Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Morgan Scalley on becoming the new head coach for Utah FB, "I don't need to go anywhere," His relationship with Coach Whitt + more

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Morgan Scalley on becoming the new head coach for Utah FB, "I don't need to go anywhere," His relationship with Coach Whitt + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, monest.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: This is the Sean O'Connell Show. You were home of
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: the best inside of your use. Let's get back to
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: OOC from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven ninety
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  Speaker 2: two to one a f M.
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  Speaker 3: I've been looking forward to this conversation for weeks. Welcome
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: back to the Shawan O'Connell Show. Welcome in head coach
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  Speaker 3: for the University of Utah football team, Morgan Scalley.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Not coordinator's corner anymore, people, it is the head coach, Morgan.
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  Speaker 4: Welcome to the show. How are you?
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  Speaker 5: What's up, dude? I'm the same. I'm the same boring guy. Man,
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  Speaker 5: it's just a different title.
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  Speaker 4: Look, you're anything but boring, all right.
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  Speaker 1: Uh have you have you watched back your introductory press conference?
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  Speaker 1: Did did like I don't know, did your agent make
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  Speaker 1: you do that? Did your wife make you do that?
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  Speaker 1: Did anyone say, Morgan, sit down and watch how you
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: took over this room?
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  Speaker 5: Frederick? When have you ever looked back at something that
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  Speaker 5: It's that one of those deals like I hate the
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  Speaker 5: sound of my own voice. It's like I no, I
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  Speaker 5: have not I've not well.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, I hope at some point it consider it like
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  Speaker 1: tape study, consider it film because it was a masterclass man.
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  Speaker 4: It was that was it was wonderful to be there.
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  Speaker 1: It was great to see uh, and it was you know,
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  Speaker 1: kind of I mean, I guess a little bit anti
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  Speaker 1: climactic for you because you're already one to oh as
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  Speaker 1: a head coach.
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  Speaker 4: But uh, has it sunk in yet?
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  Speaker 1: Now that we're several weeks removed from the official handover happening.
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  Speaker 1: When you wake up in the morning and you come
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  Speaker 1: to the office and you see head coach Morgan scally
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  Speaker 1: on the door wherever it's at, has it really sunk in?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think of yourself as the head coach of
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  Speaker 1: Utah football yet?
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  Speaker 5: I'm trying to get there. I keep walking by my
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  Speaker 5: office thinking it was it's it's Kyle's I mta see
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  Speaker 5: Kyle there, and I'm like, wait, hold on, that's my office.
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: There's times where I walk into Derek Odam's office I'm like,
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  Speaker 5: I'm sorry, dude, it's just have it after so many
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  Speaker 5: years being here. But no, I can't believe we haven't
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  Speaker 5: even done I feel like I've done fifty million interviews,
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  Speaker 5: so the fact that we haven't done it on our
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  Speaker 5: flagship station rather, I'm sorry, Well that's.
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  Speaker 4: Not your fault.
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  Speaker 1: We will air our grievances with the people responsible for
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  Speaker 1: these types of things. But look, it's great to get
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity to do this. And you know, I the
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  Speaker 1: staff putting together your own staff, I mean, I imagine because
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  Speaker 1: you knew this was coming at some point. So I imagine
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  Speaker 1: you had ideas of who were going who he was
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  Speaker 1: going to get that phone call from you? Who you know, first, second, third,
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  Speaker 1: options we're going to be. I know that the landscape
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  Speaker 1: shifted so much in this cycle that maybe some of
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  Speaker 1: those phone calls that you planned on making you weren't
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  Speaker 1: able to make. But how was it putting your staff together?
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  Speaker 1: How many phone calls did it take? How many guys
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  Speaker 1: did you.
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  Speaker 4: Have to talk to?
