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TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWLDecember 31, 2007Bill StewartGLENDALE, ARIZONA COACH STEWART: Thanks. Hi, everybody. Good morning. Great to be in the Valley of the Sun. Q. Can you just talk about what a crazy couple of weeks it has been with Rich leaving and you kind of taking over, little bit of a whirlwind here? COACH STEWART: It has been a great, blessed two weeks. We've had tremendous intensity and preparation by our football players, first and foremost. I can only congratulate these players on how they have conducted themselves, first of all, as a team and football family and a group of brothers. I can say that with every ounce of fiber in my body. We have had -- is tonight New Year's Eve? I believe it is, isn't it? (Laughter). We have had absolutely the best trip. We have been treated by the Frito-Lay Tostitos people beyond any imagination. And our players have taken that as maybe a challenge to be on their good behavior. They have just been remarkable. I couldn't have -- there couldn't be a better Cub Scout, Boy Scout group in the country right now, these Mountaineers. They have done a really nice job. I am very pleased about that. More importantly, I am pleased with our staff. Our football staff. We won four championships in five years and you first of all have to do that with players, as we just talked about, the players and how they have done. Our staff has represented the Mountain State of West Virginia with more professionalism than even imaginable. This group of men and their brides that allow them to be coaches have jumped front and center. They deserve all the credit. I've stayed away in the background and done all the talking because these guys are the heart and soul of this football program and they have done a great job, keeping our young guys motivated, keeping our young guys' intensity up and making sure the practices have gone very, very smoothly. We have been blessed with a professional staff. We in the Mountain State of West Virginia have been blessed with a professional staff and a tremendous group of young men that I am so very proud of getting ready for this football game. Q. Coach, you mentioned the Boy Scouts and how that's gone. Oklahoma had DeMarcus Granger they had to send home yesterday. They are missing several quality defensive players. Can you talk about how you approach that going into this game? COACH STEWART: With our players? Q. Just how you feel about the matchup now that Oklahoma is missing a few of its players. COACH STEWART: I would like for about ten more to go home and half their coaches, and I would feel real good. I didn't even know that and I thank you very much. But I can tell you this: Bob Stoops and Kevin Wilson, whom I've worked with, I think a lot of people know that and Brett Venables and their staff, they have done a tremendous job. They've won 11 games seven of the last nine years. They have played for and won national championships. We're just very gracious and very humble to be able to play these guys in such a nice game. We think back home that they're the number one team in the nation. Now maybe the sports writers and folks like you all out there don't agree with that. I think they have been ranked third. We think they are the first-ranked team in the country. And Bobby deserves everybody good that comes to him. At the Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast, they were the sweetest gentlemen and they are a good group of kids. Whether there is a distraction here or there, they will be in their crimson and white. We will be in our blue and gold, and we will have at it in a good, old-fashioned football game. Q. All the, experts are picking Oklahoma. Does that help you guys? Is that a motivating factor? COACH STEWART: In the locker room, I hope it will motivate them. I don't know. We never look at that. I don't know what a spreadsheet is. I have never done that in my life. I don't know a whole lot about them. Some say we are the underdogs. I am not that naive. I am a country boy, but I am not that naive. I understand we don't know what it is and really don't care. And I don't think our players care because our players, the only thing we are worried about is what we're going to do. We have a tremendous opponent in the University of Oklahoma. The Sooner tradition is what it is. We are glad to compete against these guys. All your players and coaches worry about, do we block, tackle, run the ball? Do we attack our assignments with every fiber in our body? Do we play and lay it on the line like we're capable of playing? We will make adjustments no matter who the opponent is. Our guys, I think -- not I think; I know. Our guys are thrilled to be out here representing the Big East. I guarantee if you tell them we are playing the Cardinals, they maybe get more excited. Please don't take offense to that, any Oklahoma fans. Our guys just want to play. We left the last game of the season with not a very good taste in our mouth. I don't think we coached very well; Bill Stewart right at the top of the list. I don't think we played our best game. I know our fans hung in there with us to the end. We