Mike MacIntyre Media Day Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre

Opening Statement
"First of all, there are two people that are dear to me that have passed away. Charlie Whitaker who has been a Buff fan for years passed away of pancreatic cancer a week ago. He worked all of our practices, you might have seen him when you came out there; he always had a great smile. He is looking down on us now. My first couple years here Tom Kensler was our beat guy. You meet a lot of people in my business, but as I heard people talk about him— it was very true and as I talked with him and met with him – I was always telling my wife he was such a genuine person. He told it like it was, he was a true journalist but he always had a great heart. I know Tom's burial is tomorrow I believe and I just wanted to make sure we sent out condolences to their families and tell them how much I appreciated them.

Let's talk about football. We have had two days of practice and it's gone well. You know we are just running around in what I call pajamas; it's not really real football yet. So they are having a good time doing that and then tomorrow we will put on shoulder pads and helmets. We have a lot of returning football players that are extremely hungry to be successful. You see that helps in practice that helps in their enthusiasm, also in their ability to listen and have intensity in meetings. All of those type of things are the focus you need to be a good football team. So I see that sense of intensity and focus that in younger teams you always have to get them going and in an older team you don't really have to do that when they're doing it right. We have excellent leadership on our football team and we're excited about our next day of practice tomorrow."

On Sefo Liufau's Recovery This Offseason
"I talked to the trainers every day about all of our guys, but Sefo was always on the list. He was making all of the benchmarks of how that progresses. This is the seventh one I've gone through as a head coach. I don't remember a Lisfranc [injury] back when I played. It's a new injury type in a way. Maybe it was just a broken foot then and didn't know how to fix it. Everybody I've dealt with have all had different scenarios. The good thing about it is he had one pin go in; it was a clean break. When you have two pins go in, I've had problems with those guys being able to get back on time. He's made all of his benchmarks and done everything he's been asked. He even trimmed down some more. He lost a little more body weight and gained a little more muscle. He's taken advantage of the situation. We've had no issues so far, but I need to knock on wood for sure."

On Impact Of Sefo's Return
"They elected him a captain again; that was very impressive. He's a three-year captain, that's only been done twice in history and the last time was 1893. That's huge. I think that answers the leadership side of it. On the football side of it, he's broken 75 records and he'll break about 15 or 20 more this year. Our football team has caught up with him. As the quarterback and the head coach you always take the brunt of everything and you always take all of the accolades too. All of the accolades aren't all really yours and all of the brunt is not really yours. At the quarterback position and being a young man, he's carried everybody on his shoulders, always battled, and has been a very, very physical player. He's extremely mentally tough too. I look for him to have an excellent year. In his sophomore year, he threw the ball well. Last year, he was running the ball wall. He had a hurt his shoulder where he couldn't throw all week and threw off his accuracy, even though he's the most accurate passer in the history of this school. I think that this year he'll put all it together and have a phenomenal and walk out of here the way he should with what he's earned and the victories he needs to get. I'm excited to see him do it."

On Putting It All Together
"I think it's all a process and builds on top of everything. I'd like to go out and run a marathon tomorrow, but once I started running I'd break down after eight or nine miles. They built it in layers. Now they're at the point where they believe they and see they can do it. It's not only in their words, but it's been in their actions more than it ever has before. I think when your words turn into actions, that's when results happen more often, and that's what I see."

On Co-Offensive Coordinator Darrin Chiaverini
"Chev' brings excellent leadership. When you first meet Chev', you'll see his passion about Colorado, but also see his passion about football. Football was extremely important to him as a young man. It's given him the opportunities to be successful: playing pro football and now making a living coaching it. He also loves coaching receivers and the offensive side of the ball. He brings a great expertise in that area for us. The young men can see the passion he has for the University of Colorado. He brings three or four different things to the table for us."

On Bowl Expectations
"I've heard that since the first year I got here. When you haven't gone to a bowl game in a while, that's always the first thing said. Our goal for our players is tomorrow's practice. We want to win every game we play, we really do. I definitely feel like we have the opportunity to do that. Hopefully at the end of the year all of that will take care of itself."

