Recap Of Coach Hafley's Interview From 'ACC Road Trip'
Coach Hafley sat down with Mark Packer and Taylor Tannebaum on ACC Network Thursday night as part of the 'Road Trip' the network is doing.
Here's what coach had to say on a few different things...
ON THE DOG DAYS OF CAMP THIS WEEK
"Players are tired, coaches are tired, this is the week. This is the week we've got to step on the gas and get better. The guys have responded."
HIS ANALYSIS OF WHERE THE TEAM CURRENTLY STANDS
"Just take the football aside, I really love this group. We have awesome kids. I love being around them and working every day. We finally have accountability where, guys are getting older and they're policing themselves. If guys are late, they're handling it and I don't even have to say 'get out, you're late.' I'm just proud of the way this team has pulled together. Last night I'm in the locker room after a hard practice, everybody's tired...I go in, guys are dancing. There's a dance-off in the middle. Our guys like each other and they like their coaches. It's a fun group to be around. Our biggest thing is staying healthy. Knock on wood, that's been way better than it was last year. Now, there's competition at positions we've never had competition at before. Usually, my first three years it's, 'alright you're starting,' and you know it, so you push yourself, but now with guys behind you, what's it going to do to you? It's like that at so many positions where I'm going to have to have a lot of hard conversations and I've never had to do that. I'm excited about that. There's more film to watch, evaluate more. There's more competition, it's been more physical and we're going to get better because of it."
ON PUNISHMENT FOR BEING LATE
"There's punishment, but instead of me doing the punishing, the vets are handling it. You know you've got a good team where you're at the end of practice and it's 'alright, we had two guys late today, don't worry coach, we got it.' Now, it's to the point where, I can't tell you the last time we had anybody come late because of that. We don't want to let each other down. It's different when you don't want to let your team down."
ON TAKING THE TEAM TO SEE BEYONCE AT GILLETTE THE NIGHT BEFORE CAMP STARTED
"Beyonce was playing, it was the night before we started camp. Instead of having a team meeting, we got them on a bus and we went to Gillette. It was great. The Kraft family kind of opened a whole area for us. We had dinner as a team and then we watched Beyonce. But, I didn't really know a lot of her songs, she's a great entertainer. I looked up and our guys seemed to know a lot more songs than I did. It was really good. It was a good night. We got them back early and then we kicked the next day off with a bunch of meetings."
ON WHAT THE STAFF CHANGES HAVE BROUGHT TO THE TEAM
"Energy. This is going into year four for me, and the first time somebody left the staff, it was like 'this is the end of the world, I've got to re-teach it," but when you start to realize it, sometimes that new energy and those new ideas, they're really helpful. Coach Rhoads is such a good addition. The energy, the experience on defense. Just his head coaching experience, he's really helped me. He's probably my biggest mentor I've ever had in coaching. He's one of the reasons I got into coaching and gave me my first real break. So, he's not afraid to come in and tell me what he really thinks. That's really helpful. I don't want a bunch of yes men. If I'm not doing something, or someone thinks I should be doing better, he'll come and let me know. And the players love him. Coach Chud was in a role off the field, but now having him in there with the players full time...I go in there and watch a meeting when he's in front of the room and I'm sitting in the back, that's an ex-NFL head coach running a meeting. That makes me say 'alright, I'm going back to defense, he's got it.' Coach Shimko, a ton of ideas, a bright young coach. Then, on defense, it's such a collective effort now. I'm able to be in there more. Coach Duggan, I think he's one of the smartest guys. He sees it so quickly compared to other guys I've been around. Then, Aazaar's so good with the players, so good in front of the room. There's a lot of energy. There's no ego and it's really shown on the field."
ON LIKING THE OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE LINE
"It's so different up front right now. There's battles. You guys (Packer & Tannebaum) went out with seven (O-linemen) last night. I sent seven because there's seven guys battling for five positions. It's constant competition. Then, the D-line is getting older. You've got guys who have played now. You've got four defensive ends, you've got four defensive tackles. (Wednesday) we ran about 100 plays...it is physical. Guys are fighting for jobs. We're running the ball. We're getting after the quarterback. There's some collisions. Last year, it was more one's vs. two's because we were just trying to hang on by a thread. This year it's 'no, we're not doing that.' We're going to run the ball. We're going to be violent. We're going to get after people and that's how we're going to practice this year."
ON MAHOGANY'S STORY WHEN DECIDING TO COME BACK
"It's awesome. I didn't hear it until I got back. That's one of the reasons you coach. A guy says that about his team, a guy says that about his coach. The guy's turning down money. That's what we try to preach. NIL's great and I want these guys to make money, but it has to be bigger than that. Just like (Christian) said, just like Zay said. We've had two guys two years in a row who could've chased the money, but they believe in Boston College and they believe in their staff and their team. It's awesome. I shared that with everybody. That's a cool moment as a coach."