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SUN BELT CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYSJuly 22, 2019Blake AndersonNew Orleans, Louisiana BLAKE ANDERSON: Appreciate you guys being here today. This is kind -- kicks off the season every year and the energy starts building. It's fun, though, year six for me, it's fun to see how this event itself has just grown. It's been amazing to see just the strength of this experience and just talking to the players, it just continually, the environment just gets better and bigger each year. I think it's a testament to the league, just how good of football it's playing right now. I don't think it's ever been at a better point than it is. I think some of the stuff we've been able to accomplish on the field over the course of the last few years is telling that tale, and I think that's why this event just gets better. The non-conference play, across conference lines, to have the best record out of conference last year as a league is huge. That's something we've been talking about striving for for a while, and to be able to get that done last year and cross over Group of Five conference lines and have the best winning record is huge. And then the bowl experiences over the last three years, the best winning percentage, almost 70 percent as a league, that's compared to everybody in the country, those are things that we've been talking about since we came in the league six years ago, to be able to have those to boast about and talk about, the league is only getting better and it's playing better football right now than it ever has. Just presents a tremendous challenge for us. We've won five titles here over the eight years but the last two years we've just gotten close and come up short. Our challenge is find a way to get back into that game, finding a way to win it and hoist the trophy. That's our full focus. I feel good about the team that we're bringing to the field this year, but we do remember what's happened the last couple years. We've had good teams that have battled injuries and come close, so we want to get that point. I have brought two young men that have really taken that heart and lead our team in BJ Edmonds and Kirk Merritt on the podiums right behind us, and they truly have bought into what we're telling them. We just want to focus on being the best we can be every day. We do that consistently enough, we've got the talent level to be in the mix and be right there where we want to be at the end of the season, but we want to truly take a laser focus one day at a time, just be the best we can be, and they've done that since January and really carried the torch, and I think we've had a really, really good summer, and now we look, we're just a couple weeks away from things getting started. Again, excited about the team. Some big shoes to fill, and some guys have graduated. I know that. When you've got the Player of the Year on both sides of the ball and they both finish and leave your program, that's some tremendously big shoes to fill. But I feel good about our recruiting process and the development process and some guys are going to step up, and I'm sure you'll ask me about a few of those, but it is a talented enough team to win. It's a talented enough team to win our league, and we just have a lot of work between now and then to get that done. With that, I'll answer any questions that you have about our players or our program moving forward. Q. With seven new assistants that you guys have, including both coordinators and obviously losing your quarterback, as well, other than maybe your first season at A State, how big of a challenge has this off-season been, and has it been the biggest, and why or why not? BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, it's not that typical that you have that many staff changes in one year. It just kind of all happened. There were some changes I was going to make, just philosophically on the offensive side of the ball, had been running the offense myself the last couple years, and definitely wanted to step out of that role. That with what was going on with my wife off the field, and just felt like some new perspective. The ability to get Keith Heckendorf to run our offense, a guy that I'm very familiar with, spent two years next to him in the room every day at Carolina, he spent two years next to Seth Littrell, who is doing a great job at North Texas, and he's been calling the plays at Carolina for the last three years, and I thought produced one of the best quarterbacks that's in the NFL right now, Mitch Trubisky. To get that guy to come in, that makes the transition a lot easier for me. Dave Duggan is basically the same kind of experience on the defensive side of the ball. Five years coaching with him. One of best teachers I've ever been around. He has been in the game that we want to get to. He spent a year -- some time at Western Michigan. They went on 13-0, played in the Cotton Bowl against Wisconsin. That is where we all want to get to. Obviously transition is hard, but to get those kind of quality coaches on your staff, I mean, it makes us better in a lot of areas, and it truly lets me step back into a CEO-type role, which was needed in my personal life obviously with my wife, but also I think our program needed it. There's things that got missed over the course of the last two years I'm now able to be more involved in. Transition is hard but good, as well. Q. Being one of the most established coaches in the Sun Belt, how has that helped you in recruiting? BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, we've