Feb. 6, 2002

JOHN HEISLER
Couple quick notes. All the information relative to the individuals that have been signed by Notre Dame is available at our web site at UND.com. There’s a full roster as well as biographical information and a general press release. We can also email that or fax it to you. If you need that, feel free to call our office if you can’t get it off of our website. Again, that’s UND.com.

COACH WILLINGHAM
is here. He’ll make a couple opening remarks and we’ll take some questions.

COACH WILLINGHAM
I think obviously this is a big day for our program. Any time you have a signing day, you really are bringing in the new blood to your program. At this point we are very excited about the young men that we will introduce to our program and hopefully they will be strong, strong elements to our success in the future.

So we’re excited about the group. We hope that their futures will be extremely bright.

Q.
Can you talk about the process coming in from a different school where you’ve been recruiting maybe different kids and how difficult it was to get your bearings with Notre Dame’s kids?

COACH WILLINGHAM
The first thing is, the manner in which the transition took place, it’s very difficult to jump-start recruiting when you’ve been at one place, then you jump into the next University.

First of all, I’d like to praise our administration because I thought they did a good job of holding things together. I think Coach Mattison and some of the other coaches and administrators that worked in the recruiting process did a fine job of holding things together.

Then I think our coaches jumped in once we got the staff in place and secured some – unfortunately we lost some during the process also. But I think they did a great job of keeping things in a positive position for us and allowing us to move forward, where they will be recognized as a very good class.

Q.
In the past, having 12 early commitments before the end of the season wasn’t something Notre Dame had done. In keeping 11 of those 12 or at least 10 how important was that to have those there in place to go from there?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I think it was extremely important to have that group of already committed young men in place. But I think it also made it very difficult because you had a group of young men associated with one personality and one group of coaches, and now you were kind of breaking those ties.

I think to kind of reunite or rebond that group was an important element. And I think that was done very well also.

Q.
There were a couple kids that apparently decommitted. Can you talk about how that made you feel, how difficult was that part of the process?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Well, number one, you always hate to have young men that you respect as players and students go through that process. But at the same time we made sure at least from my vantage point that we always focused on the positive, focused on the guys that remained committed to Notre Dame because we realized that they really want to be a part of this institution and a part of this athletic program.

Q.
In terms of a breakdown of positions, seems you went heavy on the defensive line. With two seniors graduating at tailback, you haven’t yet completely addressed the depth problem there. Are you concerned with any specific position?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Well, I think you’re always concerned. But the way our recruiting worked out, unfortunately or fortunately, this is the way it kind of transpired.

But I am very pleased with the young men we have added to our class. Jeff Jenkins, I think he will be an asset to filling not only depth questions but also in terms of filling skill level that we need.

Q.
Maurice Stovall, can you talk about him, what he brings at wide receiver?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Well, I’m always very reluctant to say what any player brings because, as you know, the process of getting acclimated to a University changes the entire dynamics of a young man. Hopefully he will come in and be an asset to us. Especially we put no pressures on any of our young men to come in and do that right away. If he does, that will be great. I think when you look at Maurice, first of all you see a trend in modern-day football towards big, explosive receivers. And he fits that bill. He’s young man that has that kind of range, has that kind of speed, and hopefully has the maturity to really come in and help us in the program.

Q.
The celebrity that some of these recruits attained, notoriety around the whole process, how has that changed recruiting in your mind? How difficult does it make it for a head coach to really connect with a young man?

COACH WILLINGHAM
First of all, I have to make sure we’re clear that I’m not answering a question regarding Lorenzo.

Q.
Right. Generally.

COACH WILLINGHAM
The hype and the celebrity status of young people in the modern athletic world in terms of recruiting process. I think what we have to do as coaches is adjust. I think it’s a different age that we live in. We have to be more media conscious in all aspects, and that includes recruitment. So that means it’s a system you have to adjust to and become comfortable with.

What you hope, though, you hope that any of this doesn’t spoil the young men. That’s what you hope. It allows him to come in and be the same person and successful person that he’s been in his high school days.

Q.
Does a Nate Schiccatano, does he represent the new offense that you’re bringing in, the new type of player, the H-back type of player? Does he kind of epitomize the new breed of offense you’re bringing here?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I’m unfamiliar with H-back. I’m not sure that’s exactly what I would call Schiccatano. I think Nate in our eyes is more of a halfback. He’s a big version of the halfback with his size and speed. Hopefully he’ll add some dimensions there.

In terms of an H-back, I’m not quite sure.

Q.
Compared to recruiting at Stanford, geographically was it much wider at Notre Dame for you? Were you able to go to different parts of the country that you hadn’t focused on previously?

COACH WILLINGHAM
No, I don’t think I could say that. I think past years at Stanford, geographical breakdown, probably covered on at least on average between 10 and 13 different states each year. I think from coast to coast in terms of recruiting at Notre Dame, I imagine it will continue along those lines.

Q.
At Stanford you had a recruiting coordinator. Did you have to hire anybody here and give him a specific title or duty? Have you divided out yet among your coaching staff geography?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Geographical regions, yes, we are beginning to break down and assign our coaches a certain area of responsibility. In terms of announcing someone to eventually be the recruiting coordinator, that spot has to be, if I am correct, occupied by a full-time coach. So we will at some point make that decision.

Q.
How much did you feel you had to resell Notre Dame when you went into prospects’ homes or visited with them? Were most of these kids locked into coming here when you first got the job?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Well, I thought my goal in this recruiting process was not to resell Notre Dame. I think Notre Dame stands so very well on its own. And I think the kids’ knowledge of Notre Dame was excellent.

What we needed to know is Who is the new football coach? What does he stand for? What is his program all about? That was really more my (inaudible) with the existing commitment we had, and with any of the new young players we were seeking to add.

Q.
Almost seems like this is a year-round process. Have you already laid down recruits for next year a little bit, plans?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I guess I can say yes to that.

Q.
I also wondered, what was the most difficult part of this process for you?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I don’t know if I’ve had enough time to sit down an analyze that. That might be the difficult process of it. There’s not been a lot of time to sit and reflect. We’ve had to come in and we’ve had to get really active right away in terms of the recruiting process. So I don’t know if there has been a difficult part to it.

Q.
You have 17 signings right now. How many did you want to sign? 20, 23? We heard numbers like that. How does that affect the fifth-year seniors? How many will you bring back now?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Those are good questions. I wanted to sign 17, okay? I hope to sign 18, 19, in that area, okay?

Q.
What about the seniors?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Fifth-year seniors, what we’re doing is evaluating them, giving them what we consider is a fair opportunity to be a part of the program.

The one thing that you don’t have when you come in as a new coach, you don’t have knowledge of them as people and also players. So you want to make sure you give them every opportunity to display what type of person, what type of player they are.

Q.
How did you go about explaining your coaching philosophy and the coaching staff?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I always believe a couple things you ask from young people. Number one, I’ve always asked people in our program to give us 100%. I think that’s the commitment I need from them, and they should expect from me also, the same type of commitment.

We talk about the values that are important to me, which we talk about football, we talk about education, and we talk about their personal development. Those things have been I think very consistent in my coaching style in terms of philosophy for quite some time.

Q.
You leave behind a Stanford program. You talked to a lot of recruits there. Was it your philosophy to cut ties with those individuals since you came to Notre Dame? Could you talk about Chris Olsen?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I’m not sure if I totally understand part one.

Q.
When you came to Notre Dame, did you try to re-recruit the kids you were talking to at Stanford?

COACH WILLINGHAM
No. I think that kind of borderlines on an ethics issue. What I tried to do in that situation is any young man that possibly had been recruited by Notre Dame, dual recruitment was taking place both by Stanford and Notre Dame, that allows you I think the opportunity to speak to that young man. If a young man had no connections with Notre Dame, only with Stanford, I think in that case you have to cut your ties. I think that’s an ethical issue.

Chris Olsen, what we have is a young man I think that seems to fit very well the needs of our system. We looked for a young man that has size, has a lot of arm, has excellent mental capacity to be able to handle the adjustments and changes that we’ll place on his shoulders. I think Chris has that ability.

