Dan Scott Interview: Stockstill Accepts ECU Job

by TigerNet Staff - Wed Feb 26 11:08:35 GMT-04:00 2003

CLEMSON -- Rick Stockstill confirmed he has accepted an offensive coordinator job with ECU Wednesday on Dan Scott's radio show "SportsTalk".

SportsTalk can be heard from 10 a.m.-Noon, Monday-Friday, on WCCP-Fm, 104.9 in upstate South Carolina.

Listen to the full Rick Stockstill interview Here: Real | Windows Media

Selected Quotes

Was it an easy and a hard decision for you to leave Clemson?

To be completely honest with you it was a very difficult and very emotional decision. For so long I have always put other people and Clemson and everything ahead of myself. This was the first time that I really looked at something and said what is best for Rick. That’s not my personality. That’s not my style and that is what makes it very difficult. I’ve been here this is going on my fifteen year and so many people I have come in contact with not with just with the university but the Clemson community and the Clemson fans from all over the state. To be completely honest with you I really struggled with it for a couple of days. Having to tell these players that was extremely hard. Had I told them before I accepted the job I don’t believe I would have accept the job. It was very emotional. It was difficult for me to do that. At the same token it’s also an opportunity that I felt would be good for me and my family and one I needed to take a crack at.

You felt you needed to make this move to be a head coach one day?

I think maybe four or five years ago a position coach or a recruiting coordinator maybe those guys maybe would have a chance to be a head coach. The landscape has changed. I had a friend of mine tell me to look at the NFL. The NFL is not hiring any head coaches that haven’t been or not are offensive or defensive coordinators. That has kind of trickled down to the college ranks. Universities are not hiring position coaches any more. They want a guy who has been an offensive or defensive coordinator. That played into the decision. I’m getting to the age and point of my life where the window of opportunity is going to get smaller to be a head coach every year. Who knows I might go up there and not ever have an opportunity to be a head coach. Like I tell our players you do the best you can then you can look in the mirror at night. At this point I can say that I gave it a shot. I did the best I could. If it didn’t work out it didn’t work.

Everybody I have talked to that I respect in this profession has told me this is a great opportunity. The professional part of the decision was easy. The personal part was what I struggled with. I love this place so much. I care about the people, kids we got on the team, the coaching staff and all that. There are just so many personal things that have come into play that made it difficult. This is where my kids were born. It’s where their friends are and my wife’s friends are. It was hard on the personal side. The professional side was easy.

What will the Rick Stockstill offense be like at ECU?

I’ve been here at Clemson so long. I been here with four different head coaches so it’s almost like I have been to four different universities. Coach Ford was an option and I power attack. Coach Hatfield put some wishbone in there and had different ideas there in the running game. When Coach West was here we were mainly three wide and 2 back offense. And you guys know what we have done since Coach Bowden has been here. But what I like to do is spread the field. We are going to to get in a huddle. We will use the no huddle as a change of pace not be in it every snap of the game. We can try to change the tempo of the game by using that. I want to spread the field and throw the ball but in the same respect I want to run the ball out of the two back set. Control the clock a little bit to help the defense. Still have the ability to throw the ball all over the place and have fun doing that but do it a little different than we have here at Clemson.

Listen to the full Rick Stockstill interview Here: Real | Windows Media