Q&A: Mizzou meets Steve Wilks

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Missouri named former Arizona Cardinals head coach and long-time NFL defensive coordinator Steve Wilks to its staff last week. On Monday morning, Wilks met with local media in his introductory press conference at Mizzou. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke as well.

Watch the press conferences and read a full transcription of the interviews below and subscribe to our YouTube channel to follow all of our video and live streaming coverage throughout the season.

“Good afternoon. I'm very excited to be here. As you guys just heard from coach, I took a year off, and the biggest thing that I wanted to do, taking a year off, was really to assess my career. To recharge, refocus and really align myself with a program or organization that I felt that had great core values. Things that I was looking for: a little bit of longevity, culture that I felt like was going in the right direction, and, as coach just mentioned I had several opportunities and our relationship started last year, and it grew over the year when he was at Appalachian State over that year. And I received a text at the end of the season, and it came from coach Drink, and he asked me, he said, do you want to really have an impact and come back to college and really focus on these young men? And I reached back out to him, and I told him, I said, coach, you know what, I've really been thinking about college, as well as the NFL, and I've been talking to my family, my wife, particularly, about this, and I'm definitely open for conversations. And that's how we started. And I'm excited to be here, guys, I really am. I think this is a part of my journey, where I'm supposed to be right now. I'm looking forward to the challenge each and every day of coming in here. Someone mentioned earlier about not being in college since ‘05, and the biggest thing to me, football is football. I've always felt like, you know, It's all about making relationships when you start talking about recruiting, and coach alluded to that. And, you know, to me that's where it starts. And I have no problem recruiting, I love the challenge. I love to be able to compete, to go into these high schools and go into these homes and really try to get the best players in the country to come to Mizzou.”

What are the big differences in coaching college kids and coaching NFL players, and why did you make the decision that you wanted to come back to this level as opposed to pursuing some opportunities in the NFL?

“Well, let me say this first. I never allow what I do, to identify who I am as a person. Meaning I didn't really need the NFL shield to say, okay, I'm coaching in the league. As I stated before, I wanted a great situation. I wanted a situation that I felt was going in the right direction from a standpoint of culture, standpoint of leadership, and I think coach Drink exemplifies that. And the opportunity to be able to come in and compete and coach and teach and really give my skillset to some of these players that I felt like over the years I've done in college as well as in the pros, which is developing guys. So I don't really see it as a big difference. I saw it more, to me, as a fit in some of the things that I wanted to do, and that's why I'm so elated about being here at this program.”

Eli just mentioned he only made one recruiting trip to try to get a defensive coordinator, and that was yourself. What was the moment when you realized Missouri was the right opportunity right now for you?

“Well, let me say this. I hope coach Drink is as good in the home as he is with me, as far as closing. Because he was — I tried to keep him off for a while, because again, I was looking at some other things. But the more and more I prayed about it, the more my wife and I had discussions about it, I just knew that after he came down to Charlotte and we had out time as far as an interview and went out to eat dinner, I just felt the connection. You know, I felt that everything that I stood for I knew he stood for. I knew was going to be the right fit. Again, I keep talking about the culture. And what I've learned, particularly in my time in ‘18 at the Arizona Cardinals, it’s harder to install a culture than it is to install a defense. And you have to have the right chemistry, got to have the right people, coaches and players. And I've felt like he's done a great job in really trying to assemble that here with his staff, and then the ability to go out and not just draft guys, but go out and really recruit and bring the guys that fit your program, and that you know you're going to be able to nurture and groom and grow and develop. So that was the main reason for me.”

I know you’ve mentioned before you were looking for something that maybe had some longevity. Why was that so important to you and why do you feel like you found that at Missouri?

“Well, when you look at the last couple of years, you're going back to Arizona, one and done. You felt like you had a great situation in Cleveland, a lot of talent there, and all of a sudden, again, one and done. So, I didn't really want to put my family in that situation again, so I decided to take a year off and really assess things. And when I talk about longevity, you look at, coach Drink just got here last year, he’s going into his second year. And when you look at what he's put in place, and then the direction in which his program is going, I just felt aligned with what he was doing, his vision and the expectation. So, again, I'm excited to be here and I'm looking forward to getting to work.”

How did you mostly spend 2020 when you weren’t coaching? A lot of film study, visiting with other coaches as much as you could? How did you spend that time?

