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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/20/21 in all areas

  1. Coach K article in The Athletic [Spoiler]/[Spoiler] Pete Kwiatkowski was content to remain at Washington for an eighth season. In fact, other schools had inquired about openings and none piqued the defensive coordinator’s interest. But when Jeff Banks, the newly hired special teams coordinator at Texas and a longtime coaching acquaintance, reached out last weekend to gauge Kwiatkowski’s interest in the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator position, Kwiatkowski knew it was time to consider a change. By Tuesday, he had accepted an offer to become defensive coordinator under new Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. Kwiatkowski spoke with The Athletic on Wednesday afternoon about his time at Washington, the opportunity that awaits at Texas and why he felt now was the right time to make a move. Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length. Did you know Sark previously? I’ve known him in recruiting, a long time ago, in Orange County and L.A. Having coached with Justin (Wilcox) … Coach Wilcox and him worked together, so I’ve gotten to know him that way. And obviously competing against each other. When he got that job, did you think that would be a coordinator position you’d be interested in? Not really. You’re always sort of like, ‘That would be a cool place to coach,’ or whatever. But I didn’t really have any connections that way with anybody out there. I’m usually pretty realistic about that kind of stuff. What appealed to you about the job? I’ve been here seven years. It’s been seven awesome years. The idea of just building a defense again, doing something new, I think it was just time for a change. I can’t put it into words. It’s just like a feel, you know? You love where you’re at, you love the guys you’re working with and all that, but you just get an itch to do something different, and this opportunity arose. How would you describe the last year and the transition from Chris Petersen to Jimmy Lake? Everything was great other than COVID. Everything was awesome. The kids handled it well. There was a lot of continuity, and I think JD (John Donovan) came in and did an awesome job (with the offense). The COVID deal threw a wrench in everything, which everybody else was dealing with, too. That was a bummer. Would have liked to play more games than we did. Were you thinking once the season ended that you were going to be more proactive about looking for other opportunities? I was content to stay here. You just look at my track record, I’m not one to up and move. But I also never say never, right? You don’t want to be pigeonholed into that deal. Just an opportunity came up, and I know a few guys on that staff. That always helps — any transition where you’re going with a bunch of new guys and putting something together. Different part of the country, different conference — it’s all new. I’ve always been a West Coast, Northwest guy. I’m a competitive guy and I want to go see what it’s like to compete there. You helped recruit the state of Texas for UW. Did you spend much time in Austin? I’ve been to Austin one time to visit the University of Texas, back when Mack Brown was coach and Will Muschamp was the DC. And then all the other times I’ve been there were for recruiting. I’d fly in or drive over from Dallas to go to a school and watch a kid practice or something, and I was out. I don’t know much about it other than I stayed downtown, drove through some neighborhoods, been through a couple high schools. Could you get a sense of how different the football culture is there? You can say that about the Midwest, the South. There’s definitely a different engagement from the fans. It’s just more of … it’s in their blood, you know? Some people say it’s like church for a lot of them. For whatever reason, it just means more to the fans in those parts of the country. Is that part of the draw to Texas? That all wears off. To me, coaching is about relationships and getting guys to get better. Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve always had good experiences because I’ve had great relationships with good people, and it’s been no different here at Washington, and I’m expecting to build the same type of deal at Texas with the guys there and the players there. To me, that’s what it’s always been about. Way back when I was getting out of college, I was going to be a schoolteacher and I wanted to enjoy going to work and doing what I’m doing, and not have it be work on a day-in, day-out basis. I was fortunate enough to be able to get into college football. Everywhere I’ve been, it always comes back to the relationships, the friendships and working toward something with other guys, young and old. Who do you know on staff there? I know Jeff Banks and Torre Becton, the strength coach. Torre was here. And I’ve known Jeff for a long time, way back in our Big Sky days, hanging out together, recruiting. What was that first call with Sark like? “What’s up, man? How we doing?” Just real casual. We just really chopped it up. Nothing different than talking to an acquaintance or friend. How did Jimmy Lake take the news? Jimmy’s great. He was happy for me and excited about the opportunity. We’ve been together for a long time and he totally understands. We’re in the same profession, but we’re