Coach Dana Holgorsen Press Conference
November 07, 2017 02:01 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Opening Statement
Moving on to Kansas State, we have another big challenge. I start every press conference the same way, don't I? We're looking forward to another big challenge in the Big 12; you have to play your best each and every week or you're not going to be successful. Going into this one, it's really nothing new with Kansas State; they're a team that fights their tail off in every phase with every player. I was kidding around with Tony (Caridi) on this earlier, if I reference playing Iowa State, I apologize, because it's pretty much the same thing moving forward with what we need to do in order to be successful. They're just a very disciplined team, great with turnover margin, great with penalties, play mistake-free football, give relentless effort the entire game, doesn't matter if they're up or if they're down, doesn't matter what their record is or who they're playing. The same type stuff I said last week in preparation for Iowa State is the same thing we need to be aware of when it comes to Kansas State. You've heard me talk about it for six straight years now about my respect for Bill Snyder and admiration for what he's built in Manhattan. I'm looking forward to going and seeing their new facility; obviously I'm not going to walk through it, but the stadium just keeps getting built up. They have a great fan base that will be there loud, and it'll be a great atmosphere, it always is. We for sure have our work cut out for us this year.
Offensively, they look like they have. I think Dana Dimel does a good job with what they do. It's hard to coach against. They're tough, they're really good up front, they're big, they're physical, they have a lot of experience. It doesn't matter who their quarterback is; if (Jesse) Ertz is not playing, then it's a shame because it's a fifth-year senior quarterback and you hate that for anybody that is in that situation. They replaced him with (Alex) Delton, who is extremely capable and kept getting better and better and better. They replaced him with this freshman (Skylar) Thompson, who, in the four quarters that I studied more than anything, the kid kept getting better and better and better and led his team back from being down at Texas Tech, to scoring 28 points and winning in overtime. All three are really good and really capable of running the offense that they want to be able to run, and that includes running the quarterback. They'll get in a lot of wildcat.
They have three capable backs that can get back there. The main one, the (Alex) Barnes kid, is continuing to get better; another young guy that is great player-development-wise. Then, they'll do those pop passes and all that stuff, the (run-pass options). We'll keep our eye on how far down the (offensive) linemen are downfield, we'll keep our eye on that. But those receivers are pretty good. It's the same guys they had last year, (Byron) Pringle and (Dominique) Heath and (Isaiah) Zuber. Those guys are all really good and can make plays, score and get you real good. No. 83, the (Dalton) Schoen kid, is coming into his own this year, so they have four capable receivers that are all really good as well. They're very balanced; they average almost 200 yards a game rushing and 200 yards a game passing, so it's going to be a big challenge for us, for sure.
Defensively, they look like they always have. They haven't changed a whole lot over the years. They're giving up a few more points and a few more yards than they probably like, but they lost some really good players last year. Two or three of those guys were just really, really fantastic football players. They have guys coming that have been getting better over the course of nine games and going into their 10th game. Their front is big; they're built to stop the run, as we all know. They're a tough team just to go toe-to-toe with. If you get into whatever personnel groupings that you get into, you're going to go toe-to-toe with those guys; they just keep adding people as you add people. They're tough to move, and they're tough to run the ball against. They have two really good corners in (Duke) Shelley and (D.J.) Reed that challenge you and get up in your face. They're probably playing a little bit more man than what they have in the past because they feel good about their cover guys. We have our work cut out for us offensively.
Kicking game wise, we know what to expect. These guys have always been as good as anybody in the country with their special teams. They make a difference with their specialists, they've had the same kicker and punter for a long time. Those guys are as solid as solid gets. It really affects their coverage units, and I mean that by a compliment. I've never seen coverage units really benefit from specialists as far as where they place the ball, how they place the ball, hang time, that sort of thing. I'm probably paying attention to it a little more than I have in the past, and they're really good. You kind of figure out they're good for a combination of things: they're extremely well-coached, Sean Snyder does an outstanding job, it's emphasized from the head coach, their specialists do a great job, but then they have the other 10 people out there that are just playing with as much effort and great technique as well, so it makes them really good. Then, their return units are fantastic as well. It's the same two guys, No. 2 and No. 9 in Reed and Pringle. They get back there, and they share the duties, and they feed off each other and are as good as I've seen.