did not leave with a good taste in our mouth, and we don't want to end the 2007 season like that, maybe start off in 2008 we will finish the great year we've had, the tremendously great year and finish on a high note. Q. Why do you think the spread offense and the variations of it have become the rage in college football? Has that contributed to some of the parity you see in some of the upsets? COACH STEWART: I believe the question was asked what do I think about the spread offense and about the parity and the spread offense. I think the spread offense is like anything we've had in years past. The split T and the single wing and the wishbone and the wing T, this was a big one. When I was out here with Coach Marmie in 1988 and 1999, this is a big wing T of high school football. I'm not sure what it is now because I don't recruit out here that much. I think in our spread -- I know in our spread, I'm sure others I have seen on film -- we are a variation of the single wing. And old-time coaches like that -- the wing T, all in a gun. That's all we are. It has been very useful for us. You do get to spread the field. We will get in two tightend set. We will get in a fullback set. We have a repertoire like most people for those other formations. But the spread has been very good to us at West Virginia University and I'm sure Oklahoma has their spread. Just two years ago, we went out -- had a great visit with Bob Stoops, Kevin Wilson, the offensive coordinator, my dear, dear friend, we had about a three-, four-day stay out there and had a great time. It was fantastic. The spread is everywhere. Our defense, I think, is what people are missing. I like that, that I am an offensive coach with the spread. My background is defense. I think our defense is has been missing in the limelight. I don't know why that is. But on the West Virginia side, they talk about our spread, this, that, and that's great. But our 3-3 staff and what our players have done, our stats aren't too bad. Our stats are very -- I'm so impressed and I love our defensive scheme. I love our -- and I love the way our young men attack on defense. On the other side, the flip coin of that, Bobby Stoops has a reputation for being a defensive coach. Look what his offense has done. It is truly remarkable what these guys are scoring and the balance that Kevin Wilson, the balance they have is absolutely tremendous. So you get credit sometimes for spread, but it is a total team. Our defense is what's carried us a long way this year and special teams a little bit when we had to have them. Q. Does the spread not give other schools a chance to compete with the traditional powers because you don't have to get the blue chip or the 285-pound guys? COACH STEWART: Yes, they do. Q. Can you talk about what Pat White's leadership has meant to the team? COACH STEWART: Patrick White is a fine, fine, fine, fantastic football player. Everyone that watches the game knows that. But Patrick White is even a better person than he is player. Our senior class are tremendous leaders. That's why West Virginia and this Mountaineer football team have done well. We love Pat White's leadership. He will take the bull by the horns, and if things aren't going well, he will say something. But he is just one of many that happens with. Eain Smith will step up to the plate. Our defensive guys we, got defensive backs back there that think they can -- they can bronco ride. They can jump out of planes. These guys aren't afraid of anything. So we have tremendous leaders on this football team to go along with Pat White, but Pat White is that kind of leader. Patrick White, he is an even better person than a football player and he is one fine football player. Speaking of our leadership, we have a group on our team called the Apostles. They are elected by their peers. It is a group of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen. Their class represents them. They are our role models and our leaders and they help me with the coaches for decisions throughout the season. They are our leadership. So leadership is a big thing, mainstay, at West Virginia University. We expect everyone to be a leader. If we have a group of freshmen -- that might be in a study hall, in a class, in a biology lab, we expect that freshman, whomever, to step up to the plate and take the bat off his shoulder and say, let's do what's right, let's do what the University wants us to do. It may sound corny to some and folksy to some, if our guys at West Virginia University continue to be the kind of character of men that they are. These guys are going for great things. They are going to be great husbands. They will be great daddies. They will be great society contributors. They will be good people in life. That's why West Virginia University wins. That's exactly why we win. Q. Who are the Apostles? COACH STEWART: I got so many, I couldn't tell you. Most of our offense, defense and special teams guys that have been elected by their peers. It is a special group that meet. They're real good guys. Q. Who is Jesus? COACH STEWART: That guy (pointing up). He is our master coach, that's who he is. Q. Coach, what has impressed you so far? What has been your