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Transcript

Army QB Bryson Daily · The Heisman Hopefuls Podcast

0:03
SPEAKER_05: Welcome to the official life, the podcast and the winner is here's your host, Chris Houston.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to the official Heisman Trophy podcast.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: I hope everyone has had a great week.
0:42
SPEAKER_02: The race for the 2024 Heisman Trophy has seemingly cleared out a bit, while the race for the national championship via the 12-team playoff is a bit muddled.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: But man, there are some great storylines so far this year.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: There's the story of Boise State running back Ash Gingenti, who has emerged as the odds-on favorite for the Heisman Trophy at this point.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: There's the surprisingly dominant Indiana Hoosiers, 7-0 after a 56-7 thrashing of Nebraska.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: I think we can definitively say that this is the best Indiana team since 1967.
1:13
SPEAKER_02: And then there's Army and Navy.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Two-story programs, both undefeated, both ranked in the top 25 together, both off to their best starts jointly since 1945.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: No NIL, no transfer portal, just a bunch of really good athletes who, after they graduate, will become second lieutenants and ensigns.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you look closely, you'll see that there's a bit of a theme when we talk about these storylines.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: And this is where I brag a little bit about our choices of guests.
1:40
SPEAKER_02: And if you go check it out, you'll note that the players we've had on our show have been the players who have had arguably the most impact on this year's season.
1:49
SPEAKER_02: Ashton Genty was on our third episode of the season.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: Curtis Rourke was on last week.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: The week before was Navy quarterback Blake Horvath, and this week it's Army quarterback Bryson Daly.
2:13
SPEAKER_02: So far this season, he has 909 yards rushing while serving as triggerman for the Black Knights triple option offense.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: He's passed for 629 yards on 57% completion percentage, seven touchdowns, no interceptions, a really nice efficiency rating of 219.
2:31
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna get to Bryson in just a second.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: I just want to add that after Bryson Daly, we will have on the old ball coach, 1966 Heisman Trophy winner out of the University of Florida, Steve Spurrier.
2:45
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of funny, you know.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: I was talking to him for a while, I think we ended up talking for 45 minutes, and by the end, he he was pretty much ready to get me off the phone.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: I don't think he expected to talk that long.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: But uh anyway, we really appreciated getting the time, and I think you guys will enjoy this one.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: Just a little reminder, please like, subscribe, review, tell your friends about our podcast.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: We really try to bring the best players in the country, regardless of position, regardless of school, regardless of conference, onto the show because we want to find out what makes these guys tick.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, it doesn't hurt to have on great Heisman Trophy winners like Archie Griffin and Barry Sanders and Ricky Williams to sort of shed a light on what made them so great and what kind of challenges they had to overcome.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: So if you know anyone who's into college football and they want to keep up with the latest and greatest players and names uh from this age and from ages past, please let them know about this show.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
3:46
SPEAKER_02: The Heisman is handed out every December, but the history of the trophy lives year-round at Heisman.com.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: Home to the most iconic trophy in sports, Heisman.com tells the stories of all 88 of our winners and features news, bios, and statistics on all your favorite Heisman heroes.
4:02
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4:09
SPEAKER_02: Make Heisman.com your first stop for all things Heisman.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: Bryson Daly of Army, thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh, thank you for having me.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: Congratulations on helping the Black Knights move to 7-0 with the win over ECU.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: It's your program's best start since 1996, and you did it in fine fashion with six total touchdowns, five rushing.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: You're ranked in the top 25, and Air Force is coming up next.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: What's the mood of the team like right now?
4:36
SPEAKER_02: And what's Coach Monken telling you guys as you prepare?
4:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, team's in a great spot right now.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, guys are you know really energetic coming to practice every day.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, the morale is high.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, you know, when you're winning, you know, things are a lot easier.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, the fight right now that Coach Monken is really preaching to us is just to fight complacency, um, you know, to you know, attack each week a one-on-one mentality.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: And uh we keep doing that, uh, those wins will keep coming.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: You guys won your last four games of last season after a slow start.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: So you now own the nation's longest win streak at 11 games.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: Can you identify a point along the way where maybe there was a catalyst that got you guys at this level that suddenly maybe the lights came on for some guys?
5:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: I think you can look back to last year at this time, at uh this week last year.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we were in a rough spot.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: We were two and six um coming up on the Air Force game.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, we just lost um at home to UMass, and it was, you know, it was a low spot.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: You know, we really had to look ourselves in the mirror, um, decide what we were gonna do from there.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: Um guys easily could have quit.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: We really, you know, could have gave up on the season, gave up on each other.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's when we truly saw uh the power of this brotherhood and this program.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Um guys decided, hey, like that's that season's over.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: That eight games we just played is over.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna, you know, start over and we're gonna go beat Air Force and we're gonna win every game the rest of the season.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: And we did that, and that came from tremendous leadership that we had last year with those four captains.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Um I took a lot from them about how they led us during those tough times and how they got us to finish that year uh on that win streak.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: And then that's just that momentum just carried over into this year, and it's been awesome to see.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: And I'm really proud of how this program responded, how these young guys have stepped in and really you know kept that going this year.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's been really cool to see.
6:32
SPEAKER_02: What's the buzz like at the academy right now?
6:34
SPEAKER_02: Are you guys walking around with a little spring in your step or people patting you on the back?
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you know, with winning, you know, you you walk around a little more confidently, and uh the academy's done a great job supporting us.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: And you know, instructors in class are you know telling us congrats before they start the lesson.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: And you have um cadets you might have never talked to.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, they come up to you and say congrats, and you know, you didn't know how big of fans we had um among the cadets, and they're like, Man, awesome game! Like we saw y'all, like the football games are awesome, and that's just great to see.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, it's it's been a really good culture here at West Point because fantastic, fantastic.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: You've accumulated a remarkable 26 total touchdowns in the year, second best in the country, including a nation best 19 on the ground.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: Needed only seven games to shatter the school record in those categories.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: You totaled 14 touchdowns all of last season.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: To what do you attribute this sudden surge in your production?
7:30
SPEAKER_00: I think you just look at the weapons we have this year, and uh especially up front, those guys have been incredible, um, just making it really easy on me.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Um and Coach Worley, first year offensive coordinator, uh, he's been calling great plays, setting us up for success.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's just a close-knit group, and guys are playing for each other, blocking for each other, and I'm just doing my best to you know, you know, find the end zone so we can uh win these games.
7:54
SPEAKER_02: You come from Abernathy, Texas, a small town north of Lubbock, otherwise pretty isolated.
7:59
SPEAKER_02: What's it like growing up in a town uh that's so far from everything?
