Nick Hill introduced as head coach: press conference transcript
12/23/2015 | 12:00:00 | Football
Director of Athletics Tommy Bell announced on Wednesday that Nick Hill is the 21st head coach of Saluki Football. Bell and Hill both met with the media in the Stadium Club of Saluki Stadium at the introductory press conference. Below is a transcript of the press conference, or you can watch in its entirety HERE.
Tommy Bell Statement:
Another exciting day for Saluki Athletics. First off, I want to thank our advisory committee. They did countless hours of work, talking and visiting with folks. I appreciate all their work and what they've done for us. Secondly, our university administration has been a key advocate throughout this process. They really helped us cross the t's and dot the i's. Chancellor Colwell cannot be here today, but he was right in the thick of everything. I'm really thankful to him and his leadership. Lastly, I would like to thank executive associate athletic director Mark Scally. He lost a lot of sleep and really saw this process through. Thank you to Mark; thank you very much for what you've done.
WATCH: Coach Hill's Introductory Press Conference
During my first stint as an administrator for Saluki Athletics, I witnessed first-hand the success our football program is capable of achieving. As a result of that success, we were left with a clear blueprint for how to build a championship football program at Southern Illinois.
When our program was successful, we had a culture that emphasized hard work, focus, discipline and accountability; a recruiting network that allowed us to bring in impact players at the skill positions; a championship atmosphere in which winning became second nature.
Beyond that, we had leadership at the top of our program that embraced the community and inspired folks to invest their interest and loyalty to the program.
As we conducted our search of candidates, it became abundantly clear to me that the person who could best restore the legacy of our program, who could best follow that winning blueprint, was already in our midst.
Nick Hill understands how Saluki Football was built for success, because he was a part of it. He helped build and shape it. He was the quarterback who beat Indiana. He was the quarterback who won three playoff games in two seasons. He went on to have a successful pro career. As a coach, he built one of the most dynamic and high-powered offenses in the nation. He recruited many of the bright, young prospects that have laid the foundation for future success.
When I met with Coach Hill, he presented a vision for how he would restore a championship program to SIU. First, he will surround himself with a staff that reflects his vision and commitment.
He has a detailed recruiting plan to assemble the best possible roster. Strategically, he will continue to innovate and push the envelope. Finally, he understands how the culture of a program is so important when it comes to the fine line between winning and losing.
Some other things you need to remember about Coach Hill. He's a Southern Illinois native from nearby Du Quoin. He bleeds maroon. Both he and his wife are Salukis. His passion for Saluki Football is such that he will be a relentless advocate for the program. He presented a plan to me called First and 5,000, in which he intends to lead an effort to build our season ticket base to 5,000 fans. He has some creative fund-raising ideas. You will see Coach Hill out in the community, throughout our region, promoting our football program.
I've never been more excited about the future of Saluki Football. It is my pleasure to introduce to you our new head coach -- Nick Hill.
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Nick Hill Opening Statement
It feels pretty good; I'm not going to lie. I've dreamt about this opportunity for a long time. First, I have to thank Tommy Bell, the administration, Chancellor Colwell, and the Board of Trustees for believing in me. There were a lot of great candidates for this job. To be chosen, it's truly an honor. I feel like I'm the only person who can stand up here and truly say, `This is a dream come true.' This is truly my dream job. I'm grateful for this opportunity. As I've learned, and as I've went through this process, my mentors have always told me that your No. 1 person you better thank is your wife. If you don't have a wife that's on board with being a coach, then you probably should be coaching college football. My wife (Alicia) is not able to be here today; she's already in Iowa. I'll be heading that way after this. I couldn't do it without her. Like Tommy said, she's a Saluki. I was thinking this morning; we've been married four years this January, and we've lived in seven different houses because of football. She's been with me the whole way and couldn't be more excited. I'm happy to see her tonight. We're expecting our first child in February, also. I will always keep family No. 1. Being a family man is most important. I'm going to have a staff that shares those same core values. I want to thank my parents--they're here today--and my grandpa. I really want to thank the region of southern Illinois. When I think about my life growing up, for whatever reason, I've been blessed with the support of this region. Along the way, I might have quit several times in trying to make it, but I felt like I had a region that kept on driving me. I appreciate that. That's why I want this job. I want this job because I want to make this region proud. I love what this region stands for. I think of all of the places I've been; if you tell them my name, they associate southern Illinois with me. They associate Du Quoin, Illinois, with my name. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of what this region stands for: it's blue collar; it's coal miners; it's General Tire; it's General Cable; it's farmers; it's people who punch the clock. That's what you should expect from this football program. It's someone who's going to punch the clock. We're going to get up, roll our sleeves up and get to work. I've said this before: The blueprint has been laid out before. I was fortunate enough to be a part of that. That was from Jerry Kill. I'm excited to get the dust off that blueprint, get back out and start recruiting kids. This is not my team. This is going to be a staff that shares the same vision as me. It's going to be a region that shares the same vision as me. That's the way we're going to get this thing done. You're not going to have to go looking for me. If there's anybody that wants someone to speak, I'm coming for you. I want to fill this thing up. I want some excitement for Saluki Football. It's not going to be easy. No one said that this is going to be easy or I want to win the press conference. We're going to get back to winning games and winning championships, but I understand that it's first built on building the culture. That's what we have to do, get Saluki culture back. Before I open it up for questions, I don't think it would be right of me if I didn't also thank Dale Lennon. He gave me my start in college football. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here. I'll always appreciate what he did for me and what he did for Saluki Football.
