Like a lot of people who get into coaching, I was impacted by the people in my life. Certainly my father (John) who coached me in youth league baseball, and my high school coach, Joe Moore, were mentors and major influences.

I've never had a five-year plan or a three-year plan, or whatever, ... We had an idea philosophically of what we were going to do and how we were going to do it.

I have no problem with two teams claiming to be national champions at the end of the year. But that's our society. We're dying to know who the champion is. Heaven forbid we have two. That would be socialist, right?

A balanced offense will make Drew Tate a more effective and dangerous quarterback, ... If he can lean on a good, consistent running game, that'll be a real plus for us.

Bob Sanders wasn't the biggest guy coming out of Erie, Pa., but I don't think anybody would dispute that he was a pretty good player for us.

I was fortunate to be around a couple of coaches who took me under their wing and taught me how to train, how to work and how to prepare myself for a game. They gave me so much, and I saw the passion they had for the game and for teaching it. What I learned from them led me to want to become a teacher and coach.

The early commitments, early recruiting, that had changed. The whole clock is pushed ahead and you have to make decisions earlier about who to and who not to recruit. Is that a good thing I'm not sure, but it is reality.