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, you know, Abernathy was a great place to grow up.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh, like you said, I think we had about 2,800 total people in the town population uh when I got out of there.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Um it's not a whole lot going on.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh but what we did have going on was high school football.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it meant a lot to the people there, uh, to us.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: You know, my dad is my head coach.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, big football background.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was a great place to grow up, a lot of great people, and I have a lot of support from them.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, they come up to games here in New York, uh, all over Jara Way games.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm I thank God that I'm uh from Abernathy, Texas.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: Did you have a Dairy Queen there at least?
8:40
SPEAKER_00: That's all we had.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: That was the only chain uh chain restaurant was Dairy Queen.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: So I think I know everything.
8:46
SPEAKER_02: Probably the place to be.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: I think I know everything on that menu.
8:49
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
8:49
SPEAKER_02: Looking back at your production at Abernathy High, you were incredibly prolific.
8:53
SPEAKER_02: Over 11,000 career yards of total offense to go with 161 total touchdowns, rushing and passing.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: You also returned a kickoff for a touchdown, you caught a touchdown for a score, and you also made a big impact on defense.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: What kind of offense did you operate in high school?
9:08
SPEAKER_02: And how did you find the energy to do all this stuff?
9:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we were um primarily uh spread gun um with a lot of uh QB power, QB zone, um, a lot of option game.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: And then most of our passing game was bootlegs, uh sprint out passes.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: Um it's a lot of the stuff that we have carried over here.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: Um so that definitely helped me uh with the transition, but we weren't running like a triple option system like we're running now.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: So um that was definitely a learning curve.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, my uh uh head coach Daryl Daly, he did a good job dialing it up for me in high school.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: You also competed in basketball and track and field while in high school.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: You had a best of 164-10 in the discus, pretty solid mark there considering you were doing it part-time.
9:53
SPEAKER_02: Not a lot of people realize the footwork needed to throw a disc that far.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: It seems like you can see the results of that skill set and that nice little spin move you just did against ECU for your first rushing touchdown.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: Is it fair to say that throwing the discus really helped you develop the quick feed and balance to excel uh in football?
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you can definitely say it's a part of it.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Um it does, it does take a lot of skill to throw the discus.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, I think just playing multiple sports, I'm a big proponent in that athletes should play multiple sports, especially at a young age.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: I think it just develops a lot of um just a lot of different skills that will help primary sport.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think all just playing all those sports really helped me uh to be the athlete I am today.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Tell me about your recruitment and how you ended up at West Point.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, late junior year, Army reached out, and at that time I only had FCS offers, and um, I had about four FCS offers in Texas, and then I had about three Ivy League offers, I think, and that was it.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: And then Army reached out, uh, Coach Mike Vitti.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: Um he came to the school.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh they offered me, and really I uh I figured like that was the place I was gonna go as soon as he offered me because I didn't think I was gonna get any bigger offers or any other offers.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: And I came up for a visit and just fell in love with the place.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: Um I I found a lot of dudes who were just like me, um, you know, same mindset, same, you know, wanted to win and just cared about each other.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Um and I wanted to be a part of that.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: So when I came up for the visit um in October of 2019, uh I committed.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: So of course the first year at the Academy is the plebe year, which can be very challenging.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: What was your plebe year like and uh what did you learn from it?
11:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's tough.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, just coming in, you know, you start off with basic training, and uh, you know, that's that's a whole new experience for someone who hasn't been in the military, no family in the military.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's uh pretty eye-opening.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: And you know, every day, you know, you're getting corrected for small things, you things that you think are small things as a plebe.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, but as you as you grow here, you realize those things matter.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it was it was definitely a learning curve every single day.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but thankfully I made it through plebe year and um now I'm here as a first team.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: It's uh pretty remarkable.
12:16
SPEAKER_02: You're majoring in engineering management.
12:17
SPEAKER_02: What does that major entail and what drew you to it?
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, it's um it's a major a lot of the guys on the team uh had told me about when I was a young guy in the program.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, because I really thought I wanted to go into like uh business or like uh mechanical engineering, and it seemed like the perfect combination of the two.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Um so basically it's a very broad engineering degree you kind of touch.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: So I've taken the intro to mechanical engineering, I've taken the intro into electrical engineering, civil engineering, and you kind of get to touch everything uh without getting too deep into one of them.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: So um it's been a great major for me, and I've I've really enjoyed it, and uh, a lot of my teammates take it as well.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: So we we've enjoyed the major.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: Sounds like you like to figure out how things work.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's uh yeah.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: I see some similarities to football fields sometimes, you know, diagnosing defense and maybe diagnosing how a system works or something like that.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: So when you when you graduate, you will be commissioned to second lieutenant.
13:16
SPEAKER_02: What are your plans after West Point?
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: So if all things go uh as I have planned right now, I'll go in as an infantry officer.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then later into my five years, I'll transition into the engineer corps.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, that is my first choice, so I'm hoping to get that.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Um and that would be my five years, and then you know, we'll see from there if I, you know, want to stay in the army or if I want to transition out.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh I've heard people who only want to go five years sometimes stay in for a long time, so we'll see.
13:49
SPEAKER_02: And how familiar are you with army football tradition and names like Blanchard and Davis and Dawkins and Blake?
13:55
SPEAKER_02: What's it like to follow in their footsteps and play in their shadows?
13:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you walk around this place and we have, you know, the Heisman Trophies upstairs, um, you know, all American uh awards on the walls, and um, you know, we've even got the chance, I've got the chance to meet Pete Dawkins.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: He's been in a couple of the games.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's been awesome to meet people like that.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: And the the amount of great players who played here and the rich history this program holds is uh pretty special.
14:22
SPEAKER_02: Do they encourage you guys to learn that history and tradition when you guys get there?
14:26
SPEAKER_00: They do.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, some of it's in the knowledge book that uh we all that every cadet has to read as plebes.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's pretty hard not to learn about it just from walking around and seeing all of it.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, and just uh Coach Munkin knows it all, of course, and he he tells us about it during fall camp.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, we see it all over social media.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: So uh they do a good job of informing us on a lot of that stuff.
14:49
SPEAKER_02: Would you be more like a Mr.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: Inside or a Mr.
14:52
SPEAKER_02: Outside?
14:53
SPEAKER_02: I think I'm a Mr.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Inside.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I'm on that level, but uh uh definitely Mr.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: Inside.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I have the speed for Mr.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: Outside.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: On your left arm is a tattoo that reads Cool Head, Hot Heart.
15:05
SPEAKER_02: What's the story behind that phrase and your decision to put it on your arm?
