ESPN held a media conference call with college football analysts Mack Brown and Danny Kanell on Tuesday, Aug. 26. Brown and Kanell will appear every Saturday on ABC with host John Saunders, providing analysis on College Football Countdown (3 p.m. ET) and during pre-game, halftime and post-game segments of ABC game telecasts, including the popular Saturday Night Football series. Kanell will also be the analyst on ESPN’s Friday night game telecasts.
ESPN will kick off the 2014 college football season with national coverage of 55 games in six days as part of the seventh annual DICK’s Sporting Goods Kickoff Week from Wednesday, Aug. 27, to Monday, Sept. 1. The schedule – a Labor Day Kickoff Week record featuring coverage across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, ESPN3, ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Radio – will be highlighted by nine of the top 15 ranked teams in action, including three matchups between ranked teams. Full schedule
A transcript of the conference call follows:
Q.) Danny, you’re doing UCONN this week. I’d like to get your better assessment of not only the team this year, but kind of the program and where it might be heading under a new coach?
Kanell: I’m excited to see this weekend to see the turn around with [head coach] Bob Diaco and see what he’s implemented. I think they’re going to have their hands full with a BYU team that’s extremely talented and has a quarterback who might be a dark horse contender in Taysom Hill for the Heisman Trophy. But I think it’s going to be a process. It’s going to take some time for Bob Diaco to get his guys in there to start recruiting the type of players that he wants.
I think it’s a pivotal time for UCONN and for them as a program. You look at the way football is dividing and the Power Five are starting to separate themselves, and UCONN’s trying to make a case to maybe even play into one of those conferences if there are any spots available, and one way they can make themselves attractive is to step up their football program.
Q.) Do you think the conference they’re in is a huge drawback for Diaco in terms of recruiting and trying to sell this program?
Kanell: I think it’s going to be challenging for anybody outside of the Power Five to steal guys from within the Power Five. But UCONN hasn’t been exactly going after those types of guys anyway. I think there is plenty of talent within this part of the country which it can draw from, and it’s just maximizing the talent around here and developing players once he gets them on campus.
Q.) Coach, the off season talk about tempo offenses. It was something a lot of coaches were against. Can you kind of break down some of the benefits and detractions from a speed system, an up tempo system? Michigan State has two opponents back to back that both run that kind of system. Talk about what they bring?
Brown: What happens with a tempo, no huddle offense is it really limits what you can do on defense. Number one, especially on an early ballgame you’ve got to be in great shape. You’ve got to try to substitute. Normally the tempo offenses will not let you substitute. You have to be up front with the big guys, especially on a hot day. But most of the time, they do not snap the ball early. I think that’s a fallacy. People think they do, but they’re going to wait, see where you are on defense, normally change the play. But if you try to substitute, they have a way to snap the ball quickly.
So more than anything else, it’s to have a simple offense that simplifies your defense, keeps your big guys on the field, tries to wear you out and tries to keep you from getting your complicated blitzes prepared to come in. So you’ve really got to have a safety or linebacker, someone on the field who can call the defenses and help you.
Q.) When you’re in an aggressive defense like [Michigan State defensive coordinator] Pat Narduzzi runs, is that a difficult thing? Can you run yourself out?
Brown: It is difficult for both. But there again, if they start snapping the ball very quickly, and most of these teams have the ability to do that, you to have a defense that you can just lineup in and play quite often before you can get to your blitzes, but it does simplify the defense as well.
Kanell: I think up tempo offenses are here to stay, and I think it keeps defensive coaches awake at night all throughout the off season, and I think specifically looking at the Michigan State Oregon game, the toughest thing to do is to practice versus up tempo because you can’t simulate the speed at which it comes. You can try, but if you don’t run an up tempo offense yourself or you don’t run a no huddle, I think it’s impossible.
So I think the first quarter, first half and that adjustment and how fast Michigan State’s defense can adjust to that speed which those plays are coming at you, that will be critical for that game because all of a sudden, you look up the scoreboard and you could be down three while you’re adjusting. By the time you used to that tempo, it could be too late. So I think that the start of that game and adjusting to that up tempo will be critical for Michigan State.