On Importance Of Opening Game For Momentum
"The opening game is always a lot of fun; there's always a lot of hype for the opening game anywhere in the country. That's always exciting, but when you play a rival in the very first game at a neutral site, it's a unique experience and puts a little more hype and emotion on it. Playing that football game is a big deal. It's one that our players hear about for 365 days a year. You don't hear about every other game 365 days a year. That puts a little more of an emotional tie to the game than most games."

On Development Of Offensive And Defensive Line
"Offensively, in 2014, we had the least amount of sacks in the Pac-12. Last year, we had the most sacks in the Pac-12. A lot of that was predicated to injuries. We had quite a few injuries, the most I've ever seen on the offensive line as a head coach. Vice versa, you look at Stanford the year before, they got a lot of guys hurt in 2014 and didn't have quite as a good a year. Last year, they kept the same five offensive linemen the entire year and the continuity was big. We have Jeromy Irwin coming back who I think is an excellent, excellent player. He could never really get over 285 [pounds], which you really wanted him in the 300s. He's now 308 and doing really well. All of the other guys have started multiple games which is good for us. They've all gotten stronger. We've also added Timmy Lynott into the mix who I think is an excellent player. I feel like our whole offensive line is very good and has a lot of experience. We still have to stay healthy though. We've got some young redshirt freshmen who I think are going to be really good players, but I hope we don't have to throw them into the fire in the third game for the rest of the season like we did last year with a couple of those guys. I think our offensive line is going to be excellent with our first seven guys. Defensively, we are big, strong, physical and tough. We're two-deep in the front. I'm excited about those guys. I think we average 6-3 and a half and 295 across the front. Our outside linebackers: Derek McCartney's now 250-something and six foot four and a half and Jimmie Gilbert's 240-something and six foot four and a half. We're a big, intimidating front now. When we first got here that wasn't the case. Upfront I think we've made the strides we need to make."

On Senior Leadership
"They are definitely taking charge in a lot of different ways: in the meeting rooms, weight room and out on the field. They do a lot of talking that I don't have to do anymore. That's a good thing. It's like when your kids get a little older; you don't have to say no to him and they know what to do. I see that with these young men. At the same time, I think they do have a chip on their shoulder. You always hear that, but they really do and they've stuck with this program. That's one of the things I noticed when I got here. Percentage-wise how many people had been bailing out of here since 2004 was unbelievable. These kids have stuck through it all. We have the highest APR in the history of the school, which is a big deal. We have the most juniors and seniors since 2001 and most ever returning starts [412]. We've built a team and that's how you develop a program from the ashes. You get people to stay here to believe and compete and keep going. Hopefully they'll rise out of the ashes this year."

On Allocating Special Teams Responsibilities
"Full-time special teams coaches really just came into existence in college football probably 10 years ago. There are still quite a few teams that run their special teams by position coaches. We've broken it down within our team. We have coaches that have been special team coaches before on staff. We have coaches that have coached special teams in their careers a tremendous amount. It's put more emphasis on each member of the staff. Now the staff is totally involved in it. Everybody helped before, but when you have more of a stake in it, you're going to put more time into it and the players are going to be more committed. I've seen that already through spring and the first couple days that we've been here. We spread it around within our staff. We hired a quality control young man, Matt Thompson, who's always been a kicking guru. He breaks down all the stuff for the special teams; he really understands kickers, punters, and long-snappers."

On Selecting Captains
"I had everyone that's been in our program a year or longer, and has played a full season was able to vote – none of the freshmen were voting they really don't know all the guys; I didn't want it to be a popularity contest. We set up criteria, the players did, for what they were looking for in a captain. It was open balloting, it wasn't handing in a piece paper; it was a stand-up for who you vote for type of thing. It was interesting how they did it. It's given those guys (the captains) a lot more teeth. Also, the young men that weren't voted captain know what to learn and work on."

On Raised Expectations
"We always want the expectations high. We play in the best conference in America, so the expectations are always high for us. The expectations at the University of Colorado are always high. There's great history here and that's something they know they step into. I also think it molds you as a person when expectations are set high in academics, in the social atmosphere in the way you have to behave, and also on the football field which is your job. If all of those expectations are high, then you're making yourself into a diamond; it's that pressure. If you can handle it when you're 18 to 22 years old, you're going to be able to handle a lot of other things when you get out of here in life. Our team embraces that pressure and we do too."