15:09
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: So um my grandpa um he he coached me all throughout Little League.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: He is my mom's dad, uh Buddy Comer.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: He texted me uh starting in like probably sixth grade, seventh grade sports.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: He'd text me every game day, hey, good luck, I love you, cool head, hot heart.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And basically, I think he started to send it to me because I did not have a cool head as a little kid.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: I was uh definitely a hot head.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: I'd get mad at officials, I would, you know, cry if we lost.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Like I was I did not handle losing or things not going my way very well.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: And you know, he really tried to coach me up on you know keeping that cool, calm, collected mindset.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then the hot head or the hot uh heart part of it um basically is keep the passion for the game.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: Like don't by sacrificing the cool head, hot heart, don't lose the passion and you know, the effort that you play with.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of the fine line of um competing, pretty much.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: And that's kind of nice.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: Whenever you are in a situation and maybe you need to be reminded, you just look down at your arm, right?
16:13
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: And it's in his handwriting, so something I'll always um have of him um, you know, for the rest of my life.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: That's really cool to have it in his handwriting, actually.
16:24
SPEAKER_02: Um so Bryson Daly, thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
16:28
SPEAKER_02: We wish you the best of luck to you and your squad the rest of the season, and uh good luck against Air Force.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: Beat Navy.
17:13
SPEAKER_02: Okay, our next guest really needs no introduction.
17:16
SPEAKER_02: He's one of the more famous college football names of the last 50 or 60 years.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: He's made an impact as a player and as a coach.
17:24
SPEAKER_02: He won a Heisman, he coached a Heisman, he helped change college football.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: He helped introduce the concept of the forward pass to the SEC.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: Joking a little bit there.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: But really, he had this really interesting passing scheme, which brought tremendous success at the University of Florida, as well as at places that aren't that easy to win at.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: Places like Duke and South Carolina.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about the old ball coach, Steve Spurrier, 1966 Heisman Trophy winner, University of Florida.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for coming on the official Heisman Trophy Podcast.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: Good to be with you, Chris.
17:58
SPEAKER_02: Looking forward to it.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: You know, the Gators had a big win uh against Kentucky over the weekend, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to get your opinion on the state of college football right now, state of conference realignment, state of uh player compensation, and uh what your view is of the current state and and how you think it'll it'll eventually land and where it'll all settle into.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Chris, I know a lot of coaches that are not in it now, like myself and Bobby Stoops and uh oh many others.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh we sort of say, hey, I'm glad I'm not in it right now.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh we had our run back in the 90s and 2000s.
18:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh and nowadays uh the coaches, uh I mean, it's a constant uh working 12 months a year uh between the NIL.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, you gotta pay your players now.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: All the big schools seem to have plenty of money.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh schools that don't have plenty of money, well, they're just gonna have to compete with the other schools pretty much right now.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but uh the major conferences have taken over uh college football as far as the television and income and all that kind of stuff.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: So uh but uh no matter all the problems that we have with the transfer portal, guys can pick up and go anytime they want to, just about.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: So it's not like you say recruiting is all that important.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: It is important uh if you can keep them there for four or five years, but if they're not playing and they're pretty good players or they think they are, they'll transfer somewhere else.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: So you gotta you gotta really manage your your team, your roster, as they say, to try to keep players around for a long time.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: But uh no matter all these problems everybody says we have, the stands are full.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: Crowds are bigger than ever.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: And uh the emphasis on college football has got to be as high as it ever was.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: So something must be working.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a lot different, a lot of people don't like it, but uh uh you know, the uh emphasis and the attention that college football gets is uh just unbelievable.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: If you were a coach today and a player said, Well, I'm not gonna play the rest of the season, I'm gonna red shirt and you know, to with the intention of transferring later on, you see that a lot.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just curious from a coaching perspective, and and how do you build a team?
20:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh how do you plan ahead?
20:25
SPEAKER_02: How do you fill your roster and create your depth chart if at any moment guys can leave or are or state their intention to leave?
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Well, first of all, you would hope uh that attitude would not uh be in your team.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: And obviously, if the player was playing a lot, maybe he wouldn't feel like that.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: So I I think the coaches almost have to just treat that as well, an injury.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, guys out for the season, he need knee surgery or something like that.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh next man up.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh you have to you have to have that next man up mentality.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: And uh players with not a very good attitude, uh, you know, you you gotta tell them to go somewhere else also.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: So it's uh everyone has the same problems.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: That's why I try to tell people, hey, we got the same problems as everybody else, and uh you gotta handle them the best way.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: But you know, the teams that have been winning the last 10, 15, 20 years are the same ones that are still winning.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: So a lot hasn't changed, uh, although that transfer portal and uh the ability to pay players has helped some schools, I think.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh but then it hasn't helped other schools that have been paying a lot of money, also.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: So it's still, you know, it's 11 on 11.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh the teams that are best prepared and guys that play with the most effort and attitude, and coaches, uh coaches have a big influence on who wins and loses, also.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: Those are the teams that uh still win, in my opinion.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: So going back to your childhood, you were a big baseball guy starting out.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: I I read that you were a sandlot legend, uh, so much so that.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: That's a uh businessman uh convinced your dad to to coach the little league team so that you would be on it.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: Is that true?
22:06
SPEAKER_02: What's the story behind that?
22:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh well uh my dad loved coaching.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: My dad uh was a Presbyterian minister and uh coached the Little League, Babe Ruth League.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: Um when we moved to Johnson City, I was 12 years old, and uh uh so that was my first, sorry, big little league.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: Although we had a little league in Newport, Tennessee when I lived there.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: But uh anyway, uh baseball for some reason was a sport that uh we we won almost all the time.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't mean all the time.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh our high school baseball team won the state championship of Tennessee my junior and my senior year.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: And uh there was no classification then.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: Everybody enters, win your district, go the region, won the state title in Nashville and in Memphis.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh just I mean, something just always seemed to happen good for our baseball teams, and I was fortunate as a pitcher to never lose a game in high school baseball.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how many people say that.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh unless unless they just pitched one or two games.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: But I pitched uh, you know, every other one in both those state championships, and uh you know we'd win eight to seven or five to four or two to one.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: It just uh would happen.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh in high school football, we lost back-to-back games 20 to 19.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: So every sport, we didn't win all the close ones, but uh in baseball we just always always did.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: There weren't many baseball teams in the South back then that I maybe maybe won if I remember.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: Uh who was a team that you followed and and got you uh interested in baseball?
23:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, my dad was not a Yankee fan.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: So I sort of grew up not pulling for the team that always won.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: Because Yankees always won.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: So you don't want to see somebody else.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: And somebody said, Why didn't you go to Alabama coming out of high school?
