KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: I'm incredibly excited to be here today to introduce Kevin O'Connell as the 10th head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Kevin is a strong leader with a great vision, great communication skills and an innovative football mind.
As a former player himself, he's able to connect with players and has a great reputation for developing them. He's incredibly bright with a calm demeanor through adversity. He is well-regarded across the league for his genuine personality almost as much as his football acumen. He is committed to building a championship culture through positivity and purpose.
One of Kevin's best attributes is his ability to communicate complexity in a simple and relatable way. Like some of the best football minds I've been around, the way he talks about football is very visual, simple and clear. He understands team building at an extremely high level, and I'm excited to form that partnership with him in building a championship team.
When there are big decisions in life, a lot of times you like to think back, was there a moment when you sort of knew, and I went back thinking about the journey, and I was thinking about the second-round interview; we were talking about offensive philosophy, personnel, player evaluations, and it was like I was talking with one of my close football friends who I've spent hours and hours upon hours with, and this was an hour into the interview. It was just so natural. Everybody else that was in that interview said it right after, that the connection, the energy was incredible there, and upon reflection, I think in that moment I probably knew myself.
I'm extremely pleased with the thorough and detailed process we went through. I think we interviewed multiple future head coaches, but we're excited about the guy sitting next to me and what we have.
With that, I'd like to officially welcome Kevin and his family to Minnesota.
(Applause.)
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I want to thank everybody for being here today. Obviously it means so much to have so many members of this organization, both ownership, former players, the media that will support us in what we do, coaches, fellow coaches that have come in already. It's such an unbelievable opportunity for me to be sitting up in front of you today.
I am incredibly humbled by this, to know that you get the opportunity to lead an organization, an organization that has tremendous history, an organization that's had tremendous success on the field and in this community.
I first want to thank Zygi, Mark and Lenny Wilf, the entire Wilf family, the search committee that obviously had such an impact on me with some of the connections I was able to make very, very quickly, the entire Vikings organization, many of whom I've gotten already a chance to meet here today. It seems like such a special collection of people, of leaders, of human beings that are ready to help communicate a shared vision to everybody in this organization and help deliver that message both inside this building and outside this building.
I've experienced firsthand how passionate Vikings fans are. I've been on the visiting sideline at U.S. Bank Stadium twice, and I can tell you it's one of the hardest venues to play, especially for an opposing offense, of all of the NFL stadiums that I've been to.
But the stadium is great. It's special. But the fans that make up the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium is what will mean the most to me, knowing just how passionate and how much they care, you care about us playing great football, competing at the highest level and trying to win every game we play. Trying to win championships here is the goal. But it takes a great fan base to do that, it really does.
It takes great ownership, and I felt connected from our very first Zoom call with the entire Wilf family, members of the front office, obviously Kwesi and our ability to connect from day one, we'll get into that here in a second, but just an unbelievable opportunity.
There's so much to be drawn from this opportunity for me. Like I said, the amazing ownership, there's a very talented roster already in place here, a lot of really, really good football players that will play, that have played at a high level, and I'm so excited in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams, to get to work with these guys and help put them in the best possible situation to have success.
We're sitting in an unbelievable facility right now, and I can tell you that around the NFL buildings like this are not the norm. It's an incredible, incredible place to come to work every day. It provides an unbelievable atmosphere to develop a culture that will be very, very important to me, but the facility here should be one that the Wilf family, you guys are very proud of. It's something that should give us a great chance to have a winning edge to go to work every day.
The chance to partner with Kwesi was one of the huge draws to this job. Once I found out that you were going to be the general manager, I too remember that second interview out in LA and getting the opportunity to kind of -- in the interview process sometimes you end up talking about things that are very, very important, culture, team, what you want the organization to look like, what are the important things that you'll draw upon of things you've done in other organizations with success and maybe some where you've learned how you might not want to do things.
But when we got to talking football, we got to talking our shared core visions of what we want a football team to look like. It's our job to take the team we put together and put it on the field and best execute game plans and put them in positions to have success, but there's got to be collaboration.
That's the number one thing that I think we've talked about that we're so excited about is through the process of getting to know each other, we've known from day one that we're going to be able to collaborate, communicate with one another and build a culture here that the players will feel. They'll feel a connectedness between obviously your staff and our coaching staff, and that will only lead to the players feeling as connected as they've ever been to a coaching staff before. It's one of my main goals, and I cannot wait to get going with our football team.
