Teleconference Transcript: SHSU coach Willie Fritz & NDSU coach Craig Bohl
Sam Houston State Head Coach
Willie Fritz
Coaches Conference Call Transcript provided by ASAP Sports
J.D. HAMILTON: Thank you,
everyone, very much for joining us this afternoon. I wanted to welcome you, Coach Fritz, to this
call.
At this time,
coach, can you give us an opening
statement and then we'll open it up for questions.
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: We're very excited to be in the
NCAA Division I Football Championship.
We've had an outstanding year.
Our kids have worked extremely hard along with our coaches and
staff. Looking forward to playing a
quality football team in North Dakota State University.
J.D.
HAMILTON: Thank you, coach.
At this time we'll
open it up for questions.
Q. Coach, how many times have you played on
natural grass this year, and just your thoughts on the playing surface at Pizza
Hut Park?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: I had an opportunity to walk
around the field. As a matter of fact, I
was with Coach Bohl when we did that last week when we were up there with the
NCAA kind of scouting the stadium, locker room, those different kind of things.
It really seems
like a fantastic surface. They've done a
great job of taking care of it. We
played two ball games on natural grass this season. We played down at Reliant Stadium against
Stephen F. Austin and also at the University of New Mexico. Those games were a little bit earlier in the
season.
Q. Coach, we have a matchup of the one versus
two scoring defenses in the country.
Your team has given up more points than your accustomed to in your
playoff run. Is this the level of
competition or is there something else at work there?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Might be. Certainly we played three very good offensive
teams in Stony Brook, Montana State and Montana. That might be part of it. A little bit of unfamiliarity with them.
As far as the
Montana game, we had a little bit of a short week, gave up a touchdown
offensively, so really it was 21 points.
Might be a by product of playing a little bit better teams. Might be a possibility of that.
Q. You feel your defense is playing as well now
as it did throughout the season?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Yeah, I think we're playing
good. We're still doing a nice job of
not allowing people to run the ball on us.
We're always going to do a good job of emphasizing that in our
preparation. We've made some big
takeaways as well to help our offense and kicking game out.
I don't see that
as a problem at all.
Q. Can you talk about how Flanders ended up at
Sam Houston State?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: He's from Midwest City,
Oklahoma. Was an excellent football
player there. Signed with Kansas
State. Went up there for a year. Kind of got in a logjam, had a lot of
kids. Didn't see a lot of playing time
his redshirt freshman year.
I have a coach on
staff, his father is a high school coach up in Oklahoma. He had a good friend who was Tim's high
school coach. They talked a little bit
and kind of determined that Sam Houston would be a good place for him.
I didn't know
anything about him other than the fact he was a good high school player. From talking to his high school coach, he was
a good young man. I think we got him in
here four, five, six games before our first ballgame against Baylor in the
fourth quarter. Probably only knew four
or five plays. Did a good job. Figured out at that time we had a good player
and better start playing him more.
Q. You had a strong Division II background. Do you have any thoughts on North Dakota
State moving divisions?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: I know it's more restrictive now
than when North Dakota State did it a few years back. We played in a tough league in the NIAA. I know the league that North Dakota State
played in was a very tough Division II league, as well.
When you get
schools the size of North Dakota State, I think they're pushing 14,000, 15,000
students, obviously you have a great fan base, it only makes sense for them to
move up.
Q. Scott Stoker as a coach at Northwestern, is
that a help to you that he's seen this offense before?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: He looked back through his notes,
and I'm sure he'll look through some tape from 2009 when he was coordinating
here the year before I got here.
See some
similarities. Obviously each year is a
little different team that you have to approach playing. But that might have some relevance. We've talked about it a little bit.
Q. The game is already sold out. Talk about what these attendance numbers mean
for the popularity of this level and how it's getting that type of attention.
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Well, I know it's a sellout. J.D. announced that when we had our press
conference. I was hoping that would stop
people from calling me for tickets, but it hasn't stopped one bit (laughter).
I think it's going
to be exciting. We played down at
Reliant Stadium against our arch rivals, Stephen F. Austin, every year. We play in front of 25,000, 26,000. But there's also 50,000 empty seats. This is going to be great where we have the
stadium packed. It's a tough ticket to
get. I think both teams deserve
this. North Dakota has had a sensational
year; so have we.
I guess by looking
at their record against FBS programs, our win against New Mexico this year,
there isn't as big a difference as some people might think. I really think it's going to be able to
promote this FCS level, this ballgame.