got success to sell, number one. We've had a great eight-year run. There's only three teams in the country that have done similar in terms of eight bowl games in a row and five titles, and that's Clemson, OU and Alabama. So obviously we've got a lot to sell. Our facilities are unbelievable at this point. We're finishing up the last finishing touches of our development in what we've done to the football facility itself. But just knowing the league and seeing it grow from where it was six years ago to now and be able to explain to guys just how good the football is, seeing guys go to the next level, play at the next level, seeing coaches come through, good quality coaches, I think just that experience allows me to have a good perspective on what this league is really capable of. Q. After the end of last season, being a team picked to win the league, not ultimately getting there and the way the bowl game ended, how hungry are you guys to right that ship, that negativity as week one approaches? BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, you've got to learn from your past experiences. We won the league five times. We talked about it, not one of those were we the favorite, and we were able to get the job done. Last year as the favorite, just came close. You just want to learn and make sure that you improve and advance, and we put that behind us in January and really just started focusing on what we could do to affect this football team now. It's a different team. Every year is. Picked first, picked second, third, doesn't matter. We ultimately want to have the same goal every year, and that's to win and win the league and that's what we're going to work towards. We don't spend a lot of time talking about in the past. Once we hit that stuff and attack the problems in the off-season, it's just about getting better every day. Q. You mentioned the changes you made to the staff and everything. How much of that was a response to the fact that you all have been good the past couple years but just hadn't found a way to win the league? BLAKE ANDERSON: I think there's a lot of factors. It was never my intention going in to run the offense myself. I always felt like -- I'll always be involved. Obviously that's my background. But it wasn't my intent to go in and be that guy. I felt like I could be involved at special teams and with the defense, and I missed those relationships the last couple years. This opportunity just felt like it was needed for a lot of different reasons. What I could give to the other areas of the team but also to be able to get the guy that I got in the time that I got, to me it was the right time. All of our problems weren't on offense. There were problems across the board that we needed to address. It's hard for you to address them when you're in the position room with the quarterbacks every day, when you've got to put as much time and energy into what play we're going to call or what schematically what we're going to do. So I think there's residual effects of me taking on that role. Now it gives me a better perspective. I think I am to help in every area. Hopefully I can do that. Q. (No microphone.) BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, transition, you never know how quickly a guy is going to get up and running. Year one for us we learned a lot of lessons throughout the course of that year. I think each program is different and each one of these new coaches find their program in different places. Some of them are taking over programs that lost head coaches because they won and won big, so the expectations are different. You guys got a guy coming in that y'all are wanting to see change. Each one is in kind of their own shoes and they're going to have to find their way. We've got our own challenges, to be honest with you. Expectations are higher than they've ever been. Not just for myself but for our fan base. We've got some big shoes to fill in guys that graduated out and Player of the Year on both sides of the ball. So we've got our own problems. Worrying about which coach I'm facing that week is not one of them, because we've good quality coaches really in every location, and we've got good solid football from top to bottom of our league, and I think now more than ever, there's not a big disparity between the top teams in the league and the bottom. That wasn't the case six years ago. There were weeks six years ago that if you didn't play your best, you'd survive. If you don't play your best every week now, you won't. That's one of the biggest changes over the course of the last six years for me. Q. (No microphone.) BLAKE ANDERSON: I think it was good. I think both divisions are extremely competitive. Now that it is in divisions, obviously you're going to play almost everybody. There's only one team in the league that you're not going to play, so you're still seeing both sides, but you've got to pay attention to where you fit in your divisional race. I think the way the system is set up, you're seeing some good games and some good games late that are going to impact that. We had a tie on our division a year ago, we lost the tiebreaker, and we don't want to be in that situation. We want to control our own destiny. I think they set it up the best way they could, and like I just mentioned, it's so competitive across the board. Anybody can win at any time, and that makes for a really fun league to watch every year. Q. (No microphone.) BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, Matt does a great job, number one. I think he's maximized the talent that he has. I felt like they