“I had intentions of really going out and visiting coaches, college and pro. When COVID hit, of course all that got locked down. So I had access to the NFL film as well as the college film, and a good buddy of mine, Alonso Escalante, he and I worked every day, you know, Monday through Friday from nine to three. And we just took on different projects. Just learning different things that the offense was doing, was a trend, looking at a little bit of the college scheme that has really infiltrated the NFL. So, you know, now I'm here, so a lot of the RPO stuff. So it was great. And, you know, third down, red zone studies. So we really got better, I got better, this offseason in really trying to look at my scheme and how I want to really simplify things, and I really came to the conclusion that, you know, you really need to minimize the volume and maximize the execution. And, you know, trying to put things in perspective to where, when I say simplify, you use that term and a lot of people think you mean easy. That's not saying that the scheme is easy, but you want to be able to allow your guys to play fast, and particularly at this level where you got up-tempo, no-huddle stuff. I don’t want my guys thinking, I want them to be able to process things, break the huddle quickly, line up and play fast so they can, you know, play to their attributes.”

Which of the current players do you see kind of being impact guys in your scheme so far?

“I haven’t really indulged a lot into it, just really when I started watching tape, I really was mostly looking at the actual scheme itself and trying to figure out what I wanted to implement. As the staff gets together, we're going to start evaluating who's here within the roster now, also the recruits that we're looking at and trying to see how they fit within our system. I think, you know, the one assessment that I did come away with, I felt like we had some talent on the defensive side of the ball. I felt like we can trend it in the right direction moving forward, just trying to fill some pieces. You know, everything we do starts up front. That's what I believe in this system. And when you look at a guy like (Trajan) Jeffcoat, you know, we’re definitely going to be able to, you know, build around him. So we're going to be aggressive, linebackers playing downhill, DBs breaking on the ball. I heard someone earlier mentioned my background with Lovie Smith, and everywhere I've been, you know, it's been about taking the ball away, and the ball disruption that Drink just talked about. So our mindset is going to be fundamentally sound, running to the football, being physical. I have a certain thing when he’s talking about DNA and what I look for in players, and that's, number one, is the physicality and effort. When they turn that film on in the SEC, we want to make sure that we're known as the most physical football team throughout, and we play with extreme effort. Number two is playing smart. It’s hard to win on Saturday, it’s hard to win on Sunday, and one thing you can’t do, you can't beat yourself. Coach Drink talked about situational football, so we want to make sure that we're smart and understand the game and we’re not beating ourselves. And lastly, finish. And that finish is not just trying to finish in the game, but also finish in the classroom, finish in the weight room, finish in the training room. So that's going to be our mindset and our DNA as we move forward.”

Steve, Eli mentioned that hiring somebody with previous head coaching experience for this position was attractive to him. How do you think that you can use your previous head coaching experience to not only help players but help the coaching staff?

“I think it’s exactly what you just said, you know. It’s experience. I lived in those shoes, I walked in those shoes. I understand situations that come up that doesn't have anything to do with football, you know. It's all about trying to put out fires and how you deal with things accordingly. So I can definitely reflect and refer back to those things when the conversations come up. As he alluded to and talked about, coming back yesterday from Charlotte, we had an in-depth conversation about scheduling, how we could really get better in the structure of practice and the things we want to try to implement there. So, you know, it's really just bouncing ideas off one another.”

With Eli being one of the youngest head coaches in the nation, did you kind of see that energy from him when he was making this sale and just what you see long-term with him at Mizzou?

“I do, and again, it's just like, he's definitely, I would say, a great recruiter. The demand and the phone calls and text messages that he was giving me and putting out to me, and every time we talked, I just continued to just believe in everything that he was saying, and his values aligned with mine. And I always said this, this is one of the things I learned back from Tyrone Willingham and I see it also within Drink: The speed of the pack is determined by the speed of the leader, and he's doing a tremendous job in the things that he's doing, and I feel, again, right in line, because those are my core values and I've always said, you know, I take identity of my position group, I take identity of the defense and I take responsibility for that. And those are the things I want to make sure I surround myself with, those kinds of people.”

Are you committed yet to a scheme or a set of fronts or anything like that yet? Or is that coming as you do player evaluation?