We have a big challenge. Our job this week is to continue to build on what we did last week, which is practice hard, prepare hard, be tough, give effort. We should have a great week of practice. We'll travel out there on Friday on Veteran's Day, and then Saturday we'll have a good game in Manhattan. So, we're looking forward to it; it should be a lot of fun.
Does anyone have questions or am I done for the day? That was a lot of information; there was a lot of good stuff there. I don't know what kind of questions you would have after all that information. I'm not talking about injuries and neither is Coach Snyder, so you guys can just hold that question. Everybody is day-to-day, just like in Manhattan, those guys are day-to-day and they'll probably figure out who is practicing and that may impact who plays. I've said for a long time, I admire Coach Snyder and what he's done. One of the things he's done more than anybody is be incredibly guarded with who is going to play. So, I will practice these guys and if they want to play, then they are going to practice, and if they do that, then they'll travel and maybe they'll help us win.
On being careful with how physical practice can be during the week
If you have an answer, then let me know, because it's a fine line between continuing to that. We've practiced the same way around here for a long time, and I think we have a pretty good formula on how we do that to get guys ready to go from a preparation point of view. We cranked it up a little bit last week; I think it needed to be done. I don't know if you can continue to do that. We know we're banged up, especially on the defensive side, so you have to gauge it a little bit. It's raining and it's 40 (degrees) out there today, and it's going to be rainy and 50 (degrees) on Saturday, so that doesn't impact anything. But you're right, we're a little banged up, but so is everybody else. That's probably the thing I was most proud of last week, especially with our defense because that's where the injury bug has hit a little bit. We had guys step in and play well. You lose four starters, and you have four guys step in that are younger guys, and they played well. They gave effort and were physical and knew what to do. That's something to be proud of.
On what makes Kansas State such a tough environment to play in
Another venue? That's a little aggressive. I thought we've been a decent team on the road. There have been a couple of places we haven't won yet in the Big 12, it's not like there's been a whole bunch of them. The two games that we've played have come down to the fourth quarter; we've been competitive in both of them, we just haven't won. I don't think that's out of the ordinary. I think Coach Snyder has won about 85 percent of his games at home, so you could probably shoot that question to a lot of other people as well. There's nothing intimidating about it based on the fact that if you find opposing crowds and opposing venues intimidating, then you're in trouble. All of them in the Big 12 are like that. Now, Kansas State has a great stadium and have great fans and they're well-coached, and it makes it harder at home, certainly, but that doesn't mean we weren't going to do our absolute best and expect to go win because we do.
On how intimidating it is to coach against Bill Snyder
You can go back and look at the notes from the last six years, I've been extremely complimentary of Bill Snyder. I grew up watching him when he was at Iowa. This goes way back, and back when I was at Texas Tech in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, whatever, and coached against him, he's a Hall of Fame football coach. It's an honor, I wouldn't call it intimidating. If it's intimidating, then nobody stands a chance to ever win in that situation because he's so well-respected in this profession, and it's so well-documented on what he's done. I haven't even really heard "It's over" talk like I have in the past because I think everybody just understands he's going to go forever. He's like that quarterback in New England, right? He just keeps going on and on and on and on. I don't know how he does it; I'm not doing it.
On how Coach Snyder has been able to overcome a generational gap with his players
I don't know he does it, I don't. I don't have any idea how he does it. It's hard enough for me, and I know all these other young guys like Lincoln (Riley), Kliff (Kingsbury) and all those guys, (David) Beaty, and a lot of other young guys in this league. It's hard enough for them because it's different. How these kids are raised, and how they learn, how they communicate, it's different. It's different for me and them, let alone Coach Snyder and them. I think probably at the end of the day he just gets up and puts his head down. He knows football and he just goes in. He knows how to attack the opponent, and he gets that message across to his players, and he gets them ready to play, and they go out and they play their tail off. It looks to me like they're having fun doing it. It's unbelievable.
On how difficult it is to stay on top over other responsibilities besides coaching
You lose sight of it a lot, there's so many other aspects to this job and this profession that you do kind of lose sight of it. But that's why we like game week so much, to be able to go in and just get into a routine of how we do things each and every week. I think that's probably important, and knowing Coach Snyder like I know him, I would anticipate that that's what he enjoys the most too. Just the preparation for getting ready for a game, more than anything.