My coaching style is built on some real core foundational values. I choose to be consistent as possible. You win, you lose, you do a lot of things in this league, but if you're consistent in your approach, in your process, it is very easy to come to work every Monday and figure out how to make things better, figure out how to go win the next football game. If you've struggled the previous week, go fix it, but you do that through your process that's been in place long before you ever reached that adversity.
I think it's important to have a relentless passion to teach, lead and motivate because that's what we are in its truest form is we're teachers, we're motivators, we're leaders, and then if we're able to connect with our players, they become the same, and everything can take off from there.
Consistency is everything that we do in this league. It's too hard to win. It's too hard with the challenges you face throughout a season to not allow your players to see the same exact guy standing up in front of them every single day. It'll be a hallmark of what I want to do here as my first time being a head coach.
I think we'll set a tone and create a culture here where players will want to be around us. They'll want to be around their coaches. They'll want to be in the building. This special, special facility is only special if there's players inside it working on a daily basis to have the success that we're going to help them have.
I've talked with a handful of players already, and I cannot wait to get started with these guys when the rules allow, but I can tell you that these guys are excited to get going. They're excited to meet the coaching staff we're in the process of putting together, so excited about the guys we've already been able to get on our staff and put those guys in positions to impact our players just like I've been put into many times by the great head coaches that I've worked for.
We'll finish out that process as quick as possible and then move on and catch up with the rest of the league in implementing our systems, teaching our systems to our coaches so that those guys can then go transfer that information to their players when they come back.
To Vikings fans, I just want to let you know, you'll get everything I absolutely have on an every-single-day basis. Knowing how hard it is to win in this league and having come from an organization where we were just able to accomplish the ultimate goal in winning a Super Bowl, I know what it takes. I've seen it. I've experienced it, and I know how hard it can be, but I know if you've got the right kind of people with you, the right ownership, the right leadership structure with you, and I know we have the right kind of players in this building already, we can accomplish a lot, a lot of really special things.
I want to acknowledge the strong history of this organization real quick. We've got some legends in attendance today, legendary coach Bud Grant, Randall McDaniel, John Randle, two Hall-of-Famers that I have so much respect for; Scott Studwell, who I just spent some time in my office with, and hopefully we get him back around the facility a little bit more now that we're moving on from some of the difficult times we've experienced the past couple years. I asked him if he would maybe be part of our first tackling circuit because he looks like he could still tackle most of the guys on our roster.
And then obviously Pete Bercich, who's not in here right now, but I know he's a major part of our alumni and a big part of what we want to have. We want to have as much of the former Vikings greats, the alumni to be a part of what we do here. We want them back around our players. When you have such a great culture and history to an organization, that makes it all the better if you can connect both the current and former parts of what makes this organization so special.
I do want to take a moment to thank the Los Angeles Rams, the leadership structure there from Mr. Kroenke to Kevin Demoff, Les Snead, and then especially head football coach Sean McVay. He's had a huge impact on me the last two years, but even going back beyond that, I've learned so much from him about the type of team and culture that I want to build. But he is truly a remarkable man, a remarkable leader, and I hope to bring a lot of those characteristics to our football team here that he's instilled that just helped us win a world championship.
Lastly I want to thank my family. My beautiful wife Leah, my son Kaden, my daughter Quinn, my son Kolten. I've put you guys through a lot the past six, seven years. You guys have sacrificed so much, and it's led us to this day where we get to sit here, and I'm going to try not to get emotional, but we get to sit here and look at each other and know that you guys have been every bit a part of getting us to this moment. Leah, you're going to be an unbelievable head football coach's wife. I cannot wait to see you connect with not only our team, ownership, but this community. It's going to be a special thing for me to watch.
My mom and dad, Bill and Suzanne, you guys have been there every step of the way. We've got to experience a lot of things over the last week or so, a lot of joy, and I couldn't imagine doing it without you guys. I love you guys so very much.
Leah's parents Kit and Becky, absolutely loved having you guys a part of this journey with us, and your support, Kit being a former player and a coach yourself, your support has meant the world to me, and I take with me all the conversations we've had over the years. They mean the absolute world to me.
Trace Armstrong, my agent, you're a part of the family now. You always have been from day one, just such a mentor for me and such a special relationship for me, as well.
I hope the message of my enthusiasm and excitement comes through, but I can tell you firsthand I cannot wait. From the moment this press conference ends we're going upstairs and we're getting started, finishing our staff like I said, and then we'll get to implementing all the great things we're going to do here. With that, I think we can open it up for questions.