made a great hire in a guy that truly knew the state. They had been successful at McNeese. I think he's got a great mind offensively and he got the ball to the right guys. Obviously there's some holes to fill there, too. Green was one of the best players in the league, and we do not want to defend him anymore. I'm glad somebody else has that problem. But Caleb Evans is back. Seems like he's been playing forever. They're going to plug guys in. They're really, really close. I felt like they had a great chance to get in a bowl a year ago. I just think he does a tremendous job. You always know he's going to be a tough opponent. We're going to have to travel there. That's a unique environment to play in. You have to prepare for that. It's different when you go from week to week to week and you roll into that environment, it's a challenge. I know he's familiar with it, but it's tough for us coming in and it's always something we have to prepare for. Q. I know we're talking ball today, but you mentioned your wife a couple times. Can you give us an update how she's doing. And just from your perspective, she's on the minds of an awful lot of people -- BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, we can definitely feel that, and I appreciate you mention that. The prayers across our state, our community, and honestly really just inside our profession, you find out just how small our profession really is because I've talked and been with so many coaches and families and wives have reached out. I fully expected we'd be standing before you today telling you, man, we beat cancer. I would love to be telling you that. It's just not where God has got us right now. Just limited details, I would tell you that it has been a tough summer. It's been a long, hard summer but she's one of the toughest fighters I've ever met. We are still knee-deep in the battle, and I would just tell you the prayers are needed more now than ever before. But we just continue to fight every day, and even my players have been inspired by just her willingness to fight and not make excuses and just battle every day. So I appreciate you asking and appreciate the thoughts and prayers, and please just continue, if you can. Q. On the offense with Keith coming in as OC and all the weapons that you have with Kirk and Marcel and Javonis, what excites you most, do you think, on that side of the ball? BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, I think you ask what excites me the most, obviously I think the weapons that are available at our disposal. We obviously lose a few good players, some great players in Justice, Justin McInnis, who's playing in the CFL right now, but we also have a quarterback that's prepared and ready. He's done everything right. Logan Bonner has prepared himself to be ready now when it matters most. Layne Hatcher and Coltin Clack are pushing him to try to make him better, trying to take his job every day, that's the nature of quarterback. Somebody is always trying to take your job. But we have all the pieces of the puzzle. Omar Bayless, Kirk Merritt who is here today, Marcel Murray one of the best running backs. We got three good tight ends. If we get Dahu Green back, who missed all last year with a broken foot, nobody saw him play, 6'5", 4.4, OU transfer, the guy can really impact our game. Jay Adams missed most of the season and Bubba Ogbebor, we had so many guys that were out, they're back in the fold, and I'm just excited to see what next guy steps up and how they impact what is already a really, really talented offensive group. I know that Keith and I are on the same page. We can have very short conversations at the water cooler and we're on the same page offensively. We know what we want, and he's done a great job as he's developed over the last five years. I think we're in good hands, and I expect us to be as good offensively as we've ever been, to be honest with you. Q. You sort of just touched on it a little bit, but losing Justice, who had a great career at Arkansas State, how comfortable are you with the guys whether it's Logan or whoever it may be? BLAKE ANDERSON: Comfortable is a tough word because it kind of points in a direction like I know things are going to be fine. I expect Logan Bonner is going to play lights out. If he doesn't, that means one of those other young guys in Layne Hatcher other Coltin Clack beat him out, and if they beat him out, they're obviously playing at a high level. But the fact of the matter is, none of them have played a live game and have not gone and won a game. That's what Justice proved, is that he could go out and win the game. Until one of those guys does that, it's still going to be a question mark, because they're prepared, they're athletic, they have all the skills, but what sets quarterbacks, great quarterbacks apart are the guys that can actually go out and get the job done. I expect we're going to have a guy do that. I that I that's going to be a Logan Bonner, but we're going at the same time rolls in week one and I truly expect he'll play well, but that's the hardest part of moving from one to the other. We did that with Freddie a few years ago. It wasn't a seamless transition from Freddie to Justice, if you guys remember. I'm hoping this will be a little bit easier transition for us. Q. You haven't had a losing season since you've joined Arkansas State. BLAKE ANDERSON: Thank you very much. Q. How would you describe the culture that you're trying to set for the new coaching staff? BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, that's the culture. It's never even crossed our mind