	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 3, 2016

Jim Grobe

Waco, Texas

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to introduce our interim athletic director, Todd Patulski.

TODD PATULSKI: Thank you for coming today. Before I introduce were coach, I want to tell you a quick story of how this went.

Obviously last Saturday I had the privilege of going up to Dallas and spending a brief time, really, with Coach Grobe, and I say a brief time, because it was one of those situations where it took you about five, ten minutes in speaking with Coach to know the kind of man that he is, and the kind of coach that he is and the kind of individual that you want to lead the men that are on your football program.

I think the thing that probably struck me the most, and you could tell this was genuine when he talked to us about it, and that was: "Coach, what are you interested in doing with this job, why are you interested?"

He said, "I'm here to help. I just want to help and I want to be part of the solution." He has the utmost respect for Baylor University and I could see that, and again, very general June and made an impression upon me, again, that's one of the reasons why it didn't take very good for us to realize that he's the right guy for this job.

So I'm going to be very short in my comments. With that, I'd like to officially welcome Coach Grobe to Baylor University.

So many great things have been said about Coach, but I also believe them: He's widely respected nationally among his peers as a man of character, a man of integrity, as a Christian man who is also a strong leader and a strong football coach. He's truly, again, the right man for this job.

Again, I want to introduce you to our new football coach, Jim Grobe.

JIM GROBE: Thank you, Todd. I appreciate it. Good afternoon, and first of all, I'd like to thank you for being patient.

I know it's been a few days. Gave me a chance to get my feet on the ground a little bit, get to know our players a little bit and our coaching staff. I appreciate your patience.

I would like to open with a few things, a statement that I'd like to make, and then I'll open it up for questions. Baylor's priorities are being reassigned to ensure that they are in order. The No. 1 priority here is to make sure all students live in a safe and caring environment.

The fact that Baylor is willing to confront our deficiencies and problems should instill confidence in our commitment to protecting our student. It saddened me to read the region's findings of facts, and our thoughts remain with the victims. Our goal is to create a culture in our football program where everyone is treated with respect and dignity. The overwhelming majority of student athletes at Baylor are absolutely wonderful kids who make our university proud every day.

Our football team is no exception. We have a fantastic group of guys who are extremely saddened by what has happened. We are deeply regretful that the actions of the few can hurt so many.

I'm committed to supporting the university and the athletic department in creating a safer environment for all students. Nothing in our program will be more important than character. I've had a chance in this short amount of time to realize that we have a great group of kids and a coaching staff that really cares about the kids.

Winning is very, very important but not the expense of character and integrity. Every decision we make going forward will be made with Baylor University and all of our students and student athletes in mind.

I'm so proud to be part of a renewed commitment to doing things the right way. As Coach Teaff said to me, all our efforts will be towards turning a major setback for our university into an inspiring comeback for Baylor Nation.

Our focus going forward will be to learn from our mistakes and look to a bright future by regaining the respect and dignity our students and the university deserves.

How about questions.

Q. Will you be retaining the entire assistants, all of the assistants on the coaching staff and have they been cleared by the Pepper Hamilton report?
JIM GROBE: Yeah, my intention is to keep the staff. Coach Teaff and I talked about it when he called me, and I really felt like for our kids on the football team and for the coaching staff with families, that the best thing for an incoming coach to do would be to keep them intact.

Some of the people most impacted would be the student athletes if we change the coaching staff right now.

Q. A lot has been talked about the incoming freshmen of the 2016 class have wanted to get out of their national letters of intent. Will you guys let them out of that letter of intent; if not, what is the next step, and who exactly makes that decision?
JIM GROBE: Right. Well, we have a good group of kids that are here right now. Obviously we have some parents and some kids that are concerned. I would say that our plan is to follow the national letter of intent process created by the NCAA, and my goal is to meet with parents and student athletes that are considering decommitting.

And I don't know how long that process is going to take, but I really want to meet with all the players and the parents involved and try to convince them that Baylor is still a great place to be.

Q. Could you describe the mood of the team and the players right now, and what sort of questions you've been getting from them?
JIM GROBE: Well, obviously you can imagine a lot of discouragement. When I met with the team, it was obviously a lot of sad players. I think they are very embarrassed, I mean, really embarrassed.

