November 30, 2020
Opening statement: “Welcome, everybody. (I’m) kind of excited to be here. It’s kind of crazy and surreal – my first Zoom meeting with you guys as a head coach is in my kitchen/dining room for my house, so just like the rest of you. It’s a little different but, I’m super excited, kind of jacked up for this opportunity. I have to start off by obviously thanking Rod (Wood, President and CEO) and Sheila (Ford Hamp, Principal Owner and Chairman), the Ford family for this opportunity. I also wouldn’t be here without Coach (Matt) Patricia and Bob Quinn, for them, really reaching out to me a year-and-a-half ago, to come in here and be the offensive coordinator. So appreciative to them, and Coach Patricia, the relationship that we built – that I was able to build with him. I have to give that and thank them.
“I’ll tell you how it went. It was Saturday – all the days are running together already – but on Saturday, I was with my family, my wife, my three daughters, and then my two, I guess, future son-in-laws now. They wanted to talk to me this past weekend. But we were are the Henry Ford Museum, and we were having a good time there, and then got a text and ended up calling and talking to Rod and Sheila. So it’s kind of been a whirlwind. I went to work on Saturday night, and then went back in the office on Sunday, and worked all day Sunday, and here I am, working from my house to this Zoom call, to talk to all of you. So with that, I will open it up to questions.”
On his message to the team: “I talked to them twice. So the first time that I spoke to them on Saturday, I just talked to them about – we’re all going through all these changes. It’s obviously been a difficult year, whether you’re talking about the COVID-19 pandemic that we’re going through, with all the other stuff that’s happening around the world, social injustice, those things, meeting on Zoom calls, the way the season is going – it’s been rough. It’s been challenging. But I told them, ‘The game doesn’t care.’ It’s for us right now to pick up where we are, and we have five opportunities left. I’m super excited to lead them in those five final opportunities, and I expect us to – kind of what I also ended up on today was – I expect them to bring their energy, to bring a new, refreshed attitude when they walk in the building on Wednesday. They’re going to get a new perspective – ready to go, kind of with their hair on fire, and take it one game at a time.”
On if he will still call offensive plays: “So Cory (Undlin, defensive coordinator) and I have a great relationship. I’ve been really appreciative of him since the day he’s walked in here. We’ve had many conversations about the whole program. So I trust him fully because of those conversations. So we’ll continue to talk each and every day, but Cory is going to call the defense. He’s going to do the best job that he can to put those guys in position to be successful. I think it’s unique – I can have the opportunity to speak to him from an offensive perspective, and then he does the same thing for me, from a defensive perspective, and we’re able to share that information. As far as the offense goes, I’m still going to call plays. That’s what I was brought in here for, I’m comfortable. I think the players are comfortable with the language, with the voice; they’re used to it. So at this point, to give us the best chance to win, I think we continue to do that.”
On what he wants his fingerprint to be on the team: “I appreciate the question. One thing that I have to do is, I have to be me. I’ve been in a lot of stops. I’ve seen a lot of different head coaches that have gone up there, and there’s great things about each and every one of them. As I was doing that, you kind of try to see yourself in that role, and how you would handle situations, the things that are important to you, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m just going to be myself. Like I said, I’m asking the guys to come in with refreshed attitude, ready to work, No. 1, but ready to have a good time and let them play with their hair on fire. Let them paly fast; let them play free. We’ll worry about the end result at the end, but we’re going to take it one game at a time. Hopefully we like what happens at the end.”
On how he wants to see the offense evolve: “Truthfully, I think we need to be more consistent on offense. We have talented players. We haven’t had all those players all year, but like I said, the game doesn’t care. So we have to do the best that we can with all the things we have available to us. But I want us to play more consistent. I want us to continue to find those explosive plays that we haven’t been as consistent as we’d like to be in finding those. Again, just playing that same way. As you look back at the last game against Houston, we got out, scored a touchdown, we turnover three times in a row. You’re never going to win a game when you’re doing that. I think the third drive was after a long drive, almost in the red-(zone) area, we turned it over, the next drive we take it for a touchdown. I know we’re capable. I know we have that in us. But we have to clean up those turnovers, and we have to be more consistent.”
On how this is an opportunity to become a full-time head coach: “I hate the circumstance at which it happened, but it’s an opportunity. You have to take full advantage of opportunities that you’re given, however they come your way. Like I told the players, I’m jacked. I’m excited. I get a five-game audition to show what I’m capable of. But I also told them that everybody is watching them, whether it’s our team, whether it’s other teams, whether it’s the opportunity for them to continue to play – people are watching them. So how we react in this moment, and how we’re able to bring out our best in these next five games, is going to tell all. Regardless – no one cares about the circumstances, how I’m doing this head coach-thing, but they’re going to judge me on those five games. So I want to do my best in that.”
On if he felt an element of fun was missing this season: “I told those guys, ‘I don’t care what happened before. I don’t care what’s happening – really, I don’t care what’s happening next week. I care what happens this week.’ We’re not looking back. Like I said, I love Coach (Matt) Patricia, I love Bob (Quinn). They brought me in here, and I’m so thankful and grateful for them. So I’m not judging myself against them, but I’m just talking right now, for today, how I want those guys to play, how I want them to feel. I’m just excited to have the opportunity to do that.”
On what the attitude of the team was prior: “I think it’s just been a little inconsistent at times. Just my thing is, I just want them to be able to have a great time. It’s important to know that being able to have a good time and hard work, they don’t have to be individual deals. You can have a great time and work hard. That’s what I told the guys. That’s what I want them to do. It’s never really been about their work. They’ve worked hard. I’m excited to be able to bring that attitude for them.”