23:51
SPEAKER_01: I had a chance, and I said, Well, they always won.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to go somewhere that maybe hadn't done much and do things for the first time ever.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: And uh I was fortunate enough uh to come down to Florida, and I was very fortunate in my coaching corps to go to places that hadn't done much.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh Duke uh was real good back uh, gosh, before 1960, back in those days.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: 62, 62, they were pretty good.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: But uh Florida and South Carolina had not achieved very much at all.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: So we were able to go coach at those places and do things for the first time ever in school history.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: I I sort of get a kick out of those accomplishments rather than maybe going somewhere where they won a whole bunch of championships and you were able to win another one.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh winning those for the first time, I think is a little more special.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: That's an interesting psychology, right?
24:42
SPEAKER_02: Like you're a you're a builder, you're someone who likes that challenge versus just coasting on the laurels of things that came before.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Michael Phelps, uh, I loved what he said one time.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said, uh, what drove you to become the all-time uh gold medal winner in Olympics and swimming and set more world records than anybody.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, first of all, I wanted to do things that had never been done before, and I hate losing.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you show me uh anybody that's a winner and he hates losing in any sport.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: And those people that losing, they're they're okay after the game, or blah, blah, blah.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're not gonna they're not gonna win a lot.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: You gotta you gotta hate losing, I think, uh to be uh to be a winner.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: Do you hate losing more than you love winning?
25:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh, definitely.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't reminisce in my mind about all the championships we won.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: I reminisce about those we could have, could have, would have, should have, uh play here or there and so forth.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh just comes back to haunt me a lot when I'm sitting around daydreaming about prior games.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: Sure, sure.
25:48
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you've always been known for pushing the envelope on offense, and and as a passer, uh as your Florida career uh progressed by the end when you won the Heisman Trophy, you were putting up numbers that weren't typical of that era.
26:02
SPEAKER_02: Over 2,000 yards passing, you had a two to one touchdown interception ratio at a time when you go look at those stats, guys threw a lot of interceptions.
26:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh was this when you first started understanding the passing game at a at a level where you're like, okay, uh I want I want to start drawing up plays, creating my own offense.
26:20
SPEAKER_02: And if it wasn't that, what what was the kind of the instigation uh for that uh idea in your mind?
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh in college, and even uh the the pro football, I was lucky to get 10 years in in the NFL, mostly as a backup quarterback, which now I'm thankful because I'm not all beat up and didn't have any concussions and all that.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: But uh anyway, uh in college, our offense was pretty much like everybody else's, you know, we roll out and throw a few dropbacks here, there, and the other.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: And and uh our head coach, uh Ray Gray is a wonderful, wonderful man.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh he allowed me to make up plays in the huddle and all this, that, and the other.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh so obviously when I became a coach, uh we could make up plays, do something different.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: And I there's two ways to be successful in life, I read one time.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: And number one is you outwork everybody else that's in your profession.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: Or number two, you do it differently.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: And so trying to do some things a little different from everybody else, I think uh really helped our teams and helped our offense uh back in those days.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: And if I was coaching today, I'd I'd find a whole bunch of other different things to do than what we did back then.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: So you're always progressing.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: There's always some new ball plays uh that you can find as a coach.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: So uh this game keeps uh changing as we go, and I think it's better now than it's it's ever been.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh college football, that is.
27:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it seems like you have to stay ahead of the curve offensively if you really want to really make an impact.
27:53
SPEAKER_02: And you know, isn't the advantage for someone who wants to do that on offense, the fact that that the natural state of things in football seems to be let's keep things as they are for as long as possible, at least at least when it comes to systems and schemes.
28:08
SPEAKER_02: Because like you look back to the 60s and the 70s, you have these very run-oriented offense, uh, offenses.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: And uh there were a few teams that were showing that you could, you know, expand the field a bit and light it up.
28:21
SPEAKER_02: Um and but it took a long time for those ideas to to work their way into the mainstream.
28:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but if you but if you're on that, if you're ahead of that curve, you can really take advantage of that, right?
28:32
SPEAKER_01: If you do it for the first time uh before the other guys, yeah, I think you get a little advantage.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh then pretty soon everybody's gonna start catching up and uh the word spreads around.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Of course, everybody's got the video tape of other teams, and uh these coaches nowadays they they sit around all day and watch tape.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: So uh, but again, uh you got to know how to coach those plays.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: You might see a play that really, oh man, what a great play that is, but you gotta coach it and you gotta run it at the right time.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a good play for every defense, and there's a good defense for every play.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: So I said, Oh man, I ran that same play you guys ran.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: It didn't do very well.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, they they ran a coverage that it's not good against that.
29:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: So one thing uh that I think we did more than most teams do is our quarterback would change the play at the line of scrimmage.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: If we got a different defense, uh we had hopefully a play we could check to that was much better.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: So we uh we did a lot of checking off uh there at the line of scrimmage, uh most of the games.
29:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:36
SPEAKER_02: And then of course that led to you wanting to get quarterbacks who were able to have the capacity to do that, right?
29:42
SPEAKER_02: Think on the fly.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, quarterbacks that have good common sense and uh natural passers, uh those are the kind of guys, and then hopefully uh where when and where to throw it, you can you can teach them that uh as you go.
29:56
SPEAKER_02: You know, one other thing I've always wondered about uh obviously you've got your playbook and and you're in a you're in a game situation, and maybe you've got the plays that you uh worked on that week and prep for for the team you're playing, and then and then you know you use those up during the game, or maybe you don't, and you've got your your your regular plays in the playbook.
30:15
SPEAKER_02: Um how much is influenced by the fact that, oh, I want to run this play, but but I know that Johnson and Williams over here are retro freshmen, have only run the play four times properly in practice.
30:27
SPEAKER_02: People are like, why didn't you run that play across the middle?
30:29
SPEAKER_02: Well, maybe the guy lined up, uh, you know, uh you didn't have confidence that that he had that play ready.
30:34
SPEAKER_02: Is that a big factor in in how you determine what plays to call as well?
30:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, usually you you try not to call a play that you've never worked on in practice, but occasionally I did.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: I'd draw it up on the sideline and say, hey, you clear out through here and you go down a cut in here and try to hit him right there.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: And players that were used to that, uh like Danny Warfel and Ike Hilliard and those guys, our receivers back in the 90s, uh, then that was that was fine.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: I remember we had a fourth and three one day and we kept throwing the slant.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: And I asked Chris Doran, can you run a slant and then back out?
31:09
SPEAKER_01: He said, sure.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: I said, well, Danny, hit him on that.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: So we hit it and went down and scored on that drive, which ended up one of the big plays uh of our uh 95 season.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: That was quite a few years ago.
31:22
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: That's gotta having that trust in your players and having that relationship, that's gotta feel like that's gotta make people loose, right?
31:29
SPEAKER_02: In in your program, feeling that they have a little bit of, you know, uh that coach isn't going to just, you know, stick to everything by the book.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: You know, he's you're flexible enough to change things on the fly like that.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, and the players, uh players love it also.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: They're they're ready to play all the time.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: And when they mentally feel like there's there's going to be a special play for me coming pretty soon here, then they're they really are anxious for that to happen, certainly.
31:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
31:56
SPEAKER_02: I talked to you last year about the the field goal that you kicked.
32:00
SPEAKER_02: That was probably the most memorable play from your senior year at Florida.
32:05
SPEAKER_02: What was the thing you remember the most about your senior year uh at Florida, if not that, if not that play?
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, that play was uh probably the the kick, uh, and it was in about the ninth uh game of the season, eight or nine.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh we only played uh yeah, we played 11, I think, uh back in those days.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, uh I had not attempted a field goal at home uh since the first game of the season.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: So this was all a month or two later, something like that.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: And uh we had a fourth and seven, and it was a 40-yard field goal.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: We were tied with Auburn and uh called timeout and asked Coach Graves, I said, let me have a shot at it, because I was sort of the long-distance field goal kicker.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Okay.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: So back then we had the square toe, and of course I kicked straight on back in those days, and uh was fortunate enough to make it.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: And then uh I think they voted early back then for the Heisman.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we actually lost our last game of the season against Miami, uh, but they voted the week before that, and uh that Heisman kick and uh probably was what uh helped me win the Heisman back way back in '66.
33:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:21
SPEAKER_02: Do you remember uh when you first heard that you won?
33:24
SPEAKER_02: What was the scene like?
33:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh well they called me up.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: Our sports information uh called me up and said, can you go by the president's office?
33:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh they had a phone call uh to the president's office.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: So I went over there and uh they told me I'd won the Heisman.
33:41
SPEAKER_02: What was your reaction?
33:42
SPEAKER_02: Who did you call?
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, I was very I was very thrilled.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, they sort of said I was favored after I kicked that field goal.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: So I can't say I was thoroughly shocked.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh 800 and something votes in the second place uh maybe 1600 and second place got 800 and something.
34:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Well I was uh it wasn't real nip and tuck.
34:05
SPEAKER_02: Right.
34:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh did you know right away that that winning the Heisman was something special, or did it take a while for you to for it to kind of sink in over the years once you realize Oh, I think all of us growing up, we we know who's the Heisman winner.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh growing up back in the 50s and 60s, usually a running back.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: And now it seems like those quarterbacks are taking over because the quarterbacks uh are in position to you know win or lose the game, mostly nowadays, whereas the running backs uh uh were in position years ago.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: But I tell you what, that running back from Boise State this year, he certainly could win it.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Heck of a player.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a running back at Army.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: I forget his name.
34:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, we're actually uh I'm interviewing him later today.
34:49
SPEAKER_02: Actually, the the quarterback I'm interviewing, Bryson Daly.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Both those players are fantastic.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's it's neat to see Army and Navy winning again.
34:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that.
35:00
SPEAKER_02: Do you think the fact that Indiana's 7-0 uh and Army and Navy are both undefeated at this point in the season and in the top 25 for the first time since the 40s?
35:11
SPEAKER_02: Um is this an offshoot of of this new setting in college football, do you think, or is it just a coincidence?
35:17
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I I I admire the coaches at Navy and Army.
35:21
SPEAKER_01: Those guys are fantastic and uh especially the Army, they're still running that uh uh wing uh triple option, they call it triple option, and they run it better than anybody.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: And when you watch Army play, you talk about fundamentally sound, their whole team.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: They don't make mistakes, they don't make penalties, they don't get called for holding.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: They are just as well coached as any team in America.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: So I I really enjoy watching Army play on television when they're on there.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: I haven't seen much of Navy yet.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: I think they're a little bit more uh a very good passing team as well as running team also.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but Army can throw the ball also, and they score a lot of points and their defense plays well.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking forward to watching Army playing one of the Power Five teams here uh real soon.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: Tough team to prep to prepare for as well, because you know you're you're playing uh more conventional offenses all year, and then you gotta have that one week where you're getting ready for the triple option, right?
36:18
SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: When you do something a little different than everybody else, it gives you gives you an advantage.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: I read that that you said in your in your in a biography, in an autobiography, that you were not a very ambitious player, at least in your NFL career.
36:32
SPEAKER_02: You spent uh a lot of years as a backup, but you also started some games for the the 49ers and had a good stretch, I think.
36:39
SPEAKER_02: In 72, you guys were 6'1 and 1 with you at quarterback.
36:44
SPEAKER_02: And and you, you know, you didn't get to stick, but but you had some success there.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: What was the difference with your with your outlook being an NFL quarterback versus being a college quarterback?
36:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, first of all, I was uh I went out there as a backup quarterback to John Brody, who was a heck of a player.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: I think he was the MVP in the league in 7070 or 71, 70, I believe.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: And uh so I was behind him for six or seven years, and then he finally retired, and I got a chance to play.
37:17
SPEAKER_01: In the last preseason game, I got tackled and landed on my shoulder with the guy on top of me and uh popped my shoulder out.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: So uh I was out for that year.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: And then after that, I uh we had a couple other guys, and uh I played a little bit sparingly and then played one year with the Tampa Bay Bucks and got cut after 10 years, but it worked out super because a year after that I got a chance to get into coaching with Doug Dickey here in Florida.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: Gave me an opportunity, and I'm forever thankful for him.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh Pepper Rogers at Georgia Tech, and then uh Coach Red Wilson at Duke.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: These three men hired me when I had no job.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: So uh I'm really thankful for the opportunity in life.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: If you never have an opportunity, you never achieve much.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: So somebody's got to give you an opportunity, and those three guys uh I owe my whole coaching career to those three guys, also.
38:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank goodness for that.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: Uh that 76 bucks team, of course, is sort of like a there's a little lot of folklore about that team.
38:19
SPEAKER_02: What was it like being uh on that squad, expansion squad?
38:22
SPEAKER_02: You know, rare, but you know, back then the expansion squads basically they were just you know, they didn't have the expansion draft, they just went right with with the players out of college, pretty much.
38:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh what was that like being in that environment?
38:34
SPEAKER_02: Was it was it?
38:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, it wasn't that bad because we we were all in it together.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we had pretty good camaraderie.
38:40
SPEAKER_01: I still keep up with two or three players on that team.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: And uh uh one of John Wooden's uh quotes uh about coaching, uh, I really have always admired.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh he said, in life, uh we learn from all the people we're around or work under and so forth.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: And he said, what we mostly learn is what not to do instead of what to do.
39:03
unknown: Yeah.
39:04
SPEAKER_01: What not to do uh if you're ever in that situation.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: So uh anyway, uh it was a learning experience down there.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: And uh in the long run, maybe it was helpful uh to me uh having uh 31 years as a head coach.