I just, my sense, I have been with the guys for four days now, we've got a lot of great kids and they are very embarrassed and committed to doing the right thing. So I think probably as much as anything, there's so many good kids and it's really hurt them deeply that this has happened.

I think one thing we did that calmed everybody down is we're keeping the staff intact, and we're going to be the same offense and defense. I'm not going to change the offense. I'm not going to change the defense.

I think one of the hardest things for players would be to come in in a short amount of time; they have already gone through spring practice, and try to change schemes, try to change terminology. Those are the toughest things on players.

So our goal right now is to try to steady the ship and be as consistent day-to-day as we possibly can be, and I felt like the way to do that was keep the staff intact and keep the offense and the defense the same.

Q. Who initially contacted you about this job, and what was your reaction, and then ultimately, why did you decide to accept it?
JIM GROBE: Well, obviously when I got up the first morning and saw that Coach Briles had been removed, I was shocked and saddened; I think everybody was. And that night, holly and I were going into the Publix grocery store and the phone rang and it happened to be Coach Teaff. Could tell they was really down. Coach basically was heartbroken, and he asked me if I could come and help.

My wife, Holly, was kind of enjoying being out of the fire. We've got a nice place at Reynolds on Lake Oconee, and she was kind of enjoying the lake and being out of the action. Took her about a day to recover from that phone call.

Had coach on speakerphone, he probably didn't know that she was hearing all this. Finally after a little bit of time to reflect, she was on board like me. Coach Teaff asked if I could consider coming to help and I came, and met Todd and talked with the people here at Baylor and it made me feel like it was somewhat of a calling to be honest with you.

Q. Your agreement with Baylor, is that through the 2016 football season or beyond the season?
JIM GROBE: Right now it's through the 2016 football season. I felt like contract doesn't matter. If you're coming to try to help, you come in -- obviously I missed coaching. I missed the kids. I missed the coaches. I missed game planning, all those type things football-related.

But in the immediate future, we're through January, and I didn't even discuss contract. They gave me a contract and I signed it, and got on board. A lot of people have talked about the interim tag, but to be absolutely honest with you, Todd had a good point: Every coach is an interim coach, whether they like to believe it or not.

And so for me right now, my only, my only mission right now, is to do the best job I can for Baylor and for our kids, and to try to have the best 2016 we possibly can have.

Q. Have you been given any indication at all whether or not your staff will be dealing with sanctions for Baylor University or the NCAA before the start of the season?
JIM GROBE: No, I would say that whatever process may be going on, we've been cooperative in every way. But I have no indications that there should be any problems right now.

Going forward, I couldn't predict, but I think right now, things are pretty stable.

Q. I'm curious how you feel about Coach Briles, fired last week, you're the first Baylor representative to speak since that happened for the school. It's an awkward position to be in, I would think.
JIM GROBE: Well, I think for all of us, it was a shock, obviously, and it's been an opportunity for us to calm down a little bit. You know, to have a chance to reflect and kind of focus on what's important for us right now.

Going forward, I think we've learned from mistakes and we want to correct those mistakes going forward. And for me personally, I just really wanted a chance to get to know our kids a little bit, get to watch our coaches with the kids.

I wanted to have a little bit of a feeling for what Baylor football is all about before I got in front of anybody and talked. Obviously I feel really good about our kids and staff right now.

Q. You mentioned the Pepper Hamilton report briefly in your opening statements. Have you been given access to the full report or just a summary, and if not, would you like to see the full report, and do you think it should be made public; what's the most concerning thing in what you've seen so far?
JIM GROBE: I've seen the report. I've read the report. I know that there are some individuals that need to have their briefs. I'm not concerned about seeing the full report.

But in the report, both the university and the football program were called out in that report. And so going forward, I feel like we need to be better. We need to be better.

Q. What was the most concerning thing you saw?
JIM GROBE: Probably lack of organization in dealing with problems.

Q. You mentioned the importance of integrity in the program over winning. In the past, how have you dealt with player discipline issues, and are you going to bring those same kind of protocols into this position?
JIM GROBE: Absolutely. The problem is you want to have character kids in your program, first and foremost, and everybody has got a lot of them. We've got a ton of them, everybody program across the country, but every program has got knotheads, too. And of course what you really hope you never run into is to have victims like we've had in this situation, some really egregious things have been done. That's the one thing you're hoping kids never do.