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  Speaker 5: Well, I mean it was a fairly crazy process in
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  Speaker 5: the sense that it's like, okay, are we going to
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  Speaker 5: keep the guys on offense? Are they going to end
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  Speaker 5: up going to Michigan? And so this is something that
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  Speaker 5: I've done a study of throughout my career, not just
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  Speaker 5: as a you know, thinking I was going to be
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  Speaker 5: the head coach. At some point, it's like, Okay, who
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  Speaker 5: are guys that when you study ball or that you
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  Speaker 5: go against you have a ton of respect for. And
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  Speaker 5: and so I have just always kept a not necessarily
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  Speaker 5: a rollodex, but just a spreadsheet of guys that I'm like, Man,
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  Speaker 5: these are good coordinators, These are you know, good position coaches,
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  Speaker 5: Guys that I could see myself working with. And you know,
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  Speaker 5: one of the names that is that it always popped up,
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  Speaker 5: not only from a schematic standpoint, but you know, a
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  Speaker 5: guy that's coach different positions on the offensive side of
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  Speaker 5: the ball. And then you know, when I got the
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  Speaker 5: head coaching waiting title, it was just it seemed like
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  Speaker 5: every year that people thought I was going to be
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  Speaker 5: able to take over, the name Kevin mcgiven would always
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  Speaker 5: be sent to me, texted to me. And I didn't,
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  Speaker 5: you know, I hadn't spent a ton of time with Kevin.
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  Speaker 5: I just had watched his stuff, watched his film, watch
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  Speaker 5: his progression, and knew that that's a guy that I
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  Speaker 5: would love to work with, just not only from a
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  Speaker 5: schematics standpoint, but just the way he looks at football.
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  Speaker 5: And if you sit and you in an interview, you know,
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  Speaker 5: as a defensive mind, there's certain questions I like to
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  Speaker 5: ask the certain questions I like to throw at offensive coordinators,
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  Speaker 5: and he is just so intelligent and the way he
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  Speaker 5: talks about scheme and utilizing personnel how to conflict a
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  Speaker 5: defense at different levels. It just was so refreshing to
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  Speaker 5: listen to him and to interview him, let alone to
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  Speaker 5: look at what he'd done at the different places he'd
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  Speaker 5: been so, you know, and then with all the different
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  Speaker 5: position coaches, same thing. It's like, Okay, who who if
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  Speaker 5: I looked at throughout the years, I say, yes, I'd
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  Speaker 5: love to work with this guy. He would fit what
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  Speaker 5: we do here, fits our culture. And it was just
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  Speaker 5: a matter of making those phone calls along the way,
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  Speaker 5: so you know, the preparation had been there. It's just
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  Speaker 5: a matter of you know, reaching out and feeling those
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  Speaker 5: rules as needed.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so you put a staff together, and concurrent with
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  Speaker 1: putting your staff together, you have to try to re
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  Speaker 1: recruit your own roster and also figure out who is
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  Speaker 1: appealing to you in the transfer portal and try to
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  Speaker 1: get some of those guys to come. And that was
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  Speaker 1: an insane process, as you know, some people we thought
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  Speaker 1: were going to stay ended up leaving. Some people we
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  Speaker 1: didn't think would be in the transfer portal and available
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  Speaker 1: for you to bring in. Suddenly are there the player
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  Speaker 1: personnel standpoint while you're also taking over the job for
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  Speaker 1: the first time and filling out your staff and being
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  Speaker 1: able to tell these kids, hey, this is who you
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  Speaker 1: will be playing for. I mean, how hectic is that process?
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  Speaker 1: And I promise there's a reason I'm asking you this question.
