Coach Hal Mumme:
Opening statement…
“It’s been a long hard season and I’ve come to some conclusions that I feel have to be made for the good of the program. First of all, I had a good conversation with Tubby Smith last week and I gave him permission to talk with Derek Smith if he would like to about playing basketball. I have the same agreement with Coach Madison on Shane Boyd as far as being a relief pitcher for the baseball team.
“To the hard part…we’re going to change some staff members. They are Tony Franklin, Claude Bassett, Darrell Patterson, and Tim Keane. We’ve given them their releases. It’s been a hard season, they’re all good people and professional. It was very difficult for me to do, but we have to move on with the program. I am charged with having the correct chemistry on the staff and having a staff that’s successful. We were 2-9 this season and we were not successful.”
On the effect on recruiting…
“I’m going to personally take over recruiting until we hire someone. We’ll have to have someone take on the recruiting responsibilities eventually, but I’ll do it myself until we get through this recruiting season. Hopefully it won’t affect the recruits that have already committed. I think they want to come to the University of Kentucky because it’s a great place to go to school and a great place to play football.”
On the selection of John Goodner as the new Defensive Coordinator…
“I wanted to find someone who has great integrity and great stability. I wanted a coach to really fit in with the character of our program here at UK…someone who had coordinated a defense in a league similar to the SEC, and really understood and had a plan for an eight-man front on defense with a pressure style. After talking to a lot of people, one name kept coming up and that was John Goodner. When I talked to Grant Teaff and Spike Dykes, they both said there’s no finer person or football coach than John Goodner. I feel very privileged that he has elected to come on board with us. I believe our defense will be in great hands.”
John Goodner, new defensive coordinator:
Opening statement…
“First of all, I’m glad to be at Kentucky. As Coach Mumme said, I’m not a guy that bounces around very much. Last year I didn’t coach, even though I had some opportunities, because I didn’t think those programs had a chance to win. The reason I came to Kentucky is because I think we can win here. I believe in what Coach Mumme’s doing and I’m glad to be here.”
On why Goodner believes it’s possible to win at Kentucky…
“It’s a very tough football league, there’s no doubt about that. I think Bob Stoops gave the ultimate compliment to Coach Mumme’s offense when he was defensive coordinator at Florida. He said that there was one team that gave him more problems than anyone else, and that was Hal Mumme at Kentucky. I didn’t come to UK to stay for one or two years. This is probably going to be my last job. We’ll make a difference here defensively. This a good job.”
On his defensive philosophy…
“We’re an eight-man front team, with the ability to get into a seven-man front when you have teams in a passing situation. You have to stop the run first in order to have a chance to win. We gave up a little size for speed at Texas Tech. I believe in getting the quickest and fastest football team on the field that we can. We believe in pressure but not at any cost.”
On not tackling in practice…
“We practice up-tempo where we believe in a lot of repetitions, a high-tempo type of practice, but at the same time we’re not a team that does a lot of tackling in practice. You have to simulate the real thing in practice and really get guys running to the football. Getting players to run to the ball in pursuit is important. Good tackling teams have more than one guy tackling the runner. We’re going to try to get a lot of people to the football.”
On SEC teams that play a similar defense…
“Probably Mississippi State. We’re mostly man-to-man secondary coverage. We like to play a lot of combination man-to-man where we help our cornerbacks. We’ll have three-on-two and four-on-three situations.”
On the current defensive personnel…
“I think the most important thing for me to do is watch film and have an idea how they will fit into the new system. If we don’t have the people to do exactly what we want, then we’ll adapt and adjust. I don’t believe in hanging guys out to dry. If a player can’t do it, then I’m not going to try to make him do it. We’re going to do what we can do and get better at it. “
