	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

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 23, 2010

Frank Beamer

THE MODERATOR: We now welcome Coach Frank Beamer. We'll start with an opening statement.
COACH BEAMER: When you look at Virginia you look at a team that's been in every ballgame, a couple got away from them, but they've been there battling. I think they've been able to run the football. That's certainly helped their passing completion percentage, Verica is completing 60 percent of his passes. Defensively they are very good and play hard.
Certainly they're an in-state rival, and I know they're going to come ready to play and we need to make a great preparation to get ready to play these guys. So questions?

Q. Great win last week there. Can you talk a little bit about your thoughts and the team coming together to win those nine straight games after a tough start to the season?
COACH BEAMER: Well, I think, number one, we've got good kids. I think great character kids. I think the leaders on our football team, our seniors, not only are they good players but great people. And I think it starts there.
You can solve problems, I think, if you've got good people. If you've got bad guys, it's hard to get problems solved. And we had a couple of real serious problems there early. Two losses in a week.
And so I think that's number one. But we've had good players. We got good players. We've got a quarterback that I think is as good as it gets. And when you have that guy, I think you always have hope on Saturday. And he's played great during this stretch.
So I think just things kind of fell in place and we've been able to beat some really good football teams and been fortunate to get it done. But I credit our players.
I've said it a bunch of times. You couldn't tell any difference in how we practiced the Monday before Boise State and then the Monday after, James Madison. Monday before, Boise State, optimistic, looking forward to a great year.
Then after the James Madison game, two losses in a week's time. But we practice the same way. And I think the fact that we don't try to blame people for this or blame -- what we try to do is find out what went wrong, correct it and go back out and get that corrected and win the next time.
And I think that consistency helps the players be consistent.
So we're not an up and down football team. And I take great pride in that.

Q. And how do you retain that focus and drive heading into this final season finishing the off the year strong before going to Charlotte?
COACH BEAMER: Say it again.

Q. How do you retain that focus and that drive heading into the final weekend to finish off the year strong before heading to Charlotte next weekend?
COACH BEAMER: This is Virginia. And of course they're the team in the state that is our rival. A team certainly we have great respect for in how they do business. But this is one our alumni remember -- all those Hokie Club meetings I go to in the offseason, this is the game we're talking about. So we understand how important it is to our fans and our alumni of this university and how important it is to us.
And it's an important game to them, too. So I think the fact that it's Virginia, makes it a very, very important football game.

Q. Andrew Lanier wasn't projected as a starter this season but yet due to injury ends up over there on the left side. And I know on Saturday it looked like he had a real big block on Ryan's long touchdown run. Could you talk about his emergence this season and how he kind of held out on to that job even once Nick was healthy?
COACH BEAMER: Nick Becton went down early preseason and Lanier stepped in there. He's a little bit light, but he's another one of those guys we moved from tight end. But he's athletic, and he's really done well. Really stepped up and helped our football team be successful.
And we had a couple of new starters in there in that offensive line. And then we had -- Lanier was a guy we didn't project as a starter. So he came from back in the pack but has been very instrumental in our success, that's for sure.

Q. Mike London was saying that you interviewed for a position on your staff some years ago. What has your relationship with him been over the years? And, second of all, what's been your impressions of what he's been able to do during his first year here?
COACH BEAMER: I've always been impressed with Mike. I think he's done a good job now. I think he's put together a good staff. They're working extremely hard. And I think he's doing a good job. There's no question about it.

Q. I know you head coaches can get called a lot of different names at a lot of different times, but now that you've passed Bo Schembechler and have an opportunity to move past Woody Hayes, a couple of legends, here on Saturday with a win over VA, what are your reactions when people refer to you as the legendary Frank Beamer?
COACH BEAMER: It means you're getting older. It's really unbelievable. When you start seeing your name there with those people you grew up with, and they were your idols growing up, and it's hard to imagine you're in there.
But I've been fortunate. I've had a lot of good coaches, coaches that stayed with me. We had a consistency there. And we had a lot of good players come through here.
That's what you've got to have. There's not a secret to it. You better have good players and coach them up. And I've been fortunate to have both.

Q. Also a win on Saturday would be your tenth on the season. That's significant. It would be the seventh straight year that you've won 10 games or more. Is that something that's talked about within your program?
COACH BEAMER: Absolutely. The thing I'm most proud about is our consistency. We're talking about how we approach our players the Monday after the James Madison game, I was talking about that earlier, but I think we're not an up-and-down program and that's what I take great pride in. I think the only team in the country to win 10 games for seven straight years -- we separated ourselves there.
So I'm proud of that. That's for sure.

Q. As Tyrod goes into the last three games of his career, do you feel he's playing his best football?
COACH BEAMER: Absolutely. I think he's playing as good as anyone in the country. This guy's special. I said it a couple of times, but what Michael Vick can do in a ballgame, Tyrod does the same things. You get the same feeling over there on the sideline. And great confidence in the guy that he's going to do the right thing with the football.
And he's just such a competitor and very talented and extremely smart, and a team guy. I mean, he's not into records. He's not into stats. He's into winning football games and helping his teammates win.
So I really appreciate Tyrod a lot. And I know this: He's been the guy. He's the guy that -- we've had a lot of good players. Don't get me wrong. Got a lot of good players on our team. But I don't know that you come back from those two losses the way we have if we don't have a great quarterback like Tyrod Taylor.

Q. Over the course of his career, has the main thing that he has gotten better at maybe his decision-making, possibly when to throw it, when to run, that sort of thing, and where to throw it?
COACH BEAMER: Yeah, I think he's worked very hard. I think he's worked hard at the fundamentals and worked hard at learning the game, and, yeah, I think experience is a wonderful thing. And I think he's more efficient throwing the ball and more accurate throwing the ball because he knows where the ball needs to go and when it needs to go.
And those things all tie together with experience. So there's no question that the experience has helped him, and he's a very complete quarterback right now.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297