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Princeton University Athletics
Football Coach Chats On State Of Team - Past, Present And Future
March 12, 2004 | Football
March 12, 2004
With spring practices just around the corner and a tough 2003 season in the rear-view mirrow, Princeton head coach Roger Hughes sat down with GoPrincetonTigers.com for his annual chat on the state of Princeton football.
Now that the majority of it has ended, can you give your thoughts on how you feel recruiting went this year?
Overall, I'm pleased. Recruiting is an inexact science, but I think we helped ourselves at the skill positions. We feel good about our running backs, both tailback and fullback. We feel good about quarterback and wide receiver, and actually we feel good about the players we got on the offensive line. We didn't get as many tight ends as we wanted, but we feel like we got a really quality one out of Northern California. On the defensive side, we feel like we got 3-4 very good linebackers, and we helped ourselves in the defensive backfield. The place we weren't sure about was the defensive line. When you're recruiting, you try to get big kids who can run very well, and a lot of the bigger kids who can run end up taking scholarships. What we try to do is get big linebackers, or kids who are a little undersized, and let them grow into their bodies. I think we have quality there, but I don't know that we have one kid who stands out. We have four pretty good kids, but it's going to be a little while before they can help our team. What has this offseason been like, and what have you learned about these kids?
The work ethic and the dedication of the players in our program is the best I've seen since we've been here as a staff. The kids do extra things, like coming in on their own to watch film. They are getting extra lifts and extra workouts in, and they're doing more things as a team, like playing basketball. One thing we're doing is making every offseason program competitive. We've divided the entire team into subgroups, and everything that they do now is competition. The kids have really embraced that idea and really gotten into it, and it's made the workouts a lot more fun, and certainly more challenging. We're getting a lot more results because the kids are pushing so hard.
Looking back, is it tougher knowing the team was in so many games and couldn't find a way to win them, or does it make you feel better to know that you were competitive in almost every game?
It's a bittersweet thing. Looking at last year, the way we lost games, I guess gives you the positive side because you know you aren't far away. You know, in this league, it's the little things that make the difference because there is such parity. The bad thing is, we had to find ways to win those games and didn't. I thought we actually crossed that hump in 2002 when we had the first winning season here in a while, and then last year we took a step backward. On the positive side, while it was very hard emotionally to deal with at the time, I think it has hardened our resolve as a team, and it has served as a huge motivator in this offseason to make sure that it won't happen anymore.
What lessons do you need the players to take from this past season before the spring and the 2004 season roll around?
It's the attention to detail. Everything we do can have an effect, and when it comes down to losing three games on the last play of the game, it's not the last play that caused us to be in that position. Things happen during the game, and we have got to do everything right. That's one of the things our coaching staff, our strength staff, and the players in general have kind of taken upon themselves. We're not going to let anything slide. Everything has to be done at the highest level.
Last year's offseason proved costly, with three starters losing eligibility due to academics. Have you changed your approach or had more conversations with the players about academic priorities for the spring?
Do I talk to them? First of all, I don't think any coach could talk to their players more than our staff does on the importance of doing everything well here, from the athletic and the weight room side of things, to certainly the academic and social side. That's why it was so disappointing to experience what we did last year. We've gone even further this year to ensure that our players are aware. They need to keep up with their work. It's always better to keep up, rather than catch up. They need to make sure their work is properly cited and everything is done correctly. We've also made it clear to them that there are people here on campus who really want to help. Some recruits will come in here and be so used to being the big man on campus that they're afraid to ask for help. In addition, we've had people from the writing center come and talk to them, and people from the dean's office. We've tried to reinforce as best we can that they need to do their work at a high-quality level, and the next step is that, if you need some help or are struggling, let us know and we'll get some help. It was disappointing the way things happened last year, but by the same standpoint, I think things happen for a reason, and you can't always control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it.
What is the current status of those three players, Zak Keasey, Jay McCareins and Brandon Mueller?
Zak Keasey and Jay McCareins are both back on campus and reenrolled in school. From my understanding, they are both doing very well. Brandon Mueller will join our team this fall. He will be on campus from time-to-time, keeping contact with the players, but he can not officially enroll until this fall. Both Zak and Jay have been remarkable, and both used their time productively. Both worked jobs and found out what the real world is like, so now they have a better understanding of how precious their time is at Princeton. Both used the time to physically get better. Also, they both took classes off campus so that they wouldn't lose ground from an academic standpoint. They have certainly turned a negative situation into a positive one for both next year and the rest of their lives.
