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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYSJuly 24, 2014Todd GrahamLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA COACH GRAHAM: We're obviously really excited to be here. Going into my third year at ASU coming off the Pac‑12 South championship last year, got a lot of confidence in this group. What gives me the most confidence is the leadership, the work ethic, the discipline. This being year three, everything's so much better as far as how our team has adapted to our philosophies and what we're doing. Really excited, obviously, offensively. This will be the best offensive football team that I've ever coached. Probably special teams is the area where I felt like in the spring we could obviously make the most improvement. So I really feel a lot of confidence there. Obviously, most of the questions and stuff we talked about the guys we graduated on defense, and Arizona State, we're going to play defense. I've got a lot of confidence in the speed and the guys that we have coming back and looking forward to this season. Want to introduce two guys that give me a lot of confidence. First off, Jamil Douglas, our offensive tackle. Jamil is a 3.92 student and a college graduate. And Taylor Kelly, a 4.0 student and a college graduate, and these two guys are really indicative of our program. We have 70 players out of 110 that are operating at 3.0 or higher [grade point average]. This is the smartest team I've had. The team with the best character I've ever had, and I have a lot of confidence this will be the best football team we've put on the field at Arizona State. Q. On how the team is progressing. COACH GRAHAM: Well, our program's about winning championships, period. Our motto this year is unfinished business. You see it on my wristband here. We're one game shy last year, and we don't want to be Pac‑12 South Champions. We want to be Pac‑12 Champions, Rose Bowl Champions, and obviously, win every game. That's the standard. What I like is our players expect to win. How you do that is winning every day. Talked a little about that what our guys are doing on the field, off the field, in the classroom gives me a lot of confidence. Q. On what the team is working on? COACH GRAHAM: Well, one of the things, obviously, is continue to get better at the things of how we go about winning games, creating that character, and being a giver. Our guys are so much further along when it comes to that. A great foundation has been laid there. Smart, just educating them, and becoming smarter football players and understanding what we're doing schematically. Obviously, we have two different dynamics. Offensively we have so much experience and so many returners, and we're obviously at a very high, have a high level there, so that gives me a lot of confidence that I know we can score points. We led the Pac‑12 in conference play in scoring points last year. We're going to be a lot better than that because we'll be a lot bigger and stronger on the offensive line. Defensively we're going to be young and I think we're going to be faster and better on the back end. So just building upon the values that we talked about ? character, smart, disciplined, and tough. Last year or last two years, we've led the Conference in fewest penalties, so just continued to teach, teach, teach, teach, but this is the closest team. We've talked about our Sun Devil brotherhood. This is the closest team that I've ever coached. So year three, everything's just better. Lot more comfortable and better. Q. On special teams play during the Pac-12 Championship Game? COACH GRAHAM: I think it was our nemesis last year. It was the worst thing we did, the punt game. Then later in the year, our first year, we lost 15 players due to the transition from a standard standpoint that didn't meet our standard. So it created some holes. So a lot of starters had to play those special teams. We wind up giving up big returns. Coach Patterson coming in is going to be our defensive coordinator and coordinate the special teams with me, is going to help me. A guy I have a 30‑year relationship with. So we'll be a lot better coached in that regard. But we're going to be faster. We have a lot more personnel, a lot deeper in the special teams coverage teams. Our punter Matt Haack has had an unbelievable off‑season and is really punting the ball well. I have a lot of confidence in our kickers. Alex Garoutte does a great job at kickoffs, so he won't have to do the punting stuff like we did last year. So that is going to be the most improved. That will be the area we'll be most improved is special teams. Q. On the teamÂ’s defensive work. COACH GRAHAM: Well, I guess two years ago when I came in, we graduated eight players on defense. Will wasn't even honorable mention. Carl Bradford never played. We were able to adapt because we had guys that could run, and we had players we were able to adapt to them. Luckily enough, those guys played almost every snap, every down. We're going to be young, but we're very talented. We have guys that have talent and we've just got to adapt to them in the same way. Obviously, if I was asking the questions, that's what I'd be asking questions about. Would I like to have those nine guys back? Of