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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Q&A with Larry Coker
By Terry Bowden
Special to BCSfootball.com
Bowden's Weekly Chat Show
ABC college football analyst Terry Bowden chatted with new Miami football coach Larry Coker to talk about his first season as head coach, what it will take for Miami to win the championship and what makes Ken Dorsey special.
Terry Bowden:
You got the job late in the offseason. Have you had any time to enjoy it, or has it been work every minute?
Larry Coker:
|  | | Miami head coach Larry Coker is pleased with the staff he quickly assembled after Butch Davis left for the Cleveland Browns. |
I have enjoyed it. It's obviously a great job and a great place to be. When I got the job, Butch (Davis) left 10 days before National Signing Day. Someone asked me, "Have you had the big celebratory dinner?" I said not really. We got on the phone and tried to save the recruiting class. Then there was Signing Day. Then we had to get ready for spring practice. We had coaches to hire. There wasn't really a lot of time.
What I have really done is get immersed in the job, which hasn't been easy. There's always something you need to do.
Terry Bowden:
One of the first things you had to do was put your staff together. That's one of the most important things for a head coach. What role are you going to play as the head coach and the former play-caller?
Larry Coker:
Having been an offensive coordinator, hiring a defensive coordinator was a major hire for us. We were very fortunate. I coached with Randy Shannon here before he left to go to the Dolphins. I talked to some good people who would have liked to have been here as a defensive coordinator. In talking to their staff, I asked the defensive coordinator with the Dolphins who he would hire, and he said I would hire Randy Shannon today.
There are a lot of positive reasons recruiting-wise and chemistry-wise, a lot of things that we are very excited about. We were able to keep Vernon Hargreaves, our linebackers coach, and Greg Mark to coach our defensive line.
We brought in Mark Stoops (to coach the secondary). Obviously the name is familiar. His brother is the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. I think it was a great hire because Mark had been the defensive coordinator at the University of Houston. He has a great coaching background, as you know, having a father as a successful coach. His father was a successful high school in Ohio for a number of years. I think it was a great hire for us.
Offensively, being able to coach with Rob Chudzinski for six years, (it was important) to keep him on the staff. Butch tried to hire Rob at Cleveland, and Greg Schiano, who left to go to Rutgers, tried to get Rob to be the offensive coordinator at Rutgers. He's a brilliant mind. He's the first NCAA scholar-athlete recipient at the University of Miami. There are a lot of positives there. We kept Art Kehoe as our offensive line coach, Don Soldinger coaching running backs and Curtis Johnson at wide receivers.
The quarterback hire was a huge hire. We have an excellent quarterback here, and, as you know, that player needs to play well if you are going to have a chance to be successful. We are very fortunate because I got calls from Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson and Gino Torretta recommending Dan Werner. Dan had at one time been at Auburn. They raved about him, said I had to hire this guy. I brought Dan in. We talked about salary, and I said I can pay you more than that to come to Miami. He said, "Coach, you don't have to pay me." He had a job. It wasn't like he was hungry. He has brought a lot to the table. At his last job, he was the offensive coordinator at Murray (State). They had a great offensive plan there. He brings a lot to us.
A key hire we have was someone that was already here, Andrew Swasey, in our strength and conditioning room. He's done a tremendous job with our players. That was probably the biggest turnaround we have had here. Our players are now stronger, now conditioned. They are able to play in the fourth quarter. Even in our Florida State game last year, it was such a phenomenal game from the standpoint that our players certainly didn't give up. They played to the end in a brutally hot day in Miami. It's an amazing thing that the Florida State players never flinched. They represented themselves extremely well. If we had not been conditioned, and at least stand in with Florida State, we wouldn't have had a chance to win that game. I think that was one of the biggest turnarounds in our program.
Terry Bowden:
To beat Florida State, you have to have talent. Miami had four first-rounders last year. Everybody would have said that they lost everything. But you might have more next year that could be drafted just as high. You went through a tough time on probation. Obviously, Miami is getting back to the level of quality athletes it once had. How were you able to do that?
Larry Coker:
Everybody here talks about the players we have coming back, and we don't really talk much about the four first-round draft choices. That's a lot of first rounders. They were big contributors to our success. We are fortunate that we do have some talented players coming back, probably a couple of those players could have gone out early and didn't. Our left tackle Bryant McKinnie could have gone out early and been drafted high. Our free safety Ed Reed could have gone out and been drafted high. So we are glad to have those players back.
We have some experience coming back on the offensive line. Certainly the NFL people will be here to look at our players very hard next year.
Terry Bowden:
|  | | Miami QB Ken Dorsey has a new set of receiving talent this season. |
It all starts with quarterback Ken Dorsey. People want you to pick a preseason Heisman candidate. There's too many good quarterbacks out there. Whichever one leads his team to the championship game, I will pick him. It's important that your quarterback play well. What are Ken's strengths?
Larry Coker:
Obviously, on the field, he has a great presence. He has that sixth sense. He seems to come up and make plays when plays have to be made with the game on the line. Just an analogy, and I don't want to date myself, with Jerry West. People talk about NBA players who can score 30 points a game. A lot of guys can do that, but the analogy is that Jerry West could score two points when the game was on the line. Wow, does that say a lot. Ken has some of those qualities.
I remember when we were recruiting Ken, his high school coach said you think you have a good player and you know what you are getting. But he said, "I really don't think you know." He was very astute because we really didn't know. You don't know until those players come in and prove themselves. Arm strength and all that is great. Those nice things are great to have, but unselfishness and getting the ball to playmakers and making plays when the game is on the line are some of the things that Ken does.
The thing that is amazing is that Ken is a hard worker in the weight room. If you know him or you have met him, you wouldn't realize that because he's not a Dan Marino/John Elway physical giant type player. He's tall. He's very strong for his size. That's where you gain respect, when you get in the trenches and you get in the cave in the weight room and the conditioning, and you're in there with the linemen and those guys. They see how hard you work. Also in the offseason passing drills. You earn respect from your teammates. They know when the game is on the line, you have a chance to win with that guy at quarterback.
Terry Bowden:
You have a number of talented running backs. Is there a No. 1 right now or does there need to be?
Larry Coker:
If we played today, Clinton Portis would be our starter. Clinton has had a great offseason and a great summer. He's really stepped up his level of play where I expected it. He's a talented back. He runs through guys, makes a lot of yards. He came in the second half against Florida and rushed for 97 yards, and they are obviously a good team.
Depending on what we do with Najeh (Davenport) because he may take more of a fullback role, we may do some things with one back. He's a very talented, big strong single back runner. He's got good hands. He's definitely a guy who is a big, strong back with great speed. He's kind of a freak in that standpoint.
Willis McGahee is the other back people are talking about. He had a great spring. He didn't see much (last year). He was on the scout team in the fall. He's 227 pounds, runs a 4.4. He was very impressive in the spring. He's going to be an exceptional back.
For Part II of Terry Bowden's Q&A with Larry Coker, click here.
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