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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 28, 2016

Mike McGlinchey

South Bend, Indiana

Q. What is your reaction or how do you feel when Brian Kelly says that everyone's job is on the line?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: We are a one and three football team, and things need to change, and if that is Coach Kelly's way or method of changing the things that are going on in our program, then that's what's going to happen. He's the head football coach. We understand as a team that things haven't gone our way and that there's a lot of change needed within our program. And if guys are willing to respond to that kind of message, then that's what's going to happen. I mean obviously there's no sugar coating it of how bad some of the out comes have been in the last couple of weeks, and change needs to be made, and whether it's a change in an attitude or response to that kind of a message, then if that's what our team needs, then we're all behind our head coach.

Q. Have you seen a difference in your teammates this week, anymore fire or change in attitude?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think so. I think there's an attitude that guys are just fed up, that we've had enough. We've had enough losing. We've had enough not playing to the potential that we are capable of and the standard that we have set here. And we went out to practice yesterday and guys were flying around, having fun with it, and I think that's the thing that we lost. We lost a little bit of that fun mentality, a little bit of that football genuine care about the game, and I think that we kind of got back to that a little bit yesterday. And that's been the message that we've been preaching for the last few days now.

Q. Kelly also talked about how DeShone has not been living up to expectations. What have you seen from him this week as far as dealing with obviously what Kelly has said about him and maybe how he's moving forward?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think DeShone has had incredibly high expectations put on him, both by himself and by a lot of other people around our program and outside of our program. And he has done a pretty good job of weathering that storm and kind of putting things away that don't need to be brought up. And there's some times where he's made mistakes in a football game, but I mean that's part of football. I definitely can't say I haven't made a mistake yet this year on Saturday. So DeShone is doing a phenomenal job and has done a phenomenal job both last year and this year and we are all 100 percent behind him and he knows what's expected of him and he's going to get the job done because that's who he is.

Q. Coach Kelly said there was a team meeting on Monday that he felt afterwards that you guys now have a clear understanding of the direction that the team needs to go. Why is it that after that the team now has a clear understanding of where it needs to go?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: We kind of laid it all out there, and obviously the things that were said are going to be kept within the team. But there's things that were said that kind of struck home with some guys. And we're all ready to kind of get that attitude back and get that -- and ready to change everything that's been going on. We've put ourselves in a pretty bad situation and it's time to wake up and fight back and rewrite the story of this season, and that's what we fully intend to do.

Q. Talking about DeShone and the high standard and everything, what about his mentality allows him to strive for that high of a standard that Coach Kelly and everyone sets?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think he realizes what he's capable of as a football player. I mean DeShone is one of the best, if not the best quarterback in the country, and he realizes that. Everybody on our team realizes that, and it's about the way he comes to work every day that allows him to be that guy. And it's not like he just a magic wand was waved over him to give him these special talents and powers, no, he works for it and he always has worked for it. It's the kind of guy that he is. He's an unbelievable worker, an unbelievable teammate. And that's how he comes to work every day with the mindset to be the best and that's the mindset that our team needs to kind of adopt as a whole.

Q. You're on the offensive side of the ball, but when Coach VanGorder was let go on Sunday, what was sort of your guys' reaction to it?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Well, the reaction from us is that football is the way it is and Coach Kelly felt that there needed to be a change, and so we made it. And obviously it's tough when it's a mid-season change and guys are connected to Coach VanGorder and have a guy on our team that is his son. But at the same time everybody understands that changes needed to be made, and that's the decision that Coach Kelly made. So we all are behind it.

Q. With the change needing to be made when Coach Kelly comes out and says everyone's job is on the line basically and then someone's job is put on the line the day after, does that drive the point home for you guys even more? Did you need that point to be driven home even more?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I don't really know if we looked at it that way. I think that the point has been driven home about what needs to change and how guys need to approach their business and how we all need to approach our business. Obviously that kind of did put some heat on it, I guess. But like I said, it's football. There's a business aspect to this, and we all need to get our jobs done. And if not, Coach Kelly is going to find a way to make somebody else do it.