Have you had time to reflect on what a full-circle moment this has been for you?
It has been a long few weeks. I just asked Roger Lipe to come up to my office and talk with me before I came down here. He's someone who has been in my life the entire time. He's from southern Illinois. As we walked up here, it started to hit me. When I interviewed, I sat down and I told them, `I'm grateful that I'm interviewing for my dream job at 30 years old.' I'm not going to take that for granted. I know what an awesome opportunity this is; I'm very grateful for it. It's my job to prove a lot of people right. We're going to do this thing the right way, and that's the way we're going to build it.
Update the recruiting process.
First of all, recruiting is what I love. There won't be a head coach out there that recruits harder than me. If there's a day that a head coach can be on the road, I'm going to be on the road. I love kids; I love the relationships you make with them. That's why I wanted to coach. I love getting to know their families. Sometimes coaches bounce around, and maybe they have to sell something they don't believe in. When I sit in those living rooms, it's coming from the heart. I told them that all the time as an assistant, `I don't know if I will be there in four years, but I promise you you're going to a place that is special. The people are good. It's an awesome program.' It's a recruiting dead period. I can make one call. I can talk to them on social media. I can't wait to call them. I can't wait to talk to their parents and get them back excited about Saluki Football. We have some work to do to finish out the recruiting class. The first thing is hiring a staff; the second thing is finishing out this recruiting class.
What is your timeline for hiring a staff?
I've met with the current assistants. As quickly as possible. If anyone who was interviewing for this job didn't have a short list of people that they would be calling to get a staff lined up, they shouldn't have this job. I want to finish the conversations I've had, but I'm really excited about the staff that I'm going to bring in here, that shares the same vision. A lot of them have been a part of this blueprint, whether I played with them or if they coached with people I trust and know. That gets me excited, those phone calls I can make shortly to get those people on board. They're all people that this region is going to rally behind. Can he recruit? Does he share those same core values? Can he build men? The foundation of our program is going to be, `Be a man.' I'm not big into having a big rulebook. I feel like you get them as a kid, and you throw them away. If you're a man and know what it means to be a man, you really don't need a rulebook. You know how to make the right choices. You know the things you need to do. You know right from wrong. You know to be on time. Those are standards that will be met if they want to be a part of this program.
On if there will be some staff members retained...
There will be a few guys that will still be here, that have proven to me that I want them on my staff. It will not be an entirely new staff. There will be staff changes, but there will be a few guys that are still here.
Will you still coach the quarterbacks?
I wouldn't be standing here if I wasn't a quarterbacks coach. If not, I would get bored. I will always have my hand on the quarterbacks. I also know that as the head coach, the entire team needs to know that you're their head coach. If it's spring ball and the defense picks off a pass, there will be days that I have to celebrate with the defense. That will be hard, but I'm excited about that. I'm excited about building a relationship with all 105 guys, not just on my side of the ball. If you would ask any of our players, I try to do that anyway. There's not a guy that I don't know on this team--offense, defense, special teams, whatever. I plan on still being the offensive coordinator and calling the plays, but I'm going to surround myself with good coaches. You're only as good as your staff. I know that, and I know what I need to bring in. I'm excited about it.
