July 29, 2007

Tulsa, Oklahoma - As Tulsa begins preseason camp for the 2007 football season, we sat down with Tulsa Head Coach Todd Graham to find out a little more about the man leading the Golden Hurricane football program.

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH TULSA HEAD COACH Todd Graham:

What did you learn in your first year as a collegiate head coach?

The first thing I learned, actually what was re-emphasized to me, is that you never put parameters on what young people can accomplish. Secondly, you have to trust people. You have to hire good people and let them coach. The third thing is that you have to manage your time and emphasize what's important. The fourth thing is having a plan for adversity.

Last year at Rice, we started out 0-4 and then we suffered the death of a player. That will forever make me different, knowing that football is really important, but there are other things that are more important. The relationships and making a difference in a kid's life is what's important, and live everyday because you're not promised tomorrow.

Also, I guess I learned last year what I was made of, because when we were 0-4, I kept hearing coach (West Virginia's Rich) Rodriguez saying `don't flinch'. We kept believing, we kept coaching, we kept telling each other that we're going to break through, we're going to win, we're going to reach our goals -- Our goal was winning a conference championship and we were one point away from competing for a conference championship.

There's not any question that I'm better prepared to be the head coach at The University of Tulsa than I would have been if I would not have gone to Rice. It's a learning experience the first time you go through it. Being the head coach in high school is not like being a head football coach at a Division I school.

What do you remember most as defensive coordinator at Tulsa?

I think the thing that sticks out in my mind more than anything else is I can remember losing a heartbreaker at UTEP, and we come back with everyone saying that any chance to win the title is over. I can remember standing up in front of those kids in the defensive room, telling them we're going to win the next three ball games, and they're going to lose the next three games. Then we're going to win the conference championship and we're going to win the Liberty Bowl. I believed that. We had no other choice but to believe that.

I remember standing on the field in the conference championship game with the clock running down, and thinking to be where we were at 1-11 when we took over and then to be conference champs. It was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever experienced in coaching because of the character of the kids and what we had been through to get there. Then in the Liberty Bowl seeing Nelson Coleman get that interception late in the game and thinking that no one gave us a chance to beat Fresno State.

Those two games and that moment after the UTEP loss when most people counted us out were the things I most remember.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a football coach?

The August before my seventh grade year I met a guy named Buddy Copeland (the seventh grade football coach at McDonald Middle School in Mesquite, Texas). Buddy was the best teacher, best coach and best man I ever met and have known in my life. He had a way that he could chew you out and hug your neck all in the same sentence. He had passion for coaching. He was tough. He taught me about not feeling sorry for yourself and not making excuses. The way I looked at Buddy from the time I was in seventh grade, I knew I wanted to be a football coach. I knew I wanted to be a head football coach at a Division I college.

What is your football philosophy?

My basic philosophy, which we write on the wall, is . . . We want to be the hardest working, most disciplined, best conditioned team in the country. We want to be relentless in our efforts and we want to be physical. It's very simple, but it's very hard to get accomplished. What you get done on a daily basis is the key.

What is your recruiting philosophy at Tulsa?

We're going to recruit guys that have great character, that embrace a passion for work ethic, their academics are important to them, that they have great speed and explosive power and have the ability to play the game of football.

If a guy doesn't not like to work hard, then' he's going to be miserable at The University of Tulsa. If academics aren't important to him, then he doesn't fit here.

I think having great character and being smart is a talent. We want to have guys that have great character and are smart, and do what they're coached to do right the first time. That's how you win games in a team sport -- you get all 11 guys to do what there' supposed to do right the first time - and that involves work ethic, discipline and passion.

Aside from Buddy Copeland who has had the most influence on you in the game of football?

The guys that I admired growing up were Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry. Obviously, I didn't know them but they were guys I admired.

I think Rich Rodriguez had a big impact on my career. I learned about having a vision and a passion, and developing toughness and how important that is in this game. My high school head coach, Gary Childress, I learned from him that complexity and organization makes simplicity for operations. Organization is what I learned from him. I learned poise from Steve Kragthorpe. He really trusted me, and he had great poise. I think you take a little bit from every place you've been, but Bubby Copeland had the biggest impact.

Who were the most influential people in your personal life?

It would be my family. My mother, my brothers and my sister have had the biggest impact. When I think of my mom, I think of perseverance. She is a lady that had to take care of her family and raise five kids when my dad left. She taught me how to be tough too. I tell the story of when I laid down on the field, and I got up and ran off the field and everyone applauded. I thought she was coming down to check on me, but she came down and told me don't you ever embarrass me like that again. If you're hurt, you get up. If you're really hurt you'll fall back down.

I wouldn't be sitting where I am today if not for my brothers. They gave me the spirit of competition. We competed every day of my life. We grew up rough and they gave me that passion for competing. I was the smallest of four boys. I was 0-38 in fights with my brothers, but the most important thing about that is I fought them 38 times.

My younger sister has always been my cheerleader. We all have the same passion for life and our philosophies are similar in how we approach things.

What makes Todd Graham tick?

First and foremost is my faith and family. My family is what motivates me to work every day. I have such a great sense of pride in who I am. I'm a Graham boy. My family is very, very close. The love I have for my mother, my siblings, for my wife and for my kids is what makes me tick.

I'll be honest. My football family is just an extension of that. Sometimes, I've been guilty of being better to my football kids than my own kids. It's a way of life. Football and competing, and the relationships make me tick. I try real hard in my life to put faith at the top. It's very, very important to me. I know that God has blessed me in my life because I really shouldn't be doing what I'm doing when you see where I come from.

When I say family, there's not a whole lot of difference between my mother, brothers and sister, wife and kids to my football family. What's neat about my family is they embrace that. My mom knows every guy on the team. They don't know her, but she knows them. My wife comes to practice. My little boy suits up for practice. It's a way of life. I tell people our staff is unique because of the relationships we have. We've all been together off and on throughout the years. We truly are a family. This family has one purpose and cause, and that's to make a difference in the lives of the players that we impact everyday.

You read quite a bit. What do you read?

My favorite book to read is the Bible. I read the Bible a lot. Not just spiritually, but I think there are so many things in the Bible that is common ground for building a winning attitude.

My favorite book usually is the one I'm reading. I've been reading the book "The Secret". It's one of those books that validates what you believe in and talks about the power of your thoughts.

I've read every Joe Gibbs' book. His books are a favorite of mine. I've read Bill Belichick's book, Bo Schembechler's book. Bear Bryant's book, which was actually written by Gene Stallings. When I took this job I read The Undefeated by Jim Dent. I don't read novels and fiction. It's normally books about leadership and positive thinking. A lot of my reading is faith-based reading -- books by Joel Olsteen and Jack Graham.