39:22
SPEAKER_02: What was it like to be coached by the legendary John McKay who had just moved up from college to the pros?
39:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, he was used to coaching that Southern Cal team that had about five All-Americans on offense and on defense.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: And uh the old toss sweep to those tailbacks, OJ Simpson, Mike Garrett, and all those guys.
39:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, those those plays didn't work as well down at Tampa Bay.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: So we didn't have a lot of ball plays.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh our defense was actually not bad at all.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: We were pretty good on defense at that time.
39:53
SPEAKER_02: Sullen Brothers, right?
39:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, but actually Leroy got hurt that first year.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: So he missed about two-thirds of the season.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but anyway, uh it was a learning experience, as you say.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh sometimes uh, like they say in life, you you learn what to not to do more than what to do.
40:11
SPEAKER_02: Probably one of the great turnarounds in college football history was what you did at Duke when you became a head coach in college for the first time.
40:19
SPEAKER_02: Uh what were you were you surprised by by how quickly you got that turned around?
40:24
SPEAKER_02: You guys won seven games your uh eight games the last two seasons, won the ACC for the first time since 1962.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is I'm glad you asked that, Chris.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: Hard to do.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this weekend uh we're having our 35th reunion of the Duke uh 1989 uh ACC championship team.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: We uh we lost our first game that year in conference, and then we made some changes.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we found our running back, Randy Cuthbert.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: We didn't know how good he was until he we were smart enough to give him the ball.
40:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh Clarkston Hines was an all-American wide receiver, ACC player of the year.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: And we actually played two different quarterbacks.
41:06
SPEAKER_01: One of them got hurt a little bit, so Dave Brown and Billy Ray were the quarterbacks.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: And then we changed our defense.
41:13
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't working very well.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: We were actually one and three after the first four games, and then we won seven in a row after that because we went to eight-man front, just blitzed, and said, if you can throw it over our head, let's see you do it.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh the teams were running it right down our throat, and we needed to get, you know, more guys up there.
41:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: So that that was a turnaround force.
41:36
SPEAKER_01: And uh we were able to uh score a lot of points and play great defense, pretty good defense, and win the ACC.
41:43
SPEAKER_01: In fact, that's the only one Duke's won uh in 62 years.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we still celebrate it uh every five years.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: And uh I'm actually going up there this uh this weekend, and we'll have maybe 35 or 40 players come back, something like that.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: So we you win championships because you got memories of a lifetime, and you can celebrate them the rest of your life.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: And that's uh I told the guys that back then, and we're still doing it.
42:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
42:10
SPEAKER_02: And of course, your great success at Duke led Florida to come calling.
42:14
SPEAKER_02: Was that just a dream come true to be you know coaching your alma mater and doing it at a great, great time period?
42:21
SPEAKER_02: You came into a good situation that it was you know, uh Florida had been doing pretty well for the most part in the 80s, at least better than they had been in the 70s.
42:29
SPEAKER_01: What was it like uh going back to the fortunate that uh inherit uh uh uh really an outstanding bunch of players, yeah.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh the defense at Florida had was actually third in the nation in uh 1989, and then in 1990, I'm inheriting eight of those starters.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: So we we were loaded on defense, on offense, almost the whole offensive line was back.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh Eric Rett, we found a running back, he became the leading rusher in school history and still is, and the receivers were already there, and then we found a quarterback who was already there, Shane Matthews, and he was a uh SEC player of the year, uh, his first two years there.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: And next year I think he was runner-up.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, uh, and we were able to throw the ball around.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we the players were already there.
43:17
SPEAKER_01: I didn't really recruit anybody that first year.
43:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh we were sort of under investigation.
43:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we win the SEC the first year, and actually won uh six in the first seven years I was there, which uh I think is some kind of record.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: Six of the first seven in the and percentage-wise, uh I think those guys we uh we won more SECs than anybody in that uh uh 12 year period.
43:42
SPEAKER_01: Percentage wise, that is, seven out of twelve years.
43:45
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, the players were there to start with, and then of course we recruited as we went along.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: And uh and then the latter years we only won one in the last five years, lost one game in four of those years that prevented us from winning another.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: But uh really proud of all those guys because the attitude and effort and the middle approach that they all took uh during those season was really uh what champions uh did.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I was fortunate to be there at the right right time, right place, and and be a part of all that.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and of course during that time the state of Florida just uh dominant uh was dominating the college football landscape, you know, Florida State and Miami, both incredible teams, both teams that you guys played, uh and who also weren't weren't in your league.
44:35
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, Chris, back in the 90s, the uh the top five winning is teams in the country, three of them are from Florida.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: FSU, uh us, and Miami, and then Tennessee and Nebraska were the other in the 90s.
44:50
SPEAKER_01: So uh it's a little different now.
44:52
SPEAKER_01: Nebraska, they're they're looking for a winning season for the first time in seven or eight years, I think it is.
44:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh Miami is back this year.
45:01
SPEAKER_01: They they they found a quarterback that has really uh inspired that entire team.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: So they're they're gonna they're having and will have a big year.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah Nebraska is doing better.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh FSU has had their year last year, so they're really struggling.
45:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're 4-3, and we need to finish strong here at Florida, have a winning season.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: So that's within sight, but that that's what we need to do here at Florida is uh have a winning season because we've had three in a row of losing seasons.
45:32
SPEAKER_02: Right.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: Uh when you won that national championship in 1996, you would have been very close every year before that.
45:41
SPEAKER_02: Um 95, of course, getting to the title game against Nebraska, one of the great all-time teams.
45:47
SPEAKER_02: And then you had that incredible opportunity in '96 after losing to Florida State final game of the season, and everything sort of fell into place.
45:56
SPEAKER_02: You had uh uh I think uh uh Ohio State uh beat Arizona State at the the you know at the wire in the in the in the Rose Bowl, and uh some other some other game happened, I forget off the top of my head.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: Was was that just did it make it all the more sweeter when you finally won?
46:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, five five games had to go our our way, all five of them after the end of the season.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: We lost at uh FSU 24-21.
46:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh both of our starting offensive tackles were hurt a little bit, and they were back for the championship game after that.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: But uh anyway, uh yeah, I thought we were out of the national championship hunt after that, uh, because losing at the end of the year is a lot differ different than losing early.
46:43
SPEAKER_01: Back then, you lose one early, you can still you know win it all uh if it if it works out.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, uh yeah, we were we were blessed.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: We we we said a lot of thank you, Lords, at how we got into that position uh because uh uh Michigan uh had to beat Ohio State at last game of the season, which happened.
47:05
SPEAKER_01: And then Ohio State had to beat uh Arizona State in the Rose Bowl, and that happened.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh all we had to do was beat Alabama in the SEC Championship, that happened, and and then we got the rematch with FSU.