highlight instead of practicing here in Phoenix, maybe off the field? COACH STEWART: Off the field? The number one thing that has impressed us here is the hospitality by the Fiesta Bowl Frito-Lay people. I mean, we have been so well-received. These yellow coats walking around here, they give us the time and attention. It is absolutely outstanding. The Valley of the Sun is everything it cracked up to be. I know; I lived here two years. And it has been absolutely nothing short of outstanding. It has been tremendous, the reception by the people. This has been 33 years of my life coaching and I have never been with a group that has ever been treated in any Bowl like this. That's not to slight other Bowls. We've had fun in other Bowls. We've had success in other Bowls. I'm saying -- please use the whole quote: This Bowl has gone over backwards to make us feel good, feel at home and feel like we are a family. When you make a Mountaineer feel like he is family, then you have a friend for life. Q. If there has been an event that stood out above the rest? COACH STEWART: The guys told me last night they had a heck of a steak fry. That was pretty special. The actual hospitality from the Fiesta Bowl people, the Scottsdale Community College, I would like to take that facility back home. I don't know if we will have room, we will have to knock some hills down. That Scottsdale Community practice facility has been outstanding. With that, thank you very much. In Sistersville, they had a dunk machine and I got dunked a lot. Q. How many times did you get dunked in Sistersville? COACH STEWART: A bunch that night. They got me pretty good. Q. A long way from there to the Fiesta Bowl, isn't it? COACH STEWART: It has been a great trip, a great trip. I've had my bride most everywhere. She probably thought she married Jim Bridge when she locked onto me. All I ever told her, are you ready to go, and she says two words to me: Let's go. So I am very blessed. I tell our young coaches all the time, if you are going to get in this business, get in it because you can't live without it. Don't do it because you can't love it, because love sometimes strays. If you can't live without it, then you get in football. And then you make sure you have a good gal to root with you, because it is a long road. Q. She understands? COACH STEWART: Oh, yeah. Q. Every move she didn't want to make? COACH STEWART: She didn't want to leave Arizona; I can tell you that. Have you lost your mind? I said, no. I hated it, but I was very blessed to be here with Coach Larry Marmie who I think is one of the finest Christians in football. Those that followed Arizona State, those that followed the Cardinals, and those with the Seahawks, Larry Marmie was a real inspiration to me not only as a football coach but as a man, Larry Marmie did things right. Larry Marmie did things the way you would want your son to be coached. Larry Marmie is an Ohio Valley boy. We have some Ohio Valley boys on this football team, and old Larry Marmie is out of Barnesville, Ohio. He had a heck of a run here. I know this: He sure had him one heck of a staff. You have guys like Lovie Smith on your staff and Mike Marks, Frank Falks and Tommy Friedman, I can go on and on and on. All these guys are successful, and it's because a lot -- so much of Larry Marmie rubbed off on to us. I know there was a great deal that rubbed off on me. And in coaching, I have used many of the things that he did here. Mike Ackerly is now with the Tennessee Titans. Mike was on the staff. We had a tremendous staff. Denny Brown came out from West Virginia. We had a tremendous staff here. It was really good. I learned a lot from those men. I knew this: I sure learned a lot more from them than I gave to them and it was good for me to be around them. That's the only move that Karen was mad at me. Q. Where did you go, from Arizona to where? COACH STEWART: Air Force, yep. Q. Colorado Springs is very pretty, as well? COACH STEWART: It is very pretty. Mike Karen is here from Mitchell High School? Q. Was Hatfield the coach? COACH STEWART: No, Coach DeBerry hired me. And my best buddy was Jimmy Grove, head coach of Wake Forest. I will forever be grateful. Good guys. How about those guys, that Wake Forest bunch? 20 wins in two years? If that guy is not the coach of the year again, I don't know what is. Q. How is it to walk around now with police protection? COACH STEWART: I tell you what, people think Randy Shambaun (ph) and Glen Dora (ph) are protecting me. They don't know when I get back, I go right into incarceration. Those guys just aren't leaving my side, because they said way back in my childhood, when is all this limelight coming? They said that's the kid right there, the mountains of West Virginia, he stole turnips out of his neighbors' gardens, and I did. He threw snowballs at cars, and I did. He threw apples at tractor-trailer trucks. I never hit the cab, but I hit the boxcars. We jumped trains. I went to the high school and many a day walked up to the principal and walked out the back door and went fishing. That's all Cub and Boy Scout honor, I did that. These guys are taking me back to pay for that. Q. Can you talk about this whole connection you have