On if practicing in bad weather helps for game day
I'd prefer sunny and 70 (degrees). But, yeah, it's nothing we really talk about. If the weather is bad, there's a preparation aspect of it. We'll start indoor to do a lot of teaching, and then we'll go out. We're not scared to go outside in any of the elements. If the elements are so bad that you can't get your teaching done, your preparation done, then it can affect that aspect of it. If you can balance it and get outside and practice, which is what you're going to play in, that's probably an advantage as long as it doesn't disrupt the preparation. You have to be able to balance that as well. Tomorrow is going to be sunny and 50 (degrees), so we'll get really good work in tomorrow as well.
On what he remembers most about Coach Snyder at Iowa
That's stand-up tight end. Do you guys remember that stand-up tight end? That was crazy. I still don't understand that, honestly. I know I've asked him before and it's so you can see things and make calls, but that's a tough get-off stance from there. But I've recognized it forever. Their (defensive coordinator) is the same way, Tom Hayes, he's been around for a long time and has been doing the same stuff. I used to grow up going to those games, they just happened to be on that staff with Hayden Fry and all those guys. That was a great tree; Bob Stoops, Mike Stoops were playing then. When I was going to games in high school, Bob Stoops was playing, and now he's retired, and Coach Snyder is still going. It's pretty crazy. Barry Alvarez was on that staff, Jay Norvell, Chuck Long was the coach for a while. It's a pretty good tree.
On monitoring players' playing time and performance
I don't think it's the money aspect of it, I think it's all performance-based. We're not playing our starters on special teams as much as we have in the past as well. I think we're averaging 55 players a game this year, somewhere in there. Half of those guys are playing special teams. We're playing 18 guys on offense, 18 guys on defense, and then 20-some guys on special teams only. It's performance-based; there are a lot of snaps to go around. The up-tempo aspect of it has increased the freshness of the bodies. It's why tempo became about: to even the playing field a little bit. Back when we weren't as good as the teams we were playing, we'd go fast to even things out. When guys get tired, they're not nearly as good. You don't want a guy dog tired out there playing linebacker. Fresh legs are important, but if you take a really good player, and he's worn out, now he's a very average player. If his backup is an above average player but not a great player, you'd really want to play that above average player over the guy that's worn out and now average. I'd love to go back to 2000, 2001 and see how many snaps these guys were playing. Our defensive starters, special teams-wise, I'd bet you that number was a lot lower then than it is now. I'd bet the overall number of how many people played in a game is lower, too.
Opening Statement
Moving on to Kansas State, we have another big challenge. I start every press conference the same way, don't I? We're looking forward to another big challenge in the Big 12; you have to play your best each and every week or you're not going to be successful. Going into this one, it's really nothing new with Kansas State; they're a team that fights their tail off in every phase with every player. I was kidding around with Tony (Caridi) on this earlier, if I reference playing Iowa State, I apologize, because it's pretty much the same thing moving forward with what we need to do in order to be successful. They're just a very disciplined team, great with turnover margin, great with penalties, play mistake-free football, give relentless effort the entire game, doesn't matter if they're up or if they're down, doesn't matter what their record is or who they're playing. The same type stuff I said last week in preparation for Iowa State is the same thing we need to be aware of when it comes to Kansas State. You've heard me talk about it for six straight years now about my respect for Bill Snyder and admiration for what he's built in Manhattan. I'm looking forward to going and seeing their new facility; obviously I'm not going to walk through it, but the stadium just keeps getting built up. They have a great fan base that will be there loud, and it'll be a great atmosphere, it always is. We for sure have our work cut out for us this year.
Offensively, they look like they have. I think Dana Dimel does a good job with what they do. It's hard to coach against. They're tough, they're really good up front, they're big, they're physical, they have a lot of experience. It doesn't matter who their quarterback is; if (Jesse) Ertz is not playing, then it's a shame because it's a fifth-year senior quarterback and you hate that for anybody that is in that situation. They replaced him with (Alex) Delton, who is extremely capable and kept getting better and better and better. They replaced him with this freshman (Skylar) Thompson, who, in the four quarters that I studied more than anything, the kid kept getting better and better and better and led his team back from being down at Texas Tech, to scoring 28 points and winning in overtime. All three are really good and really capable of running the offense that they want to be able to run, and that includes running the quarterback. They'll get in a lot of wildcat.
