Carson-Newman Football v. Tusculum Week Ten Press Conference Transcripts
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As the Eagles prepare for another installment in their East Tennessee rivalry against Tusculum, Carson-Newman head coach Mike Clowney
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – As the Eagles prepare for another installment in their East Tennessee rivalry against Tusculum, Carson-Newman head coach Mike Clowney took some time to address the media before the regular season finale between the Eagles and Pioneers.
Mike Clowney Opening Statement: Regular season, for us, we know there have been some challenges along the way and throughout the season. Overall, what a great group of guys with the coaches and players to go through this storm with in guys you can count on week-in and week out to give you their best effort. To get a win last week and turn our attention to the Tusculum game and try to finish the season on a positive note is something we're really looking forward to.
Q1You mentioned now having the monkey off your back after the win. How nice has it been to now work on some things that need improvement with more positive vibes?
I equate a win to a pat on the back. A lot of times you go and put in the energy and effort you want to see accumulate into something positive, that's what it is and what it's been. A good pat on the back for our guys heading into this last football game.
Q2 Final game for 15 guys on this team. What kind of emotions do you expect to see out of this group leading up to the game?
It's going to be interesting for sure since we have a group of guys who have only been here for a short period of time. Hopefully, even in the short time we've had with them, we've been able to do what Carson-Newman does and make an impact on them that will push them into eternity. Then, we have the guys who have been here forever. You add the extra year for a lot of those guys and hopefully for them, they'll be able to come out of this and share their career story from day one on campus until whatever day it is now, like a young seven years later.
Q3 You look at the Pioneers who have had an up and down type of year. Offensively, this is the highest scoring team for Jerry Odom since he's been there. What have they done to put the ball into the end zone?
They're really good including a good running back who has done a good job for them. They do a good job of mixing things up, but primarily have been able to put the ball in the air and find open receivers. They've been able to create a lot of things for guys to find open space and make plays. We have to make sure to do a good job of being sound in what we do and making sure we execute on the back end.
Q4 Troy Dendy has fought for some tough yards all season as he continues to grow. How gratifying is it to see him get some recognition from the league and have those fights for extra yards pay off?
In today's media world, they find out everything before we do. I'm not there myself and some of that is for a particular reason. It comes to my phone that he is South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week during our meeting yesterday. We were able to congratulate him there in front of the whole team. I'm pretty sure he already knew but it is still good. A lot of things we talked about earlier in that Troy has been grinding this out with some ups and downs along the way. You truly want to see that come to fruition at some point and he was able to see that this past Saturday. So now the challenge is for him to go out and duplicate that this next weekend.
Q5 Amazing to see the growth of this offensive line as it has been pretty juggled all season, but they now have been a part of not only the 450-plus running yards on Saturday but back-to-back weeks without allowing a sack. What can you say about the growth of this group throughout this season?
There are a lot of things that you don't see when you just watch a football game. We're talking about an offensive line that when we started this summer, it was hard to practice and we did not have enough of them. It's hard because they have to learn what to do and also hard on the team because we can't line up for 11v11 since we have so few of them that we can't afford to get anyone hurt. It created a lot of challenges for us as a football team. Just watching them day in and day out come and give us their very best effort, there will be a point where we will be better at offensive line than other places if we don't continue to push and grow our guys in those places. It's challenging because the guys in front of them aren't where they need to be right now. To be able to go back and watch the last few weeks where the guys are able to get movement up front, I think it says a lot about who they are and who the coaches are too.
Q6 Something we don't talk about a whole lot is the challenges this offensive line has faced in the last 12 months. For example, Colt Sinor is a guy you expect to fight on the two-deep, if not starting, gets diagnosed with stage four testicular cancer and has to go through chemotherapy to get to remission now. One, talk about the adversity you're witnessing there and how it has helped mold your team in watching Colt from the sidelines?
That scenario is one that truly threw all of us for a curveball. Colt would come in every single day and work as a freshman, looking like a guy who will be able to help us. All of a sudden, it wasn't like he wasn't feeling good but his back was hurting and it finally got to the point where he couldn't practice and it was frustrating. As coaches you tend to be task-orientated, but we knew something was going on there because it wasn't that he wasn't trying. All of sudden, he calls me one night and we're thinking that maybe just a nerve or something pinching his back and causing it to hurt. He calls me at 11:30 at night and says "Coach, they just diagnosed me with cancer."
It was surprising that we thought he went to the hospital to see about his back hurting and he gets this diagnosis. It turned everything for him and his family completely upside down. Watching him go through it and how he handled it, he would keep Christ first and continue encouraging his teammates and other people on this campus. I remember going in one day going to talk with the team and about to call Colt to encourage him, but I looked at his Twitter and got encouraged myself. That's the kind of impact he's been able to make as well as going through his treatments and battle with that in hopes of getting back despite not playing this fall. He has found other ways to help such as in the equipment room, going to pick up the team meal after a game, and just finding ways to continue being involved with this football team. Knowing that he beat cancer and fights back to play the game he loves, man, I'm super encouraged by Colt.
Q7 You talk about the seniors you brought up and pushing them toward eternity plus Colt's story. How would you describe the success you have had as a coaching staff and as a team to ensure these young men have a step forward for the rest of their lives?
We all naturally work at this to go out and win football games. You don't put the time and energy in and not want to see a success on the scoreboard. The coolest thing ever is having guys come in and bring their kids back, including guys I played with. Just to watch the difference this program is able to make in the lives of people. When they come into my office now, they don't talk about how many games we've won, which is cool and fun, but we talk about their kids and their families. We talk about what is happening with their wives. Just being able to talk with an ex-player about what is happening with his family and being able to encourage him. At the end of the day, that's who we really are. We feel like, talking about Trayzel earlier in the week, what allows him to be successful across different platforms. That is what you hope these guys will be able to receive while they're here at Carson-Newman: a blueprint of how to live their lives in every facet of what they do. Whether they go to work, their family, raising their kids, it's the exact same thing: you love Christ, you give the best effort you have, you make decisions based on what will help put God first, and you move on from there.
Q8 You knew there would be growing pains in the offense, but do you think they're starting to find their identity?
I think that Lamarcus as a quarterback is starting to grow and minimize some of the mistakes there. I think we're starting to comprehend a little bit of what we're trying to do there. That's just me going back to look at where we started, hit this little thing in the middle, and where we are right now. Man, God's time makes me wish I could dictate this schedule a lot but God's time is normally right on time. I think that is something critical for us to go back and look. I would like to throw all this stuff together in one week and be ready for week one, but it's crazy how we have transitioned to be able to do a little bit different things and start meshing the things we started with, did, and finishing.
Q9 Every coach wants to play the best football at the end of the season. As you won last week and have a chance to do the same this weekend, how important is this game to set the tone for what next year could be like for C-N?
The thing we talked about yesterday is that continued growth. I think if we can grow in the way we have, we can set ourselves up to do that. It will still be our guys going out there and executing. We still have to clean up some of the mistakes we made last week. We still can't go give things away and be successful. There's a challenge there and the biggest thing we want our guys to do is accept that challenge so that we do put ourselves in a position to win this football game.