It will be fun
playing in front of a packed house. It's
a really neat stadium and a great idea by the NCAA and the people from Frisco
to have the game there.
Q. Looking at a map, you might be the second
closest FCS school to Frisco. Has to be
exciting to play a championship in Texas?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Last year I went to the ballgame
between Eastern Washington and Delaware, they were about the two farthest teams
you could get in the ballgame. I think
we could easily sell another 10,000 tickets if it was possible. Talking to Coach Bohl last week, I know
they've got a heck of a drive, a great fan base also, and they could probably
sell another 10,000 tickets.
It's going to be a
neat deal. The thing I've talked to our
guys about, it's not a bowl game, it's a national championship game, and it's
going to be that much more special with it being a sellout.
Q. The natural grass, is that more something we
look at as the media or is does that have an impact as a coach?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: I think really the only time it
comes into play is if there was going to be a lot of rain or if the field had
gotten heavy usage prior to our ballgame.
I know they're going to keep everybody off that. It was really in pristine condition when I
was there last week.
Turf, they're
trying as hard as they can to get it to play like natural grass. I think all coaches and players would like to
play on a natural grass surface that's very well taken care of. That's the only issue, though. When you play a whole lot of games on that
field, it's hard to keep it in fantastic shape.
Q. When you look at the two quarterbacks, both
sophomores, both guys that aren't asked to throw a ball a ton each game, but
they can make the play when necessary.
Talk about the similarities you've seen between both Brock Jensen and
your quarterback.
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Well, they both are multi
dimensional. They can throw it and they
can run it. I think they are both faster
and better athletes than maybe people give them credit for. I certainly know our kid can run well. Watching their quarterback, 50 some odd yard
touchdown run against Georgia Southern.
I know the guys chasing him were very fast. He's obviously got great speed.
The other
component is they both really make good decisions. I think with their touchdown/interception
ratio, that really shows the great decisions they make.
Probably are quite
a few similarities.
Q. This will be the first time for both programs
to play for the national championship.
Do you think that makes it kind of a wash in terms of being able to
handle new expectations, you'll both be on the same page?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Yeah, might be. Every year is a new year. When I was head coach at Blinn Junior
College, we were lucky enough to win back to back national championships, but
the team I had was different in 1996 than the team in 1995.
Something else I
think that's unique about both teams, we're both relatively young teams. I look at their roster, a lot of
underclassmen, juniors, sophomores, freshmen.
We only have 12 seniors on our squad.
Four of those guys are full time starters for us, started all year long.
Two relatively
young teams. We're not going to be up
there for a long time. We're getting up
there Wednesday evening. I'm sure North
Dakota State is probably getting up there about the same time.
Obviously it's
going to be a high stakes game playing for the national championship. But I don't think it's going to be any
different because it's the first time for both squads.
Q. Hoping you can talk about the versatility of
Richard Sincere and what he brings to your offense?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Richard is a former high school
quarterback. When he got here, he was
just playing wide receiver. Toyed with
moving him over to play cornerback. He's
that kind of athlete. Great speed. If not the fastest guy on our team, one of
the fastest guys. More importantly, he
has great football speed. He gets in
pads, he doesn't slow down at all.
We were trying to
find some ways to get the ball in his hands.
Weren't throwing the ball much last year. Everybody tinkers with the wildcat offense
that the Miami Dolphins did a few years back with Ronnie Brown. We obviously talk the bearcat offense
here. Allows us to get the ball in
Richard's hands.
You got a fast guy
at quarterback, you got a fast guy at the dive, you have a guy you have the
possibility of pitching it to run option plays.
Richard has a good arm, we can throw it well if people try to pack the box
on us, too. That's kind of how we got
into this offense. Richard has had some
very good games for us and an outstanding season.
Q. When you look at it, what are the advantages
and disadvantages of having a long break between the semifinal and the final?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: I think, number one, it's going
to heal both teams up. Both teams ought
to be 100% when we go in there and play.
I guess the disadvantage would be that you're not in your normal routine. We took a pretty healthy break.
One of the great
things about coming back at this time is there's not really any distractions on
campus. It's kind of like a ghost town
here right now, not a whole lot of things for the guys to do other than
concentrate on football.
There are
advantages and disadvantages, but it's the same for both squads.