course. But Stanford has the same deal. They graduated some great players, great programs, that's what they do. They reload. They don't rebuild. Obviously, that's what my part of this thing is and my focus. I'm a defensive minded coach. To win a championship, you have to play defense. So we'll adapt, obviously, early in the season. We need to score points and we need to really be dominant when it comes to defense and special teams to help us grow those guys. Will we be as talented and experienced on defense? Well, no. But I do think we'll surprise a lot of people with the productivity in the country. The last two seasons we've been in the top in takeaways, TFLs, sacks, explosive plays, three‑and‑outs. We're a very disruptive team in how we attack and initiate. So I have a lot of confidence that we've gotten guys that can execute what we're trying to do. But there is no substitute for experience. They'll need experience to get better. We better get it in a hurry, because we have a tough early part of that schedule. Q. On setting team expectations. COACH GRAHAM: Every one of our players that has leaped, no doubt. We talked about 15 national champions, and 15 in PT 42, it's our goals. It reminds us every day when we talk about National Championship as our goal, we're not talking about the game. We're talking about every day, every rep, everything that we do, academically, on the field, off the field. We feel like the team that has the best character in the Conference. It's the smartest team, the most disciplined team and toughest team will win it. So we talk about on every rep, leave no doubt. We have every single person giving their personal best. Obviously, Pat Tillman, 42, it talks about the passion from which we're going to do things. What I like about our program right now. I said that when I first came in, I said we're going to be about winning championships. I think some people looked at me, even within our program, they were going like, really? And then we were one game. We lost to UCLA on a last second field goal from being in the championship game our first year, so people believed. Then last year, I thought they believed we could win. They believed that we could win, and we won the South and then we came up short in the championship game. Around our offices now, our players expect to win, and that is a different deal. So really, that's nothing that‑‑ that's how you want to progress. Year three should be your best year. This is when it all should come together and I have a lot of confidence that our team will. Q. On the wristband he is wearing and if they are handed out every year. COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, we do that in the string. Everyone earns one, everyone has one.       Yeah, it's something we do every year. It's something that's just a reminder every day that we're a part of something bigger than ourselves. This ain't about Coach Graham. This is about our team. Big team, little me. That's what we talk about. Q. Does everyone get a wristband. COACH GRAHAM: No, you have to earn it. Q. How many players have wristbands? COACH GRAHAM: Most of them have earned it. I think there are certain standards that you have to reach academically. Like I said, I'm proud of the 70 scholar‑ballers, that's phenomenal. We don't ask our guys to pass class, we ask them to compete in the classroom with the same passion they compete on the field with. So give you an example, Taylor Kelly was a 3.47 student his first year. Well, he's a 4.0 student now, so I think that gives us a better chance to win. I do. There are standards that they have to meet, and most of our guys are meeting those standards. Q. How do you stack up with Stanford academically? You talk about character, you talk about smart, you talk about discipline, you talk about tough. I think we found out where the measuring stick was. We have a lot of confidence that we're going to win those games and we have somebody doing those values a little longer than we have. We're going to do those guys, but right now you have to give them respect that they're back‑to‑back champions and they set the standard when it comes to character, smart, discipline and tough. Q. On the importance of size? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, you'll see. We've got some 6'6", 6'7". We want to get longer, bigger and explosive. But we don't want to sacrifice speed and explosive power. The two things in that game was obviously the physicality. I think when you talk about big, it's explosive and strong; obviously, they dominated the line of scrimmage, and it was really big plays in that game. It wasn't just riding it out. But we had seven critical errors in the first 13 plays. I think that was our fault as coaches. We tried to do too much. We hadn't been to a championship game before, so we learned some things too. So I think it just showed us how much work we have to do. But you can see by our roster and how we're recruiting that we're wanting to get length, and we're wanting to get explosive power and speed is what we're all about. It sure helps if you can do that and be 6'6" and 6'7".       