Defensive Coordinator Scott Shafer Press Conference Transcript (Jan. 6, 2009)
Opening Statement:
“I’m extremely excited to be a part of Syracuse University. I think back to my early years as a coach and when I first starting recruiting in the east, especially in New Jersey and New York, I remember seeing Syracuse everywhere, whether it was on the clinic circuit or passing through each high school. I would run into Coach DeLeone and ask him where the best schools were. I’m really excited to take on the responsibility of getting Syracuse back to where they were and fight our buns off to maintain the integrity of the east in recruiting. More importantly, get those kids in here and get back to the top of the BIG EAST.
“I’m extremely excited to be a part of Syracuse University. I think back to my early years as a coach and when I first starting recruiting in the east, especially in New Jersey and New York, I remember seeing Syracuse everywhere, whether it was on the clinic circuit or passing through each high school. I would run into Coach DeLeone and ask him where the best schools were. I’m really excited to take on the responsibility of getting Syracuse back to where they were and fight our buns off to maintain the integrity of the east in recruiting. More importantly, get those kids in here and get back to the top of the BIG EAST.
“In terms of defense, I’d like to talk about an attack 4-3 defense where we’re always trying to put pressure on the offense. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to blitz every down, but we want to be pressure-oriented with the way we read our keys and the way we support the run and play the pass with our secondary. That’s a very quick overview of the type of philosophy we have.
“I think the biggest thing is that our philosophy has to be backed up with consistency in the way we practice and the way they live their daily lives as student-athletes. We want to create a sense of accountability to one another, both the players to the coaches and the players to other players. That’ll be the thing I’ll be most looking for. I really believe it all starts with controlling the controllable on a daily basis. Those will be the things we work on and those will be the things the kids will be accountable for. Controlling the things you can control on a daily basis is probably the most underrated things in my opinion as a football coach and as a person. We’ll always talk about attitude, effort and enthusiasm. Those will be the three things I’ll always be harking on. We just want to get a little bit better every single day.
“I’m extremely excited to be here. We’ve meshed extremely well in the last 24-48 hours since I’ve been here. I’ve really enjoyed the coaches that Coach Marrone has put together. We’ve been living together for the last two days, day and night. The one thing I can tell you is that he’s put together a staff of guys who mesh well. That’s probably, in my opinion, one of the most important things. High character coaches who care about the players and care about where Syracuse is going on a daily basis.”
On what past coaching experience is most representative of his work:
“To be quite honest with you, my experience at Michigan was a very short one. Philosophically, we had quite a few differences. At Stanford, working with Jim Harbaugh for just one season, I was very proud of the way the kids played for us out there. We weren’t the most talented team, but we made improvements in every category and had some big upsets. At Western Michigan, I am very proud of the work those players and coaches did there. We started eight sophomores and led the country in interceptions and sacks and broke the record in that conference for fewest allowable yards on average rushing. My first coordinating experience was at Northern Illinois for Joe Novak. The opportunity I had at Northern Illinois to coordinate there and the wins those kids came up with us as coaches, was a great way to get started. As a first time coordinator they probably the ones you remember the most. You always remember the firsts in your career and in your life in general. First experience at Northern Illinois with Joe Novak and some of the big wins we had will always be highlights. The SC win we had at Stanford was also a highlight. Those are just a few, but there are far too many to talk about in a short amount of time.”
On who were his mentors:
“My father (Ron). He was a very successful coach at Northest Ohio. We bounced around as a family. He was known for taking on programs and turning them around. I knew I was going to coach ever since I was a little boy. I just kind of figured that’s what we were supposed to do. He was the biggest influence of my life. Next is Bill Mallory, at Indiana where I was a graduate assistant. Bill Mallory was a huge influence because he taught me how to win with less. We went to bowl games there. Being around Coach Mallory and Joe Novak, they were probably my next biggest influences. I can honestly say I’ve learned quite a bit from every guy I’ve worked for. I enjoyed my experience with Bill Cubit at Western Michigan. I really enjoyed working for Jim Harbaugh out at Stanford. We had a blast out there. My children said, ‘Dad, are you fired up about Syracuse?’ You have to educate your children. I said, ‘Syracuse is a school of great tradition’. I told them that when I was a real young coach recruiting up in Rhode Island and coming down to New Jersey that the Syracuse coaches were everywhere and were on every kid. They knew about everyone. You’d go into New Jersey and New York City and there was Syracuse. Coach DeLeone won’t remember this, but I picked his brain at Elizabeth High School about where to go. He sent me to some of the best high school coaches and we got some great players from those regions. I explained that to my children. I said ‘I’m going to a place with good tradition and now the big thing is taking that tradition and becoming accountable to this university and fight for championships in the BIG EAST, and go head-to-head against Penn State for recruits down the road. That’s the goal. To go into our backyard and keep the kids from New York at home.’”
