Steve Sarkisian has finalized his coaching staff (again), so he was made available on a teleconference today to talk about his latest hire, Dan Cozzetto, his newly promoted offensive coordinator, Doug Nussmeier, as well as a few other topics. No big news came of it, but here are a few highlights:
Sarksisian’s thoughts on O-line coach/run game coordinator Dan Cozzetto:
“Coach Cozzetto was an offensive coordinator for years. He brings a lot of knowledge, he brings a lot of experience to our staff, but also brings a hard-nosed mentality to our guys up front. I’m excited what he is going to bring to us from a physical standpoint and an experience and knowledge standpoint.”
On quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier, who added the title of offensive coordinator yesterday:
“In the short time that I’ve had to work with Doug Nussmeier, he’s got a great feel for the game. He’s got good command not just of the passing game, but of the running game and protections. So we promoted to the offensive coordinator spot to handle the day-to-day activities. I think he’ll do a great job with that, and I’ll still be calling the plays on game days.”
Asked his thoughts on Jim Michalczik left for the Raiders, which led to the hiring of Cozzetto:
“I was caught off guard by it. I knew Jimmy was a really good football coach, and I thought in time we would have to deal with but I wasn’t quite ready to deal with it here year.”
Thoughts on his offensive staff as a whole:
“What we’ve done on offense is every coach on our offensive staff at one time or another throughout their career has been an offensive coordinator. So means we’ve got a lot of guys who can think outside the box and not just at their position group, but they get the game. They have a feel for the game and an understanding that it’s more than just their position group. For us, it makes it fun and I’m excited that we have a bunch of young, bright coaches who have been coordinators before and really understand the game of football.”
How’s Jake Locker and the rest of the offense progressing?
“I think they are developing well. As we are moving forward as a staff our players, not just Jake, are able to move forward with what we’re doing offensively. They are getting more work on the computer system looking at (video) cut-ups, looking at film. We’re able to be with them now in their off-season conditioning work so they are getting a feel for our coaching style, what we’re all about. I think Jake is no different. He is responding well to the coach Nussmeier and myself. He’s a diligent worker and a guy that is very attentive to detail. I’m excited about the progress he’s making.
How are the players responding to winter conditioning?
“No question, our kids are working their tails off. We had a great team run this morning at 6 a.m. I think our kids are working extremely hard. They have bought into [conditioning coach Ivan] Lewis’ strength and conditioning program and I like the mentality that our guys are bringing every day right now.”
“I’ve been really encouraged,” he said when asked about the players’ progress. “We’ve been going about a month-and-a-half now with our strength and conditioning program and I’ve been extremely encouraged with the way we are starting to look as a football team. We’re losing weight with our big guys and our skill guys’ change of direction keeps getting better every time we watch them work, so I’m excited about what’s happening. We still have a ways to go, but I like the mentality our kids have. They’re willing to work, they’re focused on it and they are excited about working out on a daily basis, which is a great thing. You always want these guys to be in the want-to state of mind and not the have-to state of mind when they go into the weight room.”
Sarkisian was also asked about his Twitter page, which he has used to post updates on his daily happenings:
“Everybody wants to know what’s going on on a day-to-day basis in a football program, and I’m just trying to give them a little insight as to what we’re doing, what we’re thinking about, why we’re doing what we’re doing, just keeping people abreast of Husky football. It’s a great way to connect to people.”
(a little hard to imagine Tyrone Willingham posting frequent updates on a Twitter page, no?)
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