with the Stoops family and the staff? COACH STEWART: Yes, I can. Very proud. Kevin Wilson, the offensive coordinator, who should be the head coach football coach somewhere in this country, I don't understand that, but there is athlete directors out there that needs to hire Kevin Wilson. That's first and foremost. Bobby Stoops will get mad at me for saying that. Kevin Wilson -- I don't like the word "my," but he was assigned to me at North Carolina in '85 and '86. He was my grad assistant. I went home about once or twice or week and prayed that Coach Crum wouldn't see how much sharper Kevin was than me and run me off. That's how fond I was of him. Bobby Stoops, when I was at William and Mary, I recruited -- Youngstown, Ohio. I grew up down in the Ohio Valley on the West Virginia side of the river. Bobby Stoops' dad, Ron Stoops, God bless him, and his Uncle Bob were high school coaches. I was recruiting the other Stoops boys, Michael. Anyhow, so I got to know Ron Stoops, Bobby's dad, really well. Q. How old was Bob at that time? COACH STEWART: Bob was just in college. He went to college in '79, I believe. So '81 I was up there recruiting the family, the school. My bosses, Dick Crum, later told me about Youngstown. I said, I will go up there. Went to William and Mary and recruited. And then I left went back to North Carolina full-time like in '85, '86, '87, still recruited and followed Bob's career. When Coach Crum left North Carolina, he asked to go to Kent State. I didn't do that. I came out here. Bobby Stoops was on Coach Crum's staff at Kent. Knowing his dad, his Uncle Bob, it just has been a tie-in. Q. How ironic is that? How much do you think about it that it has come full circle? COACH STEWART: I think that's God's will and it is the path you have been given. That's been stamped before time. It is an honor. When I say it's an honor and privilege, I mean that very much. We are coaching against not only great people and great staff and a great group of players, we're coaching against great friends. These guys are my buddies. Kevin, I was trying to hug him when he got named Houston coach. He about popped my head off. These guys are younger than me and -- I worked out with Brett Venables. I was just spotting Brett Venables. We had that spread offense clinic. I went out there and I went, oh, my, he is a handsome guy. He is a big old guy. So I was working out with him. I was just about 100 pounds less. Whatever he did, I said, take those two 45s off. I know these guys really well. They have a great staff. They are good people. Q. Your relationship with a game like this, is that tough? COACH STEWART: I will tell you what's tough: I hope Kevin Wilson doesn't remember -- we talked earlier in the season about Tulsa. I hope he doesn't remember some of the things I told him about how to go against Tulsa. It may come back to get me. May come back to haunt us. We just share a lot. We talk about once or twice a week. We haven't talked much this week. No, just give each other -- my bride got to meet his bride. We had a great time. I think today is Monday. We're all backwards here. Saturday night we had a nice dinner reception. It was fun to be with them, fun to be out with them and the wives. It was really great. Had a good time. It was a good time. Q. You did talk to him, though, before -- talked to all your boys when you knew the matchup happened, right? COACH STEWART: I will tell you a story about that matchup. I was at work, and we were -- I thought we were going to be on the East Coast. I'm glad -- any time you get a chance to go to the Bowl is great. I'm glad we got to come here. And old Wils texted me, and he said that word on the street is we will hook up. I don't text very well. I thought, I'm not calling him. So I let it go. Now, we are going to slit wrists. This will not leave this arena, is it? It is not going to leave this arena, right? Thank you. So anyhow, he texts back, haven't heard from him in ten minutes, and he said, are you scared? Hit me back. I couldn't hit him back very well. So I picked my son up and we were going to his basketball game. I said, text this old rascal back. I said that's your buddy Kevin Wilson. He texted back, and it was really cute. My son and Kevin are texting and word came out -- Q. How old is your son? COACH STEWART: 13. He is texting back and all that. That was good. Finally, we talked and he was grading his film from the last game. He said, I am grading the film. He took my call. I said, we're going to have a great time and we talked about that. How ironic that two friends get to go head-to-head? It was really good. He says, I am grading this here kids, I have ten pluses and two minuses. I'm telling you I can't get my computer -- what do you think that is? I said that's about 84%. He said, really? I said, it is about 84% and I said if you check, it may be 83-something. Well, we get off the phone, I'm going back home, I see this beep, beep, beep. 83.333. Now Kevin thinks I am really smart. I just graded Sammy the week before 10 out of 12 and I knew it was 83-point-something. I didn't tell him that. I said, that's the same score I had. That's some fun we had. Great to go against these guys. You look at some of these guys, I look at this. These guys scoring 43.8 in a game, scoring defense, 18.2. Total offense, 450. Total defense, 325. You are talking about second in the country, third in the country, ninth in the country and all this stuff, rushing touchdowns, passing yards, kick-off returns number four in the country. They have 16 fumbles, lost 11. Wow! This is like a who's-who, you know? It really is. It is just impressive. How about this, Bob Hartzell, this is like when you played. 