University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Todd Monken Weekly Media Conference
12/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Opening Statement...
Obviously, not the way we wanted to finish up the year the other day for our seniors and to send us off into the offseason. That is the way it is. I thought in a lot of ways, we improved in every facet of our program from top to bottom. I thought we put ourselves this year in a position to compete, which a lot of times last year we weren't. We have made a lot of strides, but in the end this is a production business. We have to figure out a way to do it better, starting with me, our players and we have to go and recruit. We started that yesterday. We have to go add some more pieces to this team. We really only had nine or 10 scholarship seniors. The majority of our team returns. We had 25 scholarships to give so that will tell you where we were in terms of depth. We have to improve in a lot of areas, but I like where we are headed. In the last two years, we have done a good job of recruiting. We have a bright future. We have a lot of talented young players. We just have to do it better.
What is your overall assessment of 2014?
Disappointing. I have said this a number of times. After the beginning of 2013 where we struggled and had a chance to win a couple of games and then we had three games on the road that were very difficult, we were beat up. We were playing a bunch of young guys. We weren't very good. You weren't as frustrated because you knew where you were at. When you come back this year with a better team, a lot of the guys played the year before. Felt good about Nick (Mullens) as our quarterback. Some of the guys we brought in. It is like anything, when your expectations rise, there is more frustration when you don't have the success you want. That is part of what we are paid to do, find ways to win games. We had those opportunities. Obviously, losing Nick after North Texas kind of halted that momentum. It really did. We were headed in the right direction. Nick is still a young player. Had not played a lot. That stung, but that is no excuse. We needed to find a way to win more games. Three is not enough. I am not discouraged because I know where we came from. I know where we started. Where we started was a heck of a lot lower than where we are right now. It takes time. It is not that simple to just say `put this guy in and let him play and it will be the same.' No, it's not. We have to do it better. I have to do it better. Our staff has to do it better. I expect that we will. I expect we will continue this climb that we have already started.
What has been the overall feel of the exit meetings with players?
We have had exit meetings with all of our players, seniors included. First of all, for the seniors, the guys who stayed with us. A class four years ago, there are only six guys left of 25. From the class right after that, there are like 10 of them. Those guys who have stuck with it and worked hard have gained unbelievable value in terms of the rest of their lives. How to fight through tough times. It is easy when things are going well; when it is not, how do you fight through it irrespective of tasting victory or reward for all your hard work? The message to them was that is going to benefit them later in life. To the rest of our team, the message to them has been good. I think we have the right guys. I think we do. I think we are headed in the right direction. I don't think there is anyone who wouldn't say that we are better. There is not one person who would look at our product and say, `you are not better than the year before.' We are significantly better. Would we have all preferred to have more victories? No doubt. If there is anything we could do about it, we already would have done it. What do we have to do now to move forward? What do I have to do? What do we have to do for our team? What do we have to do to go recruit? 2015, which starts today because yesterday was Senior Send Off, what can we do to move forward as a program and ultimately achieve our goals which is to win a championship? That is what this place has been built on and that is what our goal is to put ourselves in a position to win a championship.
What player do you feel most improved in 2014?
I have to think about that and guys that really came on and improved. It is hard to say. Marquise Ricard probably improved a bunch. He is still not where he needs to be, but he improved. D.J. Thompson who didn't play last year. Those two guys probably improved. I know Jomez Applewhite who played a lot for us this year from Bassfield came along really well. Linebacker wise there were a lot of guys who played. We had a number of guys improved throughout the year.
Do you feel that Southern Miss is in a better position this year in terms of recruiting?
The conferences have gotten blurred. You have the Power Five and then the other five. Then it is about bowl opportunities. What was years ago, is different now. The SEC and the name of that is different now. We've earned zero wins, one win and three wins. That doesn't make it easy. You can talk all you want about over the last 80 years, the 20th winningest program. That is why I wanted to be here. We've earned those three years. They want to hear where are you headed? Are you going to be the head coach? Where is that going? Which I am. We are going to continue to get better. That is what you deal with. You deal with the here and now. No one is coming to rescue us. No one is coming to say, `it's ok.' Bottom line is we have to work our rear ends off to get ourselves out of this. That is the way it is. Three coaches in three years took its toll on our depth. This year will be the first time that we are close to 85 scholarships. Now we will start to figure out if we have enough. We travelled eight o-lineman this week. We lost Norman Price. We were moving Fred (Moore) in there at right tackle. We couldn't practice because we didn't have enough offensive linemen. I don't think people really realize how difficult that is. That is not an excuse that's a fact. We still have to find a way to do it better. I know that is why I am paid to figure it out. This will be the first time, if everything goes like we expect this offseason, we will be right around 85 scholarships and be able to develop guys and have depth. I heard it the other night during the Duke-Wake Forest game. They talked about how at Duke having fifth-year seniors or seniors to them was like having five-star players. There is no question. The key to building a successful program and getting us out of this rut is retention. Plain and simple, it is retention. How do we get guys to stay in the program and develop with the same system so they are playing their best football when they are older?
You mentioned the wins the last three years and retention, is that what embrace about rebuilding?
No question. You have to embrace that part of it. You have to find guys that want to be a part of that. Guys that will always be revered for bringing this program back to the top. This is a great place. We have not barriers to success. We have none. We have unbelievable support from the top on down. We have an area we can recruit. We have good facilities that are only going to get better. Bottom line is we have to do it better - players, coaches and in general in terms of putting our best foot forward. We are going to continue to do that. We are on the right path. Everybody can see it, we just want it now. I get it, but we are on the right path.