Brown: That’s a great point. We had trouble practicing it when we weren’t running the up tempo offense, the defense practicing against it, because you can’t get a scout team to try to show what the team’s going to have on Saturday. So we felt like one of the reasons we went to the up tempo offense was simply so our defense could see it. If you play a couple teams in a row that are up tempo by the third game, you are in a better position for the second game than you were to start with because you’re more used to the pace of the game.
Q.) Mack, you have a lot of television experience from your Longhorn Network days, but this will be the first time you’ve been called upon to talk about other teams and coaches and perhaps be critical if the occasion calls for it. How prepared are you to get into a different mindset of a perhaps former coach criticizing one of his colleagues?
Brown: Number one, I’m excited about being with Danny and John Saunders on Saturday. It’s going to be fun. I love college football, and I think I can be an advocate for the fans from what the coach is thinking and what he is doing. Very honestly, for the first time in the last 30 years I can probably have an opinion that’s mine instead of coach speak, because it’s harder when you’re the head coach and you’ve got an athletic director, you’ve got a president, a compliance department, you’ve got a legal council, assistant coaches and wives, you’re worried about recruiting with everything you say. So I’m really looking forward to that.
I think at the same time I can probably sit there in some cases even if the coach calls something that didn’t work and say here’s what he was thinking, it didn’t work. I wouldn’t have done it that way, but here’s why he did it. So I feel like I could bring something to the show from a coach’s standpoint with 42 years of experience, it should be fun.
Q.) In that vein, do you have any thoughts why what you’ve seen from Charlie Strong’s rebuilding efforts in Texas, and the large number of players suspensions and dismissals that have taken place this summer?
Brown: Number one, Charlie is a great coach and has a tremendous background. He and I made an agreement early, and I really suggested it, that I not talk about Texas and let him be the head coach and let him get started because obviously I know too much about that program. If you watch programs in general when a new coach comes in there is usually a huge turnover. Charlie hasn’t had that much.
I’m proud of those kids. They’re tough kids. They went through things last year that most kids couldn’t put up with and hung in there after we screwed up the Brigham Young game. As coaches, we didn’t do a good job. So I was really proud of them. Charlie will do a great job and Texas will be good moving forward.
Q.) Mack, you might have made an agreement not to talk about Texas, but I bet I can get you to talk about Bob Stoops’ team up in Norman. Would you make them as big a favorite in the Big 12 as the media did in the preseason poll?
Brown: Oklahoma’s always good, and Bob’s done a tremendous job coaching and they are the favorite. But this league has much more parody than people would think from outside. We played for the conference championship at Texas last year all those kids are back. Baylor has done a tremendous job. They’ve got their new stadium. He’s one of the fastest teams in the country and has tremendous speed. Anytime you play at Kansas State you have a chance to lose because Bill Snyder coaches as well as anybody in the country. Oklahoma State lost a lot of guys.
Iowa State brought in Mark Mangino, so I think their offense will be better. I do think Charlie Weis is getting better. He’s got a young quarterback at Kansas, and Kliff Kingsbury is bringing that program along. So I think this one’s pretty much up for grabs. You’d have to talk about Oklahoma as the favorite because of the way they finished the season and what a tremendous game and game plan and quarterback play against Alabama and the Sugar Bowl.
Q.) Do you anticipate, speaking of that Sugar Bowl, do you anticipate Trevor Knight picking up where he left off in that game or do you have to see a little more from him to be convinced?
Brown: I have to see more from him because he struggled some during the season. But anytime you finish like he did, if he can pick it up and move forward, he can have a great year. I think a whole lot of their hopes are on his shoulders.
Kanell: I’m cautiously moving forward with Oklahoma. I want to see more from Trevor Knight too. I do agree that one game can be a career shifter for you as far as perception is. I’m sure his own teammates are looking at Trevor Knight differently than they did before that Sugar Bowl game versus Alabama. But that said, when 43% of his production came in one game last year, it was a year ago to this day that we were hearing Trevor Knight was going to be the guy, and he was ready to step into that role. But I absolutely think if he carries some of that momentum, there will be a player. But I think the Big 12 is wide open too. Baylor is looking for them. Texas Tech, Kansas State, I think there are several players that are in the hunt for that title.