“Well, it's going to be what I've done in the past, base 4-3. And really, when you look at this college gam. it’s really 4-2-5, because they spread you out all the time, so you got to get that extra DB on the field. There's times based off who we're playing, you know, it could be University of Georgia where they may go more 12 personnel and we may adjust a little bit. But we can get in and out of an even front to an odd front based off who we’re playing, and most importantly, as you just alluded to, just evaluating our talent and just trying to put those guys in position to be unsuccessful, that’s going to be the key thing as coaches. Coach Drink talked about it, our staff — and this is what I believe in, I've always prided myself in this and this is what I've tried to surround myself with — is a great communicator. That's what coaching, to me, is all about, you know, guy that’s a great communicator. And what I mean by that is not how eloquent you may speak or the big words that you use, but it's your ability to be able to relate to different players, and how you can get the best out of them. And that correlates with your teaching. I don't think we get a lot of credit from the mere fact of, you know, we're like professors, we teach. And I think that's the most important thing, and your curriculum may be different based off your students, and I think as a communicator you have to find different ways to get there. And lastly, it’s just developing players, and I’ve created a reputation throughout the years, college and pro, taking a fifth-, sixth-, seventh-round, free agent guy and developing that guy and really getting him financially secure with him and his family. So I see the same thing here in college. You know, we may not always get the five-star players, but that's the thing about it is we’re going to shoot for them. But if we get a four-star, we're gonna make them a five. If we get a three, we're gonna make them a five. And that's our job as coaches.”

One of those lower-ranked guys who ended up being like a five-star is one of your former players, Markus Golden. What did he end up telling you about the Mizzou program?

“Well, just speaking to Markus, and I was telling some of the coaches, is that, you know, when you really look at the history — and mentioned you mentioned Markus, you know, Alden Smith, Sheldon Richardson, Kony Ealy, you're talking about three of the four that I coached in Carolina, Cleveland as well as Arizona. So this program is known to get good players, and regardless of where they come in from a standpoint of the rankings, it’s what we’re able to do once they get here. And that’s our goal. I know Drink has talked to me about this on several occasions, we got to make sure that, within our state, we try to go and get the best players here. And that's where we're going to start, and then we're going to filter and go out from there. But Markus talked very highly of this place. Of course he would, he has a lot of pride about this university, told me, he said, ‘coach, you're gonna love it.’ And one of the great things with me is that, again, it's just the people that you're around, and that's the reason why I think this place is gonna be so special.”

How familiar are you with Jethro Franklin and how involved were you in him taking this position?

“I know Jethro real well. Our relationship goes all the way back to college when we both were on the recruiting trail. He was at the University of Southern California and I was at University of Washington. And then we both got into the National Football League. So I've known Jethro for a while. Tremendous leader, everything that I just talked about, great communicator, great teacher. He’s developed players over the years. One that I just mentioned, Alden Smith, he coached him. So he is a guy that I feel like is going to bring a lot to the program just from the mere fact of just being a fundamentalist.”

In addition to being the defensive coordinator, will you coach safeties like Ryan Walters did, or will you reorganize some of the positional responsibilities?

“Right now we're still in the process of really communicating that. I'm gonna sit down with the staff and just organize things where I feel like it’s going to best benefit us. But I would tell you I'm chomping at the bit to really get back and have a position. As I've talked about before, just looking at the years in Carolina and different places where I've been developing guys like Josh Norman, Captain Munnerlyn, et cetera. Eighteen, I was the head coach, overseeing everything, didn't have a position, in Cleveland, defensive coordinator, and of course last year, taking some time off. So I'm looking to get in and have a major impact and put my hands on these guys each and every day.”

What are some things that you learned during your year off about the challenges of this profession and doing so while there’s a pandemic going on?

“Well I think you have to find really creative ways to continue to reach your guys, and that's some of the things that, when Esco and I was doing our study, we talked about that. You know, virtual walkthroughs, where you have animated things, where the formation may start out in a two-by-two and then you motion to a three-by-one. Different things like that, and I showed a little bit of that in my interview with Drink, just saying how we can really reach the guys and if we ever get to that point to where we don't have in-person meetings anymore that, you know, as a coach, as a teacher, you got to find creative ways, again, to get to your student. So that was one of several that we talked about.”

"Glad everybody could join us today. When this position became available, I felt like it was imperative that I found the right fit for Mizzou football and also for myself. Somebody that I could work hand in hand together. I outlined a set of criteria that I felt would help me in my strengths, but also help me in my weaknesses to really support Mizzou football and get us to where we want to go, which is to win the SEC East. The very first thing that I was looking for was a man of character, somebody who represented the values that our program has on a daily basis, somebody who could support the vision for our program and understand what it means to be a Mizzou Tiger on a daily basis, a great teacher and communicator, somebody who could be a leader of the staff and a motivator of our players. And then somebody who had experience at the highest level who I could bounce ideas off of. If they were a former head coach, I thought that would be a real positive for me as I'm learning to be a head coach. I kind of set these criteria up, fielded a lot of phone calls, but ultimately kept circling back to one person and really just targeted them for a while and finally was able to get coach Wilks to join us. Steve Wilks embodies all of these characteristics that I've been looking for. Somebody who is a man of great character, we are excited to welcome his wife and three kids to our program. Somebody that has a great reputation for a strong defense and defensive football. Somebody who has great reputation in the coaching community as far as being a leader of men and developer of players. You've seen the outpouring of support on social media from former players who are congratulating him, including former great Tigeers like Markus Golden who are talking about how much fun it was and how much respect they have for coach Wilks. I know that he'll be a leader of our staff and obviously his experience, not only in college football, but in the NFL, will be invaluable to us as we continue to chase our goal of winning the SEC East. With that, I will open it up to questions."