Q. When people look at your offense, it's
unique. People have to prepare for
Richard. Earlier in the year when you
had teams like Montana and Montana State, is this something where you feel you
have to tweak the offense to out smart North Dakota State because they'll have
had time to see tape?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Every week you're going to take
advantage of your strengths and try to present it in a little bit different
manner. We'll have some wrinkles that
we're going to show when we play that we haven't shown this season. They're going to do the same thing to
us. They may try to play things a little
bit differently than maybe they've shown in the past, whatever the case may
be. It comes down to adjustments.
There's only so many
ways you can play it, the option. We
just got to determine early how they're playing it. They got to make adjustments to the changes
that we've made, as well.
We'll find out on
game day.
Q. Coach, did you see this coming in such a
short time? Obviously you worked with
championship level programs in the past.
But just in a couple years since you've been there, turning it so
quickly being undefeated?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: I'm always very optimistic. We had a lot of things that fell into
place. Continuity of our coaching staff
for two years straight, almost all our kids coming back. We only had five seniors on the team last
year and only two of those guys started for us.
We had a lot of continuity. We
were fortunate enough to bring in some good high school kids and also some good
transfers. We hit on those guys.
Got pretty good
depth across the board, offense, defense, the kicking game. We've also been very fortunate to have stayed
away from injuries for the most part this year.
We had a guy hurt here or there.
We lost a real good player pre season before the year began.
Those are some of
the reasons why we've had the success so quickly.
Q. Do you expect the defenses to dictate what
happens?
COACH WILLIE
FRITZ: Well, it's really hard to tell
'cause we have two excellent defenses in the game and two excellent offenses in
the game. It's kind of tough to be able
to tell.
But you just never
know. I've been doing this a long
time. Could be a low scoring game, could
be a high scoring game. I know both
teams are going to come out and play the very best they can. We'll see how it ends up and how it plays
out.
J.D.
HAMILTON: Thank you, Coach Fritz.
North Dakota State Head Coach Craig
Bohl
Coaches Conference Call Transcript provided by ASAP Sports
J.D. HAMILTON: Coach Bohl, we
welcome you to the call. At this time,
if you could give us an opening statement.
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: On behalf of Bison football and
NDSU, we're excited to play in the NCAA championship game. My initial impressions of the staging, how
the NCAA has set the game up is outstanding.
I'm a big supporter of the playoff system. I think we have two great football teams that
are going to score off on the gridiron.
Got a great deal of respect for Sam Houston State. We have a good football team also so it
should be an exciting ballgame.
J.D.
HAMILTON: Thank you, coach.
At this time we'll
open it up for questions.
Q. Talk about the benefits and disadvantages you
see from having such a long break between the semifinal and championship game.
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: Well, certainly the advantage,
both us and Sam Houston, have gone through a pretty grueling process getting to
this championship game. I know we played
three really competitive games, and they did also.
From our
perspective, some time to get the bumps and bruises healed up. There have been a couple guys that are going
to be able to join us for the championship game that were not able to play in a
couple of these other games. There's
certainly an advantage on that part. I
think you can become a little bit more familiar with your opponent.
The disadvantage
is at times football players will lose their level of execution. Football is a complicated game. So when you marginalize some of your
activities and you're not out doing activities at a high level, you lose some
of that edge.
So the challenge
for us is to maintain our strength and conditioning and our execution at a high
level during this period and still maintain a great focus.
Q. Sam Houston has a unique offense. Is that an advantage for you to be able to
have the extra time to look at that formation on film?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: Well, it's certainly helpful. Defensive teams, the more familiar you are to
an opponent's offense, the better advantage you have. However, it's difficult to replicate their
speed, explosion, throwing ability. That
will be the challenge we have.
But the schemes
that we've seen and the film we've broken down, we'd like to think we've taken
advantage of the time we've had.
Q. When you look at the attendance we've seen so
far, talk about what you see from this playoff run for the state of this level
of football.
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: I think you're seeing an emerging
product with FCS football. We had a huge
outpouring of support during the playoff run.
We sold out all our home games.
The national recognition that NDSU received was outstanding. I think it's an exclamation point when you go
in, it's three weeks out, and a game like this is already sold out. I think that gives a great deal of credence
and how important this ballgame is to a lot of people.
So we're certainly
excited about it. I know that both
athletic directors are clambering for more tickets. Could have been played at a larger venue. But the venue we have is a great venue and
we're excited about it.
