How or why did you decide to get into coaching?
One of the main reasons, my dad was working in the school district and he heard a coaching position was available, so I tried to put my name in and see how it works. I train kids on the side, so I was like, ‘Why not at least try it and see?’ I came into the position as just a linebackers coach and then became the ‘D’ coordinator, so I put it upon myself to make sure my staff was right.
What do you miss most from playing now that you coach?
The physicality. When you talk to guys in high school, they crack jokes and try to be funny about things, but I say, ‘Hey, there’s one thing I was good at: I loved the game and to be physical.’ That’s what I’m trying to get these kids to understand. It’s hard when you’re coaching a lot of young men to get them to understand a lot of us on the staff know this game a lot more than you guys.
Your ‘D’ has been better since losing to Armstrong, so how impressive was Zane Dudek?
He’s a great, patient back. He runs hard. He does all the right things as a running back. The thing is, you have to swarm and tackle the football. You have to get at least eight, nine hats to the ball every play for a back like him, and that was one of the things we didn’t do the first half of that game. The second half, I didn’t make adjustments, we just executed.
Who have been some of your mentors in football or in life?
A lot of them were on my high school staff. One of my biggest supporters was my old linebackers coach [at West Virginia], Jeff Casteel. Then a couple guys when you’re in the league that you follow, they mentor you, too. Like when I was with Pittsburgh, it was James Harrison and Lawrence Timmons. When I got to the league, it was Jon Beason from the Carolina Panthers.
What’s your best football memory, playing or coaching?
Maybe playing-wise was when I won a championship in Canada. That was a great experience. But me coaching, I just want to see kids succeed and get to the next level if they want to play there, or just be happy with the accomplishments they made playing high school football. It’s a thing that, as long as they’re happy and they’re smiling, I’m good.
— By Brian Batko
First Published: October 14, 2016, 4:00 a.m.