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  Speaker 5: Oh no, I understand. Yeah, it was. I think with
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  Speaker 5: the evolution of college football and what you're seeing with
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  Speaker 5: the transfer portal those it's difficult in the sense that
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  Speaker 5: when you're recruiting your guys and they come to the
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  Speaker 5: University of Utah and you have those ties with their family,
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  Speaker 5: with their parents, and you have these relationships that were
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  Speaker 5: built up over time, and those guys decide to go elsewhere,
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  Speaker 5: it can be very difficult because it's an emotional deal
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  Speaker 5: at that point, right. You have those ties, you have
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  Speaker 5: those relationships. But what we've had to learn is that, hey, listen,
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  Speaker 5: we we still love the people that leave our program,
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  Speaker 5: but we have to focus and spend all of our
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  Speaker 5: our time and attention, our energy, and our love on
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  Speaker 5: those that want to be a part of this program
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  Speaker 5: and those those that were bringing into our program. So
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  Speaker 5: you know, I think our coaches did an unbelievable job
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  Speaker 5: of identifying the holes we needed to feel as guys
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  Speaker 5: were transferring and and we were bringing guys in as
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  Speaker 5: well as I think it was very important for our players,
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  Speaker 5: and it worked out great at least for me that
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  Speaker 5: our players were able to see at least a glimpse
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  Speaker 5: of who I would be as a head coach at
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  Speaker 5: the bull site at the bowl game. And because the
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  Speaker 5: offensive players, as much as they've they've known me is
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  Speaker 5: a defensive coordinator and walking the halls and and I
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  Speaker 5: have great relationships with them, they haven't necessarily known the
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  Speaker 5: full Morgan scally and so they got to see a
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  Speaker 5: glimpse of that as a head coach at the at
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  Speaker 5: the bowl game, and was a huge coup for us
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  Speaker 5: to be able to hold on to our two quarterbacks
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  Speaker 5: and as well as you know them, understanding that we
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  Speaker 5: wanted to make sure that the offense we brought in
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  Speaker 5: fit their skill sets. And if you look at what
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  Speaker 5: Kevin's done anywhere he's been, that's what he's been able
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  Speaker 5: to do is adapt and innovate, and so they were
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  Speaker 5: really excited about coach McGivern and his system and the
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  Speaker 5: coaching staff that we were bringing in. So you in
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  Speaker 5: college football nowadays, it's not just recruiting the high school
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  Speaker 5: kids going out of portal. You're every day recruiting your
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  Speaker 5: own guys. They have to experience something special while in
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  Speaker 5: your program. The culture's got to be such that the
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  Speaker 5: experience is so awesome that they don't necessarily want to leave,
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  Speaker 5: even if they're offered a higher price tag. Right, And
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  Speaker 5: so it's creating that experience for the guys already in
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  Speaker 5: your program that they know they're loved, they know they're valued,
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  Speaker 5: and they know that we're going to go win championships.
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  Speaker 1: Your assistance and your players might be better people to
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  Speaker 1: ask this question, but I'm always curious about self perception. Also,
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  Speaker 1: what are the differences between Morgan Scalley defensive coordinator and
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  Speaker 1: Morgan scally head coach?
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  Speaker 5: Oh? I guess a lot of that is I don't
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  Speaker 5: know yet. Sure. The biggest thing for me as a
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  Speaker 5: defensive coordinator is the biggest thing for me as a
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  Speaker 5: head coach, and that's establishing culture, making sure that everyone
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  Speaker 5: understands the behaviors that win championships, defining those for the people,
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  Speaker 5: providing clarity, holding guys accountable to it and giving the support.
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  Speaker 5: But so I guess you know, from a head coach standpoint,
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  Speaker 5: it's making sure that every single person in the program,
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  Speaker 5: from staff, support staff to players understand where we're headed
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  Speaker 5: and the behaviors that we're asking for, making sure they
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  Speaker 5: know they're valued, that that they're a part of this journey,
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  Speaker 5: that it's not just a dictatorship. And so it's really
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  Speaker 5: been me getting to know all the people in our
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: program and making sure they get to know me. There's
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  Speaker 5: that trust factor that needs to be built over time,
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  Speaker 5: but I think it's just a larger scale of creating
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  Speaker 5: and sustaining culture.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Utah had football coach Morgan Scally my guest here on
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  Speaker 1: the Sean O'Connell show, how did you keep Devin Dan
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  Speaker 1: Pierre and Bird Ficklin on this Utah football roster? Because
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I know both guys and their agents were getting a
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: lot of phone calls.