friends. It’s just part of what happens. (Kwiatkowski declined to discuss whether UW countered Texas’ offer.) What do you think of where Washington is at as a program? We’ve got good guys. We’ve got good coaches. Obviously, they’ve got to get better. That comes with young guys here and there, and reps, and time. They’re going to make that next step, for sure, offense and defense. I think they’re in a good spot. A lot of dudes coming back. I know the guys are all about it. And the culture’s good. When the culture’s good, you can do good things. You’ve been around Jimmy Lake for a long time. Did you notice a difference in him going from assistant coach to head coach? The biggest thing is he’s leading the rooms, he’s leading the meetings. His messaging and the goals that he puts for the team, just the communication part of him telling us and then us implementing it with the guys — that’s the biggest difference. Less X’s and O’s and more culture and getting guys all rolling in the right direction. Big-picture stuff. So he wasn’t as involved in the day-to-day as before? Yeah. He’d have his ideas in there and they were always welcomed. We used a lot of them. Zion Tupuola-Fetui broke out last year. Who are some other young guys who you think could emerge soon? All the guys, but obviously if Laiatu (Latu) can come back from his injury, that guy is going to be an unbelievable player. Sav’ell (Smalls), for a true freshman, he flashed. He’s just got to take that next-year step in the weight room, getting tightened up in a little bit better shape and learning how to play with better technique and that kind of stuff. But the physical ability is there, and the want-to. I think he’s going to be really good. I think Daniel Heimuli is going to take that next step at linebacker. He’s got a knack for finding the ball and playing fast. He’s doing a better job of getting in the playbook and knowing what he’s supposed to do on a more consistent basis. What are you most proud of from your time at Washington? I’m always really proud of all the guys that earn all-conference, have the opportunity to get drafted, go to the NFL, that you’ve helped develop as a football player. And then you pair that with the off-field stuff, where you’re meeting with them about academics and getting them to understand the importance of doing things right — the work ethic, the discipline, the consistency that you need to have to be successful. And then those guys who maybe school came harder to them, but they kept their nose to the grindstone and ended up with a 2.8, a 3.0 — that fired me up. It’s the same thing out on the field for the guys. They might not be perceived as a big-time recruit, but with hard work and listening and taking the coaching … maybe they had a chip on their shoulder, but they were focused on the task at hand, to get better, to improve, and they did it on a day-in and day-out basis, and they ended up being big-time contributors for us when other people might have thought they weren’t good enough. How many other opportunities have you had to leave over the years? There’s been other people that have reached out. I’m just not going to waste people’s time on that type of stuff, playing the game — “Oh, yeah, I’m interested,” to try to get more money from Washington. Every year somebody reaches out. Even before this job, I had a couple schools reach out and obviously I didn’t do anything with them. But this one was different. What was the biggest difference between this opportunity and some others over the years? It’s the University of Texas. I know Sark. I know guys who have coached with Sark. I know a couple guys on the staff, so I have a good feel for the culture and what it’s going to be like working with all these guys. And then I paired that with, I’ve been here seven years, and I wasn’t opposed to going out and doing something to start over. That’s what it really boiled down to.
    37 points
  2. I'll keep harping on this until the season starts, but there is a huge difference between Herman and Sark. Herman had nothing but success at Ohio State and UH. He came to Austin as an arrogant know-it-all, acting like he knew the exact recipe for championship success. He didn't face much adversity until he started coaching at Texas, and he had a rocky 4 years here. Sark had a dream job at USC and it was taken away from him. He hit bottom and had to climb back up. He knows what it's like to fail hard. Some will look at that as a weakness, but I like the idea of a HC who knows what it's like to lose everything. I expect he'll coach with a sense of urgency and won't take it for granted. We're already seeing it with his staff hires. That's a mentality we need after a decade of shit football.
    34 points
  3. 28 points
  4. The saddest part of the Trump presidency is that he identified a segment of American society that was really hurting and exploited them for his political and monetary gain. They believed in and loved him, because he was the only person to appear to give a shit about them in a long time. They loved him so much, they went so far as to risk their freedom for him in a violent insurrection. And when it was time for him to have their back, he just abandoned them. I don't know what to say to those people other than this: Now you kinda, sorta know what a Syrian Kurd feels like.
    28 points
  5. whoa, now... let’s not start getting on posters for not posting in a long while.
