who will be good fits at our university and will buy in to our team-first philosophy.
What are the top three things you demand from your student-athletes?
1. A commitment to both academic and athletic success.
2. A commitment to making our football team a family.
3. A commitment to service in our Case Community and the Cleveland area
What is one thing that your players would be surprised to learn about you?
I am a huge fan of the History Channel. I enjoy viewing programs or reading books about famous people throughout history and how they handled adversity. I think you can always learn from the past and apply it to the present.
What is your favorite movie of all time and the best movie you´ve seen recently?
I am a huge movie fan so this is a very difficult question. My favorites in some different genres would be Goodfellas (Mob Movie), Saving Private Ryan (War Movie), Dr. Strangelove or Blazing Saddles (Comedy). The list could go on and on. My favorite TV show is The Family Guy and my players would know this because I use quotes from it all the time. I am all over the board and very diverse in what I watch for entertainment.
If you were evaluating game film of yourself as a high school senior, would that player be recruited to play for your program today?
I was a 5´9", 155 lb quarterback who only threw the ball about eight times a game. I would not fit in very well with the offense that we run, but we always like recruiting QB´s because they can usually play other positions. I´d probably would be 4th on our QB depth chart this year as we are very deep at that position
What sports did you play in high school? What was your best?
I played football, basketball and baseball. I gave up baseball because the head coach was an assistant football coach and would not let me pitch (he thought it would hurt my throwing motion as a QB) and I found being a position player extremely boring. Most people thought basketball was my best sport and I did go on to play in college, but nothing beats football game day!
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