that we would. It's just the nature of where we're at. It never crosses our mind that we won't be playing in a bowl game. That's just the standard we've set. We focus every day on preparing to win a conference title and doing everything we have to do to do that, and ultimately we want to be the best team in the country. We've got a lot of work still left to do, but the standard is just so high, I knew taking the job, that's why I wanted it, my boss is standing right there, he and I believe the same thing. We want to do everything we can every day to build this thing to be the best program in the country at the level that we're at, and we want our fans to expect that and our players to expect that. Conversations about whether you're going to have a winning season or whether you're going to go to a bowl, those don't even happen. It's how good can we be, what can we build, what do we need to do to fill in the gaps, who's going to step up next, and really expect that this year, this one will be the best year we've had. Q. It's been a few years since you got to open up week 1 at Centennial Bank Stadium. How nice is it to be home week 1 and of course your non-conference slate, going to Georgia, going to Vegas, kind of that non-conference slate to open everything up? BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, playing at home is huge for me, to get to open up at home. That's not a luxury everybody gets. There's a lot of times you're on the road week one. Just the excitement of what opening at home brings, I think the fact that we're still continuing to add to our stadium and our game-day environment, it's one of the best in the country. Terry's vision six years ago when we sat down, I heard what he said, I saw his mouth moving, but even he has exceeded what I expected and what we even planned. So to have them coming in week one, to be able to see what we've truly been able to unveil, it's an experience like any other. Those guys beat us a couple years ago at their place. We don't want that to happen again. Nothing would be better than to open up with a win right there against SMU in a packed house. We're going to start working towards that. I don't know who we play beyond that because we truly are taking a one-opponent, one-week-at-a-time approach, and trying just to be laser focused on being the best we can be. As far as I know, we've got a one-game season and it's SMU and SMU only. Q. In terms of special teams, we know Cody Grace is kind of locked in on the punter side. In terms of kicker, how are you feeling about that position going into camp? BLAKE ANDERSON: Well, I feel pretty nervous about that position going into camp. Obviously we've got the best punter in the country, in my opinion, in Cody, and I feel like we've got some adequate guys to back him up. Foncham has done a great job of being ready. When we've called on Foncham he's done a great job. Kicking field goals has been our nemesis over the last couple years. We've thrown everything we can at it. We've recruited positions, recruited scholarship kickers and just guys have gotten there and just have not been able to consistently do the job we needed to. It's a big transition from high school to college, it just is. The pressure is different, the surface is different, the speed of the game is different. Cody has just settled in at punter, but kicking field goals and kicking the ball off into the end zone have been a struggle. We recruited Tristan Mattson this summer to come in and hopefully take over that job. I know Grupe is going to do everything he can to try to hold on to that, but we've got to become more consistent. It is one of those positions that would have won a game or two more over the course of the last couple years, and we're a game or two away from holding a trophy every year. So we want to make sure we fix that. It's going to be competitive. We brought Tristan in for that job to try to take it, but we're going to let everybody that's there have a run at it, and we'll hopefully have a guy that's consistent and ready to kick field goals when we need him to. Q. How have you seen the Sun Belt just progress as a football league since you first started here as coach? BLAKE ANDERSON: Night and day different, man. This league is so much stronger. We were talking a minute ago, I felt like year one there were weeks that you could go into an opponent and if you really weren't playing at your best or even if you had injuries, you could limp through a game and still get a win. That is not the case anymore. I mean, from top to bottom it's better than it's ever been. The non-conference, out-of-conference record proves that, to have the best out of conference record of any Group of Five league a year ago. The bowl record over the last three years proves that, having the highest winning percentage of all leagues. I mean, those tell you. And even just the fact that we've had some quality coaches that have made the jump from our league to some Power Five programs, it's good football. Guys have been drafted, guys are now making impacts in the NFL. This is good football. It started, I think, at the bottom. I do believe that. I know at one point it was at the bottom of the Group of Five, but it is not there any longer, and we're working to make it the best league that's out there. And I think we're making huge steps at it. Today shows you, as well, just the attention that this league is getting, the respect that it's getting. It's getting better every, every year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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