Will Brandon Jacobs and Jerry Kill be part of the staff?
They definitely will be part of the team. Will they be a part of the nine staff members? I don't know. But all those guys are going to be back. They're going to be a part of Saluki Nation. They will be welcome in the locker room. Our team will know them. It won't just be speaking once a year. They're going be back. Another group that I needed to thank is my teammates. The people that came before me--the Joel Samburskys and Tommy Koutsos and all of those guys--they build the way for me. When I got here, the road wasn't as tough. It was already going, and I just had to keep it rolling. To all the alumni, they know that. I send out a letter every Monday to all the (program) alumni that tells them about the kids, how they're doing, how the game went. I'm coming after them, too. I need them. I need everyone to be thinking positively about this program. What excites me is that we're going to put together a program and a culture that makes them proud. We need to get a lot of those guys back involved.
How do you address concerns about your age?
If I thought 30 was a negative--if I didn't have confidence--I wouldn't have applied for the job. If I thought that my age stood in the way, I wouldn't have the confidence. I knew when I stood there and interviewed that I had total confidence that I was the guy for the job. I sold my program. I told (the committee), too, that if 30 was a problem, we shouldn't take it any further. There are a lot of people I look up to. There are a lot of young head coaches. Am I standing up here as an arrogant 30-year-old coach? No. I know I need to surround myself with good people. I've told Tommy (Bell) that I will be coming to his office. People like Roger Lipe. People who will someday shut my door and tell me, `Hey, you better think about this or that.' That comes with hiring a great staff. One of the things I will do is hire an assistant head coach, a guy who has been around the block. I'm excited about the possibilities of a few guys that will be coming here. When I was Carbondale's coach three years ago, there were things that popped up that I wasn't ready for. There will be those things now. But I feel confident in the resources I have to learn from those things and make the right decisions.
Will you change your philosophy as a head coach?
I don't think so. Our philosophy is score points, play fast, have fun. That's what we're going to do. I promise you we're going to lead the country in attitude, effort and enthusiasm. Those are three things that I've always told our offense. It doesn't matter how good you are; it doesn't matter how fast you are; it doesn't matter how good of a throw you can make as a quarterback. You can wake up every day with the right attitude. We can do that. Effort, playing hard. On defense, running the ball down on the other side of the field. That what we have to get to. Anybody can do that. We're going to have a lot of enthusiasm. I'm 30 years old. I have a lot of energy. Our team will exemplify that. If you're not having fun, you shouldn't be on our team. If you're a coach and you're not having fun, you shouldn't be coaching. That's the way I always played, and that's my philosophy coaching. That's the way our team will be out there on Saturdays."
What's the biggest change you have to make?
We're close. We have to get better. We have to find a way to make up those 17 points. In (six) games, we lost by a combined 17 points. So what is it? It's a lot of little things. To me, it starts with culture. If you have a culture of winning, toughness and togetherness and family, they know right from wrong. When I took over as the interim, I knew that I had one job: They better be going to class. If we have a bunch of people getting in trouble and missing class, I'm not doing my job. I told them you can't be late for class, and you can't miss. If you do, we're running. After that first day we got out on this hill, a couple of them said they were only 3 or 4 minutes late. I said, `We also lost two games by one point, so I really don't care.' When we get that figured out, that will be a big hurdle. And we have to recruit. When you put those together and you have a really good culture and really good players, you're going to win a lot of games.
Have you texted the players? I haven't texted them all. I've gotten texts from most of them already. I probably have 200 text messages. I know they're excited. I met individually with all of them and told them I loved them. (Houston head coach) Tom Herman is a big name. I don't know him personally, but I saw a quote from him this year: "I'm into real, genuine love." I think if you asked our offensive guys, that's what I'm into. It's not a slap on the back. It's a, I'm going to hug all those guys tight and tell them I love them, and I mean it. I want them to know that I'm there for them in any situation. That's what I truly believe. That's my philosophy. Treat people right. That's my team, and I'm going to love them no matter what. I'm going to be tough on them, and I'm going to demand a lot of things from them. But they're going to know that I'm in their foxhole. If they need anything, I'm there for them. With young kids, that's how you get them to play hard for you. If we can do that, we're going to be pretty successful.
Are you nervous?
I'm not nervous; I'm excited. I'm ready to get on the phone right now and start recruiting, start putting together a staff. Nervous wouldn't be the word. Probably more excited.