Q. I'm curious, as a captain, this is a unique situation for you since you've been here, the message from Coach Kelly is, even in 2014 when there was a bad November, it wasn't until the middle of that month you guys were out of contention really. How do you change -- do you feel you have to change your approach as a leader when you're one of the three? Do you really have to go day by day right now at this point or can there be a long-standing message?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: No, absolutely. I think no matter whether you're in contention or not, the approach should be day by day. I think that's probably a little bit of what got us off the wrong track is not doing day by day. Guys were too worried about different things that they shouldn't have been worried about, and it has a huge part of what you do focusing on one specific play, one specific day of practice and not looking forward to Saturday when it's Tuesday afternoon and you're in the middle of a 24-period practice. It's not conducive to becoming a better football player and a football team. So I think the exact approach that needs to be done is a day-by day approach no matter whether you're 1 and 3 or 4 and 0. So that's what we try to do each and every day, especially up front on the offensive line is kind of go back to basics and understand that football is an entire process. It's not just show up on Saturday and play ball. It's a game of intense, intense preparation. And we have to go back to basics on how to do that and continue with that mindset, and I think we'll be better off for it.

Q. You gotta go back a week in your mind, but did you notice a lack of passion preparing for Duke anywhere and is it hard to address that outside of your offensive line? Is that difficult to kind of address in that situation through a team?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Regardless of whether it's on the offensive line or not, I would address it regardless because I'm a member of this football team, and just as anybody else is, they should address it as well if they feel that way. And obviously it is addressed, but whether you address it or not, it doesn't always kind of resonate, and sometimes things go the way they are and guys need a little extra wake-up call. And unfortunately we didn't get enough of that prior to the clock hitting zero against Duke and we need to do better, and it's going to be okay. We're going to figure out how to get that energy back, and I feel like it's already on its way back, but we gotta make sure we keep building each day, and I think it goes back to the day-by day mentality and taking that kind of urgency to work each and every day and each and every snap at practice.

Q. Mike, as a veteran, I'm curious, do younger guys get like when you lose on Saturday, it may be because you didn't work hard enough on Tuesday or didn't get enough sleep on Wednesday? They just think it's, I didn't play well on Saturday, that's just how it is. Like do young guys get that?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I don't think that you can ever fully get that because you always kind of feel like you're doing your part, but when you have to look in the mirror and it comes down to it, you wake up pretty fast when you're 1 and 3. We realize that what we felt, like what we have felt that good preparation is hasn't been good enough, and we will continue to ramp that up and continue to fight for the best play that we can. And it's about getting that understanding throughout the entire football team, whether you're a freshman or a fifth-year senior, that preparation is the most important thing in this game, and games aren't won on Saturdays in September. They're won in January in the weight room or in the summer doing your drills. And then each week it's won Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday when you're on the practice field. So if you can prepare the right way, prepare harder with the guys that we have on our team, I'm pretty confident that we can get our jobs done a little bit better.

Q. One thing that Josh Adams said after the game that I thought was interesting. He felt like sometimes at practice guys just go out to work like almost spinning their wheels a little bit as opposed to like being intentional about each drill and each rep. Is that something you feel like you guys need to get better at?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Absolutely. It's a mindset, like everything else. You have to put everything that you can into each drill, each snap, each everything in this game. You can't overlook any detail. You can't leave any stone left unturned. It's so important that you prepare as a champion just as much as you want to play like one. And maybe that should be our new mantra, but it's coming down to that intensity about the littlest things possible, and Josh was right. I think there was a lack of that, but I think we're young, and I think that guys have to get that understanding through experience, and if that experience comes through hard times like we're in now, then so be it. But we gotta keep moving forward, and there's still a lot of football left to be played.

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