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  Speaker 5: Right, I would say, Number one is they love Utah,
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  Speaker 5: They love being here, they love the fan base. Number
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  Speaker 5: two is they were excited about what we were bringing in,
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  Speaker 5: you know schematically that it was going to be something
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  Speaker 5: very similar to what they had just gone through. They
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  Speaker 5: love their teammates, they love the guys that are coming
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  Speaker 5: back with them, and you know, I just I it
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  Speaker 5: in college football to have what we have at the
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: University of Utah, with a with a fan base that
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  Speaker 5: sells out every home game, that has a passion that
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: that shows their love for our players. And you know,
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  Speaker 5: they I don't know that they felt the need to
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  Speaker 5: go anywhere else. They've got what they need here in
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  Speaker 5: the opportunity to win a championship. And so they're a
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  Speaker 5: combination of things for sure, And I'm just I'm excited that,
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  Speaker 5: you know, to have that leadership in the quarterback room
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  Speaker 5: because both those guys walk the talk and it's it's
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  Speaker 5: it's fun to see when your best players are also
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  Speaker 5: some of your best leaders.
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  Speaker 1: I've been incredibly impressed with both of those guys. I know,
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  Speaker 1: a big part of success for you next year offensively
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  Speaker 1: is also going to be replacing an offensive line that's
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  Speaker 1: sending I mean, I think all five of those starters
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  Speaker 1: from last year are gonna have an opportunity to play
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  Speaker 1: professional football. A couple of them are obviously projected to
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: be first round picks, and making sure that that that
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  Speaker 1: position stays consistent. He also had to bring in a coach,
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  Speaker 1: and Jordan Gross has not been in this role at
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  Speaker 1: this level before this. Now, I have talked to enough
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: people that know Jordan Gross a lot better than I
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  Speaker 1: do that say that lack of experience is not going
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  Speaker 1: to be a big deal here. But what made you
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  Speaker 1: so confident that he was the right guy Because he
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: doesn't check the experience box, at least from a coaching
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  Speaker 1: at Division one football level box. What made you so
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  Speaker 1: confident that he was the right man for this role.
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  Speaker 5: The guy is the smartest dude in the room, you know.
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: And when we came in at nineteen ninety eight together,
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  Speaker 5: he was this tall, skinny, gangly offensive lineman and I
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: lifted more weight than he did. I'm like, you're an
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  Speaker 5: offensive lineman, dude? What on earth? I went? I went
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: on my mission. I came back and the guy was
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: hanging cleaning four or five like it was nothing. I'm like,
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  Speaker 5: what happened to you? He just has a work ethic
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: and a competitive mindset that you don't find many places.
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  Speaker 5: Why he's on the Ring of Honor with the Carolina
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: Panthers and why he played so many years in the NFL.
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: He gets it. He understands offensive line play, but he
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: also understands relationships and he can coach. You know, I'm
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: not the only one that was trying to get Jordan
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  Speaker 5: Gross to coach. He had opportunities to coach in the NFL,
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: so there's a lot of other people to understand his
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: aptitude and his ability to coach and teach. And I
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: tried to talk him into it a few years ago
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  Speaker 5: and he just said, with you know, his kids and
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: what he was doing with his family life, it just
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  Speaker 5: didn't make a whole lot of sense. And was I
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: the luckiest dude ever that you know, the timing worked
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: out that it was right for him. The timing was
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  Speaker 5: right for him to come coach. Our guys up and watch.
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  Speaker 5: This guy is a superstar. And I'm so fired up
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: for the guys for the offense, our oh block the
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  Speaker 5: offensive line here. I think they're already seeing the benefit
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: of having you know, an NFL All pros as their coach.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't wait to see what that product looks
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  Speaker 1: like under your leadership, and obviously under the leadership of
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  Speaker 1: one of the all time greats to play offensive line
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  Speaker 1: at the school. I mean that's that there's this It
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: could be used as a criticism, and I've tried to
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: bring up both sides of the argument, like the coolest
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: thing at that press conference, You're like, I'm a ute,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: always have been, always will be. It gives me chills
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  Speaker 1: even repeating it, because it's such a rarity in college
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  Speaker 1: football now that the whole journey can be at this
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  Speaker 1: one place, and we hope it's the whole journey that's
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: at this one place. I guess that will depend on
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: if you don't have NFL aspirations.