Q. They always talk about that first meeting and setting the tone. What will the first meeting be like for you and what tone will you try to set when you've finally got 53 of those 83 players in the room?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I think that's a great question. I really do. I've thought a lot about that meeting. Luckily we've got a few more days until that will happen, but first and foremost you've got to establish right away what your football philosophy and culture is going to be. I'm talking on the field, the type of team we want to be, the type of characteristics we want to have as a team, the things that matter in our preparation, the things that matter in how our players will absorb the systems that we're going to implement.
Then trying to go win football games starts from day one when you start talking about consistency of communicating and collaborating with those guys. They've got to know we care about them from day one. I will not hire a coach that will not connect on a one-on-one basis with their players in their rooms. It's very, very important, but our players will feel that from the first meeting all the way through our first time getting on the grass into training camp and on into the season.
Q. When you were going through the interview process, how did you sell ownership and everybody that was a part of the committee on how Kirk Cousins is going to fit your vision and what he can do in this offense to bring this team a championship?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Well, I think Kirk has played at a very high level, and he's done a lot of really good things throughout his career. I know who he is as a player, and I know what he's capable of, and part of our job as coaches is maximizing a player's ability to go out every single Sunday and have success.
I feel that's going to be an advantage for us as we build our system offensively, make sure we really focus on the things Kirk does well, which I do think are a lot of aspects of playing the position, and help him on a daily basis connect with his team, lead us, be a completely quieted-mind quarterback that can go play because he's talented enough to go do that, putting him in the best possible situations to have success.
Q. I'll follow up on Cousins and I'll ask you, Kevin and then Kwesi, as well, with all the rumors swirling around can you say that Kirk Cousins will definitely be the Vikings' quarterback in 2022?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Well, I know he's already contract and I'm excited to coach him. We've already started thinking about how we're going to build those systems for him and our other quarterbacks and really the tremendous skill group that we have, our guys up front. It takes all 11 to move the football on offense, to run it, to throw it, to score points in the red zone. But I'm anticipating Kirk being a part of what we do.
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Yeah, just to reiterate, I'm excited that he's excited to coach him and lead him, and we're focused on building the team around him to set us up to succeed the best we can.
Q. Do you plan on calling the offensive plays, and if so, how has your career as a player and a coach prepared you for that role?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Well, thank you for the question. Yes, I do plan on calling the plays. I think it's funny you ask that because I've used this joke before, but my career as a player provided a great platform for me as a coach because I did spend a lot of time watching games from the sideline, but I will say that with that becomes the ability to see the game in a way that I feel very prepared to call the game.
I feel like I've been around one of the best play callers in the NFL over the last couple years, and obviously the system we run here will have a lot of characteristics of what we did in Los Angeles, the ability to have that attacking mindset, the ability to utilize our offense at the line of scrimmage, and with that becomes you have to have ownership of what you're doing to call it, you have to have ownership of what you're doing at the quarterback position to run the offense, and I feel very strongly about the circumstances and situation here to be really prepared to do that.
Q. Kevin, what are some of the things when you were a player that you learned about connecting or being disconnected with coaches that are sort of on your mind now when you're in that role and you're trying to do the reverse?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, it's a great question because it's something I think about a lot now that I'm on this side of it. The best coaches I ever had, I felt like they cared about me. I felt like they cared about not only the production on the field but the process which we got to that point. I was always a player that needed to improve in something, and when coaches took the time to not only tell me what I didn't do well but show me how to fix those problems or at least go about the process of improving, and I think that's what we ultimately are as coaches; identify things you can help a player do better but then more importantly give them the why and how of how they're going to get to do that.
I think that's what makes the greatest coaches in this league who they are. Play calling and all that other stuff is great, but in its purest form you can teach the game, teach what you're asking them to do, understand how hard it is, some of the things you ask these players to do sometimes, but then give them the why and give them a reason behind everything you do. These players will take off and they'll go run with it, and that player ownership is ultimately what we're striving for.
Q. You coached Stafford for a year, you coached Kirk for a year. Wondering what similarities do they have, if any, and what differences, if any, do they have?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, they have a lot of similarities when it comes to the physical nature of throwing the football. I think those guys are elite throwers. Accuracy is the number one requirement in this league as a quarterback from a physical standpoint. We can talk a lot about makeup and obviously the ability to process at the line of scrimmage and play fast, but if you can't be accurate with the football, it becomes very difficult to consistently move the ball for an offense.
I think Kirk, the one thing I've always noticed about him is he's incredibly accurate with the football. He plays with great rhythm and timing and precision, and I think we can build an offensive system like we had in LA to take advantage of that skill set.