From a recruiting standpoint, can you be more selective this year?
We have always been very selective. We have tried to make sure the guys we took fit. If it wasn't worth the risk, the risk-reward of who you take. In recruiting, every player that you take, even when I was in the NFL, every player has flaws. No one is a perfect player. What flaws do you want to live with? What is it that you want to live with? If it is an ultra-talented guy, what is the risk? Whatever you are looking at, what do you want to live with? Height? Weight? Speed? Different things that you are trying to critique. We have to believe in the way we have done it. We are only going to continue to see that if we continue on the same lines. All the guys that we have done that with are only going to get better if we have evaluated right. All I ask our staff is, when the player shows up they are what we thought they were. Then we have trust our evaluation. The worst thing is when you bring somebody in and they weren't what we thought they were - either as a person or as a player. That looks bad on us. We didn't do our research. We didn't really evaluate it right. Now we are stuck with that player and he is not good enough. You have to be careful. Last year we lost some guys in recruiting and we had to scramble. You have to be careful of that. All of a sudden, if you haven't done your research, now there is some guess work. Nothing we do in life we want to guess whether it is getting married or a job or a relationship. I don't want to guess of what I am getting. That is our biggest challenge - trust in our evaluation, the process that we follow, and make sure when they show up here they are exactly what we thought they were.
Will you and/or your staff be in Starkville for the State Championships on Friday and Saturday?
We have a big weekend coming up of recruits coming in this weekend. We won't have the opportunity to get there. We have 10 or more recruits coming in this weekend so we will be here. It would be nice to be able to go, but we have a big weekend this weekend and cannot.
Taking an objective look, is there any way you see the Top Four playing out?
I have no idea how the Top Four is going to play out. There are teams that still have to play. I find it really interesting though. Nobody really liked the BCS because the human element. Computers, they didn't like that. They didn't like the biases of the human element. It is the same thing. It is just four teams with other people making those decisions. It is silly. If they really want to take the human element out of it, if there is a head-to-head matchup like every other sport, that would factor in. They beat them head-to-head, then they should go. That would take out anyone having an opinion on what should happen. No matter what, five is going to be upset. That is the way it is going to be. Go eight, nine is upset. You go 16, 17 is upset. Now, I hear the same thing that everybody is upset about the eyeball test. It is the eyeball test. It is not wins and losses. It is the eyeball test. No matter what, it will be talked about. The difference between basketball and football is we talk about it for eight weeks leading up to it as opposed to basketball where no one talks about it and the day of they find out. How would we be surprised? They have been talking about it. What is going to change? One game? That is what is really silly about it. Each week, well, they didn't win by enough. Florida State keeps winning and everyone wants to critique it. I know they haven't lost. They have played some pretty good teams and haven't lost. It is going to be exciting. I am fired up about it. I like it, but it doesn't solve anything. You have four teams playing for it instead of two. It is no different.
If you had to make a system, what would yours be?
It is never going to come to that because they don't want to get rid of the bowls, which I understand. I think if you do away with the bowls, it is really tough for players. If you played and went to a bowl game and had a week with your team, it is so great for your players. It is one of the rare things you get to do for your players who really do all the work. You get to take them somewhere and they get to have a week with their team and go somewhere they have never been. You go to a playoff, you are there for about two days and there you are. That is not much fun. Now is it great for fans and for excitement? Of course it is. I don't see how they are going to get to that because every other tournament style system is the home team hosts. Right now they do it with different bowls. Four teams have to go to these bowl games. Go to eight, how are you going to do that? Are they going to be home games? You would have to do something like home games and then go on from there. Are you going to have a team potentially go to three bowl games? It is already made up the way it is with the bowl system. Two bowls and then one bowl. Four bowls, two bowls, one bowl? Or eight bowls, four bowls, two bowls, one bowl? I don't have any idea. I think it would be crazy. I think the more it has expanded the more people are excited about it. Whether you play it on the field or you don't play it on the field or expand it to 16, there is no guarantee the best team wins. No one can always tell you the best team wins. It is exciting. In basketball, the best team in the country doesn't always win the tournament. It is the team that won six games in a row. If played on the field, it doesn't guarantee the best team wins it. The team that got hot. It is fun and exciting. A lot of people will gamble on it. Great.
What is the biggest storyline looking at 2015?
I think it is exciting because of where we started and where we are now, irrespective of the wins and losses. I didn't go into one game where I didn't think, `if we did this and did this, we could win this game.' I don't care which one it was. At the beginning of last year, now middle of the year it was a little harder because of how banged up we were. I am excited about where we are headed. I am excited to see where the guys who played this year are headed. We had one of the highest number of first-year starters. We were in the top five. At one point we were third in terms of number of first-year starters. Now, some of them were junior college or whatever, but they had never started a game. At one point, it was like 22 guys that had never started a game that started a game for us. That is exciting. We lose basically two players on offense. We lose five players on defense. It is exciting to think of the jump we made from 2013 to 2014 was significant. I am excited to see that jump. If you really believe that the jump was significant, and I think our people believe that, then just think about what we can be next year. That jump was significant. We looked like a football team. We still made a lot of mistakes and need to be better in a lot of areas. But if you believe that jump is capable, which we should, then we should have a really good football team next year. I really believe that. That is what I am excited about.
