Q&A With New Head Football Coach Bob Toledo
Dec 11, 2006 | Football
What They Are Saying | The Toledo File
Dec. 11, 2006
On if he plans to meet with local high school coaches
"Absolutely. As soon as I get an opportunity to get back and to get settled a little bit, I'd like to meet each and every one of the high school coaches in as far of a radius as I can possibly get."
On his schedule the next few weeks
"I'm talking to a couple of the coaches that are on the staff tonight, and I will talk to a couple more tomorrow. Then I've got to get back. I'm missing practice for the bowl game at New Mexico. The banquet is Thursday night. I will try to get back for the weekend. I'm hoping to maybe get some recruits in. I have to get on the phone and talk to the people who are verbally committed to Tulane and then we've got to get out and start recruiting."
On if he thinks the Tulane job is one of the toughest in the county considering Tulane's academic standards and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
"I think all jobs are tough. It's all relative. Yes, it is a tough job, particularly given the fact that Katrina struck and set the program and the city back. But if you look around and you see the effort that the people are making to get the city back and to get this university back, I think it's possible to come here and win football games.
On what formula he plans to use to build a consistent winner and bowl contender
"Obviously, it takes good players, and they have to overcome coaching, right? I think (takes) hard work and effort. You've got to be able to work hard. I've talked to the players about how everyone talks about `giving 110 percent.' I don't think anyone ever gives 100 percent. I've got to try and get them to give as much percentage wise as they can. I'm going to make them do what they don't want to do to be what they want to be. I'm going to bust their fannies to make them not want to give up and quit at the end. When you work hard, it's harder to give up at the end."
On his plans to mold Tulane's defense
"I will hire a coordinator and give him the reigns, but there will be some parameters. There some things that I believe in as well. Even as the head coach at UCLA, I was so actively involved in the offense, but I spent time with the defense watching film and giving input and suggestions. I want a guy to come in and run it, but again, there will be some parameters."
On if Tulane sending so many players to the NFL made the job more appealing
"I think it's important to have guys go on to play pro football. It shows that you can be a pro football player if that's your desire. At New Mexico, we have the same thing. We don't have a lot of guys going pro every year, but we have some guys that have done it. I think the big thing is to make sure the young man knows that he's here to get an education first and foremost. And then, if you can play pro football, that's a bonus.
On if signed former Tulane standout quarterback J.P. Losman while he was at UCLA
"Yes, I did. Unfortunately (for UCLA) what happened there, he's a great kid, I have no problems with him. He came is as the only freshman in the spring and he didn't have a support group. He was the freshman. If we had brought him in the fall, he would have made it. He wanted to get in and he wanted to compete, but we had five quarterbacks. He wanted more snaps, more reps and I couldn't give that to him at that time. If he stayed, he'd probably have been the starter in the fall. But he got impatient and left and came to Tulane. It worked out well for him. He became a No. 1 draft choice and had a lot of success. I'm happy for him."
On what his ratio of run-to-pass plays will be
"Whatever it takes to win. I'm not opposed to throwing it 40-45 times a game. But I'd like to throw it in the neighborhood of 30 times and run it the rest. The way the game has changed with the new rule, you're not getting as many snaps as before. We used to average 73 snaps a game and we're probably getting about 65 right now. You don't have as many snaps, you don't score as many points, and you don't have as many yards, unfortunately."
On his defensive philosophy
"Basically, I don't want to blitz all the time. I want to be sound. I want to use the blitz as an element of surprise. I want to have multiple coverages, and yet I want to keep it to a point where the kids can line up and play."
On the role Hurricane Katrina played in his perception of Tulane
"Like everyone in the country, I saw what happened and it was devastating. To me, that's one of the things that attracted me to Tulane. I love challenges. I love a great opportunity to come and make changes and to do things to make things better. Hopefully the people in this town will get behind the University and the people that support us will get behind us. And - like the Saints - we can come back and be successful."
On if he thinks he can win at Tulane
"I think it's difficult to win anywhere unless you have good players, you do a good job of coaching, and you stop the losing mentality. It's always difficult, but I would hope we can get enough players and good enough coaches that we can compete in the conference and win most of our football games."