Matthew Stafford is one of the most talented players I've ever been around. I have so much respect for him obviously from a physical standpoint but also that makeup and that ability to process and do a lot of things at the line of scrimmage.
I see Kirk being able to do a lot of those things, and I see us being able to build an offense to maximize what he does best, which happens to be what a lot of quarterbacks want to be able to do best. A quarterback friendly system where they can have an attacking mindset, aggressive mindset, but I use this term a lot, on our terms. On our terms, to go play the game we want to play and keep it on our terms, and then when it's time to go make plays to win a game, our guys feel really good about going to do that.
Q. How long have you been thinking about becoming a head coach? It's well stated you're 36 years old; how did you talk the selection committee into saying that you're ready?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Well, I think that's a good question because in the end I think to truly get somebody to commit to you for this type of opportunity, you'd better truly feel you're ready, and I do. I do absolutely feel like I've been building up to this opportunity for a long time in my career, both as a player and a coach.
I have not wasted a moment to absorb some of the great coaching and players that I've been around. I think you can pull from a lot of people in your career, things that will help you be the best possible version of yourself as a coach. If you're not doing those things, I think that's the type of arrogance that will not only lose football games but it'll force you to lose a job every now and then.
You've got to be able to rely on those around you. You've got to be able to absorb the best parts of those leaders that you've been around, and in the end you've got to be yourself. You've got to be authentic, you've got to be real, and the good thing is I believe wholeheartedly that I'm ready for this opportunity. I believe from a fundamental standpoint of teaching the systems that I want to run in all three phases we'll be incredibly competitive.
Ultimately it was about finding the right organization because I do think it's been said before, I do think you win with your people, players, coaches, ownership, staff. The leadership structure here, everything is in place for me to feel great about not only my readiness but my ability to go implement a culture and a plan that I want to do.
Q. A lot of people associated with Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan have used the phrase "illusion of complexity." Is that in your lexicon? What does it mean, and how does it help?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: It is, it is. What does it really mean in its purest form? We're doing a lot of things that are simple for us, but maybe a little bit more difficult for a defense to defend. Simple as things starting out looking the same but are different. That illusion of complexity where teams think that there's a lot of offense that they're defending, but really we're only doing small details here and there just to change the picture, change angles, give ourselves an advantage wherever we see fit, both in the run game and in the pass game, using tempo as a weapon, things that people have seen our offense do in LA that they will absolutely see our offense do here in Minnesota.
Q. You've obviously talked a lot about the offensive side of the ball. I'm curious if you have a vision along with Ed what you're going to be doing on defense, and who are some players on the roster that get you excited about that side of the ball, as well?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I definitely have a vision of what I want the defense to look like and play like. First and foremost, the core characteristics of playing good defense, which is guys flying around, a great tackling group.
We're going to force turnovers with how we play from a scheme standpoint, but that's an effort thing. That's playing with great effort, sustaining that, finishing plays, making it about the football. That's part of our core football philosophy; number one, first and foremost, it's all about the ball. I think you lose games turning it over as an offense in this league before you ever give yourself a chance to win them.
But defensively, the greatest defenses in this league not only stop people but they take the ball away, and that'll be a huge part of what Ed and our defensive staff tries to build from day one here.
I think from a coverage standpoint, what really drew me to Ed Donatell was his ability to teach a system that I know is very hard to play against as a quarterback and as an offensive coach. I've experienced it in Los Angeles. There's definitely different forms of it going around the league right now, but obviously Ed's experience with Vic Fangio and his connection to that system is something that really drew me to him, and then obviously the person that he is was huge for me.
But as far as our players go, I see impactful players at all three levels, I really do, starting in the back end with Harrison Smith. I think he's the perfect player for the defensive structure we want to play from the standpoint of the coverage, how we want to make all things look the same. He's got great length. He's got great instincts. He's going to be a problem for people in the middle of the field and around the line of scrimmage. He really always has been, speaking from experience.
Obviously with the linebackers, with Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr, those guys have long since been huge issues in this league for people defensively. I think there's ways to use those guys and allow them to play with an attacking mindset while they're still responsible for the things that they're responsible for defensively, and then I think we've got players both internal and on the edges defensively, defensive line-wise, that can impact the quarterback.
But when it all works together, when that coverage can make it cloudy for the quarterback and that rush is one more step closer to getting home and those backers are doing everything they can to force negative runs on early downs and finish plays in the pass game, it can be a beautiful thing. That's really what we're hunting from a defensive system, and then the schematics from there week in and week out we're going to game plan in a way to try to take away what the opponent does best.