On Personal Growth
"You're always constantly evaluating yourself. Every year you want to improve in different areas. You never ever arrive, so you're always tweaking. Every team is a little different, every year is a little different, and every situation is a little different. One of the things I've tried to improve on consistently is making sure I listen to the staff, hear all the input, making sure everybody knows they have open input, and then trying to figure out what's best for the team. The other thing is making sure you have your team get closer and closer together, and there's a lot of different ways to do that. Those are some of the things I'm working on to try to make sure we do better this year to help us in certain situations. If you ask my wife there's a lot of things I need to improve on."

On Coaching An Experienced Team
"As young men mature or anybody matures you can talk to them differently. They should be able to 'go from eating soft food to solid food.' The way you talk to them, the way you challenge them, the way they challenge each other, and the things that you demand out of them are at a higher stake. When you see them meet those demands, and reach that level, then you can go to the next level. If you don't reach that level, then you can't go to the next level. That's what I've seen these guys be able to do. They're excited about the year; they definitely believe they can do certain things. Now, you've got to turn words into action and that's what they want to do."

On The Defense And Chidobe Awuzie
"Our defense made a big jump last year, which I thought they would, because we had a lot of guys coming back. Now, we have all the same guys coming back and we add Josh Tupou and Addison Gillam back into the mix. I expect us to be really good on defense. Chido (Awuzie) is definitely a leader on defense, he's what you would call a true playmaker on defense. People come up to me all the time and say, 'golly, he's all over the field.' Well we put him all over the field and he also has the ability to make plays all over the field. He's a key ingredient in our defense and we definitely build things around him depending how we play certain teams."

On Team Having A Chip On Their Shoulder
"I sure hope so. That's what I see. We need to see it on Saturdays when we show up, but it's in their mindset for sure."

On Depth
"We have good depth at running back. On the offensive line, we've got seven guys that have been through the battle that can do it. We have other young guys that are very talented and ready to go, but they haven't been thrown out there in front of everybody yet. We have good depth at receiver, we have a lot of guys who have played a lot of ball there and made plays. On defense, there's been quite a few guys on the defensive front that have started and played a lot, and their backups. At linebacker, we have the three returning (leading) tacklers from three years in row, they're all back. There's depth in that area. We also have Ryan Severson who is an excellent player, who plays special teams and can play either spot at linebacker. In our defensive backfield we're able to move guys around. We have quite a few guys that have played from Tedric [Thompson], Ryan Moeller, Ahkello [Witherspoon], Chido [Awuzie], Isaiah Oliver, Afolabi [Laguda] and we can just keep mixing them. We'll need a couple young DB's to step up in there for special teams and if anybody goes down, but I feel very good in that area. Our field-goal kicker's back. He was kicking well last year; he had a little problem on the left hash. He knows that, we know that, and we definitely feel like we fixed it. He's had an excellent first two days and looks good. Our punter is back; he kept improving as the year went on last year and he's got a powerful leg. At quarterback, behind Sefo [Luifau] we have Steven Montez and Jordan Gehrke battling for the backup spot. Steven (Montez) had a phenomenal spring. I think he has a huge upside, but we just need to see if he carries that on through fall camp. He's big and athletic."

On Receiver Becoming A Go-To Guy
"The guy that has done it in the games and has kept improving his body and working, would be Shay Fields. Shay Fields is an excellent player. We need him to stay healthy. Last year he was having a great year and he hurt an ankle on that long 78-yard touchdown play he made against Arizona. Shay Fields is a guy that I think can step up and be a top echelon Pac-12 wide receiver."

On Areas Of Improvement
"You want to improve in every area. The area offensively that we weren't as good in last year percentage-wise, was our ability to score touchdowns inside the 20. If we can get back to the same rate we were at in 2014 which I think we were around 64 percent or so, then – the way our offense is moving the ball – we will radically change the scoring difference. Scoring more touchdowns, and our field goal kicker being little bit higher percentage in that area, will make a huge difference in our team. Yesterday was our first practice and we went straight to the red zone. We need to keep working on it and keep getting more comfortable. You can't give kids the sense of 'you have to score in the red zone.' You just practice it more. You know what defenses are going to do down there. You get your system down and you get comfortable. I think if you emphasize it, you get the results."

