Interview with John papuchis

[huskernumerouno]

Written by Bill Jordan

 

I just got this in an email,

If this was posted before please delete.

 

Sunday, 02 March 2008 17:33

 

 

New head coach Bo Pelini brought John Papuchis with him to Nebraska to coach the defensive ends. This will be Papuchis' eighth year coaching Division I college football. His previous coaching stops were with LSU, where he helped the Tigers win two National Championships, and Kansas, where he started his collegiate coaching career.

 

Papuchis' life long dream was to coach Division I football, and he speaks about the long journey he had to take to get where he is today. He has been mentored by some of the game's greatest coaches, from Les Miles to Nick Saban to Bo Pelini. He had a big hand in the development of Glenn Dorsey, who many say could be a top five pick in this year's NFL draft. He and the rest of the coaching staff are trying to revive a Nebraska program that went through much controversy and negativity last season. He claims that he has never seen fans as passionate about football as those that are true Huskers fans.

 

Bill Jordan for the Biz of Football: What is your role on the team besides coaching the defensive ends?

 

John Papuchis: Well, I've been working with Bo for a couple years, so as far as helping him put together a plan on defense from week to week and I coach our punt team. I also have a role with our special teams from an administrative prospective as well. I'll be assisting it and putting together the depth chart and stuff like that. Primarily I'll coach the defensive ends; I'll coach the punt team and from an administrative perspective take care of special teams.

 

BizBall: Can you compare recruiting at Nebraska to recruiting at LSU?

 

Papuchis: In a sense, it's a little bit more national at Nebraska. We try our best to hit every in state kid we could ever get and from there go throughout the Big 12 states. In Louisiana there's probably, per year, a lot more in state guys that are division one athletes. We would probably get 14 to 15 guys from the state of Louisiana every year, opposed to Nebraska where we average six or seven guys. It tends to be a little bit more national when you're recruiting here.

 

BizBall: Can you compare Les Miles' coaching style to Bo Pelini's?

 

Papuchis: That's a tough question. I think Bo, his strengths are, he's a great leader, he's great in front of the guys; they love him, they trust him, and he's also very intelligent and a very good football coach. Coach Miles is a great organizer and a great administrator. He puts a plan together, and it's a long range plan, and he gets the whole roster solid. They're different in their styles and how they approach things, but they both do a great job.

 

BizBall: How did the LSU players handle when they heard that Pelini, you and a couple other members of the coaching staff were not going to return next season as it was announced before the National Championship Game?

 

Papuchis: I think, for the most part, they were happy for us because they knew it was an opportunity that was better for our career. I think the fact that we were honest with them and very up front with them, Bo told them himself, made that transition a little easier. They didn't learn about it on TV or anything like that. We had a chance to come back for the National Championship Game and coach, and they knew that would be an opportunity to say goodbye. That was a good way to end it.

 

BizBall: How much communication are you having with the LSU players you coached who are getting ready for the draft?

 

Papuchis: I've talked to Glenn Dorsey a couple of times, but that's about it. There's no one else really coming out from the defense, off the defensive line. They're all staying in school. Glenn's really the only guy I coached who's going to come out this year. I've seen some of the other guys, but Glenn's the only one I've talked about the draft with.

 

BizBall: Have you been able to get a sense of how the Nebraska fans are welcoming the new coaching staff?

 

Papuchis: It's been terrific. Bo was here before as the defensive coordinator, and he told me when things started looking like we were going to come here to kind of brace myself because it's a place so unique to anything I've ever seen. You actually have to see it to really know what he meant. There's such a tremendous following here. The passion they have for their football program is unbelievable. In February there's an article in the paper everyday about Nebraska football. They're excited to have Bo back and to have us with him, so it's been a great response.

 

BizBall: Do you feel more pressure at Nebraska then you did at LSU?

 

Papuchis: No. I think, the only pressure I ever feel is the pressure I put on myself. It wouldn't matter if I was in high school, or coaching in the NFL, the pressure to win comes from within. No one wants to win more than I do.

 

BizBall: How did you prepare your players for the National Championship Game? What mindset did you try to instill in them as they were going up against the number one team in the country at the time?

 

Papuchis: We knew that for Ohio State to be successful, they would have to run the ball against us. From the first day of preparation, we let our guys know that it was going to be a fist fight and it was going to be a war all day long. We felt that if we stopped them from running the ball, then we were going to win the game. We knew they were a power team from the Big Ten with a good offensive line and a good running back, so if we stopped them from being able to run the ball, we'd be successful and that was the emphasis from day one. Hit them in the mouth take the line of scrimmage up front with the defensive line and if we could win the battle of the front, then we could win the game.

 

BizBall: What is your specific area of the country for recruiting? What is the strategy you use when you first start to recruit a player?

 

Papuchis: I have a part of south-central Nebraska, and then I recruit east Texas and Louisiana. Initially, when I start to recruit a guy, because there are so many restrictions on when we can contact and can't contact the prospect, I'll talk to their high school head coach and request tape and evaluate the film. Then, through the high school coach, I would send him a letter letting him know how interested we are. We would ask for the young man's address, and if he's old enough to start receiving mail, I send him a hand written note telling him how interested we are and having my phone number in there. The high school prospects can call you; you can't call them obviously until they're seniors. I'll just send them a note with my phone number and hope that they'll call me back and we can start of a relationship from there.

 

BizBall: When a player is finally deciding and he is between Nebraska and one other school, what do you do to convince him that Nebraska is the right place for him?