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  Speaker 4: Maybe, but neither here nor there.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Look, the insular nature of your experience at Utah on
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: only Utah could be perceived as a potential negative when
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: you're taking over a head coaching job and you're trying
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: to fill out a staff and you might not have
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: the same network as everyone else. I've heard you addressed
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: this before, but you haven't done it on my show.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Did you feel handicapped in any way by the fact
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: that you've only ever been in Salt Lake City, had
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: only ever been at the University of Utah when it
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: came to filling out your staff.
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: I've never felt handicapped. I think you handicap yourself that
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: if you don't reach out and you don't. I mean
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: the amount of relationships I've built over the years with
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: people from across the country, the connections I have down
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: in Texas from recruiting at you just you handicap yourself
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: and people can say whatever they want us to remember
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: in a graduate assistant and you know, going to the
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: National Coaches Convention, which have you ever been there? Oh?
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  Speaker 4: See, I I've.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Never been there for the Coaches Convention. I was in
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Orlando the same time it was happening. That's the one
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: in Orlando, right.
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: It changes locations from year to year. It's been in Nashville, Orlanto,
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: San Antonio, you name it. So it goes all over
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: the country. But I'm talking thousands and thousands of coaches
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: show up to this thing, right, and you can go
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: put your resume up on a board that no one
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: looks at, and it's like a thousand resumes guys looking
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: to get into the profession, looking to do whatever. I'll
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: never forget. I went to Urban and Urban was coaching
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: at Florida at the time, and he was he was
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: big time, and I'll never forget just asking him, and
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: I've talked to him about this, so we kind of
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: laugh about it, but I just remember asking him, you know,
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: advice on what I should do, and and I'll never
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: Forgay says, well, you know what I think. So I
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: did this as a graduate assistant, but then I also
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: did it as a position coach, so I think I
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: was a position coach. We won the Sugar Bowl, and
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: I was a position coach at the time now that
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: I remember it. And I go up to him and
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: I'm talking to him about what I should do in
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: my career path, and he said, Morgan, I really think
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: you need you need to get out from underneath coach
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: with and you should go elsewhere because at the end
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: of the day, no one knows who Morgan Scaley is.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: And I never forgot that. And I was like, so,
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: why do I have to go someplace else for people
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: to know who I am? And I just said, no,
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: forget that. I'm going to get out there. I'm going
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: to meet people. I'm going to learn and grow and
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: I did. I was sitting right next to Nick Saban
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: and he asked me how we defended Mike Lee, which
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: when when Mike took over the head coaching job a
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: Mississippi State right, I sat with Kirkby Smart sat with Dan,
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: Landing with Dan was at Georgia Brent Vnables came here.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: You know, I've done so much of just developing and
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: learning and doing everything I could to find out, you know,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: what's the best way to play defense or you know,
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: the best schemes, the best lifting programs. I would go
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: to the convention and look at all the different gadgets
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: that people come up with up with. That's I've always
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: been someone that wanted to innovate, that wanted to create,
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: and I never thought that, you know, you had to
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: go other places to learn about different cultures, different backgrounds.
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: And I've been able to do it at Utah. And
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: you know, you get to a place where, okay, if
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: you just put your head down and grind and work
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: and and you know, you extend yourself to people and
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: you go out and meet people. And I mean, who
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: would have thought the an LDS kid, you know, from
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: Salt Lake City, Utah, would would ever become one of
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: the top recruiters in Houston, Texas. You know, it's it's
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: because it's all about relationships. It didn't matter name or
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: what logo you have. People like people. So I just
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: I got out there and I extended myself and I
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: learned and I asked questions, and I finally got to
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: the point where I was like, I don't need to
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: go anywhere. And I've looked around, and when I said
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: we can win a national championship here, I'm I truly
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: believe that. You look at the people we have here,
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: the fan base that we have here, the high school
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: coaches here in Utah done unbelievable job of developing talent.