Q.) Mack, UCONN plays BYU on Friday, who you obviously ran into last season. What’s Taysom Hill do at quarterback that sets him apart from others at that position that you’ve seen?
Brown: He’s one of the top mobile quarterbacks in the country. He’s strong, he can run through tackles. They’re going to run 90 plus plays a game if they can. So when we’re talking about up tempo offense, they’re one of the fastest in the country and they usually do not sit and change the play. They go and they continue to go. So you have to lineup right on defense. You have to be in great shape on defense, and you have to have attention to detail with their option.
We did a horrible job defending the option last year, and he gained about 8,000 yards, I think in our game. So it was a lot more than we should have, and we changed coaches around after the game, so we did a poor job in the game.
They’re big and strong up front. He can throw it. That was a question mark early. He ruined his knee two years ago, but he’s back full speed ahead, and I think he has a chance to be one of the better quarterbacks in the country.
Q.) Danny, you’re going to a game Friday with two schools outside of the Power Five. Looking at the preseason rankings, there are no teams in the top 25 outside of the Power Five. Do you think there is a perception issue in place for schools that are in one of the top five conferences?
Kanell: Yes, and I think that’s one of the problems. That is one of the things I don’t like about the Power Five autonomy and sort of the shift in college football that we’re seeing. It’s going to be harder because you’re going to start to see more Power Five non conference match ups. You’ll see the SEC take on the PAC 12 or you’ll see the ACC take on the Big Ten, but I don’t think you’ll see a lot of teams in the Power Five schedule teams from the American or from the Mountain West or whatever other conferences that are out there because there is no the risk reward just isn’t there.
If you schedule Boise State and you lose to them, it could wreck your chances to make the College Football Playoff if you’re in a Power Five team. If you beat them, everybody expects you to beat them. So as much as BYU or Boise State is going to want to schedule these Power Five teams, I think it’s going to be hard to get those types of teams on your schedule.
Q.) Your colleague Kirk Herbstreit has predicted Pitt would win the Coastal Division of the ACC which a lot of people are saying might be the weak sister of the two divisions. Coach Brown, who are you liking in the Coastal Division? What do you think of the job Paul Chryst has done? I know you tried to hire him at Texas a few years ago.
Brown: I did. Paul Chryst did a tremendous job at Wisconsin running the ball and managing the game, and at some times didn’t have the flashy, talented, experienced quarterback. And he’s always done a good job of making sure he takes care of the ball and protects his defense. Like Kirk, I think Pittsburgh has a chance. Paul’s into his third, fourth year now where he has a chance with his players. Usually takes a year or two to find out your problems, then a third one to get them fixed, and then it’s your football team.
It will be fun to watch that side. I think it’s a side of the league that has a lot of question marks where everybody understands the other side. Everybody’s trying to beat Florida State. When I was in the ACC, they used to call us the Florida State and the dwarfs, and they earned that because they were one of the top two or three teams in the country every year they were there, and Danny was part of that. I think we’re seeing Florida State being so dominant again that not many other teams are being talked about. But I think Paul’s team has a chance.
Kanell: I think the Coastal is as wide open as any division in college football. I would say if you think people are sleeping on Virginia Tech, I think Frank Beamer has a quarterback transfer in Michael Brewer who can make some plays offensively. But I think Pitt is in the mix.
I think one of the things Paul Chryst brings to the table is a very clear identity. Sometimes you get coaches who are willing to change systems and want to try to keep up with the times, but he is a very physical, ground oriented attack, and he knows what he wants to accomplish and he’s recruiting the players to get his job done, so absolutely, I think they can be in the mix.
Q.) I wanted to ask you about how you didn’t want to talk about Texas, but on TV this fall do you want to be identified as the Texas coach or do you want to be identified as a college football coach, and will you push Texas and talk about the Big 12 and kind of sneak stuff in the way coach Corso tries to play up Florida State and all that type stuff?
Brown: I’m planning on being a college football analyst for ESPN and ABC, and I will not be the coach at Texas or the ex coach at Texas. I will not have favorites. What I told ESPN and they asked me to do is be honest and give my true opinions. So I will not go in with I obviously have a lot of favorites in coaching and they’re my friends, but that’s not my job. My job is to say exactly what I see, and after 42 years in coaching trying to get those messages and experiences and thoughts across to the fans. And that’s what I’ll do.