On if the team was not having fun before: “Again, I’m not getting in to judging or anything of that – that’s just what I told them. I want them to be able to have fun. I mean, there’s no fun in losing. These guys work hard, and it’s not fun when you lose. So part of it is definitely that.”
On when he received the text at the Henry Ford Museum: “Kind of funny – we had just gone through where they do the glass blowing, and my wife liked the ornament that they were doing, so we were actually headed to the gift shop. Right when we walked in the gift shop, I got the text. So we were getting ready to buy one of their handmade ornaments there.”
On what the text said: “That’s what it was: Call Rod (Wood), ASAP. So, (you) kind of get that text, you know that something’s up. I didn’t know exactly what it was.”
On what President and CEO Rod Wood said on the call and if he was surprised Matt Patricia was let go: “It’s never good when you get a ‘call the president ASAP.’ So I called him and Rod patched Sheila in, and we had just a brief conversation in that moment with what they have done with coach and Bob (Quinn). That’s when they extended the opportunity to be interim head coach. Told them I was honored for it; I was excited to be able to do that. So excited for these next five weeks. No, the text was not from Rod. It was from Kevin (Anderson, chief of staff – head coach administration).”
On his candidacy for the full-time head coaching position at the end of the season: “I spoke with Rod just briefly about it. As I know, it’s all about winning in this business. Regardless of what happens, I get five weeks to audition for it. He said yes, (it) would be a possibility, but like I said, the five weeks are going to be telling.”
On how he has prepared himself for the possibility to assume the interim head coach role: “I’ve done it for, I don’t know, 20 years now. When I first started, I paid attention a lot. I think I’m a good listener, and then I kind of judged people in things I liked that they’re doing, things that I don’t like they’re doing- like, ‘Oh, I like that about the schedule. Dang, I wish we weren’t doing that,’ just try to make it my own if I ever had that opportunity to do it. So here it is. I’ve had great mentors. I’ve worked with Mike Sherman at Green Bay. Pete Carroll, I’ve spoken with him on the phone, he’s been awesome with me. I got Brad Childress who’s been a mentor of mine and by my side since Day 1 as a college player. Just taking all the things that they’ve taught me, and that I’ve learned from those guys, and going to try to put it to the test here for the next five weeks.”
On he became interim head coach the same weekend two men asked him for his daughters’ hands in marriage: “Yeah, how about that! Two of them – I have two older daughters. Kind of funny story – one of them – so my middle daughter is a softball player at BYU, and when she came up here, she’s like, ‘I haven’t had enough hitting in. I want to go hit.’ So we went out and hit, and one of them took a softball off the eye. So he asked me while we were in the emergency room getting him stitched up, if you can believe it.”
On if he was instructed to make the offense more conservative than he wanted: “I don’t know. I think (Matt Patricia) gave me a lot of leeway to run the offense. There’s a lot of things that are going on on offense when you’re trying to maximize the skills sets of the guys that you have, and the weaknesses that you have, you’re trying not let them show up. In the last game, we did have a little fun. We were able to hit the one, the reverse, triple hand-back to Matthew (Stafford); we threw it back to Matthew on another one. So we’re going to continue to try to do that, like I said, it’s fun winning. It’s fun moving the ball down the field. We have playmakers, we just have to get it in their hands.”
On if QB Matthew Stafford able to lead the team to the next level: “I can tell you this: Matthew comes to work every day. He’s given me everything he can possibly give. I think he’s given everything he can possibly give to the team. We take shots; he’s been beat up; he’s played through it. He’s tough as they come. He’s definitely a positive influence to our team. The guys look up to him, the guys love him. I’m excited (that) I have five more weeks to work with him in this situation because I know it’ll bring out the best in him. If he’s playing his best, I know we have a great shot to win.”
On how the players have responded to him: “The interesting thing is, I haven’t even been in the building with them. So it’s tough to feel the emotions and things on Zoom, like I can’t tell how you guys are receiving this right now even. I do have to say one thing though: The two guys asked me for my permission (to marry my daughters), they haven’t officially asked them yet, so that’s where that was. I don’t know when that’s coming, but just to be clear. It’s a little hard. I just want them to feel my juice. I just want them to feel my energy. I actually cannot wait to get in the building on Wednesday. Then I’m standing in front of the room, there’s a better vibe, there’s a better feel. I think it’s been great these last couple days. I think they’re excited. I’m excited, but I’ll probably be able to give you a better answer after I meet with them on Wednesday.”
On what he wants to show in the remaining five games: “I’m taking it that way. I’m taking it as an audition. I did tell them today, ‘Everybody’s watching. Everybody’s watching them, whether it’s our team, whether it’s other teams, other organizations, because everyone is in different situations, contract situations, that kind of thing, and the game keeps moving.’ We have no other opportunity than just to be at our best, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to do my best, and I hope what that is, is bringing out the best in them, that you’ll see a difference in them. You’ll see a difference in their play. You’ll see a difference in, really, hopefully, everything, and that would be enough for us.”
On if the offense will look and run differently: “Good question. I think we’ll have to wait and find out.”
On if there’s freedom or uncertainty not knowing his role after the season ends: “The way I see it: I have five opportunities. I have five shots to be able to show what I can do. So that’ll be my sole focus. I keep saying ‘five,’ but I really want it to be one. We’re talking about Chicago, and we’ll all be about Chicago as soon as we go in there on Wednesday, and take it one week, one day at a time. Then all that other stuff, we’ll let that sort itself out at the end.”