Q. To follow up on the defensive side of things, what do you anticipate the scheme looking like, and specifically is a three-man front something you're planning to run here in Minnesota?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I think from a base standpoint you can look at it that way, but I think somebody threw out the stat to me the other day, with everybody really living in 11 personnel nowadays, I think depending on the defense you talk to, 81 percent of the time they're in nickel defense, which essentially is just a 4-3 with a nickel in the game instead of -- a fifth DB, I should say, in the game instead of a third linebacker.
A lot of times a big thing -- and kind of going off of the last question there, a big thing is being multiple with your fronts because I know as an offensive coach if we know where you're going to be, we know where you're going to line up, that makes it pretty easy at least to design things to attack angles, understand how you want to run the ball, how you want to protect, but when you're changing that picture and forcing opponents to deal with multiple fronts during a game, during a drive in some cases, that can be a real weapon for a defense, pairing that with some really good things on the back end, that's kind of what we're hunting.
Q. Can you share with us the difficulty and the challenge of what you've just achieved, not only to win a world championship, but to pursue your dream to be a head coach and to have two jobs literally? Talk about the good and the bad and how you were able to do it.
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Quite honestly, it was one of the more challenging months of my life going back to when the playoffs first started, but probably one of the most rewarding. It really was.
I think through that whole process, the number one thing I always wanted to maintain was my focus on the task at hand, which was week in and week out -- trying to win playoff games in this league is tough, especially versus opponents you've already played. The preparation can be that much more challenging when you've played a team in some cases twice already like we had with Arizona and San Francisco. We had already played the Buccaneers one time, and then obviously we were playing the Bengals for the first time but in our last game that we would possibly play this year.
It was an incredible challenge, but I can tell you that my number one priority was always winning that next game, winning the next game. I kept talking to our quarterbacks about each individual aspect of winning the next game was all that mattered. Our preparation would lead us to giving us an opportunity to go play with a quieted mind and have success, and I was talking to myself as much as anybody, and it was about maintaining that process that we had from the beginning of training camp, and then in the end it was about going out and doing everything we could to try to win those football games.
But it was challenging because you know, especially as of late recently, you know this great opportunity that's out in front of you, and that's where I really relied on the collaboration with Kwesi and the rest of the organization here to obviously carry out the vision that we started talking about during the interview process. I think that's why the interview process is a special time, because if you're truly meaning what you say and you're truly believing what you say and that's truly your vision for how you want your staff to look, the culture to be built, you feel comfortable allowing others to start to carry out that vision for you.
They've been phenomenal here, supporting me throughout that whole time leading up to and past the Super Bowl, but I can tell you when I got here last night, when my family and I arrived, there's nobody more excited to turn the page and get going than me.
Q. When Kwesi was introduced, he mentioned that he didn't like being kind of known as the analytics guy, even if that's followed him for a long time. I'm curious from your view how do you view analytics as fitting into the head coach's role?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I think it's an incredible tool that we have at our disposal. It's a weapon if it's used the right way, but you've got to have people to help you. I think when you're a football coach the number one thing sometimes that can be a challenge is dealing with too much information sometimes, and we've already had great dialogue about that.
He's got a great way about presenting that information. He's had success doing it to some really, really great football coaches he's worked with, but presenting that information in a way where it can be used as a winning edge for an organization, and when we can collaborate and work together using the tools that we'll have, and analytics definitely is going to be one of them, I think we can be the best possible version of the Minnesota Vikings that we can be, combining that with some of the other things that we'll want to do as an organization.
Q. You talk about collaboration; here comes the draft, here comes free agency. How do you work together in partnership on those plateaus?
KWESI ADOFO-MENSAH: Side by side. We talk about a shared vision a lot. We talked about through the interview process, we talked about it when he got here last night. That's what we're about. We know what we're trying to get to, and then really it's just figuring out where you are and what next steps to take to get there. That involves him being right next to me, understanding every step of the way what we're trying to accomplish, what moves, what are the highest lever points you can take to get where you want to go. That's what excites me the most about it. I want to be pushed.
I don't think that I have every answer. Just like the people that I surround myself, he's going to be one of them, we want to push each other, come up to the best decision, build consensus and end up where we want to be.
