Jan. 12, 2010

Ed Warinner Quotes

His thoughts on coming to Notre Dame:
“We’re really excited to be here. This is a place you dream about coaching. I love the history and tradition here. I love the fact we are coaching true student-athletes that prioritize their academic success and athletic success and are able to piece that together. I’m looking forward to what we can do here in the future and realize that great things can be accomplished here.”

On the factors that went into his decision to come to Notre Dame:
“First of all, the head coach and what he brings to the table. The type of people he wants to have on the coaching staff. Then, I look at the university and the support of the university, the support of the alumni, the tradition, the importance of academics and athletics together. All those things make it a great environment and a place where we can be successful. I’m looking forward to that opportunity.”

On his history as an offensive line coach and how that will benefit Notre Dame:
“Having coached offensive lines in four different systems, I think there is a lot I can draw from. I think I have worked with a variety of players so I’ll be able to adjust to whatever the needs are of each individual. We’ll be able to bring them along and develop them because we have experience to call on. That variety of working in different institutions with different systems and different styles can really help us develop our linemen to the utmost potential.”

On how his coaching background will help the current coaching staff:
“I’ll be able to bring different insights on how to attack people. Different schemes you might use to move the ball while running it, protections, passing game, things like that. All of those different systems worked fairly successful, then we just have to pull the things that are applicable to what we want to do here and add those to bring some new ideas to the table. It’s not just running a system, though. It’s game adjustments, how to attack certain defensive thoughts. I feel like the experience and the wide-ranging teams we played against in different leagues in the different systems really could bring a lot to the table.”

On his personality and what the players should expect from him:
“They will see that I’m very focused, especially when we get to the football part of my job. I’ll be very demanding and very challenging of our offensive line in terms of how they practice and the effort they give. So they’ll see on the football field I’m all business. They’ll see in the meeting rooms we need to have focus and attention to detail and learn before we hit the practice field so when we hit the practice field we move fast. I like to practice fast. I’m not into slowing things down in practice. It’s a very high tempo, very intense, very fast paced. I think the guys will find that I’m an easy guy to talk to. I can be someone that can mentor them. I can be someone that can be there for them away from football. I’ll work with them in all aspects of their life. They’ll see that I’m a guy they are comfortable with coming to and talking to. I think I’m an easy guy to get along with and they’ll see that I care about the players. I want them to know that I care about them as people just as much as I care about how productive they are as football players. But I will push them extremely hard to maximize their potential. It will be a good situation and I think the kind of kids that play at Notre Dame will respond well to that.”

On his recruiting history:
“The key for Notre Dame is to target the right type of people to come to this university to play football. It takes a special person to come to Notre Dame. They have to be willing to be a student-athlete, not just an athlete. I think they have to embrace the history and tradition of this place. I think it’s important they understand that. When we can find those types of qualities in a high caliber, highly-talented player, they’ll be the right fit for us. With those guys, we can be really successful. I have recruited a wide range of players in my coaching career. I’m not limited to a geographic region or certain demographics. We just have to find the right guys who want to come do it the way Coach Kelly wants to do it and the way we have to do it at Notre Dame. We’ll accept that and embrace it. When we find those guys and get them here, we can be extremely successful like we have been in the past.”

On his immediate plans:
“I want to meet the players, meet all the coaches and meet the support staff. I need to get my feet on the ground in terms of learning the lay of the land here. We’re also going to do a lot of recruiting evaluations because we’re going to hit the road hard next week. We still have some scholarships available so we’re going to sift through who we want to target and get to know who those guys are. We’ll also make a few phone calls to some of our recruits and get in touch with them prior to going to visit them next week.”