We evaluate that look. You take Will and Carl, and those guys are all six‑foot‑tall. We're not very big, so you adapt and utilize the skills that you have. But we've been pretty explosive and pretty fast. I don't feel like because someone was bigger than us that that beat us. It's just the physicality of it. One of the things is we'll eliminate the critical errors. We've done some great things in being disruptive and being explosive, but way too many critical errors resulted in the one‑play touchdowns. If you look at the two Stanford games that we lost, how they score is play‑action pass. Had a big, long run. We basically had a critical error on that play, but, you know, we've got to eliminate those things. I really feel like in year three, we'll be better at that. The deal is we'll have some youth. They haven't been here learning our system very long, so we have to make sure we keep our standard when it comes to a team that doesn't get penalties and doesn't beat itself and how we do those things. I think we're going to surprise some people with some of the speed that we've recruited and developed. We've developed some guys in our program that I'm confident about. And we've got a lot of really good players. There might be guys that played in positions that people are going to be surprised. Q. On the offensive system. COACH GRAHAM: We've developed this system and adapted it and geared it each year. It's been one of the most explosive offenses in the country for that long a period of time at several different schools. But our system is designed for our players. It's very quarterback centered. It requires a guy that's very disciplined in distributing the ball and doesn't turn the football over. As good as we were in offense last year, we were 35th in the country in turning the football over. We were number one in the Pac‑12 and in Pac‑12 play turnover ratio because we got so many takeaways on defense. So the number one thing we've got to improve is not turning the ball over in particularly throwing interceptions. I think what's going to help that is obviously protecting our quarterback up front and being better running the football. When we throw interceptions, second and long, third and long, and behind in the scores and things like that, that's when those things happen. So with a lot of confidence we can improve that. This is the best offensive football team I've ever coached. Q. On adding Nick Kelly and others to the offensive line. COACH GRAHAM: I'm really excited about Nick Kelly. He's explosive, smart, physical. Cody's experience last year was very smart, but Nick has the capabilities of us being much better there as far as our physicality Christian is a road (Indiscernible) now. He's a physical, dominating presence in there. And our offensive line is bigger. It's more physical, it's stronger. We've just got to get them collectively playing together, so got a lot of confidence in that group. Q. Do you expect Nick Kelly to take over the calls on the o-line? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, I think so. I think those guys will help. Coach Thomsen does a tremendous job in our communication there. They work very seamless in the spring. I think we're going to be a lot more explosive being able to move people and knock people off the football. When we can run people in this offense, it makes it very difficult to stop. Q. Staying on the offensive line, Coach, everyone talks about Jamil Douglas how do you see that translate on the field? COACH GRAHAM: Phenomenal. You look at what he does and everything. 3.92 student, college graduate. His numbers in the weight room are just off the chain and that really, you see when your best players train and improve like that or we talk to them about the sense of urgency of improving, then you see everybody else moving to that standard. So he's really set the standard there. Taylor Kelly and Jamil Douglas our two team captains right now are the two best leaders we've had since I've been there, and two of the best leaders I've had since I've been in coaching. Q. Having a leader on the offensive line like that, does that kind of make guys listen to him because of his presence? COACH GRAHAM: I think so. I think when Jamil raises his voice and tells somebody something they tend to respond pretty quick. Q. On Jamil Douglas transitioning from a rocky start early on at ASU into becoming a captain. COACH GRAHAM: Well, that just goes to show people. I mean, no one's perfect. Golly, man, that's what I tell our guys all the time. The culture that we've tried to create at Arizona State of winning every day is a culture that I need. I'm the head football coach and I fall short. That's what it should be about is educating, guys growing and maturing. That's what getting an education is all about and I'm really proud of that. I think when you have a guy that's had that kind of history, just like I talk about my own path, you know, it gives you great power because people can see, man, hey, this is the way you should do it. What a great example because he's walked where a lot of them have walked that are struggling, and they can see that if you do things the right way and make the changes needed, you can see what kind of success you can have. I think he's a great example of that. Q. On if people forget that the athletes are only 17 and 18 years old. COACH GRAHAM: I think so. On the same hand the standards are what they