Q. "Collaboration" is a word that's been used a lot throughout the process. How much do you take into account maybe the previous regime and how players felt that collaboration maybe fell short, or do you just simply turn the page and not talk about the past at all?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I don't really think that's something that I can spend a lot of time thinking about. Just knowing that the opportunity in front of us, I think the word collaboration speaks to the two guys you see sitting in front of you, and I think doing our job for the people that will work for us, our coaching staff and our personnel staff, we'll be letting those guys feel that immediate connection between the two of us, which will only allow our groups to connect, and then before you know it the players will be back in this building, and they're going to be the number one people, the number one group that feels that connection and collaboration because it really is a thing -- I know the word has been used a lot, but it's been used a lot for a reason, and I hope people and fans understand that.
We both believe in it. We have that shared vision, and I've been a part of something and I know he has, too, where when it's existed, a lot of really good things can happen.
Q. You look at the advanced metrics and they indicate that running the football is not as efficient as throwing the football, but you talk to players and coaches and it's the physical and mental aspects of running the ball and kind of imposing your will. How do you view the importance of a successful running game in the modern NFL?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I think it's about balance, and I think it's about understanding clearly how you want to go win a football game each and every Sunday. You don't play against every opponent the same way. You've got your core foundational aspects of your offensive system. The run game and how you run the football is certainly a huge part of that, and you want to be able to, as you said, impose your will.
You want to be able to run the football because there's going to be times you have to, the way defenses want to defend your pass game. We use the term they're daring us to run it. We've got to be able to do it. We've got to be able to move people up front. We've got a really, really good running back here that we've got to put him in positions to use his skill set and have a lot of success, and I feel really, really good about a plan to do that.
But running the football and the marriage with the right kind of pass game is what makes an offensive system what it is. We've talked about that term "illusion of complexity." You've got to be able to do both. You've got to have balance because if defenses have to defend both things and they don't know it's either-or until long after they would like, we've got an advantage right there to go do a lot of things on that particular snap that will help us go score points on that drive.
Q. You mentioned culture a lot in your opening statements. What was it about the Rams' culture that allowed for such success, and how do you plan on bringing that specifically here to the Vikings?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, it's a culture built on players and coaches being connected. The communication that exists in that building, coach to coach, player to coach, coach to player is second to none, and it provides a platform for everybody to feel they have the ownership of the why. That's what goes on in that building is from top down, the why is being explained on a daily basis.
Players are taking that information, having ownership of it, and then when they go out on Sundays, it's really about them. It's really about them being put in positions to play with a quieted mind and go -- never be asked to do things that they're not capable of, but if we're doing the right things offensively and defensively and on special teams, if we get the right kind of players, which I feel like we have already and we're going to add a lot more, we'll have a great chance to coach those guys up and let them go do exactly that each and every Sunday.
But it starts with that culture. It starts with the ability to have the players feel that, that connectedness in the building. We're going to be starting to try to build that from day one here together, and I think when we do that, our players will feel it and they'll be ready to roll.
Q. You talked about building yourself up to be a head coach and to take that step. What is the biggest step going from an assistant coach to now being the head coach in your mind?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I think you're in a supportive role for everybody in the building in a lot of ways except the head coach when you're an offensive coordinator or you're one of the position coaches on the staff.
Now I'm that person in that role where I will rely on a lot of the coaches and great people around me just like a lot of the great coaches that I've coached for have relied on me. That's one thing I've always taken away from it is truly when the entire group is connected, you can rely on one another, but make no mistake about it, I'm excited to stand out in front of this group. I'm excited to stand in front of this team, lead from the front, and they're going to get my very best every single day, and I think they'll feel that, and in the end, I want these players to know that I'll care about them. They'll get my best every day, like I said, and we're going to put them in great positions to go out and have success.
Q. You talk about how this team has a lot of talented players and there are a lot of pieces in place. Do you think this is a team that's really that far away from achieving its ultimate goal?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I don't. I really don't. We've talked a lot about that. That's one of the things you look for when you get these opportunities is where is this current team at, and then obviously what type of plan can we put in place to go accomplish the goals that we want to accomplish.
I think there's a lot of reasons, you just said it, on both sides of the ball that make me really excited about implementing the systems and the processes that we're going to implement that these guys can then take and run with as players. Can't wait to see the leadership of this group. I think there's great leadership on this team already, but be put in a position hopefully to take this thing over, have that player-led ownership of a team, let those guys go lead the rest of that locker room and then I see us really growing this thing day by day together. I really do.
Once again, thank you guys for coming out. I really appreciate it. Love to my family over there. Love you guys.
(Applause.)
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports