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 learned a long time ago that at the end of the day, the only stat that counts is points, The other ones are significant, but I'd much rather have the right score on the board. At the end of the day, that's what we're worried about.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Getting to the linebackers is difficult. Blocking them is another challenge.