They have three capable backs that can get back there. The main one, the (Alex) Barnes kid, is continuing to get better; another young guy that is great player-development-wise. Then, they'll do those pop passes and all that stuff, the (run-pass options). We'll keep our eye on how far down the (offensive) linemen are downfield, we'll keep our eye on that. But those receivers are pretty good. It's the same guys they had last year, (Byron) Pringle and (Dominique) Heath and (Isaiah) Zuber. Those guys are all really good and can make plays, score and get you real good. No. 83, the (Dalton) Schoen kid, is coming into his own this year, so they have four capable receivers that are all really good as well. They're very balanced; they average almost 200 yards a game rushing and 200 yards a game passing, so it's going to be a big challenge for us, for sure.
Defensively, they look like they always have. They haven't changed a whole lot over the years. They're giving up a few more points and a few more yards than they probably like, but they lost some really good players last year. Two or three of those guys were just really, really fantastic football players. They have guys coming that have been getting better over the course of nine games and going into their 10th game. Their front is big; they're built to stop the run, as we all know. They're a tough team just to go toe-to-toe with. If you get into whatever personnel groupings that you get into, you're going to go toe-to-toe with those guys; they just keep adding people as you add people. They're tough to move, and they're tough to run the ball against. They have two really good corners in (Duke) Shelley and (D.J.) Reed that challenge you and get up in your face. They're probably playing a little bit more man than what they have in the past because they feel good about their cover guys. We have our work cut out for us offensively.
Kicking game wise, we know what to expect. These guys have always been as good as anybody in the country with their special teams. They make a difference with their specialists, they've had the same kicker and punter for a long time. Those guys are as solid as solid gets. It really affects their coverage units, and I mean that by a compliment. I've never seen coverage units really benefit from specialists as far as where they place the ball, how they place the ball, hang time, that sort of thing. I'm probably paying attention to it a little more than I have in the past, and they're really good. You kind of figure out they're good for a combination of things: they're extremely well-coached, Sean Snyder does an outstanding job, it's emphasized from the head coach, their specialists do a great job, but then they have the other 10 people out there that are just playing with as much effort and great technique as well, so it makes them really good. Then, their return units are fantastic as well. It's the same two guys, No. 2 and No. 9 in Reed and Pringle. They get back there, and they share the duties, and they feed off each other and are as good as I've seen.
We have a big challenge. Our job this week is to continue to build on what we did last week, which is practice hard, prepare hard, be tough, give effort. We should have a great week of practice. We'll travel out there on Friday on Veteran's Day, and then Saturday we'll have a good game in Manhattan. So, we're looking forward to it; it should be a lot of fun.
Does anyone have questions or am I done for the day? That was a lot of information; there was a lot of good stuff there. I don't know what kind of questions you would have after all that information. I'm not talking about injuries and neither is Coach Snyder, so you guys can just hold that question. Everybody is day-to-day, just like in Manhattan, those guys are day-to-day and they'll probably figure out who is practicing and that may impact who plays. I've said for a long time, I admire Coach Snyder and what he's done. One of the things he's done more than anybody is be incredibly guarded with who is going to play. So, I will practice these guys and if they want to play, then they are going to practice, and if they do that, then they'll travel and maybe they'll help us win.
On being careful with how physical practice can be during the week
If you have an answer, then let me know, because it's a fine line between continuing to that. We've practiced the same way around here for a long time, and I think we have a pretty good formula on how we do that to get guys ready to go from a preparation point of view. We cranked it up a little bit last week; I think it needed to be done. I don't know if you can continue to do that. We know we're banged up, especially on the defensive side, so you have to gauge it a little bit. It's raining and it's 40 (degrees) out there today, and it's going to be rainy and 50 (degrees) on Saturday, so that doesn't impact anything. But you're right, we're a little banged up, but so is everybody else. That's probably the thing I was most proud of last week, especially with our defense because that's where the injury bug has hit a little bit. We had guys step in and play well. You lose four starters, and you have four guys step in that are younger guys, and they played well. They gave effort and were physical and knew what to do. That's something to be proud of.
On what makes Kansas State such a tough environment to play in
Another venue? That's a little aggressive. I thought we've been a decent team on the road. There have been a couple of places we haven't won yet in the Big 12, it's not like there's been a whole bunch of them. The two games that we've played have come down to the fourth quarter; we've been competitive in both of them, we just haven't won. I don't think that's out of the ordinary. I think Coach Snyder has won about 85 percent of his games at home, so you could probably shoot that question to a lot of other people as well. There's nothing intimidating about it based on the fact that if you find opposing crowds and opposing venues intimidating, then you're in trouble. All of them in the Big 12 are like that. Now, Kansas State has a great stadium and have great fans and they're well-coached, and it makes it harder at home, certainly, but that doesn't mean we weren't going to do our absolute best and expect to go win because we do.
On how intimidating it is to coach against Bill Snyder
You can go back and look at the notes from the last six years, I've been extremely complimentary of Bill Snyder. I grew up watching him when he was at Iowa. This goes way back, and back when I was at Texas Tech in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, whatever, and coached against him, he's a Hall of Fame football coach. It's an honor, I wouldn't call it intimidating. If it's intimidating, then nobody stands a chance to ever win in that situation because he's so well-respected in this profession, and it's so well-documented on what he's done. I haven't even really heard "It's over" talk like I have in the past because I think everybody just understands he's going to go forever. He's like that quarterback in New England, right? He just keeps going on and on and on and on. I don't know how he does it; I'm not doing it.
On how Coach Snyder has been able to overcome a generational gap with his players
I don't know he does it, I don't. I don't have any idea how he does it. It's hard enough for me, and I know all these other young guys like Lincoln (Riley), Kliff (Kingsbury) and all those guys, (David) Beaty, and a lot of other young guys in this league. It's hard enough for them because it's different. How these kids are raised, and how they learn, how they communicate, it's different. It's different for me and them, let alone Coach Snyder and them. I think probably at the end of the day he just gets up and puts his head down. He knows football and he just goes in. He knows how to attack the opponent, and he gets that message across to his players, and he gets them ready to play, and they go out and they play their tail off. It looks to me like they're having fun doing it. It's unbelievable.
On how difficult it is to stay on top over other responsibilities besides coaching
You lose sight of it a lot, there's so many other aspects to this job and this profession that you do kind of lose sight of it. But that's why we like game week so much, to be able to go in and just get into a routine of how we do things each and every week. I think that's probably important, and knowing Coach Snyder like I know him, I would anticipate that that's what he enjoys the most too. Just the preparation for getting ready for a game, more than anything.
On if practicing in bad weather helps for game day
I'd prefer sunny and 70 (degrees). But, yeah, it's nothing we really talk about. If the weather is bad, there's a preparation aspect of it. We'll start indoor to do a lot of teaching, and then we'll go out. We're not scared to go outside in any of the elements. If the elements are so bad that you can't get your teaching done, your preparation done, then it can affect that aspect of it. If you can balance it and get outside and practice, which is what you're going to play in, that's probably an advantage as long as it doesn't disrupt the preparation. You have to be able to balance that as well. Tomorrow is going to be sunny and 50 (degrees), so we'll get really good work in tomorrow as well.
On what he remembers most about Coach Snyder at Iowa
That's stand-up tight end. Do you guys remember that stand-up tight end? That was crazy. I still don't understand that, honestly. I know I've asked him before and it's so you can see things and make calls, but that's a tough get-off stance from there. But I've recognized it forever. Their (defensive coordinator) is the same way, Tom Hayes, he's been around for a long time and has been doing the same stuff. I used to grow up going to those games, they just happened to be on that staff with Hayden Fry and all those guys. That was a great tree; Bob Stoops, Mike Stoops were playing then. When I was going to games in high school, Bob Stoops was playing, and now he's retired, and Coach Snyder is still going. It's pretty crazy. Barry Alvarez was on that staff, Jay Norvell, Chuck Long was the coach for a while. It's a pretty good tree.
On monitoring players' playing time and performance
I don't think it's the money aspect of it, I think it's all performance-based. We're not playing our starters on special teams as much as we have in the past as well. I think we're averaging 55 players a game this year, somewhere in there. Half of those guys are playing special teams. We're playing 18 guys on offense, 18 guys on defense, and then 20-some guys on special teams only. It's performance-based; there are a lot of snaps to go around. The up-tempo aspect of it has increased the freshness of the bodies. It's why tempo became about: to even the playing field a little bit. Back when we weren't as good as the teams we were playing, we'd go fast to even things out. When guys get tired, they're not nearly as good. You don't want a guy dog tired out there playing linebacker. Fresh legs are important, but if you take a really good player, and he's worn out, now he's a very average player. If his backup is an above average player but not a great player, you'd really want to play that above average player over the guy that's worn out and now average. I'd love to go back to 2000, 2001 and see how many snaps these guys were playing. Our defensive starters, special teams-wise, I'd bet you that number was a lot lower then than it is now. I'd bet the overall number of how many people played in a game is lower, too.
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