 

Papuchis: We take a little bit of a unique approach in the sense that we don't try to sell these guys that we're recruiting any bill of goods. We're very honest with our approach. We tell them, "Look, we're offering you an opportunity. We're not promising you a starting position. We're not promising you anything other than an opportunity to come here to compete and play for one of the best programs in the country."” What we're really looking for in any given year is the 12, 14 or 20 guys who are excited to be Huskers. We want guys who are ready to go to war and ready to battle for us and if they're not, then we wish them good luck and hope they do well in their career. There's no last minute deal that we'll throw out there to get them to come. We present them with an opportunity and let them know through our past actions, such as the success that we've had, and it's up to them and hope they want to be a part of it.

 

BizBall: Would you say that recruiting is also different in Nebraska because the fans are so faithful and there are so many players who have wanted to go to Nebraska their whole life?

 

Papuchis: Sure. There are a couple kids in state that have grown up dreaming of being a Husker and if those guys meet all the standards for the other guys we recruit, we would love to have them. That's the other thing that we have here that we really have gotten known is the great, great, instate walk-on program where I think we've got some really good players. We ended up having close to 30 guys who were walking on the team who I think are really good players and those kids turned down some Division II or I-AA scholarships. I think we're really luck to have them. When you look at our recruiting class, I can really, honestly, say that we have a class of about 50 guys as opposed to a class of 25. That's something that we really have to do a good job of here is that we are making sure that we take care of our instate guys. There are a lot of talented guys in the state and if we can get those guys to walk-on here, as opposed to going to some I-AA or Division II program, it just makes the program so much better.

 

BizBall: How do you feel about the defensive ends that you've inherited, who were with the program last year?

 

Papuchis: I think they're good players, I really do. I think they're athletic, they're working hard. We've started our winter conditioning and I've been able to see how they've been approaching their work here in the last few weeks. I'm excited about it. They have tremendous work ethic and they seem like they're excited to have a clean slate. I can't wait until spring ball to work with them.

 

BizBall: How do you feel about the incoming class of defensive ends? Do you feel recruiting was affected because of the coaching change?

 

Papuchis: It was affected, but I think it was affected in a positive way. Since about midway though the season, there were a lot of rumors and some negativity surrounding the program and once they hired coach Pelini, that kind of united the state, calmed down a lot of the concerns the people had. The recruiting really picked up. We signed two really good defensive ends, I’m really excited about. Josh Williams from Texas and Cameron Meredith from California are both really good players. I'm really excited about working with them.

 

BizBall: Is there anything you can site from Nebraska's performance last year as to why they performed poorly and why they didn't live up to the Nebraska tradition?

 

Papuchis: To be honest with you, I haven't watched a lot of tape. We kind of made a conscious decision to not do that when we came here because we knew philosophically that we're going to be implementing a new defensive style and it wasn't a real good reflection on our player's abilities to watch in a different system. Not to say that one system is better than the other, they're just different. We didn't really spend a whole lot of time watching them, so I couldn't really speak on why they weren't more successful.

 

BizBall: What do you feel this coaching staff brings that was missing last season?

 

Papuchis: It's hard to say what was missing. It's unfair because I wasn't here. I would say what this coaching staff brings is an intensity and a passion and a work ethic to get these guys back to really enjoying what they're doing and working hard and playing with confidence and playing with a great attitude. That's half the battle; getting your guys to believe that they can be successful, and if they believe they can, then more times than not, they will be.

 

BizBall: Have you been able to get a sense of how important the football alumni are to the program?

 

Papuchis: Oh, yeah. This program and the tradition that it has; that was built on the hard work of those past players and coaches, so they have a tremendous pride in the program and they like to be around it and we want them to be around it. Like I said, they laid the ground work. We're just trying to build on the tradition they started.

 

BizBall: Could you give a quick overview of your career?

 

Papuchis: I was a graduate assistant at the University of Kansas. That was my first job, right out of college. I was there for three years and at that point, there were a couple of routs I could have gone. There were some smaller school offers that I had and there were some high school jobs that I could have had, but I didn't know if I went that direction, if I could ever get back up to the Division I level. So, instead of taking a smaller school offer, I decided to go, when the opportunity presented itself, to work for Nick Saban at LSU. He offered me a job to be a graduate assistant there, actually an intern in the office, and I went there and tried to learn as much as I could from him. I was only there a year with Coach Saban and that staff when Coach Miles came in. Bo came, and that was probably the best thing that ever happened to my career. Bo, not only is a tremendous football coach, but he’s a great guy, and he kind of took me under his wing and showed me the ropes and taught me some of the things that he'd do on defense and if I'm any good as a coach today, it's because he really helped me out there. As I was saying, I was there for four years as an intern and as a graduate assistant and when Bo got this opportunity, he hired me.

 

BizBall: Was there an inclination that you might have been headed to Michigan State last year?

 

Papuchis: There was some talk about that, but the longer I’ve been able to stay around this business, the more I have learned to never say never. When that was going on, I got a little bit excited, but in terms of the contracts signed, I guess, there's no reason to get overly excited, but I thought there was a chance.

 

BizBall: Anything else you would like to add?

 

Papuchis: Not much. We're extremely excited to get started here. It's a privilege to work for a University like this. Especially working for Bo and also having Coach Tom Osborne as the athletic director. There aren't two better mentors for a young coach in this business to have.

[huskernation20]

 

Man I can't wait for the season to start again!!!!!

[DeathCultArmaggedon]

Man, are our coaches different from last year.

[AuroranHusker]

I like everything I've heard from Papuchis. The DL will be nasty!