47:19
SPEAKER_01: So uh and and then uh uh Texas had that upset Nebraska, actually, in the uh uh Big 12 championship game.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of things went our way, put us in position, and then we were fortunate to beat FSU pretty good that day at night in New Orleans uh 52 to 20.
47:39
SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, that uh that we we said a lot of thank you, Lords.
47:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh we were in that position and were able to do that.
47:49
SPEAKER_02: That was one of the the biggest turnarounds that between two teams that I'd seen because that 24-21 loss, I remember Danny Werfel just getting beat up hard.
47:59
SPEAKER_02: Those ends that uh that FSU had, uh uh Bulware, I think was one of them.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: Back then FSU uh would hit you a little bit late, but they got away with it.
48:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh the referees in the SEC back then were not as protective of the quarterbacks as they should have been.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: And uh in FSU back then, they don't play like that anymore.
48:22
SPEAKER_01: I got full uh admiration for the way FSU, they all play, everybody plays clean now.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't see a team that tries to hurt players on the other team anymore.
48:32
SPEAKER_01: So uh, but back then, I don't know, some teams used to brag about knocking the quarterback out of the game or this, that, and the other.
48:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh but anyway, it's all history now, and we were able to get that rematch, and uh it worked out, it worked out beautifully for the Gators.
48:48
SPEAKER_02: You mentioned earlier about how you tended to dwell on the games you lost versus the games you won.
48:54
SPEAKER_02: But that must have felt pretty amazing to be carried off the field finally winning the national championship for the Gators.
49:00
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the funny thing, Chris.
49:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh my uh sports information director at Florida, Noam Carlson, he came up right after the game, and they, you know, I said, okay, you can hit me with the Gatorade bucket uh when we win a championship or win a bowl game.
49:15
SPEAKER_01: So I had my windbreaker on, so I got hit with that.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: And then we're I said, you can carry me out on the field after we won a conference championship or national.
49:24
SPEAKER_01: So carried me out and got down and started shaking hands with everybody.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: And our sports information guy, Norm Cross, says, uh, coach, congratulations, we're national champs.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: And first thing I said, how do you know?
49:36
SPEAKER_01: Because they haven't voted yet.
49:38
SPEAKER_01: That was back in the old voting days.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: Right.
49:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, we thought uh if we won it, we would be voted number one.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: But uh anyway, I think Ohio State only had one loss, like we did.
49:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
49:51
SPEAKER_01: And they were yelling a little bit, hey, we only had one loss, too.
49:55
SPEAKER_01: But uh the voters did vote for us right after that.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: And so then, you know, we started to celebrate.
50:02
SPEAKER_02: Breathe a sigh of relief after that, right?
50:04
unknown: Yeah.
50:04
SPEAKER_02: And then and then what were some of the games that what's the game that you just you know that sticks in your craw the most?
50:10
SPEAKER_02: What's the one that you're just like think about when you're when you're lying in bed looking up at the ceiling?
50:15
SPEAKER_01: No, there's several.
50:16
SPEAKER_01: There's several.
50:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh we lost three overtime games to Tennessee.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: So that that crawls me because uh a couple of them could have made maybe some difference.
50:25
SPEAKER_01: And then you lose a couple of two-point, one-point games where you look back and you could have called some better plays for your team, things like that.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, there's too many, but uh uh going 0 for 3 in overtime games.
50:39
SPEAKER_01: Now, two of them, I was at South Carolina, but they were still, you know, sort of big games, uh, just as big, uh uh uh losing uh at Tennessee and at home, one of them actually also.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: So, but we finally won a couple of my last two overtime games we won at Missouri and actually South Carolina at Florida.
50:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh we won one uh back in 2014, I think 10 years ago.
51:03
SPEAKER_01: So I didn't lose all my overtime games.
51:05
SPEAKER_01: It just feels like I did.
51:07
SPEAKER_02: And and what what led you to decide to finally uh you know hang it up after after a glorious career?
51:14
SPEAKER_01: You yeah, I hung it up uh uh during my 11th year there at South Carolina.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: I all of a sudden I had a team that did not listen to me a bit.
51:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh I made a few suggestions on what to do uh uh off the field or this, that, and the other, and uh it fell on deaf ears.
51:33
SPEAKER_01: And uh we were uh our offense had changed, uh, things had happened.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: I I I messed up our coaching staff a little bit.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: We were in disarray.
51:44
SPEAKER_01: But what I was hoping, if I leave, I was ready to leave pretty soon anyway, but if I leave now, maybe an interim coach can win enough games to uh become the head coach and keep a bunch of the assistants, and uh and they could continue on.
52:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh but the uh interim coach did not win enough and uh they cleaned house and went from there.
52:08
SPEAKER_01: But uh that's how it happened.
52:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh I I'm not a guy, if if I'm going to stand over there like a lot of head coaches do nowadays, stand over there and not do a dang thing, uh that drive me crazy.
52:20
SPEAKER_01: So uh when you got a bunch of guys that don't listen to you, and and they not all of them, but over half of them, I would say.
52:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh but that's uh that's the coaches' fault for not demanding uh that they listen to you.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: So it's my fault.
52:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh you're obviously a very competitive guy from the very beginning, and you need challenges.
52:41
SPEAKER_02: Once you left coaching, how do you feel that that need to compete and to and to you know challenge yourself?
52:49
SPEAKER_02: What do you do?
52:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I still play a little golf, not near as well as I used to, but we have a friendly little game with a couple of retired doctors uh I play with here in Gainesville.
52:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh do some uh cameos.
53:03
SPEAKER_01: We have a restaurant here, Spurriers Gridiron Grill, that's done very well.
53:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh been open over three years now.
53:10
SPEAKER_01: So I try to get there a couple of days a week uh when I'm in town, definitely.
53:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, I got uh a son that coaches at Tulsa and another son that coached with Bobby Stoops in the UFL last year.
53:24
SPEAKER_01: And uh hopefully that league's all set to go again next year.
53:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh but other than that, uh yeah, you know, traveling around a bit and so forth.
53:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh so I stay pretty busy.
53:35
SPEAKER_02: So you're enjoying your retirement?
53:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I don't call it retirement.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: I just call it the next phase in life.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh yeah, I'll go do uh four or five cameos maybe today or tomorrow and uh get by the restaurant uh a couple days this week, things like that.
53:54
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's not uh it's you know, get up and go to work every day.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: It's not that.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, I try to stay pretty busy.
54:03
SPEAKER_02: All right.
54:04
SPEAKER_02: Well, I was curious really quick, uh how how did you guys fare during the the two hurricanes that came through?
54:09
SPEAKER_01: We're very fortunate here in Gainesville.