Q. Two questions about common dominators with
the two programs. The defenses are
ranked one and two in the country. You
both will be making your first appearance in the title game. Can you talk about whether you think the
defenses are going to dictate what happens and whether both teams will be in
the same shape in terms of handling this environment for the first time?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: I think both teams will be in the
same shape going into a championship game with a three week period where you're
not playing. It's unchartered waters for
both of us.
As far as both
defenses, I think both defenses are extremely explosive. They've been excellent at creating
takeaways. I really think that's going
to be the balance of the game, is the turnover margin. Without question, everybody says offense
sells tickets, but defense wins championships.
We're going to find out who wins the championship here.
Q. On the other side of the ball, Warren
Holloway, what has he brought to the team and how exciting is it to be able to
go back to his home state to play in his final game for the title?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: He's certainly excited about
it. Warren has been a great explosive
weapon that we've not had for a couple years.
We've been basically a ground dominated offense. What Warren gives us is a deep play
receiver. He's got excellent body
position when he's going up for a football and he's had many, many big
plays. What that does is it forces
defenses to loosen up their defense a little bit and allowed us to actually run
the ball a little bit better. So the two
feed off one another.
He's a fifth year
senior. Anytime you have a person, a
student athlete from the state of Texas, to be able to go home and have an
opportunity to show their skills and their program off to their relatives and
friends, I think it's extremely important.
Q. You talked a minute ago about the exposure
your program has been getting through this run, then to be able to go to the
title game, be on national TV. What kind
of doors does that open for recruiting for you?
Are there doors to the South that can be opened through this?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: We have recruited specifically the
greater Houston area. That's where our
Texans are from. Not specifically Texas,
but I think in the upper Midwest, in our footprint of recruiting in a
geographical area, the Missouri Valley, I think it sets our program up on a
different level.
Also this game is
going to fare well against some of the other FBS bowl games. You're seeing two high quality teams playing
at a high level with a sold out stadium right now. I think it's great exposure for FCS football
and it's great exposure for Bison football.
Q. Given the three week layoff, can you take it
back to the last playoff victory, could you say you were playing your best
football at that point?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: Yes, I think our Georgia Southern
game was probably one of the best games we've played since I've been our head
coach. We certainly had some challenges. I know Georgia Southern did, as well, with
some players that probably were not at 100%.
We operated at a high level, played well on offense, defense and the
kicking game.
Our challenge will
be to see if we can get our team back up and actually exceed that performance
because that's what it's going to take to beat Sam Houston.
Q. You play indoors, on the artificial
turf. How many times have you played on
natural grass? Does it impact the game
that much?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: Well, I think it does make a
difference. You're right, we played
inside a lot. We played on natural grass
once this year. The field probably
wasn't anywhere close to the quality of field that we'll play on in Frisco.
I had an
opportunity to go down to Frisco and observe their field. I can tell you I've had an opportunity to coach
in the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl and the Orange Bowl. By far, this is the best field I've been
on. I think the quality of play will be
excellent and the field really is going to be an advantage to both teams. It's a great, great, fast track.
Q. Both teams played Western Illinois. Can you take anything from the game film
playing a similar team?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: I think you can take some
things. At that juncture in the season,
it was very early. Football teams
change. We've looked at that team
extensively. I'm sure they've looked at
our game. We've looked at other teams.
We take a look at
it. It gives us an idea. We're going to go out and see how we match up
come kickoff.
Q. Coach, what are you expecting from your
fans? Do you have a number from your
administration as far as how many fans you're expecting to be there and your
ticket allotment?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: I know our ticket allotment was
4,000. We went way, way past that. I think we could have sold 10,000 tickets. I was in our ticket office today. I don't know how many of our fans went online
and purchased tickets before the outcome of our game was decided. I know a lot did. I know there's a lot of tickets being sold on
a secondary market.
I know we'll have
at least 4,000, and we'd anticipate a significantly larger number than that.
Q. Has there been a pretty good buzz about this
game coming up around town?
COACH CRAIG
BOHL: I would not only say around town,
but I would say in the state and the region.
This is a big event for NDSU football.
Like I mentioned earlier, those tickets sold out as fast as they went
online. I think it is great for FCS
football. You'll have a strong
contingent of North Dakota State people.
I know there's a lot of them bringing their buses down to tailgate. It will be a great collegiate atmosphere.
J.D.
HAMILTON: Coach, thank you and good
luck.
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