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: You look at all the teams coming to Utah to recruit,
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Look all over Twitter, and look at the amount of
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: teams that are coming to Salt Lake City, Utah to
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: recruit our guys. If we can keep all all of
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: our guys here in state, you can't tell me we
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: can't do it. You can't tell me, well, I'm.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Not gonna I'm not gonna tell you that, especially after
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: we all just watched Indiana win a national championship. Do
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: you find do you find inspiration in that the fact
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: that there's now like a new kid on the block
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that was able to achieve at the very very highest level.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: When five years ago, if you would have brought this
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: up as a possibility, you'd have been laughed at any room,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: But Kurt Signetti and the Indiana Hoosiers just pulled it.
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: Off one percent, one hundred percent. So uh, that's why
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: I've never felt that I needed to leave, and I've
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: you know, it's like, we've got what we need here
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: and now it's just a matter of everyone buying into it.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: How complete is your roster right now? How many scholarships
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: are left to give out? The transfer portal you can't
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: enter your name into it anymore unless you were in
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: that national championship game. You can't enter your name into
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: it anymore. But there's there's three thousand kids in there
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: that are all you know, I imagine you're still interested and
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: some how close is this team to be in the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: complete roster?
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: God, we're within one to two. So we've actually done
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: a pretty good job of filling holes, and we're excited
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: with the group we have. It's so much of it
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: is getting the guys here, and particularly with a new
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: offensive staff, just like last year with Jason Is. You
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: want to hit the ground running. You want these guys
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: in the weight room developing. You want to get out
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: there and start teaching these guys and our coaches, you know,
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: in the film room. So the development during the off
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: season is such a huge deal, taking advantage of the
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: hours that we have and then getting them ready for
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: spring ball. So that was a priority. Obviously, you don't
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: want to just fill holes to fill holes. You want
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: to fill them with the right guys. But we've been
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: fortunate enough to be able to do that, and we
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: still got maybe one to two left to field. But
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: we're in a good situation, a good spot. And you know,
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: it's after January right now, everyone's on the road recruiting
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: or in state recruiting. And then once we come back
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: in February of that's the signing date in February. Then
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: it's all about, you know, us in with our players
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: and making sure that culture is what we want and
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: the journey begins. Man Utah.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I had football coach Morgan Scalley for another minute or
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: two here on the Sean O'Connell show. I wish I
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: had like another forty five minutes because I could keep
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: this thing going. But I'll I'll respect your time and
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I appreciate what you've given us already. Colton Swan, I
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: love Colton Swan. After I left Utah and transfer to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Weaver State. He was on the staff there, and I
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: was impressed with him from then all the way through
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: what he is now. How'd you know he was the
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: right guy to make the defensive coordinator to replace the honorable, venerable,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: very accomplished Morgan Scaley himself.
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: Oh boo, No one is so bright, so organized, a
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: great teacher. He's a guy that's coordinated before, he's done
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: it before. He's provided me so much insight when I
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: was when I was a coordinator, helped me along the way.
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: He's tough as nails. He's our culture to a tee
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: and people are going to really get to know Colton Swan.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: That's what I'm excited about, is for people to get
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: to know the cowboy. This is a guy that he
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: still competes in rodeo. Yeah, and every single year, you know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: we've had these opportunities to have each coach stand up
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: and present something to the players. Well, every year he
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: presents a new event in the rodeo and explains how
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: it's judged, and our guys are just in the enthralled.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: I wish everyone could see him present a rodeo event.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: This guy's tough as nails and he's as good as
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: they come, So I have no doubt whatsoever. Plus that
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: staff is so good for him that he's gonna flourish
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: and succeed. And you know, I'm just excited to be
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: now kind of a fly on the wall whenever he'll
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: let me in the room.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: How good are you at delegating? How much of a
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: micromanager are you? Because there's always we don't really know
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: as fans media members, right like how much that coach
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: is not letting his offensive coordinator do what he wants
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: to do. Or oh, that guy's defensive mind and so
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: he's got his fingers all over this defense and he
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: won't let Colton Swan spread his wings and fly. Like
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: how difficult or natural is it going to be for
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: you to be the CEO and to be the guy
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: that says, hey, there's a reason you're my offensive coordinator
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: and play color. There's a reason why you're calling my
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: defensive plays right now. I am going to let you
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: do your job. Or you know this is your program
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: for the first time. Do you want to make sure
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: you keep your your thumb print on it?
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: Well, I just want to provide help. That's what Kyle
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: did for me when I was a young coordinator, and
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: I wanted him in the room. I wanted his his thoughts.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: I wanted him to be able to say, hey, you
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: may want to think about this, just because he had
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: all that experience. And but no, I it's it's very
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: important for me to me for our coordinators to know
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: how much confidence I have in them. Otherwise I wouldn't
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: have hired them to do the job. You know, being
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: a head coach is is much more about being a CEO.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: And you know, my responsibilities and my calendar is going
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: to going to be a lot different than than what
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: it has been in the past, and I'm fully aware
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: of that. I'm you know, I I unless you're in
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: the seat, you really don't know all that it entails.
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: And I'm learning as I go, but I have been
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: prepared for a lot of it. And so it's you know,
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: I'm there as the sounding board. I want them to understand. Hey, listen,
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: we've talked about during the hiring process what we're looking for,
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: what we want uh complimentary football, and and you know
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: it's up to you guys to to to get together
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: and make sure that happens. And I'm a sounding board
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: in the process. I'm excited to sit in an offensive
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: room and just sit sit back and listen to them
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: and be like, no, that's not gonna work. You know,
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: this is what we would do to to I want
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: to I want to be on the offense side of
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: the ball and you know, give some creative thoughts as
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: to how to beat a defense. And that's that's what
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: I'm excited about. I've always wanted to like a year
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: sabbatical where I could just go and sit in offensive
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: rooms and and and listen to them talk about what's
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: going to work, what's not going to work, and and
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: just see, you know, what they're looking at in.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: A perfect world.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: What is the identity of a Utah football offense with
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Morgan Scally.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: As a head coach?
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: I think it's what I said in the in the
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: in the press conference. It is physical. You can never
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: get away from physicality in this game. It will be
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: exposed at the highest level for good or for bad.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: Uh And and you look at how physical Indiana was
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: right and their identity, and you know there is just
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: will always be a part of the game. So physicality
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: and innovation, the the ability to do what you do
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: do it at an efficient rate, but also Uh, create adapt,
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: Uh be ahead of the game in terms of how
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: we can use personnel and how we can uh you know,
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: gain a distinct advantage. Uh, you know, based on the
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: guys that we got in the room.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: How will you treat the Holy War the b YU
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: rivalry game?
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: Uh? What do you mean?
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Like, you know, sometimes there's a countdown clock in the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: weight room. You got two hundred and fifty five days
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: before you have to fight the team down South.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Whatever.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Some coaches lie to us and say that's just any
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: other game. Like how will you I mean, you you
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: cared about it since you were in diapers, you played
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: in it.
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: You coached it. Yeah, and you've got Morgan Scalley sound
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: bites to remind remind me.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, but Morgan Scalley, the head coach. How I mean?
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: It's it's the most important day on the Utah sports
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: calendar every year, and you are now one of the
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: two most important figures in that rivalry game of that
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: most important day.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: So how will you approach it?
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: The way I've approached it for the last while is
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: that every you have to treat every game like it's
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: your super Bowl. Otherwise you'll never get there If you
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: treat b YU differently than you treat you know, Texas
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: Tech or Kansas, Kansas State. You're doing it wrong, you know.
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: And and that's allowing emotions to get in your way
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: of of doing what we want to do. It's all
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: about behavior. So yes, I want to beat b Yu,
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: you know. And I talked to Klonie. Colonie is one
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: of my best friends. We went through the fire together
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: at some point during during our careers, and and you
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: know we will be going to dinner together and and
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: all that stuff. That's that's my friend. But I told them, dude,
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: I love you, and every time I play you, I
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: want to beat you by fifty. That's just how it is.
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: That's just we're we are competitive souls. And but you know,
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: I have no hatred towards Brigham Young University. No, there
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: are guys justin Anna, Aaron Roderick, Chad, Gary Anderson, guys
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: down there that I love that I have relationships with.
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: But again, it doesn't mean that I don't want to
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: ruin them when I when we play them. That's just
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: how it is. That's the competitive nature of this game.
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: And I'm a competitive dude.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Your relationship with Kyle Whittingham in a good place right now,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I would hope.
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, we were together last night and gave him
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: a big hug, and and uh, that's that's my guy. Now.
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: If Kyle and I always seen eye to eye on things, no,
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: have you always seen eye to eye with your boss?
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: You know? And every single thing that you do? If so, man, congratulations,
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: Oh Cie, you've got a I love that. I will.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: I will not make that claim, Morgan, I have not.
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: I have not the easiest guy to work with.
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: No, I don't. I don't think you know, anyone that
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: works with someone for as long as we work together
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: is going to see eye to eye. But I've always
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: been one hundred percent loyal to Kyle Whittingham. That's the
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: guy that I love. He's mentored me, give me every
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: shot along the way to progress in this in this profession.
• 30:44
  Speaker 5: And I will always love that man. And and uh
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: wish him nothing but the best. Was with him last
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: night at the Atland Trophy Award banquet for Spencer Fauna.
• 30:55
  Speaker 5: Was an unbelievable award for him and honor for him.
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: But no, you know, I don't. I mean, shoot, I
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: think I was maybe me and Doug Ellis. I think
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: we're the two that were with Kyle throughout his entire
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: times as head coach, barring my one year of trying
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: out the NFL. But I don't think you can spend
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: that much time with someone and not love him. Otherwise
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: I would have left a long time ago.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. We got the schedule release yesterday.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Did you circle the games that you care about more?
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: And just oh my gosh, just won this road? I mean,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: I'm always asking that facetiously, but what did you think
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: your schedules it rolled out yesterday?
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: I don't care. We play who we play, you know,
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: and we play who we play, and and you know,
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: you give me the time and date, we'll go, let's go,
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: let's trap it up. But I'm excited to get to
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: work with our guys right now in the offseason and
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: get things going well.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: You'll leave it to guys like me to say, well,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: that's an easy schedule, so minimum ten wins in Morgan
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Scalley's first years ahead football coach.
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: Right listen, no one puts higher expectations on me than me.
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: So you know, like I said, our whole deal is
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: create the culture and the results should speak for themselves.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Well, I have no doubt you will do so, we're
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: very much looking forward to it. The very last thing
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: before I let you go, are you gonna let us
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: media slubs come and watch practice?
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: Please? Please? Please?
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Can I watch one on one pass rush reels? Please
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: let me watch real practice.
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna maybe let others. But you know, because I
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: know that you'll be fit in area. Well, shouldn't they
• 32:41
  Speaker 5: do this? You're like, you'll get too involved though, See
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: I can't have that. Yeah.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm already deeply offended that I didn't get a
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: call like, hey, I need a coach specific to the
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: walk Ons that are not ever actually gonna do anything
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: for us on the field. Can you come take care
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: of those guys? I would be perfectly equipped for that, Morgan.
• 32:59
  Speaker 5: Stop it, And yet I didn't get the phone. Come
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: teach me, Come teach me some some moves, some MMA moves. Dude.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Well, look if you if you ever need that for
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: your guys, I'm I will volunteer my time.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: That'd be a lot of fun. But thank you so
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: much for your time today. Love you.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Very excited for this new era of Utah football and
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: UH and cannot wait to be watching every spring practice
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: in its entirety under your new media policy as the
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: head coach.
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: All right, thanks, that's Morgan Scaley. You tell football head coach.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: He's one to O already in that bowl game and
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: a guy that uh man. You you can feel however
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: you want to feel about the changing of the guard,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: but there's only one way to feel about him taking over,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: and that is optimistic and excited.