On whether or not there are similarities to coming in here as when he went to Stanford:
“There are. Every job has had similar things. There are quite a few similarities to the Stanford job and to the Western Michigan job. I have not met the kids yet, so until you meet your players, the guys who are going to go to war for you, you can’t make too many opinions. I don’t’ like to form a lot of opinions by watching film from the past. We’ll evaluate what a kid looks like he can do on tape, but the integrity of the person is probably going to make the biggest impact on us as coaches.
“Similarities would be that we’ve struggled here at Syracuse and there’s a culture that needs to be changed. Even though you think you may have some ideas, you never know until you get in front of these kids and talk to them and get a feel for where they are and where they aren’t. There are definitely obvious similarities of struggling and what we need to do to change the culture.”
On whether he thinks he has a better chance to succeed here than at Michigan:
“I think every job is different. For me, it’s the people. Working for Doug Marrone is bigger than anything for me. The reason I can say that is two of my dear friends worked with him. Some of the same things that Coach (Marrone) said about similarities our two friends spoke to him about, they told me we both like to work at it the same way, we both have passion for the game, we both have great respect for the game and understand that the game is bigger than us. We got on the phone together and my wife couldn’t believe we were on the phone so long. We talked about three or four hours on the phone before we had the opportunity to actually meet one another. I knew. It’s about the people. Bill Mallory told me that. I had the chance to speak with Coach Mallory last night and he said, ‘The one lesson you learn as a young coach and an old coach is that it’s about the people.’ That’s probably the thing that excites me as much as being at Syracuse, is the people who I’ll be working with on a daily basis.”
On whether he can comment on what he thinks the issues might be with the players on defense:
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable expounding on that at all. I just know that if you play as hard as you can and coach as hard as you can, good things happen. Success is not always measured from inside out with wins and losses. Success is measured by daily improvement and that’s the focus we’ll have on defense. Are we stepping with right foot consistently, are we playing as hard as we can for as long as we can, are we trusting in one another whether it’s the guy next to me, the guy in the press box or the manager on the sideline. Those will be the things we’ll be focused on. It’s the little things that add up. Everybody understands the formula for success. They understand it but are they willing to do it on a daily basis? That’s how I was taught to play football. You don’t have to be the biggest, strongest or the brightest. It should be 11 guys playing as hard as they can with great passion and respect for the game. We’ll make changes that you will be able to see. They may not show up statistically right away. Stats are for losers. If we hold them to less yards then I don’t care, but if we hold them to less points, then that’s what I’m looking for. Those are the things we’ll focus on.”
On how to reestablish an attacking defense with the offenses that are played today:
“You have to look at the risks you’re willing to take and how it fits into what they do. Attacking defense doesn’t mean you’re blitzing seven guys every down. It means that up front you’re going after them and you’re trying to create a new line of scrimmage. You want the ball to go east or west. The quarterback is the marquee player of every program. We need to hit the quarterback. We need to see what he’s made of. We need to see what their No. 2 is made of. That’s what we mean by attack. It’s how you hit. Are you getting five or six hats in on a hit or are you getting two or three? There’s such thing as a good missed tackle if you forced the ball back and there are three or four guys to go hit him. That’s what I mean by an attacking mentality. It’s also challenging wide receivers and not playing 10 yards off the ball. You have to walk up and challenge that guy on every move. Whether he’s running a route or trying to go block the linebacker or safety. That’s the mentality we’re talking about.”
On having All-BIG EAST defensive tackle Arthur Jones coming back:
“I think it’s nice to know. It fires me up. It’s great to have Arthur back, as well as all the kids. That’s key. You’re only as good as your weakest player. If his mentality is the same as Arthur Jones and they’re both fighting one another and don’t care who gets the success, that’s what fires me up and that’s what fires a coaching staff up.”
On the advantage of having (linebackers coach) Dan Conley and (defensive line coach) Derrick Jackson because of their familiarity with the personnel:
“I called up a few friends of mine who’ve worked with Jackson and asked what they knew about him and they said he’s a good football coach who has a great career in front of him. I remember when Conley played here. He’s a tough guy. He’s the kind of guy I want playing for us. We have to find 11 of him. He’s passionate. I talked to both of them on the phone before I got here. It was great to hear their voices through the phone and the excitement and passion. Coach Anselmo, he doesn’t know it but I’ve been watching his players for years. He owns New York, he owns schools in recruiting. I have great respect for what he’s done. I’m excited to work with those guys and even more excited after spending the last two days with them. We’ve been trying to figure out ways to improve and looking at tape. It makes me more excited.”
