POCATELLO, Idaho - Idaho State Head Football Coach
Cody Hawkins addressed the media prior to the Bengals' upcoming home game with the Portland State Vikings this Oct. 24 in the ICCU Dome.
CODY HAWKINS | Head Coach
On the team's mindset after two straight losses
"Hopefully positively upset. Even if we won the last two games, there are clearly a lot of things we gotta fix. We haven't played well on offense or special teams, and our defense has played really well but has had an opportunity to end it out there and didn't get it done. I appreciate the defense, but my job is looking at everything we can do to improve. We've fallen short of our best selves, so now you're trying to whittle it down to specifics: don't try to be better at everything, but we really need to be better here."
On keeping perspective while raising expectations
"I'm also not just decimated, 'cause it's football, man. My job is to mentor young men and to try to create a program that makes people proud in how we play and how we treat people, but we're all competitive and we wanna win more games. We have higher expectations than how we've performed the last couple weeks. It's the Big Sky. You don't wanna have to have guys get hit in the face or lose a game to realize that you better bring your best every game, but boy, we're learning that lesson."
On the quarterback situation
"It's fluid. We wanna play the best guy to help us win, and I think both those guys can help us win, but we gotta play better there and we gotta coach better there. The last two games have been the worst offensive back-to-back stretch we've had since I've been here, as far as points scored and yards. Everybody looks at the quarterback when you're not playing well, but the quarterbacks aren't the guys putting the players out there. We're the ones coaching them. They get way too much blame and way too much credit, but that's the position you're in."
On how Jordan Cooke handled being replaced last week
"Going back and watching the tape, I might have been a little short-leashed just because I'm trying to get us to play better. A lot of the things he's being held accountable for were not necessarily his fault. The interception on the first drive, that's 100% his fault, but the protection stuff and the run game stuff, that's different. I thought Jordan handled it in an unbelievably awesome manner. He was still engaged, he was talking to guys, he was coaching guys up. He wasn't happy about it, and he told me that, but he didn't pout about it. The man that Jordan is now compared to where he was three years ago, if he were to write a book on how to handle it, he was awesome."
On his own experience being benched as a quarterback
"Several times. When I got benched, I don't think it did anything to my confidence. I was pissed, but I was doing everything I could to get better. I might underestimate what it does to a guy when he gets benched, so it's important for me to consider that and understand that they are humans as well as players. I've tried to over-communicate with those guys so they know this is how I feel about you, this is where you have to improve, and this is where we have to improve as a team."
On NFL scouts attending games
"I think it's a positive for everybody on the team. Sometimes it probably puts undue pressure on the quarterback, because the first thing he's thinking about is what it's gonna do to what scouts think of him. Draft guys are usually going off a mix of potential and production, and the good thing is he has otherworldly potential and a ton of good production here. I don't think one bad game is gonna make the difference. Four or five bad games might."
On the highs and lows of expectations this season
"I always say, don't take this wrong, but whenever they write something good, they're wrong. A month ago when people were saying 'look at this team,' I wasn't saying that. I was like, 'How are we gonna run the ball?' And we're 4-0, but everybody's like, 'We're rolling.' Then it's 'We're terrible, we can't get a first down,' and I'm like, 'Guys, if you catch the screen pass, we're not even having this conversation.' You're always on the journey, fixing problems, looking for solutions, emphasizing the good and correcting the bad."
On becoming more of a counterpunch team
"We've realized this week that people are playing us a little bit different. Last year it was 'no problem.' This year that's more of a problem. We gotta be more of a counterpunch team than a punch team. We have to figure out what they're in, and what they're doing will probably dictate a little more of what we're doing, so we make sure the stuff we're doing is stuff we've repped and can be successful at."
On Juice Mason's three straight touchdown games
"Juice Mason is gonna be a guy who will be that story for a long time. He's the same person, but it's like he's grown up 15 years. He's been dealing with some injury stuff and he ain't saying boo about it. He's going out there and playing, being tough, living in the training room. He is elite mentally: splits, technique, reading coverages, dealing with adversity, being in the right spot. He has willed himself into being a staple of this offense. One of my biggest pieces of feedback for myself is we just need to get it to Juice more."
On what makes Portland State dangerous
"They're creating explosives, they're playing a bunch of different quarterbacks, and schematically they're all over the place on offense. I would say yards are stupid. Nobody gives two hoots about 'we have 500 yards of offense' when you lost. They're winning turnovers, they're really good on third down, and they're good on special teams. If you can be good on special teams and win the turnover battle in every game, you're gonna have a shot. Depending on the quarterback, they could have three totally different offensive attacks against us."
On facing Portland State head coach Chris Fisk
"Fisk is a really good coach. He did a great job at Central Washington. He's a guy I appreciated a lot when I was an assistant at my previous school. I thought about whether I should go work for him or try to hire him. He's got a great staff, and two of them are good buddies of mine in coaching. They're gonna be a problem. They're getting things rolling in the right direction, and getting Fisk on board was a big step for them."
On the defensive line's second pick-six and the culture in that room
"People love seeing the big man touchdown. It doesn't fire up the team because it was a fluke. Linemen work so hard and get no reward, so their opportunity to get out there and shine is awesome for the whole team. The D-line production is such a great microcosm of what I want this program to be. There's no group that does more together, whether it's karaoke or playing Mafia with the quarterbacks the other day. They do a unity thing every week on their own that they get other positions involved with. It's a big credit to Ricky and Coach Duff, and it doesn't happen without a bunch of amazing players."