When did you accept the job?
Officially this morning. Really, that's when everything was finalized. I wanted to see the contract. I can't thank Tommy Bell and Mark Scally--people who I've known since I played here--for helping me through that wave. I trust them. I wouldn't have taken this job if I didn't trust them. We had a conversation this morning; I looked over the contract, and that's when I agreed to become the head coach.
How do you plan on increasing the attendance?
We're going to go out there and get to know the community. They're going to get to know our players. I told them, we're going to show up at the coal mines. Our leadership counselor is going to be there, and we're going to show up second shift and thank them for being those people. If you can't go out on a Saturday after looking a guy in the eye who has to go to work every single day underground in water up to his knees, who is away from his family on Christmas, then you're not going to be on our team. We're going to get to know the people of southern Illinois. There's not a back road or town that I don't know that's south of I64. And I'm not going to be asking them to buy tickets. Now, do I want them to? Yeah, but I want them to know I'm there for the right reasons. I'm not just there to sell them something. I want them to trust me first, then they will come. I'm going to be out there. They're going to get to know our players; they're going to get to know our staff. We're not only going to have recruiting areas; as a staff, we're going to have areas where socially they have to get involved. They have to go to that area. If they're not on board, they won't be hired. I have a lot of ideas on how to get students to the game, too. It's not going to be easy. I'm not standing up here saying, `Just because I'm the head coach, people are going to show up.' It's going to take a lot of hard work; it's going to take a lot of people with the same vision; but I'm confident we can do it.
What do you see as the state of the program from a recruiting perspective?
We have everything in place to win. I told them this: I feel like I have a loaded gun when I go recruiting. There's never been a kid where I felt we lost that kid because we don't have this, or our facilities are bad, or whatever. We just need to get out there and do it. That's the strength right now. Everything is in place to be a winner. We have a lot of good players on this team. Do we have to get better? Yeah, we have to get better in some places, but we have a lot of good, young, talented kids. At one point, we played 27 or 28 true freshmen or redshirt freshmen. We have a lot of those kids coming back. That makes me excited.
Will you change to a 4-3 defense?
I haven't hired a defensive coordinator yet. I'm an offensive guy, and I always will be. I want our defense to be sound, and I want them to line up and play fast. Whatever that scheme is, that's what we're going to do. If you look in our league, that's what a majority of the teams do; and that's why they're successful. As an offensive coordinator--and the defensive coordinators will tell you the same thing--Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, Youngstown State, Illinois State, they don't try to trick you. As an offensive coordinator, I know what they're going to do. Now, they're sound; they tackle you; they line up and play hard; and that's what we're going to get to. We have good defensive players. We go fast on offense. We ran 80 plays per game. Sometimes stats aren't always going to be on defense. We'll probably never lead the nation in points allowed or yards allowed or time of possession because of the style of offense we run. That's just college football now. But we need to create turnovers and be good in the red zone. And we need to be better on offense. There were a couple games this year that we should have won offensively that we didn't. They know that; we all need to get better.
Did the scheme contribute to the 25 turnovers last year?
I don't think turnovers is scheme. No matter what play you're running, you have to take care of the football. You can't fumble. You have to make good decisions as a quarterback. That's not a scheme thing; that's a focus thing; that's an attention-to-detail thing. That will be a focus in spring ball. The fundamental thing you know growing up playing football is you can't turn it over and you have to get turnovers.
Is there one position you need to improve on?
Not specifically off the top of my head. We have to get better. It's how I was here. Two years, there was a transfer quarterback when I was here. Every room is going to know, `Somebody is coming to take your job. You have to prove that you're the guy to do it.' Coach Kill was that way with me. Justin Allen came in from junior college. I had to beat him out, and then he was my No. 1 receiver. The philosophy is get as many good players here as you can, and you better compete. The perfect example of that, the true examples of the kinds of kids I want in this program, are Mark Iannotti and Matt McIntosh. Mark Iannotti had statistically maybe the best year ever as a Saluki quarterback. We brought Matt McIntosh in here and told him he could compete for the starting quarterback job. Mark didn't waiver; he just got better. They became best friends, and Matt McIntosh was his biggest ally on the sidelines. That's the kind of culture we need to breed into these guys. It doesn't matter if you're playing or what. You're going to compete, but you're also going to be a good teammate.