    26 points
  6. For shits, who could you have desired more than our current staff so far. Generally with Herman and Strong we were looking at what might have been. This staff fucks. HC - Sark // I mean I guess I could've gone Urban here, but the more I absorb and watch how he works and speaks, this guy feels like a fantastic fit. We keep him off the sauce, we have a winner imo. OC/Oline - Flood // When folks started chattering about the potential of pulling the Alabama Oline I felt like I was going to get betrayed. I couldn't give you another name I'd prefer with Sark on the staff. QB coach - A.J. Milwee - Looks like some sorta wunderkind that Sark uses as his second hand man. This happened so quickly I don't know who elese I'd throw here. Granted this is a huge coach next season with a bit of an unknown at the position outside of his stellar bowl game. Granted I'm sure Sark will have his hands all over this. WR coach - Coleman - This felt like a continuity decision. He isn't bad, much better than his predecessor. I guess this could be the weakest decision of the bunch, but by no means do I consider it a miss. Wiggins and Colbert were intriguing. RB coach - Drayton - Made sense with the need to hold onto Bijan in the craziness of the portal. TE coach - Banks - Solid, we all know why he joined the staff. Feels a bit dirty but at this point I'm ready to win. DC coach - Pete Kwiatkowski - The more I read on this guy the more I'm sold on Sark as the HC. Not only did he get a filthy DC, he managed to keep it under wraps until the 24th hour. I don't mind getting tid bits from the assholes running the 9.95 sites, but it is so refreshing to have all of them in the dark prior to signing one of the best DCs in the game. I was all aboard the Muschamp train, and Arnett was certainly an entertaining option. PK looks like a fucking stud. Dline coach - Bo Davis - Happened fast and the only other name mentioned that raised my ears was Tosh, more obviously for his recruiting. Bo is a stud and it's nice to have him back in the fold. LB coach - TBD CB coach - Terry Joseph - Another hire that happened quickly as we watched the 9.95ers have their pants down. Like the hire, maybe one of the "weaker" ones, but I can't complain about taking the secondary coach of ND who does a good job of recruiting Texas. Sark again not only hiring a competent coach but in doing so they take away a recruiter of Texas from a top notch school. The Cory Raymond rumor will echo if this one doesn't pan out, but if this and keeping Coleman is the worst decision, I'm on board. Also, anyone who suggested Akina here needs to be flogged. Saftey/ST coach - Gideon - No matter how much shit we give him for his drop interception and his infatuation with All-American Slam, the guy just works hard. My Ole Miss buddy stated they were sad to see him go. Another trend with the hires we see here. The team that lost the coach was sad to see them go (See Herb Hand for the opposite). I see the guy coming in and filling out the necessary holes in the staff. We have had all sorts of dog shit position coach decisions over the past 11 years. This feels good.
    26 points
  7. I posted this on my Twitter: I never would have thought I would see in my lifetime the first Black President and the first Black/South Asian Woman Vice-President. As a Black kid from small town conservative Texas, Black people just knew it would never happen. So yes, this is a huge deal.
    22 points
  8. So there you have it: Q was inside our hearts all along, and the real awakening was the friends we made along the way.
    21 points
  9. Coleman was impressive enough at Youngstown St that Bill Snyder decided to hire him as WR coach at Kansas St. Then he was impressive enough at that role that Snyder kept him for 5 seasons and then promoted him to Offensive Coordinator. Then after Bill retired Coleman came to Texas as an analyst and was impressive enough that Herman promoted him to the WR coach. Then Herman is fired and a new HC is brought in. That Head Coach is given a blank check for assistant coaches and he decides to keep Coleman as the WR coach. I mean, he must be doing something right to earn the trust of those three different coaches.
    21 points
  10. Fuck yes. A lot of you guys squat to pee when it comes to young up and comers. The Blake Gideon headscratching and handwringing has been enough for a lifetime. If Sarkisian hires Marve, the aggressive and active levels of mouthbreathing spewing onto this board will even make okies feel like the collective IQ here is a little weak. So now, I’m cheering for Marve to be the guy, beyond the fact that I think he’d be a good hire. Let’s maximize our panic.
    20 points
  11. My eyes have been opened to several things over the last four years: The U.S. is A LOT more racist than I thought. U.S. citizens are a lot dumber than I thought. Destroying the entire fucking country is not as hard as I thought. The Trumptards and right wing extremist fuckheads were angered by Obama's presidency, Hillary's candidacy and emboldened to come out of the shadows by Trump's presidency. We're less than a day in, but they are already retreating back to the shadows. All of the rational and good people among us must remember this: they might not be as visible as they were BUT THEY ARE STILL THERE AND THEY STILL THINK THE SAME VIOLENT RACIST THOUGHTS.
    18 points
  12. you old fucks not understanding filters on pictures will never not amuse me 🤣
    18 points
  13. I've mentioned it before, but it's my fault for our 2010 record. I have a cousin in Nebraska who used to run or moderate a big Husker fan board or FB group. Like 25-50k members. Not sure if he still does or what the name was because he's blocked me on FB. Anyway, in 2010 we were 3-2 coming off two straight losses and Nebraska was 5-0 and ranked #5. This cousin and his brother (who went to ISU but is everything Big Red on FB) were giving me tons of shit. I didn't say much because we were sucking. After one such barrage I said out loud where anyone could hear me: "God, I don't care if we lose every other game this season as long as we can somehow beat Nebraska this weekend." And we beat Nebraska. And then lost every other game except FIU. And neither of my cousins said a word. Never posted anything about the game. You'd think it never happened. Btw: My cousin blocked me on FB after he posted something to Nebraska fans about "What is something you always hear at Memorial Stadium?" and I answered, "Texas wins!" amongst all of his followers.