I can also call the coaches and ask some questions that some other people probably can’t do, and maybe get them to give us some insight into the game that will help the broadcast for the fans as well. It would be very unfair in my estimation for me to come on as a fan because that’s not what I’m hired to be.
Q.) While I completely respect the fact you don’t want to talk about Texas and chary and all of that, what are your thoughts on some of the seniors who want to get this program going again, especially David Ash who wants to bounce back this year?
Brown: Well, obviously, David’s a red shirt junior now because he got his year back. Lot of those kids are coming back to get the program back where it needs to be, and they’re tremendous leaders. I’m really proud of them, and I think you’ll see them do a great job.
Q. Danny, you had a history with Coach as he recruited you in high school when he was with North Carolina. Just maybe you can provide a little perspective as well about what you would expect and how you would challenge coach on the set together that might help give a little perspective as well as to what you see as to what he can contribute?
Kanell: I met Coach Brown 20 something years ago when I got to meet with him with my parents and I was considering North Carolina as a choice. He was definitely one of my top choices that I was looking at. At the time, I pretty much could have gone wherever I wanted. One of the reasons I looked at North Carolina was because of Mack Brown and his reputation and approach to the game and sort of the class that he brings along with him, alongside with his football knowledge.
I think for me it was a no brainer. I would rather go hand off to Warrick Dunn and hand the ball off the field to guys like Peter Warrick. If North Carolina had the same kind of players at the time, I would have been all over Chapel Hill. But I think I made the good decision there.
I was thrilled we’re paired again. We got to spend a little time last week or two weeks ago we were on the Bus Blitz going around the country, so we had some very intimate time together on a bus from Columbus, Ohio to South Bend, Indiana, and other places. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together.
My advice to him would be I think just be himself. I think Mack Brown is one of those people that’s just genuine, and what you see is what you get. He’s going to bring his opinions. It’s going to work like this. My advice would be, hey, if he praises Texas he’s a homer. If he says they’re not doing that well this year, the people are going to say he’s mad at the way things ended, so you really can’t win when you talk about Texas. So just be honest and speak your mind.
Q.)You had a lot of success recruiting, and now you step away from it at a time when there is a lot of change within the NCAA, possibly a lot of reformation in the way recruiting goes. Again, you can kind of step back from this. As you left the game, what did you like and what did you not like about the recruiting process and what needs to be changed?
Brown: It’s a great question, and it is all over the place right now. Being on the American Football Association last year with a 17 member board and Grant Teaff, we looked at a lot of changes and a lot were put in place, and we thought we made some good decisions with coaches across the country, obviously, having their input.
I’m a little worried or I am worried that we’re getting involved with kids too quickly in recruiting. The fact that we’re talking to freshmen and they’re going to visit and scholarships are being offered is a concern. There are a lot more third parties involved now in recruiting, whether it’s AAU basketball coaches or friends of the family or 7 on 7, coaches in the summer, and the high school coach doesn’t have as much input in his team with the processor the families as he did at one time.
Kids are flying all over the country for summer 7 on 7s or camps and they’re leaving their teams who are working out in the summer. All of those things were of huge concern. We were also concerned and I do think that the scholarship needs to be reevaluated. I do not think we should pay players cash. I do think we should enhance the scholarship and make sure that the scholarship is better.
When I played you got $15 a month for laundry money and they even took that away. So these kids don’t have opportunities to work. They’re too busy. They’re like Olympic athletes all over the summer, so they work year round. But I do feel that number one the scholarship needs to be enhanced, and number two, I wish we could put the high school coach back in the power position with his team that’s been taken away some. And those would be two things that I would say are needed more than anything else.
There is a proposal out there that we brought parents in for official visit weekends. I think that’s important because the parent needs to be involved in the decision making process. So I hope that’s something that the NCAA moves forward with. But the good things or the kids are great kids. We hear all the bad stories, but there are so many wonderful stories of young people that might not have been able to go to college without the scholarship, and they’re being very productive in lives, and they’re great fathers and husbands and have tremendous families. Those stories aren’t told enough.
So college sports is good. I do hope the NCAA continues to tighten up on the rules and try to make it fair for the guys that are going by the rules as well.
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