I know every coach generally has kind of a list in their back pocket of if I ever need somebody, these are guys I want to talk to. Is that something you had and how prepared were you to need to go on this search when Ryan left for Illinois?

"I've always had a list of people. I first got to know coach Wilks last year when I was at Appalachian State and actually knew of him, just being at North Carolina State, knowing the defense that he was able to put together with the Panthers. He was somebody that I always had a tremendous amount of respect for and there was an open line of communication there. Absolutely had a list ready to go and I'm ready at really just about any position to be honest."

The fact that Steve hasn't coached at the college level for a long time, how closely did you have to take a look at that when considering the recruiting aspect and then just being out of the college game for so long?

"Yeah, you know, it was one thing that I considered, just because I do think there are some distinct differences in the game, but because he had experience in college football, I think most recently at Notre Dame, I knew that there was going to be a familiarity of what it was in recruiting. I know that there's a familiarity with what football is and I think you're seeing some success with NFL coordinators coming down and joining us in the college game. But the most important thing, and you'll see when you get to visit with him, in recruiting is he's a great communicator. He's somebody that's going to be identifiable with, he's somebody that recruits are going to recognize can get them and develop them into great men, but also great football players. He's got experience in the NFL. He's going to have more experience on the NFL side of football than any other coordinator in our conference. He's got more experience in the NFL than, I believe, any coach in our conference. So for that to be the stated goal of most of our players to get there that we recruit, why would you look anywhere else but with coach Wilks and what he's done in the past on the defensive side of the football and what he's going to be able to do developing those players here? To me, I thought it was going to be more of a strength than any type of weakness. Recruiting's all about relationships and, again, once you get a chance to visit with coach Wilks, you'll see, I don't think that's going to be a problem."

When you look at some of those pro to college success stories you just referenced, what translates well from the NFL to college?

"Player development, schematics, wanting to do it at the highest level, hold players accountable. Experience is the best teacher so he's going to immediately be able to walk in and tell these guys, 'Hey, you want to play in the NFL, these are the things that you have to do.' There's a lot of coaches out there who are selling if you want to play in the NFL, this is what you need to do, but they haven't coached in the NFL. They haven't coached in Super Bowls and NFL Championships. They're saying what they think it is. He's going to be able to say, this is what it is, this is how you do it, this is what that experience is like. I think, again, just a man of character, somebody that we're all going to have a tremendous amount of respect for just because of the wisdom he brings and the way he relates, the standard of excellence and the standard of discipline. I think it's going to translate really well. The worries are whether RPO's and the hashes are a little tighter. I think football coaches can figure that. Last time I checked, it's not like they play with 12 and motion toward the line of scrimmage. It's an 11 on 11 football game."

You mentioned someone with head coaching experience being a plus. Why was that so important to you in this search?

"I think it was just a plus, but obviously somebody who's gone through some of the same things that we experience, whether or not it's player discipline or schedules or dealing with things that only people understand that have sat in that head coach's chair. There's only one way to understand it and that is for you to have sat in it and coach has sat in that chair obviously and I'll be able to bounce some stuff off of him. We already had yesterday flying in some discussions on schedules and what ways we could do some things better."

Even as an offensive coach, what are your philosophies on what your team's defensive identity should be and how did that lead you to coach Wilks?

"Very simply for us, it's stop the run and have some fun, number two harass the quarterback and number three it's tackling, turnovers and situational football. Turnovers for us, we're going to start calling ball disruption. For us, those are the three things that I want our defense to be able to do. How coach Wilks and the staff handle that is totally up to them, but we're going to stop the run and make them be one-dimension, we're going to confuse, harass and hit the quarterback, we're going to force takeaways, ball disruption, be great tacklers and understand situation football."

Wilks has a background with the Lovie Smith tree which is pretty famous for forcing a lot of turnovers. Is that something that really appealed to you when you looking for a coach?