54:11
SPEAKER_01: Gainesville is in the north-central part of the state.
54:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh the coast is only uh about uh 60 miles to the Gulf.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: The other way, it's about oh 75 miles.
54:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we were fortunate not to get the real flood type stuff.
54:26
SPEAKER_01: We got a lot of wind.
54:27
SPEAKER_01: The first hurricane had some pretty good-sized trees and limbs of the trees that came down, but that was it.
54:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then the last hurricane sort of went across the middle part of the state, Orlando, and out through the Atlantic.
54:41
SPEAKER_01: So we didn't get much of all from that one.
54:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're fortunate, but the the Gulf Coast has really been hammered.
54:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a it's a it's a tragedy, and uh and the people down there don't really know what to do because hey, hey, we got two in two weeks almost.
54:58
SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna have two more next year?
55:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh, do we rebuild or do we just move inland?
55:03
SPEAKER_01: Or it's uh it's a sad situation.
55:06
SPEAKER_02: And then lastly, just who are some coaches you really admire right now for what they do and and and how they uh relate to their team?
55:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't know a lot of the coaches as well as maybe uh I used to.
55:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh obviously those guys that uh uh are always hanging around the top ten and so forth.
55:27
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I sent Dabo Sweeney a little uh congrats on his team.
55:32
SPEAKER_01: They they look pretty sorry against Georgia the first game of the season, and now they've won all the rest of them.
55:38
SPEAKER_01: And they're in position to uh you know get into the playoffs and win it all.
55:43
SPEAKER_01: So we'll see how how Clemson goes.
55:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
55:46
SPEAKER_01: So uh but anyway, there there's there's a lot of coaches that uh every year, their team's up there.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: Those are the guys I admire.
55:54
SPEAKER_01: They're they're always up there uh fighting for their conference championship.
55:58
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, nowadays with that 12-team playoff, uh a lot of the same teams will be making in, it seems like uh most of most of the years now.
56:07
SPEAKER_02: You mentioned Dabo Sweeney, you know, his philosophy has been to just recruit, not focus on NAL and build a team, and you go through the lumps and bruises early, play some young guys, and and you develop them.
56:20
SPEAKER_02: And this is the approach he's taken, and right now it seems to be paying off, or at least looks like you can see the growth and development of that team.
56:27
SPEAKER_02: And then other teams, you know, we talked about Florida State earlier, they sort of they're putting their eggs in this basket for one year with you know 50-year guys, six-year guys, and also you know, we had the COVID year, so there's also that extra distortion, but then you you have that potential to fall off the cliff the next year when you can't replace those guys man for man.
56:46
SPEAKER_02: Do you like the approach of how Dabo is doing it, or do you think it's just depends on the school and depends on circumstances?
56:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I like his approach if you can do it, and he's doing it pretty well.
56:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh the other coaches around would think, oh, if I'm not paying our guys, uh how in the world are we gonna get them to come here?
57:06
SPEAKER_01: So I I don't know exactly what their scheme is of giving players money.
57:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh all I can say is if I was coaching today, I would have uh some kind of format uh levels uh of what you could pay your players, and and hopefully the NCAA, or if anybody's ever in charge, I don't know who's in charge now, they would say, All right, all you power five teams, you get 30 million or 40 or whatever's fair, and you can spread it out.
57:37
SPEAKER_01: And uh so the coach, instead of giving the quarterback one or two million and the other guys 10,000, uh, they can have a level.
57:44
SPEAKER_01: All right, here's what every possession makes.
57:47
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's a one-year deal, and we'll go see how we're doing next year.
57:52
SPEAKER_01: To me, it'd be more fair because yeah, yeah, all of a sudden you give a quarterback a million bucks, he gets hurt or plays like crap, yeah, and the rest of the guys are saying, wait a minute, he's getting all this money, and I'm not hardly getting anything.
58:03
SPEAKER_01: And it just it creates friction.
58:05
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
58:06
SPEAKER_01: But uh, I don't know, the NFL does it uh some and they have problems, I think, when a quarterback gets so much more than the rest of the team.
58:15
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of uh teams that to me that's an issue also.
58:18
SPEAKER_02: What do you think about having players sign contracts where like they have to stay at least two years as part of the deal?
58:25
SPEAKER_02: Would that help, do you think?
58:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh some of them may have that, but uh it could help.
58:31
SPEAKER_01: But then again, if he goes bad, if that player goes bad and you don't want him two years, what do you do then?
58:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, lots of lots of uh things to work out for college football for sure.
58:41
SPEAKER_02: Did you like the 12-team playoff?
58:42
SPEAKER_02: Do you think there should be more or less?
58:44
SPEAKER_01: No, I think that's uh good.
58:46
SPEAKER_01: It uh back when I was coaching, I thought eight would have been a real good uh uh instead of four.
58:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh in that way, uh I mean, so many times one one game knocked us out of uh maybe being uh out of the conference championship situation and so forth.
59:04
SPEAKER_01: But uh eight, now twelve gives four other scores, maybe not a power five team, uh conference champ.
59:11
SPEAKER_01: So I like that also.
59:13
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I can remember back when uh we were playing 10 games in a season and that was it, maybe a bowl game, and then they went to 11, and people saying, oh, that's too many games of football.
59:24
SPEAKER_01: And now a team could play, what, 15 or 16 on the case?
59:28
SPEAKER_01: If they'd make the college playoffs.
59:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Chris.
59:31
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
59:31
SPEAKER_02: All right, all right.
59:32
SPEAKER_02: Hey, thanks for coming on the show.
59:33
SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate it, and we'll uh we'll see you down the road.
59:36
SPEAKER_02: See you in New York.
59:37
SPEAKER_02: Okay, good to be on the High Span Show.
59:39
SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
59:39
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Coach.
59:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, where there's nobody else quite like Steve Spurrier, that's for sure.
59:44
SPEAKER_02: Thanks once again to Coach and to his assistant Alicia for setting that all up.
59:47
SPEAKER_02: Thanks to Army SID Eric Shapinsky, and thanks to all of you for listening.
59:52
SPEAKER_02: Who are we gonna have on next week?
59:54
SPEAKER_02: It's another quarterback that we've had our eye on.
59:56
SPEAKER_02: His name could be Jake, his name could be John.
59:59
SPEAKER_02: Tune in and find out.
1:00:01
SPEAKER_02: The official Heisman Trophy podcast streams every Wednesday during the college football season and is hosted, co-produced, edited, and engineered by Chris Houston.
1:00:09
SPEAKER_02: Paul Goldberg is the executive producer and editor.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_02: Special shout out to Isaac Lohnencrum, and big thanks to the Heisman Trophy Trust and its executive director, Rob Whalen, and Associate Director Tim Henning.
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