111 plays of 20 yards or longer. 40-plus plays, they had 35, a school record. I have not told my guys that. You know why? They don't need to know. All our guys need to know is what do we do? I tell you what, there are some guns in our boys, also. And our guys know that. That's what is so much fun. Patrick McAfee, would you like to take the podium for me? Is that allowable? There are so many great stats, just throw them out. Let them play. Watch the game and enjoy. I mean, really, really enjoy. That's what's it is all about. Let the guys read it because it is all about the young men in the arena. It is about these guys, not about Bill Stewart, Bob Stoops or the spread. It is about these guys here, all these guys. Thank you. Q. Have you ever had a bad job? COACH STEWART: A bad job? No, I have had some better. This is the best job I have ever had. I'm home. These are great young men. I'm just the lucky one to get to sit up here and act like a puppet. The guys in the arena, they're the guys. They get all the credit. We have an roving reporter here in the studio. PAT McAFEE: Are you nervous? COACH STEWART: I am not nervous. PAT McAFEE: You should be. COACH STEWART: I should be? I have a roving reporter in the studio. Patrick McAfee, come on down. Now, listen, is this on -- Boy Scout honor. PAT McAFEE: That's all I wanted to do. That's fine. We're done. That's all I wanted you to do. COACH STEWART: Can we slit wrists? Ask me some questions, Coach? PAT McAFEE: I got to do an intro real quick. Welcome back to the Pat McAfee Show broadcasting from the University of Phoenix Stadium. We are now accompanied by the man of the hour, the Tower of Power, too sweet to be sour, Coach Bill Stewart. Coach, how are you today? COACH STEWART: I'm very well. I hope you are doing also good. PAT McAFEE: I'm splendid. I really am. Thanks for asking. I feel better if I am standing. COACH STEWART: Speak in here. PAT McAFEE: This is for the Pat McAfee show. These people aren't paying. (Laughter) These people are paying me here. I'm splendid. I want to know, how do you really feel now that you got the reigns of the horse like so right now? How do you feel? How are you going to respond whenever all these critics are knocking us down? We know you are the man. How are you going to feel game night when everybody is questioning? How are you going to feel and how are you going to respond? COACH STEWART: I am going to be very, very loose because I am blessed to be leading the best dog-gone team. Cub and Boy Scout honor. PAT McAFEE: I'm happy. I'm happy you are feeling that way because we feel the same way behind you. You are the better man for the job, the job in the game. COACH STEWART: Thank you, sir. PAT McAFEE: Next year though, too. Coach, how has the desert treated you so far? There is a song "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name." How do you feel to be "out of the rain"? COACH STEWART: I feel really good. We are in the Valley of the Sun. We are having a great time. The rolling hills, I miss. The seasonal winds and blowing, I miss the sleet a little bit, but I do like the Valley of the Sun. It has been a great change of pace. They have been so hospitable to us. We have had fun. You guys have been nothing but absolute angels. You have been in bed every night for curfew. You guys have practiced hard. I'm so very pleased. We have been controlled. We've been in check. We've been loyal to one another. We've called home and talk to our mothers and dear friends every night. And we put people back in the Mountain State to ease that we're coming out here and we will let the old gold and blue get out there on that field and show them what the Mountain State is all about. What do you think about that? PAT McAFEE: I am down with that. And hospitable. Hospitable? COACH STEWART: Hospitable? PAT McAFEE: Good word, I like it. Good word-drop there. I think the Mountain State is proud of us. I think they're proud of what we're doing. What do you think they should be most proud about in this season? COACH STEWART: I think about the way that our football team has hung together and stayed the course and represented them as tremendous student athletes. That's what I believe in my heart. PAT McAFEE: Student first, right? COACH STEWART: Student first, always, student Christian athlete. PAT McAFEE: That's why my number is 40, 4-0. COACH STEWART: I love that. PAT McAFEE: Maybe one day I will get that. I will see you guys later. Pat McAfee Show broadcasting live with your head coach, Bill Stewart. COACH STEWART: Thank you, Patrick. Have a great game. Thank you all. God bless. Come cheer on the Mountaineers. End of FastScripts |
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