But for us, playing is not a right. Going on the field is not a right. And if you're not going to be a good citizen, you're not going to play football for Baylor. That's just the bottom line.

Q. With the decommits for the 2017 class, have you had a chance to contact any of those recruits?
JIM GROBE: I have. I've had a chance to visit with parents and a couple of the kids and we're trying to get to see all -- to talk to all the parents and kids. I haven't had an opportunity to do that yet, but we have talked to a couple of the kids so far.

Q. Can you give us a snapshot of the mood, the psyche of the nine other coaches on your staff right now? Because we all know that Coach Briles has his son and his son-in-law on his staff. Could you just tell us what the last five days have been like with you interacting with them and what their mood is?
JIM GROBE: Yeah, I think the mood is probably better than you would expect. They are still -- they love Coach Briles, and I understand that. And so they are very discouraged.

But I think even Kendall is excited that there are not going to be changes. I think the staff understands that the main reason I came here was to be helpful, and to take care of them. And so on one hand, I'm sure they miss Coach Briles.

On the other hand, I think they realize now that I'm really here for them. A lot of families involved; when there's a coaching transition, a lot of families involved and a lot of wives and children.

So on one hand, I know that they are sad that Coach Briles is gone, but on the other hand, I think they are excited that they can continue to be coaches at Baylor University and take care of their families. And I think the players are excited to have their coaches still here.

Q. In light of what you're dealing with, how do you go about recruiting kids for next season when they are not sure if either you or anybody else on this staff may be around next year?
JIM GROBE: Well, it's a question that's come up with the recruits, and the thing that I can tell you is that we're totally focused on 2016 like I mentioned.

But also, if things go well, I like coaching. I can see myself being here. I love all the people at Baylor, the people in our program, and all the coaches are caring coaches and care about our kids. So beyond 2016, I would be blessed to have the opportunity to continue to coach.

But like most coaches, we need to play well and our kids need to do the right things both on and off the field. But I think my attitude and our coaches's attitude, if we can take care of business, we'll be all right.

Q. You talked about wanting to be here beyond this year, and then you also talked about letting the coaches coach. But you said you will still have your hand in it. Talk about how you handle that part in terms of letting them coach, but you also having a say in everything that goes on.
JIM GROBE: Yeah, I think every coach in the country has to get a thumbs up or thumbs down with your offense, your defense, your kicking game. I see myself more as a CEO, and I'd love to coach a position. I'd love to grab the linebackers and go out there with them every day and coach them. Jim probably wouldn't like that but I would. I would have a lot of fun doing that.

But for me personally, I want to be involved with what we're doing offensively and defensively and in the kicking game. But once we determine what we're going to be doing, then I'll let the coaches coach and I think that's important, and I think my coaches appreciate that. I think our coaches are relieved to know that I really like what they are doing right now. So that's a good thing.

Q. With the interim tag, are you in a position to hire coaches or let coaches go if that comes up?
JIM GROBE: Yeah, absolutely. When I talked with Todd, and I did not bring this up because my intention was to come and keep the staff. But it was perfectly clear that if I got here and felt like we needed to make changes, I could do that.

Q. What do you think of the talent here?
JIM GROBE: It's an amazing crew. Coach Teaff had mentioned this to me, but we've got great speed on this football team. We've got great athleticism. More importantly, the thing that's really excited me, we have a great work ethic on this football team.

I think our skill positions are really strong right now, and of course that's just in shorts and running around. We haven't put pads on yet. I'm very impressed with our athleticism and I'm very impressed with our speed.

The issue for us is we lost four starters last year off the offensive line. The good news is the center is back and he's a really good one.

So we're going to have to fill some spots in the offensive line. If you're an offensive lineman here, you're excited, you have a chance to slip in there and be a starter. Then we have some issues up front there on the defensive line. Phil Bennett, our defensive coordinator may need to move them a little bit, slant the angle, some of that kind of stuff, get them moving on the snap of the ball. Right now, the skill level on this team is very impressive.