Though it's still early, let's look ahead to 2004, starting with the offense. The majority of starters return from a group that tended to go up and down from game to game, and sometimes from half to half or drive to drive. Was inexperience a major factor in inconsistency, and do you see that being less of a factor next year?
One of the major factors of the inconsistency, and something that didn't get mentioned much in the press, is that our offensive line was pretty young. At the beginning of the year, players like Ian Withrow and Trey Greene, who we felt would be upperclassmen that would play a lot, didn't get to play a lot because of injury reasons. That forced us to start a couple sophomores, Dave Szelingowski and Andrew Wilson. Compound that with the fact that Jeremy Moore was really starting his first year, even though he's a junior, and we can see as we watch tape that inexperience really did show. We made a lot of mistakes early in the year that we didn't make later on, and that comes with experience. Another thing you will see is that our strength level has improved. Strength coach Jason Gallucci has done a great job in the offseason, as have our kids, and I think we're going to be much stronger than we were last year. I think another thing is that our offense has to change a little bit with the change in the ability of the quarterback. Coming in, we were told that (Dave) Splithoff would be ready to go, so our offense was set up for both Matt (Verbit) and Dave. As the season progressed, and it became apparent that Dave was not going to be able to play, we then started to convert our offense more to what Matt likes to do. One of the advantages we have coming in this year is, Matt's our guy. Certainly, with his talents, we can shape everything around him and work with what he does best. I think that was part of the reason we were inconsistent to start with; we were in between philosophies and we probably should have switched over a little earlier to Matt or emphasized more of what Matt does well. Now we'll make sure that our offense is tailored around what his strengths are.
In your opinion, will Matt Verbit, Jon Veach or Branden Benson need to be major first-team All-Ivy candidates for Princeton to have a chance at the 2004 title?
We really don't worry about where they are going to place. We worry about them being the best players they can be. Clearly, they need to have good seasons for us to be productive on the offensive side, but if you look at the league, there are a number of people returning who are pretty good at those positions. There was Alvin Cowan at Yale, who was one of a couple outstanding quarterbacks, and you have some very good runners returning with (Harvard's Clifton) Dawson, (Penn's Sam) Matthews, (Yale's Robert) Carr and (Brown's Nick) Hartigan. To be All-Ivy among that bunch, you have to have a heck of a year, and I'm not sure they have to beat those guys out, but they do have to have good years for us to be productive. If you look at the voting in this league, any kid who was All-Ivy the year before, he can even have a dip in his performance and still get All-Ivy the next year. It would be a great honor for them to get all-league, and it's important, but I'm more interested in performance than the accolades that come out of it.
Defensively, how do you see the three returning All-Ivy defensive players meshing into this defense? Specifically, how will the return of Keasey (a first-team middle linebacker in 2002) affect Justin Stull (a first-team middle linebacker in 2003)?
Certainly we're going to have a lot more depth and a lot more experience there, but you've got to remember that these guys didn't play last year, and aren't in what I consider game shape. The speed of the game is going to have to slow down for them one more time, much like it did when they were freshmen. Before anybody starts on the Zak Keasey/Justin Stull grudge match bandwagon, both are very good players, as are Alan Borelli and Abi Fadeyi. We're blessed with a great amount of talent at the position, and that will help us not only on the defensive side, but clearly on special teams, since we use a lot of our linebackers on special teams. One thing Keasey brings is a physical presence, and a level of intensity that is unmatched in the league I believe. When he comes on a blitz now, he has the size, mass and leverage that when he hits you, he does some damage. He's going to bring that experience and that physical presence to our team. Justin Stull led the league in tackles last year, so it's not like Keasey is just going to walk in and take the position. It's a competition for both, and the wild card is Alan Borelli, and then don't forget that we have two freshman linebackers coming in who are both Division IA-offer type kids. It's a great problem to have, and I hope people don't sit there and try to figure out where everybody is going to fit. Let's let the spring sort things out, but certainly we're excited.
How much will the young cornerbacks gain from both the return of McCareins and a year of experience?
Having McCareins is back in the secondary, who led the league in interceptions, will help a lot. Looking at the tape, it has become very apparent that our inexperience in the secondary really hurt us a lot of times early in the season, as well as our inexperience at linebacker. A lot of times, the back end of our defense didn't match the front, and the reason that happens is that people who are supposed to make check calls and make adjustments to different formations and different plays were all inexperienced last year. In addition, we just weren't sound at a lot of techniques at the cornerback and strong safety positions. You're talking about two freshmen who played at the corners, and Dave Splithoff or a freshman at strong safety. As the season wore on, we got better, but we gave up a lot of flat passes, or the No. 3 wideout in a trips formation was running wide open at times. Basically, those were mistakes in our coverage techniques, and that's one area we will work very hard to improve. It's not unlike our first year here, when we started two freshmen, Blake Perry and Brandon Mueller, at cornerback. Confidence is a big thing at the corner position. You have to have confidence that you can play an in-your-face technique on 3rd-and-three, and still be able to cover the deep ball if that's what they throw. What was happening last year was, because of lack of confidence, we were giving them too big of cushions, and we made it too easy on the offense to execute.