are. I never back off. Our program is about winning championships, and I think my first year people were pretty excited that we won eight games. But now they're not going to be very excited at all with that, and that's a good thing. But these kids do have a big challenge. I think it's our obligation as teachers and as coaches to help be proactive and helping them in every regard. That's some of the things that we're doing is trying to bring in outside groups. Mike Haynes, the guy that is the former NFL Hall of Famer that works with our players and talks to them about the challenges that they have out there socially and the temptations and the focus, the microscope that's on them. So those are some of the things we pride ourselves in. We're not about beating minimum standards. It is a different day and time. I tell our coaches everything you say in the locker room or anywhere you better just‑‑ you don't want to see it on the news, don't say it. Q. Can you explain the wristband? COACH GRAHAM: It's just our goals. National champions 2014, 2015, thatÂ’s talked about every rep, every academic appointment, every play that we're giving, P‑42 effort. So I show them we constantly‑‑ you ever watch Pat? We show them Pat training and everything about what he did. He also was a 3.84 student, graduated summa cum laude. Pat Tillman won in everything. He won academically on the field. Pac‑10 Defensive Player of the Year. Off the field, community service. Serving his nation, giving his life for his country. So we talk about that is the standard and leave no doubt every day. If we'll do that, we know we're going to win no matter what. Q. You seem really comfortable at Arizona State. Is it possible you'll retire there? Is that something you've considered? COACH GRAHAM: One of the things obviously for me and I think our coaches even how we're doing everything we're doing, we're building it for the long haul. We want a program that's competing for championships every year. Absolutely love the community, paid my house off, absolutely. I'd love to have success, half the success Frank's had and have my name by his. So I am thoroughly committed, and I think we've got a chance to build something special. Our goal, Ray Anderson, our athletic director, Dr.Crow, our goal is to build a top-5 program in the nation that wins and wins the right way in everything that we do. So, yes, I can see that. Very, very comfortable. My third year I'm very comfortable. Very blessed. My staff, getting Coach Patterson back, I think completes my staff and really gives us a lot of balance which we haven't had. I'm not going to lie to you. It's been tough. I've been a little out of balance with having to commit so much time to one thing, but, yeah, I'm very comfortable at Arizona State and very committed for the long haul. Q. Speaking of paying off your house, how much were you aware of that house that you just bought that it was owned formerly by Bret Michaels? COACH GRAHAM: When I moved to Arizona State, my wife said, look, we've moved all over everywhere. I want to pay off the house. So we took our savings and stuff and obviously paid it down, and I paid it off in May. Then she bought another house in June. So I actually have two houses in the valley right now. If somebody wants to buy it, I'd love to sell one. I didn't get consulted on that very much. But, no, I didn't really have any idea. I believe it was a house we had looked at when we first came. We moved 600 yards up the hill. But we're committed. We have a capital campaign that my wife and I both have made a large commitment to it as well. I want our fans to know that. I want our fans to know how committed we are to Arizona State. I think it's something that is so important, the stability. We were able to retain Coach Norvell. We've got to keep this staff together. If we do, and we're able to year‑in and year‑out develop these players the way we're doing, there are great things ahead. Q. On Coach PattersonÂ’s role calling plays on defense. COACH GRAHAM: I mean, obviously I'll still always be involved in the calling. Keith will run the front end and run all the defensive staff meetings which I've run for two years. He and I basically run two‑thirds of the football team. We run special teams and we run defense. We've worked together and have a 30‑year relationship. But his skills are the opposite of mine and it really helps that staff in there with time management. I'm kind of a grinder. So he'll take over and run all the staff meetings. He'll initiate the calls from the front end. I'll be involved in the play calling and working in the secondary with Coach Ball. So it's just going to give us balance where I'm able to spend more time, obviously, with the special teams and being able to spend some time with the offense as a defensive consultant there. That's where he just provides balance for us. I don't know if that makes sense, but he's got all the things in place that I wanted. Keith was coming with me in the beginning, and they offered him a lot of money to go to West Virginia and he went that path, and I'm very grateful to have him back. Q. On if he got fatigued coaching multiple sides of the ball last season. COACH GRAHAM: I don't think anytime in all my years of coaching I would tell you