Q.
In talking to some of the prospects that you were recruiting, when you took the job, they all seemed to want you to tell them how important they were. How difficult was that for you to choose who you were going to go see, when? Did you have to sit down and evaluate people to see if they were people you wanted to recruit?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I think it’s always best to evaluate the young man then I think I can honestly tell him what my feelings are and how I think he fits in our system. I think you need to do that.

You may have really given me the difficulty portion I think of your question or a question I heard earlier, to be all places at one time. Maybe that was the most difficult thing about the process or the transition.

Q.
Can you talk about Dan Santucci, the defensive lineman from Chicago?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Well, I think, number one, in Dan, I’m excited. I think he gives us a young man that potentially at some point in his career can be a force. We’re interested in young men that can help us establish great defense because if you can play great defense, that means there are points that will not appear on the score board and that gives you a much greater chance to win. His ability to factor into that process makes us a better team down the road.

Q.
The two players who are still on the board both happen to be from California. Neither really had Notre Dame listed prior to your hiring. (Inaudible) national base as it was when you were at Stanford?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Again, I’m asking for a lot of clarification because you’re too close to kind of what I call comments about certain players.

In a general sense, I think we said that our recruiting base will be a national base, and hopefully that is inclusive of the state of California. I can say that and be pretty comfortable.

Q.
You see more of an advantage in California with so many people on your staff from Stanford?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I think when you look at the staff, yes, we’ve been in California, for many of us the last number of years. But I would also say that our staff covers a lot of different regions of the country, just not California-based staff. I think Phil Zacharias grew up in the Pittsburgh area. Trent Miles I think is from this state as well as Trent Walters. I think our base is a little broader than just a pure California base.

Q.
Do you have any plan as far as how many of these players could play this year? Do you have a preference on sitting them out?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I guess you almost go with that question to my philosophy on how we run the program in some large degree. What I’ve always believed is that you play your best players. I think that gives you the best chance to be successful.

If our freshmen come in and are clearly identified as the best players, then they should play right now. If that’s not the case, what we want to do is continue to coach them, groom them, let them grow so they can become our best players.

Q.
Talk about Mike Richardson as a defensive back?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Probably if you had to say an area of need for next year, that would be one. That will be one of the – hopefully Mike Richardson has the ability to make that switchover and be the athlete that we think he can. I was excited when I saw early tape of him this year, about his ability to do that. He could be an aggressive young man that has speed and athletic ability.

Q.
I am sure playing Notre Dame back in November you were able to see where the team was at that point. Were you able to sit down and evaluate the team’s needs or was it more like a fire drill?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I don’t think it was a fire drill. I think it was fairly easy to look at our board of returning players and look at some areas and say, “We needed help in some areas.” We were able to answer that need. In some areas we didn’t quite meet our goals there. I think it was laid out fairly well, what we needed to do.

Q.
Do you feel comfortable you can institute your system and complete your system with the talent that’s coming back?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I use a blanket statement there, okay We have to win.

Q.
Could you talk about the role that the current team played in selling the program, selling the University, acting as host for the student athletes coming in?

COACH WILLINGHAM
That is I think a really important aspect of having a successful recruiting. Of course getting to your evaluation questions with the experts, I will leave it to the experts to evaluate how good the class is. My evaluation usually takes place about two years or three years down the road, or maybe as many as four years down the road, when you determine how many championships you’ve won and how many bowl games you’ve been to. That usually determines whether the class is a good class or not.

But in terms of providing the environment to have good recruiting, it has to be the team. The team has to feel comfortable with the changes. In this case I think changes, because we were bringing in new staff, they have to be comfortable with the University, what it stands for, and what they believe. And I think our young men on campus did a great job in terms of hosting and providing that confidence that the environment was suitable to have these great players – hopefully outstanding players before their time is done – come into.

Q.
How much negative recruiting did you encounter?

COACH WILLINGHAM
That one I don’t really know. I would hate to say – to label negative recruiting took place. I would think that teams tried to present I don’t want to call it questionable areas that might have existed, reasonable doubts might be another way to put it in young’s people mind with the transition. I don’t necessarily label anyone or any team negative recruiting. I think they tried to work along the lines of doubts that someone might have in going through a transition.

Q.
I see that Derek Landri is a defensive lineman. Is that where he’s going to get his first shots? Do you see him being able to play on both sides?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Right now our thoughts are to place Derek on defense. We think he’ll be an outstanding nose candidate.

Q.
Can you talk about Frome, Leitko and Mattes?

COACH WILLINGHAM
That’s an area that we’re hoping, that that group will provide us with some defensive end work or ability to come off the edge and do some things with us from that particular position. We’re excited about those guys fitting into that role for us hopefully. Again, I qualify that and say hopefully. There are so many things that may change in the process of the summer or the winter, conditioning, training, getting ready for collegiate football.

Q.
Having scouted and prepared for Notre Dame as recently as you had, does that make it easier to come in, assess what your needs were, what roles had you to fill?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Not entirely. I think that’s something you really have to look at from the standpoint of being here and not as an opponent. I think you get a little different view in terms of where you want to attack things, things of that area.

In terms of knowing the full scope of the program, you have to be on the inside and look out, not from the outside looking in.

Q.
With the returning players that are here, what are you looking to institute, what are you looking to get them to do between now and spring practice?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Gosh, I would prefer not to go back to my blanket statement on that one, but you force me.

We want to get them used to winning, okay? That is the ultimate goal. When you break that down, there are a lot of areas you can take it to. But I think you’ll hear me harp on that a lot. I think you’ll probably get tired of hearing me respond in that manner, but that is the goal.

You want to develop the winning mentality in everything that you do, okay? That’s what we want to create with this football team, that mentality.

Q.
Have you ever had a freshman quarterback play for you? How difficult is the system for a freshman to come in and pick up?

COACH WILLINGHAM
I’m thinking. I think we’ve had one do it as a redshirt freshman. I’m not sure if we had one walk right off the high school gridiron and do it the next season for us.

But it is I won’t say an overly difficult system, but it does demand a certain amount of discipline from your quarterback, a certain amount of toughness, and a certain amount of reference knowledge as I call it, “reference knowledge” meaning a certain catalog of defenses and understanding of defenses to be able to execute the system. That’s usually difficult to get coming right off of high school background.

Q.
Do you plan to be launching television (inaudible) later? The question of celebrity, what are things that a coach can do to monitor athletes that have gotten a lot of attention at the high school level to make sure that the development is going along the way that you would like to see?

COACH WILLINGHAM
In answering that part of the question, I think communication is a real key. With an individual that has had that kind of celebrity status or has been treated in that manner, you have to do a great job of communicating with them and trying to get them to understand where they fit into the system and the things they have to do to assure success.

I don’t know if the first part of that question I could touch. I’ll let that go.

Q.
Speaking on Chris Olsen, I think you mentioned about high school quarterbacks coming in. You don’t want to put any pressure on kids coming in. Can you size up your quarterback plans and where you see Olsen fitting in?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Today that’s difficult because I haven’t had the full opportunity to look at the quarterbacks that we have on campus.

I think in terms of what Chris brings to the table, we’re quite pleased and quite excited about. He seems to be a young man that has the skill level that gets a coach excited and has the mental ability to get us excited. But he also has a plus in his background, he’s coming out of a program that he worked football hand-in-hand I think with his father, did a great job of instructing him. That’s an advantage because he’s been around it from the time he was little until now. So it usually adds some of that reference library I made reference to, of having a store of knowledge that is just a little greater than hopefully the normal high school quarterback.

Q.
Talking about Derek Landri, I know a few other schools were recruiting him hard even after he committed to Notre Dame. When you came in, how much of a priority was it to keep Derek with the Irish?

COACH WILLINGHAM
Well, it was a huge priority because, as you know, De La Salle has one of the finest football programs in this country. When you have a program of that stature, you want young men in your program that have that same core of winning beliefs. Derek had that. Players coming before him have had that. We want to have that be in our program.

So it was essential that we make sure Derek was very comfortable with all that was going on. I think coming from California, really just coming from down the street, Derek was comfortable with Coach Willingham, had knowledge of us, and knew what to expect coming in.

JOHN HEISLER Thank you.

COACH WILLINGHAM
Thank you.

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