    18 points
  14. Ian Boyd with a brief look into Texas' defensive scheme:
    17 points
  15. This journo Igor is the one who took the footage of Goodman that day in the capitol. Suffice it to say that this honor recognizing him means something to him. He saw this hero do his damn job well.
    16 points
  16. So is your hypothesis that Sark was very thorough, thoughtful, and intentional with his staff hires for every other coaching position, but mailed it in on this one hire? Like he got to the WR spot and said to himself “Man, this coach hiring stuff is hard work. Maybe I’ll take a breather and just keep this guy that’s already in place to lighten the load on the ole Sarkster.” I just want to make sure I’m following your logic here.
    16 points
  17. We have a fountain in our courtyard. It has minimal upkeep. You only need to put in some bleach every month or so to keep the algae down. No problem. Mrs. NNM sees some algae today and goes to get the bleach. Bleach is empty. She thinks “what could kill that algae? Oh, I know, Oxy Clean!”
    16 points
  18. it's like people forget that blocking is a actually huge part of being a TE come on, he isn't going to be the best in the room considering Wiley and Liebrock now will have 3 and 2 years of college S&C under their belt + multiple years of training/blocking. is he going to be better than Cade fucking Brewer and Malcolm Epps? sure. if he leads the TE room in catches in 2021 either things have gone very poorly and players have gotten hurt/left the program or he is the second coming of Travis Kelce FYI, Kelce had 1 catch his freshman year in 11 games and 0 his soph (suspended) Maybe he is more of a George Kittle? 5 catches FR year and 1 his SO. Mark Andrews? 19 catches FR and 31 SO Darren Waller? 8 and 17 Gronk had 38 and 47 Jason Witten? 1 catch (partial season on offense) and 28 SO Tony Gonzalez? 8 and 37. Kyle Pitts? 3 and 54 Jake Butt? 20 and 21. Hunter Henry? 28 and 37. Aaron Hernandez? 9 and 34 TJ Hockenson? 0 and 34 There is a reason college TEs take time to get "broken in" - that shit is hard vs in HS when he mostly ran patterns and threw around dudes who were smaller than he was.
    15 points
  19. People need to stop it with all this nonsense about sacrificing more important aspects for a good recruiter. PK has worked with Gregory for 10 years and Lake for 8. You don’t pull a coordinator away from his most vital assistant coaches and then saddle him with a meathead trying to interfere with his game planning, or ask him to start coaching 2 positions while also coordinating a new defense. We need to go out and find the best coach possible that will help the defense succeed. If he happens to be a good recruiter, then that’s just gravy, but that should not be the focus. We have plenty of good recruiters on staff and a really good personnel and marketing team to help recruit. Coach up the players, put a good product on the field, and recruiting at Texas will take care of itself.
    15 points
  20. Starting off great! Judging by recent Twitter/IG post....thanks a lot pole assassin and Banks!
    15 points
  21. Huh. "The Storm" turned out to have the same amount of moisture in it as Ben Shapiro's wife's vagina. Interesting.
    14 points
  22. Is it okay that I teared up a little bit watching Kamala get sworn in? For my wife, for my daughter, for people with "not American-sounding names" like our family...for our country? Is it okay? IDGAF. It's okay to me.
    14 points
  23. I hate everything about this shitty president.
    14 points
  24. I didn’t cry after the election. I didn’t cry at Biden’s victory speech. I wondered why I wasn’t more emotional. But today I cried. I cried when they presented colors, during both swearings in and during the national anthem. Its been a long 4 years. Lots of work to be done and nothing is fixed yet, but this is a huge first step.
    13 points
  25. Today is my daughter's birthday. Been trading texts with her, she's so happy. And I got this one from her (as she is stuck in quarantine still for a few more days, so she's stuck in her apartment with her roomies): Fuck yeah. Just, fuck yeah. My wife has a ring that is a small circle of shattered glass -- she is wearing it, and will wear it all day. I'm serious, it's hard as hell for me to focus, or to see straight through the tears.
    13 points
  26. Yeah, what's wrong with lurking for a year?
    12 points
  27. 12 points
  28. Welp I don’t know if it’s just because I am getting older, or the fragility of our democracy has been tested, but this inauguration hit much different for me, than any previous one I have seen. I actually got a little misty eyed and had a profound feeling of pride. I was not expecting that
    12 points
  29. Any time you see this thread bumped and there are new arrests.
    12 points
  30. She’s a racist enabling cunt who hates Christmas. Fuck that gold digging hooker.
    11 points
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