that I got a little fatigued. But I think I did a little bit last year. But there are a lot of things. We've got a $150 million capital campaign going. There are a lot of things that we're trying to catch. There are a lot of things, marketing, development, and a lot of things that I felt we're behind in and really made great strides in. But, yeah, that wears you out a little bit. I think moreover than that, I think it wears your staff out because I'm constantly in there having to do that. They're having to wait on me because I've got this or that going. So, it's just going to give us a lot more balance in our schedule and our structure but I'm not going to tell you that I ever get tired because I tell my players we don't get tired. I wouldn't say I got tired, but I would say some people around me were pretty tired. Tired of me. Q. What would you call your identity? COACH GRAHAM: Simply put, we're a brotherhood. If I'm coaching you and I want everything you got well everybody's doing that, and I want just a little bit more. People die for their faith and they die for their family, right? So if we can create a family atmosphere, and how we do that are the values of character, right? How do I value character? Service. You look at a person, I can tell they're a giver or a taker. They're a victor or victim. So every day we evaluate that. How we sit in our character, all the little things we do, character, smart, disciplined, tough. And you've got to be courageous, right? At the end of those things, you develop a family trait, and that puts great confidence when you have a team that cares about each other. So that's what our philosophy is. We call it Sun Devil brotherhood. Q. Quick follow‑up on the house. Taylor Kelly told me you had a racing background. COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, I liked to listen‑‑ when I was growing up I was a Rock 'n' Roll guy, Aerosmith, Poison, and Foreigner, and all that. So, obviously, I'm a fan of his. But as far as race fan, I grew up in mesquite, Texas, just outside the Devil's Bowl Speedway. So I grew up watching sprint car racing, Johnny Rutherford. And every year I was a coach in Dallas, we were at a space in the infield at Texas Motor Speedway, and big NASCAR fan, Dale, Sr., a fan, and obviously a Dale, Jr. fan. I love racing. Q. On pulling the plug on Taylor Kelly racing? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, yeah, he thought I was a fan until I told him, he said he earned the job as star quarterback and some deal on ESPN he was drag racing. So I called him. He said, Coach, I thought you were a fan of racing. I said, yeah, you can race if you want to. You're just not going to be our starting quarterback. It's no big deal. Q. Have you been behind the wheel at all? COACH GRAHAM: No, I rode in a NASCAR and they have a deal where you can get in a car and go around the track and stuff like that. But I've been mostly a fan. I grew up‑‑ the community I grew up in was big on racing. And I've always liked it. There is something about when you're standing there and those cars come down that start/finish line going 180 miles an hour that makes the hair on your neck stand up. I kind of like that. Q. On how quickly he stopped Taylor Kelly from racing? COACH GRAHAM: Pretty quick. Before he started, I think it was like July or when that article came out or the report came out or video. I think it was in June or July we came to an understanding pretty quick on that. Q. You had a lot of success on the junior college circuit, and this summer not necessarily unravelled but you lost your two biggest recruits. Did that make you revaluate things? COACH GRAHAM: Obviously you're disappointed but we knew there was a lot of risk there in that anytime you have those things. And we've been two years and we haven't lost anybody. We had a couple of guys fall this year but you can't be dependent upon that for the success of your program. Obviously, we'd have loved to have a different outcome but we're going to be fine. We're excited about the guys we have and we'll get it done with the guys we have. Q. Now that you're established a little bit more and everyone knows what the program's about, does that make it better for your guys? COACH GRAHAM: No, one of the things is our plan is unique to Arizona State. I'll take all the Jaelen Strongs and Marion Grices and Chris Youngs you can give me. We recruit the best, and brightest and best character junior college players in the country. We have Kweishi Brown who I think is going to be a dynamic player at corner for us. A great kick returner, punt returner, De'Chavon Hayes, another guy that's going to be a dynamic player for us. So we've been able to transition those junior college players to a high level in a very short period of time. De'Marieya Nelson, take guys like that. So we don't see a junior college player as a negative connotation at all. But we feel like that number year‑in and year‑out is going to fluctuate. Whether it be four or whether it be eight, whatever. We do though, obviously, want guys that are going to be here for the long haul, right? Guys like Nick Kelly that have three years of eligibility. Jaelen Strong has two more years of eligibility. So we like those guys. We're not one year here, gone the next. We can't have too many of those. But I like the junior college player taking the path least traveled. We're so grateful when they get there. When they come and look at how they live and the condo and apartment they live at our place are really, really nice. That is something we think is a plus for us. It's kind of a blend of both. We'll always do that when it comes to junior college players. Q. Do you notice that a junior college player is out because so many universities shy away from them, and this is a program that develops superstars? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, I'm not one of those people that cares what anybody else is doing or what anybody thinks. I just know when I grew up I just wanted an opportunity. I could tell when I sit down and meet with young people that they set who we are and what we're about. I'm looking for the guys with the best character and their academics are important to them, they want to excel. We have the best academic support team in the country. The that won the award for the best academic administrator in America two years ago, Gene Boyd, junior college player, junior college transfer. So I think it's a stereotype junior college players. I think it's wrong. I understand why people do what they do. But it's awful nice when you walk into junior college and everybody around the country knows that we transition at a high level, and giving those kids an opportunity that it's a tough route to go that route. It's something that is really gratifying to me. Chris Young signed with the Houston Texans and Marion Grice, a dream come true and drafted by the San Diego Chargers. That's what to me this should be all about is giving people those opportunities. I don't want to discriminate against a group of kids because somebody thinks it's a negative connotation, but they have to meet our standards of what we're about. All the junior college players that come to our place, one common denominator, they all graduate too. That is something that was one thing that changed my life. I'm the first person in my family to graduate from college, and that changed my life. So I kind of embraced that. At the same hand I do believe in guys being there four and five years has to be the foundation and bulk of your program as well. Q. Do you open up about your personal life to players? COACH GRAHAM: Yeah, I'm very transparent with our players. I talk to them about my personal life. I had a kid when I was 17. Obviously that wasn't in the master plan, but I'm proud of how we responded from that, right? No one's perfect. Everybody makes mistakes, and I don't claim to be perfect at all. I think being transparent with them and my background and how I grew up, that most of the things and challenges and things that they have, I've faced and I can relate to that. I think being transparent with them and saying those mistakes need to be (Indiscernible). I talk to them about the coaching, and you've got to be very careful. You make mistakes, and you've got to take responsibility for them so I talk very openly with them about that and about. You know that never changes whether you're 18 or 45. You have to think about those things. Sometimes something might look really good and you make a decision quickly and you go against everybody else's advice, and you pay the fiddler a little bit. I'm not perfect. But I'll tell you this, players know if you care about them. They know if you're genuine, no matter what anybody else says. The key is what you do every day with them. So I just try to be honest with them. When I first came, there were a lot of questions about that, and you know I'm very lucky and fortunate. I tell them to be a kid that went through what I went through and be able to go to college and get an education, I was very lucky I got drug there. To be able to end up at a place like Arizona State and work for a president and an AD that you really have philosophically aligned with and have the opportunity, I'm very lucky. I'm very blessed. I think most of that was people around me helping me get here. So it's important who you surround yourself with. Adversity's going to happen. It's how you respond to that that defines you. Q. On how much he deals with consistency and people questioning how long heÂ’ll be at ASU. COACH GRAHAM: No, it's not much anymore. It's interesting. People have a short memory. I think people know there are things that I've done, obviously. The success that we've had has helped a lot with that, but just being honest with people. When parents ask me in my office, ‘Coach, what are your plans and stuff?Â’ I'm extremely honest with them about that. And very open about being able to answer questions. But we've made a commitment like I talked about, and paid our house off. Paid a large contribution to the school's capital campaign. We wouldn't be doing that if we weren't here for the long haul. At the end of the day you look back, would you change things and whatever? I don't think that does you much good. I think the tough times and the tough things you go through and the mistakes that you make really mold you into who you are. I think people can see we're committed. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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