Q. You mentioned for the class of 2016 signings who had asked for a release of their national letters of intent, you would like to meet and talk with their families and try to convince them that Baylor is a place to be. If you do that, which I know you have done with some of the current players that are asking to be released, and they still don't want to come to Baylor, are you going to let them out of that national letter of intent, or is it going to be an NCAA matter?
JIM GROBE: Well, we are just going to follow NCAA protocol but at some point they are going to have to make up their mind whether they are going to be at Baylor or not. So really what we're going to do is follow the NCAA guidelines with the national letter of intent and I think that's the best thing to do going forward.

The thing I didn't want to do was knee-jerk and just do something really quickly and then look back and wish we hadn't, and I don't want parents and kids to hurry up and make a decision right now. I want everybody to calm down and think things through, because I don't know of a better place in America to get a degree from; to have the combination of a great academic degree and play championship football, I don't know of a better place to do that. So we're trying to convince the parents and the kids, and that may take us awhile to work through that.

Q. It's a very small sample size, coaches who take over at this point of the year, have not always had the best success. Why do you feel like that this could be different in your situation?
JIM GROBE: Well, wish you hadn't said that. I didn't know that. I hadn't thought much about that.

I'm just a football coach and you know, players play and players win games. But I think we have enough players that if we get them going in the right direction, we can be a really good football team.

I'm really excited about our opportunity. And the best thing I can say is, there's not any turnover right now. I like our coaches. I like the way they work with the kids. The kids obviously respond to our strength coach, Coach Kaz, and there's a lot of energy right now. I think these kids, their work ethic's fantastic.

So as a coach coming into the situation, when you see so many good kids and you see how hard they work and how important football is to them; and of course, my main goal right now is to make sure that they do all the good things off the field. They know there's absolute no tolerance policy right now, zero tolerance for misbehavior. What we hope our kids can do is totally focus.

I think most of them, it will be easy for, to totally focus on being a great guy and then being a great football player.

Q. You talked about your lake house and your wife needed other convincing. I'm assuming you've had other inquiries for jobs in the last couple years. Why is this job in this place and this time, the time for you to climb back in the saddle? And how have you talked to Coach Briles since you've been here?
JIM GROBE: I have not talked to Art since I've been here. I will say that for me, I just felt led to be here to be honest with you. I looked at some other jobs the last couple years, none of them really developed, either didn't have one that I felt comfortable into, or a couple of them that I would have liked to have gotten in on were filled pretty quickly.

So this was a situation for me where not only could I coach football but I felt like I could be part of the solution to Baylor's issues, and more importantly, I can come in here and help these kids.

Q. You said that it was made clear to you that you could make staff changes if you wanted. What convinced you that none of the current members of the staff were culpable in anything that happened with any of these scandals, investigation, whatever you want to call it?
JIM GROBE: Honestly, I just trust the process. I trust the investigation. It was a pretty in-depth investigation. I don't think everybody did the right things. But some of this stuff -- coaches coach football and that's why it's very important for us right now, when we have any hint of any impropriety, it needs to go to our Title IX office and get it out of the football coaches hands. We can teach you how to knock people down, block and tackle and catch and throw and all those kinds of things, but we're not qualified for anything else.

So we'll deal with anything going forward if we found out more, but right now just have to trust the process.

Q. How well do you know Grant and how long have you known each other and how well do you know Art Briles?
JIM GROBE: Well, Art and I have a great relationship. Of course, we played against each other, and he waited too long to put RG3 in when we were here and we got out of here by the skin of our teeth. Then he got me on a double pass. I still think it was a forward pass but then that got us in Winston-Salem.

But Coach Teaff and I have kind of a love -- it's not a hate relationship, but there's an uncomfortable side to Coach Teaff in that when he got me to chair his ethics committee for the American Coaches Association, I was in there for, I was thinking three years; "Jimmy, you got to help me one more year; Jimmy you got to help me one more year; and I think I ended up doing that for seven years."

Then he called and he said: "I need somebody on that All-American committee"; and then "I need somebody on our rules committee"; and then "I need somebody to vote on the Top-25." Now that Top-25 will be random but I was on it every year.

And so he's just a hard man to say no to and there's nobody in college football I respect more than Grant Teaff.

Q. You said your wife enjoyed that time off. I'm guessing it was hard on you at times. What did you learn from being off a couple years?
JIM GROBE: A lot. A lot. I made some he is mistakes when I was at Wake Forest. I think I probably could have pushed our guys a little harder those last couple years. I was very concerned. Our numbers were down and I was very concerned about injuries which I always am, anyway.