"100 percent. I appreciate the great research you did on that to understand that that was absolutely something that has always been a part of what coach Wilks' identity has been."

I'm wondering if you went back and watched any of the defenses he ran with the Panthers or anywhere else and if so what are some of the things that led you to believe he could have success here?

"I've obviously watched quite a bit of film on a lot of different things. Obviously wish we could get some of those great players from the Panthers to come join us, but I think his understanding of knowing how to stop the run, how to put pressure, how to create a defensive identity. All great coaches take what they have and make it what they want. He's obviously going to be able to transition what he's got player wise to make it fit the scheme but he understands what his DNA is."

It wasn't very long ago that Coach Wilks talked about wanting to take a year off and kind of reassess. What were your conversations like early in the hiring process and how did you convince him this was the right time to jump back in?

"I think we're all looking for the right opportunities. For us, core value number four is enjoy the journey. Football is not really a destination oriented business, it's really about the journey with people you really care about, being aligned. Alignment is to me the greatest indicator of success. We should all be aligned on our core values and our goals. So just really tried to share with him what our vision for Mizzou football is and what our goals are on a daily basis and how we go about accomplishing those daily goals. I think those resonated with both of us, what we think is important. Ultimately, coach had a lot of opportunities, a lot of different places that he could have ended up being, but I think the opportunity to be at Mizzou, get into the best conference in college football and to establish himself here as a great defensive coordinator, I think is just going to open up a lot of doors for him."

It's the nature of the business, but for players that were recruited or committed to coaches who aren't here anymore, how did you go about talking those players through this process and how much information did you share with the current players as you were going through this process?

"I think first and foremost, every player that's committed here commits to the head coach and the University. They don't commit to the position coach or area recruiter. That's the job of the head coach to make sure you build relationships with players and families and make sure they understand the vision of the program, not necessarily the one person because what we do know is that assistant coaches do change. That's just part of this profession. Haven't had any issues so far, don't anticipate. I think everybody is excited to see what the new direction is going to be. One of the things I talked to our guys about are the same things I talk to you about, what I was looking for within hiring the new defensive coordinator and then I made a promise to them that they would be the first to know the best I could and was able to fulfill that promise on both the defensive coordinator hire and defensive line hire before it was able to get out on social media or all that stuff, we were able to get that information to our players. That's been important to me is try to make sure they know first."

What kind of a statement do you think this makes to get a former NFL head coach to come to Columbia as your defensive coordinator, showcasing your recruiting ability not just with players, but also with coaches?

"I really don't think it has anything to do with me. I think it has to do with what everybody's buying into as far as Mizzou and the opportunity that we had here to form an identity. Again, the same things that attracted me to Mizzou are the same things that I believe attracted not only coach Wilks, but our new defensive line coach. It's a great opportunity to compete in a league that is open, that has an open door, an open gap for us to establish ourselves. it's a challenge every single day to compete against the best without any layups, without any gimmies. I think that's really what it is more than necessarily me recruiting."

Two questions: I don't expect you to share names, but how much interest in the job was there and how many interviews did you do? Also, what went into the situation with Brick Haley and the decision to go a different direction there?

"Lots of interest. Blew me away honestly, how much interest and phone calls, coordinators were wanting this opportunity. Did my due diligence and interviewed several people, a lot of which aren't known and that's on purpose. Ultimately, really only had one recruiting trip and that was to go land coach Wilks. That was really my singular focus when I left here to go interview people was to go convince coach Wilks to join the Tigers. As far as the defensive line position, just felt like an opportunity for us to have a fresh start. Respect coach Haley and the job he's done here for the previous four years and wish him nothing but the best, but it was an opportunity for us to start new and go in a different direction and felt like I needed to do that. So with that we're in the process of hiring Jethro Franklin, a guy who has a tremendous amount of history, both in the NFL and college, just a tremendous amount of energy and character, a guy who knows technique and details and somebody who I think will really help us grow in the defensive line room and recruiting. We will be working on finalizing that hire in the next day."

How much did you lean on coach (Charlie) Harbison when you hired Steve considering their association and having worked together?

"None. We don't trust Cheese with high level decisions like that. No I'm just kidding. Obviously he had a relationship with coach Harbison, but for the sake of trying to keep everything close to the vest, tried to limit everybody's knowledge of what was going on. Coach (D.J.) Smith and coach Wilks are also fraternity brothers. Tried to limit that exposure too, the best I can. We're all really excited to have coach Wilks join us, but no, I made my own evaluation. I didn't ask coach Cheese."

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