Wake Forest Athletics
2008 ACC Football Kickoff - Day Three
7/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 21, 2008
Monday's Photo Gallery | 2008 ACC Kickoff Home Page
GREENSBORO, Ga. - Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe met with the media in attendance at the 2008 ACC Football Kickoff Monday afternoon at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Reynolds Plantation. Below is a sampling of Grobe's responses to the media.
On the standard of success he has set for this year's team...
"We want people to think each year that we have the chance to be a really good football team. The last couple of years have been good, but we don't want our players to get complacent. We also have our work cut out for us. We have a really tough schedule, but I think we have a good football team again this year. Our goal, more so than anything else, is to be consistent every year and have a team that can go out and play well."
On how important it's been to have so many players redshirt their first year on campus...
"We tell the parents and kids that our main goal is to not waste a year of eligibility and stick them on special teams and that's all he's done all year long and that takes up a year of eligibility. We like for kids to get 20 or 30 snaps a game if we're going to put them on the field as true freshman. So our goal is to make sure that if we are going to use a true freshman that he is really going to play a lot of football. This has helped us because now we're playing more veteran guys who are 22 or 23 years old and those guys typically play a little better than the 18 and 19 year olds."
On how the team will go about replacing a guy like Kenneth Moore...
"You can't replace Kenny. He played so well as a junior and might have been the key for us winning an ACC Championship with his ability to play wideout, running back and then all of the special teams. He had such a good senior season that we just don't have anybody that can do that this year. But I think overall, we may be more balanced at the receiver position this year. This may be as talented of a group that we've had since I've been here and we don't have a true go-to guy like we did with Kenny last year. That may let us move the ball around a little bit better."
On staying at Wake Forest amid offers from other schools this offseason...
"Even after our first season at Wake Forest, we had offers from other schools so this wasn't anything new. But frankly, the players that we're coaching are our kids, kids that we've recruited and there's not a kid on our football team that I don't enjoy seeing on a regular basis. Anytime a kid comes in my office, I'm happy to see them. A lot of coaches don't have that luxury. I really enjoy the kids. That's the number one reason. Our families are happy, our coaches are happy and we have a great athletic director in Ron Wellman. We have a wonderful president in Dr. Nathan Hatch, lots of support from the community and university, and a great administration right on through the faculty. We just have a great situation here at Wake Forest and there is really just no reason to leave.
"That's the great thing about Wake Forest. They appreciate everything we do. When we win a football game, our fans don't care whether it's 3-0 or 49-48, they're happy to win. But I think we still have some work to do. I think we can be better than we have been."
On having such a strong defense that can also score touchdowns...
"I don't really expect to cause that many turnovers each season but it is nice when it happens. What I think we really need to improve on is being a better three-and-out defense. I thought we relied on the big play to get us off the field. I like the turnovers, I like the touchdowns on defense but I think one thing we can be better at is consistency. We have a veteran group of guys so I hope we will spend less time on the field and give the ball back to the offense more often."
On the depth of the offensive line
"That's a big concern for me because we have always played a lot of guys on the offensive line. I feel like one deep we're fine. Our starting unit is very athletic and in some cases we don't have a ton of experience, but I think it's one of our most athletic offensive lines. If they're tough enough and play with some grit, we have a chance. Our big problem is finding backups. I think we're going to have some really young players jump in there and give us some reps, and how quickly they come along will probably determine how successful our offense can be."
On his key to managing a football game...
"I think the important thing for me as a coach is to let the players play the game. You see a lot of coaches get so emotional that they don't think, so I try to stay as calm as I can and let the players play. There are a lot of situations in games that you've got to have your wits about you and be able to make good decisions and most of the time you don't have a lot of time to think about that. So every time I take the field, I think about staying calm and not to get too keyed up and try not to hurt the players chance to win."
On getting the right team chemistry
"First of all, chemistry isn't a science. I think we get the chemistry through recruiting. When we recruit, we try to bring in the best character kids we can find and typically, if you bring in really good kids and you get a lot of those kids in your program, they tend to like each other and they tend to put themselves second. I think the way we build team chemistry more than anything else is through recruiting. We look for character first and we won't settle for anything else. When you bring those kinds of kids together, they tend to care more about each other."
On what it feels like to lose...
"Awful, and it even gets worse when you get older. I don't know why that is, maybe the older you get, you know you may be running out of seasons. But players seem to bounce back better than the coaches do. Coach [Fisher] DeBerry, who I was with for 11 years at the Air Force, was the best coach I have been around and I try to emulate coach DeBerry. When we would lose a game, he would come into the locker room and he would point out the mistakes we made on offense and defense and what we did that may have led to a loss but before we left the locker room, he was onto the next opponent. Right there in the locker room, he was moving forward and thinking of ways for us to get better. He looked at what was ahead of us rather than the loss itself. So I like for our players, when we lose a football game, to feel really bad but we try to get away from that as quick as possible and learn from our mistakes."
On the new Deacon Tower project...
"Ron Wellman has done a tremendous job since I've been at Wake Forest. The Deacon Tower project is really special, but every year I've been here we've done something different. We've improved every part of our program, so now when you come to Wake Forest and you walk away from the academic areas and come over to the football offices, you don't feel like you took a major step down. With Deacon Tower, we've started the improvement process on the stadium and Ron Wellman has mentioned it, but we want to turn BB&T Field into the Wrigley Field of the ACC. Meaning, we want it to be a place where we can put 32,000 to 35,000 fans in there and create a fan-friendly place where you enjoy going and look forward to coming, not only for a football game but for the experience of being at our stadium."