One of the problems, if you've got a few good players, if you've only got a handful of guys that you think are kind of all-league kind of players and the rest of the guys are good players, but they are just workers, you've got to make sure you work those guys as hard as you possibly can and let the others hang on.

So we probably could have pushed our guys a little bit more. Last year was a lot of fun. My first year out, I worked for FOX Sports and we did the ACC Grid Iron Live Show. I really have a great appreciation for everybody on TV. I'm going to tell you what, when that light comes on and you're supposed to talk for 60 seconds, you have no idea -- well, you do, all of you in front of the camera, you have no idea that seems, to talk for 60 seconds.

Last year I thought what I want to do is I want to watch games. I want to watch games and watch what people are doing offensively and defensively and the very best thing about it was kids do the dumbest things, the craziest things and every time they did, I would tell Holly, could you believe he just did that. I still had a good appetite when dinner came around and I still slept like a baby it was no big deal watching the kids do thing.

I really missed it, I missed football and I missed being around the kids. I still feel like I have a lot to give I'm blessed that Coach Teaff thought enough of me to give me a call and asked me if I could coach and come help.

Q. You said there would be a zero tolerance policy. Did that come from above you; os that your idea, or did you tell that to the players?
JIM GROBE: I think it's a policy that I've always had. I mean, I'll be honest with you, it depends on what you've done. I mean, if you've not taken your tray back in the dining hall, I'm going to probably call you and say let's think more of others and that kind of thing.

But this egregious stuff is off the table. There's no tolerance. You can't bully people. You can't be involved in sexual assault, sexual harassment. These kind of things are not tolerable. You just move on.

And like I said, we're going to step away and let Title IX handle any of those type problems. But I feel like I'm a dad. Holly and I raised two boys and they both turned out pretty good. We wondered for awhile but they both turned out pretty good.

Now you've got a hundred kids, and I really feel like their dad. And what we do with our kids is we spend a lot of time hugging them around the neck and patting them on the back and if they don't do what they are supposed to, we'll kick them right in the seat of the pants and if they do something really bad, they won't be playing for Baylor football.

Q. I think you kind of answered this but I want to make sure. The staff that you do have, have you been given every indication by your employers that they will remain basically free and clear of any type of penalty from the Pepper Hamilton report; that you don't have to worry about whether they cannot be here?
JIM GROBE: No. I know of absolutely no issues, no problems. That doesn't mean that there aren't. I would honestly tell you that I have not heard of any problems. There's been a lot of collateral damage.

I think Coach Teaff made the statement that it's time to rebuild and we're down about as low as we can be right now. We've been beat up pretty good. We've lost our president. We've lost our athletic director. We've lost our football coach. We've lost a couple other people in the athletic department.

So I think for us going forward, we have to assume that everything is good and I've not been told otherwise. So we're kind of full speed right now unless I hear something different.

Q. Can you talk about your first meeting with Coach Kaz, because he and his staff have a lot to do with the players and conditioning and all that, and he's also very inspirational for many. How strong of a bond do you think you guys are going to have and what was that first meeting like?
JIM GROBE: Well, I think we have kind of karma. He's an old linebacker and I am, too, so we get along pretty good I think.

I think Kaz was very concerned, like the rest of the coaches: What is Grobe going to do when he gets in here; am I going to be the guy.

I'm going to tell you what, I've never been more impressed with anybody in my life. This guy is the real deal. He does something that I'm not used to. In training we always started in the weight room, had to develop strength and then we worked on our agility and speed, and Kaz starts the other way. He starts with speed and agility.

Honestly the first morning, Tuesday morning, I met with the players and let them know -- I told them exactly what I mentioned today, no tolerance for bad behavior.

But the other thing that we got the guys together for was to let them know to expect to be fast and furious on offense. We expect to be better on defense. Coaches are going to be the same, all those kind of things. But when I went over to watch Kaz work these guys out, we were about halfway in, about a half hour in, and I thought, that's a pretty tough workout. I didn't realize it was the stretching part of his workout.

And the thing that's really exciting for me is the kids embrace that. They really love that guy and they really work hard for him, and like I said, I think we've got a great group of guys on our football team right now. I'm really excited to go forward.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297