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SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYSJuly 22, 2019Jamey ChadwellNew Orleans, Louisiana JAMEY CHADWELL: Just took over here in January at Coastal Carolina. The biggest thing that we've tried to do in this off-season in the summer is I was interim head coach in 2017, offensive coordinator last year, and then coming in now the head coach is trying to, one, gain trust of our student-athletes because anytime you start a new relationship, there's got to be trust. So we want to do that. And then, second, really change the mindset of our program. And so Bam has been our philosophy of our program, and we're going to continue the Bam philosophy we have. But our big mantra this off-season has been believe, and believing in each other, believing in the new coaching staff and believing that we can have a successful season. So that's been our main focus as far as trying to change the mindset of our team as we continue our transition into the Sun Belt and getting our scholarship levels where they need to be to be competitive and make a bowl game and hopefully win the Sun Belt Championship. That's what we've started doing this off-season, and we've had a good summer, and we're ready to get after it. August 1st is our report date. And then we open our new stadium. Brooks Stadium will have 21,000 capacity, and it will be August 31st versus Eastern Michigan. So we're looking forward to that opportunity there. I'll open it up for any questions you may have. Q. Having been an interim head coach and offensive coordinator, how has that prepared you to become the head coach? JAMEY CHADWELL: Well, I've been a head coach, so this is my -- if you count the interim, this is my fifth time actually being a head coach. The preparation as far as that is not much different. The challenge is when you become a head coach, the challenge is to transition typically to a new place. Well, I've been here, so I already know about the skeletons in the closet. I think the bigger change is you go from offensive coordinator and interim. When you're an interim, you're the substitute teacher so you don't get listened to. And then as an offensive coordinator, you're mostly dealing with guys on the offensive side of the ball, not special teams and defense. Being a head coach before, I understand that you have to bring all those groups together for a common purpose, and so part of our believe that I talked to you about is we took the "i" out of believe and put a "1," so it's one team, one family, one purpose, and trying to bring everybody together for that purpose. So that's what we're trying to do. Q. I found it fascinating that obviously you've been a head coach before, but also as the offensive coordinator, you hired two people to replace you. How is that going to work mechanically? Who's going to do the play calls, et cetera? JAMEY CHADWELL: Great question. As I transitioned to head coach, we brought in a new coach, a wide receiver coach. I moved our wide receiver coach to quarterbacks, co-offensive coordinator with our running backs coach. So our quarterback coach will handle a lot of the pass game, the pass game thoughts; our running back coach will handle most of the run game. And then they meet with me. I'll still be the one calling it right now on game day. But they will meet with me and will specifically go through what the game plan is going to be with my input. But that allows me to really focus on the rest of the team and the things I need to do as far as the head coach and then use their input. Both those coaches have been with me since two thousand -- one of them have been with me since 2009; the other one since 2013. Also, the one from 2013 played for me, as well. So we have a great relationship. So that was the thought process behind it. I wanted to make sure we were covered in both aspects, pass and running game, but also that I could put most of my time that I needed to into the team, helping develop them, while they could help with coordinating the offense. Q. You brought two bigger guys, offensive and defensive linemen. Is that where your mindset is right now? JAMEY CHADWELL: Good question. First of all, I knew they were going to get fed well, so I wanted to take care of them, especially last night. And then, two, yes, more than anything with our program, I want the other people in this conference, the players and the coaches to say, you know what, that team is a physical football team. And that is the area that we have to improve tremendously. That's the hardest area in my opinion when you're making the jump -- we have made the jump from FCS so FBS to try to -- scholarship-wise, it's not your skill guys, it's trying to get your depth at offensive line and defensive line. And the number of scholarships, when you get to 85 -- we're not there yet -- that's where you get hurt the most. So that has to be our emphasis going forward. I was a lineman growing up at heart. I love to eat. So I have a soft spot for those guys. But, yes, our mindset has to be we want to be a physical football team in all areas, but it starts up front. And those guys are great representatives. Trey and Tarron, in a day and age when you have the portal and want to leave and all these different things, they've been through an interim coach, coaching leaving. Tarron has been through three different coaches, D-line coaches. Those guys could have chose to leave, but they chose to stay true to who they were in this program. And they're great representatives of us. Regardless of what they did, they're both great players, but they both have high GPAs, both are great in the community. And so those guys have earned the right to be here. Q. Payton saw the most action out of your returning QB group last year. How much has his development played into (indiscernible)? JAMEY CHADWELL: Good question. Fred actually for a freshman had some really good outings last year, and then this spring was really the No. 1 guy going into spring. He did not take the job like he needed to. Bryce Carpenter, who also played some as a freshman, him and Fred battled it out. Unfortunately I wanted one of those guys to win the job this spring, and they were just too inconsistent. So we go into this season or this fall camp with really not a 1 solidified. Now, I feel great about