You return a plethora of linebackers and defensive backs, but you lose two All-Ivy defensive ends. Is the line the biggest concern on the defensive side of the ball?
The back end of our defense - the linebackers and the defensive backs - have a chance to be pretty good. Our line is a concern. We not only lose the two All-Ivy players in Joe Weiss and Tim Kirby, but we lose two kids in George Pilcher and Jeff Micsky who played a lot, even as freshmen. Our young kids will need to step up. Ben Brielmeier has to have a good year. Peter Kelly has to have a good year. James Williams and Chris Browne, who spot-played the last couple years, need to step up. We're hopeful that a young man like Jake Marshall, who was injured all of last year, can make his presence known. And there is Brett Barrie, another freshman who will be a year older. We're going to be young up front, but I'm really pleased with the work ethic and the improvements we've made in both strength and size this past year.
As a head coach, your teams improved in winning percentage each of your first three years. After failing to do so last season, are you even more ready to get back on the field than in past years?
I have to tell you something. In recruiting, we come across a lot of parents who couldn't believe that this team and this staff, who was coming off a 2-8 season and took a step backward, was so positive. One of the things that the media will project is, 'well, he's going to get fired.' What I know is that all the symptoms of a program that is in trouble, we don't see here. We don't see full-time staff members bailing out, trying to find other jobs. I've been blessed enough to keep our staff together. We don't see kids bailing out of the program. In the Ivy League, there aren't scholarships to hold the players, so they can quit. We don't see that. We see a work ethic in the weight room that is remarkable. We see an attitude amongst our players that it is becoming the culture where the kids are calling each other out. The kids are expecting the best effort out of each other, and they aren't accepting anything less. That's what we have been trying to establish for the last five years. In a business, you can come in and fire everybody and change the culture on the spot. At a place like Princeton, which is so rich in tradition, it takes a little longer to get that culture changed. I think we are seeing all the signs of that now. The other thing is, if you look at the team last year, our players had a lot of chances to fold the tent and go home. If you look at how we finished the season, on the win/loss column, it doesn't show, but when you look at the game against Harvard and the game against Yale, both of which had the No. 1 and No. 2 offenses in the country, we fought to the end. Against Yale, outside of one minute, we virtually held their offense to no points. This thing isn't broken. Does it need tweaking? Yes. Does it need better effort? Yes. Does it need better execution? Sure. But no one is panicking right here, and frankly there is a confidence that we can make this what we really want to make it down the road. And to answer the question about wanting to start the season, I wish it started tomorrow. I think our players do too. Frankly, I think our players were embarrassed, and our program is angry about how we lost games last year. Again, that has hardened our resolve to make this what it is supposed to be.
Finally, the business of college coaching has taken some major hits in the last couple of years. What do you see as your role in the athletic department, the University and in the community in general?
I've always seen our role as teachers and role models, not only for our players, but for the university at large. Kids are going to make mistakes, and I think that holds true with every kid on every campus. The fact that we are the only part of the campus that has our own section of the newspaper, the problems we have certainly get more magnified and more well-reported. I feel that many non-athletes have similar problems, but they don't get reported. With that being said, because we are in a fishbowl, we need to make sure we handle things the right way. Frankly, all these allegations against other schools and against other coaches hurts athletics in general. I think one of the things we don't do a good job of, and that the media doesn't do a good job of, is talking about 95 percent of the things that we do right. Our team last week went and read to the second graders for Dr. Seuss Week. A number of our players last year went to work for the Habitat for Humanity, and put up housing. We had a number of junior high kids and younger on campus, and our players coached them and talked to them about doing the right thing. Those feel-good stories don't get in the paper a lot of times, but those are our goals as coaches. We want to send the right message. It's laudable to be very bright, and, oh by the way, very athletic too. Those two things are not a dichotomy or mutually exclusive. These are things that we should strive for. That's why I marvel at our kids all the time, and actually why I marvel at the kids who go to Princeton, because they are so multi-faceted. These are the kids we have here, and I've always seen our role as coaches as, first, to do the right thing and, second, to encourage others to do the right thing.