On Incoming Freshman Contributions
"Well it's too early to tell. I think all of them are very good athletes, they bring a lot to the table. You really don't know until they get in pads, out there a few days and there's these big men hitting them and beaten on them. How are they going to handle all of that? Some guys are able to handle that quicker, some guys need to redshirt and then all the sudden they pass up the guys that played earlier. It's all a process. But it's too early for me to say that. I won't be able to tell you that until the week we are getting ready to play Colorado State and really after we have gone through a couple scrimmages and seeing how it all unfolds.

On Fourth Year QB Pressure
"Sefo [Liufau] can handle a lot. The thing that he has gotten really good at in games, is being able to change plays, see things, understand what is going on and you can tell him something right on the sidelines. You can even tell him something in a series, "Hey look for this," and he can get it. When you are a young player all you are trying to do is get the snap, get it handed off, and get it thrown to the right guy. You don't see the whole picture so you are kind of tunnel vision, now he can see everything. So we are able to do that with him during the course of a game, during the course of a series. He will even know if we call something that we have talked about during the week, "Hey if we call this, this is what they're doing now we are seeing it" and he knows, "Okay, wow that's why we're calling it. I got it now." So things like that he's able to do. If you are in the Pros you could just tell him in the headset, "Here we go. They are doing what we talked about." So it's hard to do that as much in college because you don't have anything to talk to them with, it's all about signals. Sometimes you can call him over in between a play and tell him. But he is able to handle a lot and we expect him to and he does too. I don't think you can really overload him, so to speak."

On Sefo Liufau Making Plays At End Of Games
"Well number one we practice it quite a bit. Number two; the players around him have to make some plays. And number three, he just needs to stay within himself, not try and go, "I got to make this, I got to make that," just stay within what's happening and take what they give you and play ball. It's kind of like to me, the three-point shooter that says, "I have to make the three point shot!" If he's just playing in the flow of it and it's in the system and boom he's open it goes. So I think it is the same way with Sefo. Just get him in the flow, let him play and let him realize he doesn't have to make the play to win the game. It will naturally happen within the offense. It might be his play to make, it might be a hand off to a running back, it might be a block that the left tackle makes picking up a blitz and he's able to get it off, all of that goes together. So they all need to realize that every person is important in that situation, everybody under pressure has to preform, not just one guy. So I think he understands that but you don't nitpick with him on it. You just set it all up, put him in the best situations to go and he'll make more of his share."

On Early Commitments
"It's been a process. We have been out recruiting for basically three and a half years. So we have really three full classes in; three and a half full classes so to speak because everything was half way done when I got here and we just kind of scraped it up the first year. We got some good players that last spring, that last part, and in two and a half weeks of recruiting we got a couple few good players that we have all talked about in here that are pretty special guys. But I think the thing that has helped us out the most is that we revamped our recruiting office. When I first got here they didn't have that. We didn't have the resources for it and that's what I wanted to do. Rick [George] and I talked about it in depth about 22 months ago and he got the resources and went out and raised it. He is a phenomenal fundraiser; he tremendously backs us and what we do. He understands it and he gets it. So when we revamped that we went from one person in that recruiting office to seven. It makes a big difference. Our coaches have also done a great job. The other side of it is, when the young men get here on this campus and they see this facility along with the most beautiful campus in America; it's not me just saying that, it has been voted that a bunch of times. When they go down to see Pearl Street and enjoy all that, I think that kind of puts the icing on the cake. But when you walk into a $156 million football complex, that they have never seen anything like it before, also makes it special."

Colorado University Athletics

Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre

Players Mentioned

Chidobe Awuzie

Shay Fields

Jordan Gehrke

Jimmie Gilbert

Addison Gillam

Jeromy Irwin

Sefo Liufau

Derek McCartney

Ryan Moeller

Steven Montez

Isaiah Oliver

Ryan Severson

Josh Tupou

Related Videos