both of those young men as far as whoever it is that they both can play and help lead us to wins. If Fred learns how to be consistent, learns how to control his emotions -- as a young kid, he's a little emotional -- he has the chance to be really a special player in this league, I believe. So the experience they did get, there was some wins in there, there was some heartaches, but the experience they did get I hope will carry over where the mistakes they made they can learn from them and not make them. Because we need to -- we're still young in a lot of areas, receiver, tight end, offensive line still, everywhere, really. And quarterback, true sophomores, both of them I think played five, six games. But I feel good about both those guys and what they can become. Q. Obviously last season the last couple games didn't go too well. How are you heading into this season? JAMEY CHADWELL: Great question. We were sitting at 5-3 with the opportunity to get to that sixth win and have a chance to be bowl eligible. Unfortunately we played probably the three best teams in the league towards the end. That was part of it. But we had some adversity and didn't handle it the right way. As soon as we played App State there and they beat us in a hard-fought game there and after that game we had some in-fighting, I believe, among our players in our locker room, and it sort of splintered us. We did not for whatever reason were able to overcome that, and we struggled really as a team playing those last four games and didn't really play together. So our big focus, as I mentioned earlier, off-season is no matter what happens, adversity that we find, we are going to play together and we're going to stick together. So we've done a lot this off-season as far as trying to build a team bond, as far as the guys trying to be together and being one. Hopefully if we're in that situation again when we get some adversity, it won't break us. It'll make us tougher, and we'll be able to push through it. But that was the biggest challenge last year. We were close, but when that adversity came, we didn't know overcome it. And so we spent a lot of time this offseason, this summer trying to change that mindset as far as focusing on what we can control. And adversity is part of it. How you respond to that is how successful you're going to be. We're all going to go through it at some point. We unfortunately -- we had the hurricane where we were displaced for a long time. We went through some of those things, and I think that took a tear on us, a wear and tear on us, and we weren't able to overcome it. But nobody is going to feel sorry for you, so we've got to find a way to overcome it this year. Q. I just want to get your thoughts on Arkansas State. They came down and played at your place last year, gave you guys a pretty good challenge. You're going to go there this year. Your thoughts on taking on Arkansas State? JAMEY CHADWELL: Well, they're, I think, athletically talented. Size-wise they're probably the best in the league as far as that. The last two years they've taken it to us. We're not overall the depth-wise, the size-wise, competitive-wise where we need to be to compete with them consistently. And they've been -- for a long time, they were the model of this league, and Blake has done a great job there. We have to learn how to -- part of that, as I mentioned earlier, we had that adversity, and then they'd come in there, they'd smack us in the face early, and we sort of folded. So for us to be able to compete with the best teams in this league, we've got to learn how to get punched and punch back, and sometimes right now we're not being able to do that. But that trip is -- they're highly successful in Jonesboro. You've got to stay in Memphis, then drive in there, and then the crowd is good. It's a great place to be. I'm assuming y'all have the waterfall up now in the stands, so we're looking forward to doing that. Hopefully we'll take a victory swim in that maybe after the game. Q. I know people have asked you, but what is a Chanticleer? JAMEY CHADWELL: So I'm going to give you some history. We were the University of South Carolina at Coastal for a long time. In 1993 we became Coastal Carolina University. And so South Carolina is the Gamecocks. So the people that were associated with us wanted to have something similar to that. So in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, he talks of a barnyard animal that's the fiercest animal in the barnyard that uses his cunning and wit to be the fiercest animal, and that was the chanticleer, so that's where the Chanticleer name came from. Yeah, it's a mean chicken. If you passed English in high school and you actually did something, you should know that. Q. Who's the most chanticleer Chanticleer? JAMEY CHADWELL: Right now I'm going to have to say Matt Hogue, our AD, since he's here. But if you can -- most people when they see it -- our little mantra is this right here, it's called "chanta," supposed to look like the beak, but everybody sees it and they say "chants" because it looks like "chance." So you've got to call it chance. My guys from Louisiana, I'm going to call them out, on the radio, they called it "chants;" they called it wrong all morning. So don't listen to Louisiana radio. Q. What are your initial thoughts on (indiscernible) and having to face him this season? JAMEY CHADWELL: Well, I think whatever he uses in his hair, it looks good. He's always got his hair looking great. He obviously knows that. You know, Jake has obviously coached a lot of great places, coached at some great places, been a part of some great teams, really great quarterback. So the thing that you're anticipating is they're going to be really good offensively. They're going to play hard, if you judge him by places that he's been, and he's going to put a system in place where they're going to be highly successful. And then obviously being in the state of Texas with the recruiting area and his ties, I think Texas State made obviously a smart hire by hiring him. I think they're ready to take off. They've had some talent there, for whatever reason maybe not figured out how to get it done. I'm sure he'll do that. Hopefully just not when he plays the Chanticleers. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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