THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Yankee Stadium, and thank you for joining us for today's head coaches press conference for the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. The game featuring the University of Minnesota from the Big Ten and Syracuse University from the ACC kicks off tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Eastern and will be televised by ESPN and broadcast nationally by ESPN Radio.
On our dais today we have Minnesota Head Coach P.J. Fleck and Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers. Thank you for taking time out of your schedules today. Before we take questions from the media in attendance, it would be great to start off with some opening remarks from the head coaches about your bowl week experiences to this point. P.J., can we start with you?
P.J. FLECK: Sure can. First of all, just want to thank all the New York Yankees organization. Want to thank Randy Levine for his hospitality. Mark Holtzman and Bad Boy Mowers, Pinstripe Bowl. Everybody associated with it. I want to thank the Steinbrenner family. Not only that, just want to give a special thanks to John Mosley and his entire staff. Can't thank you enough for just an elite experience.
There's no city like New York City and especially around the holidays. Our team got here on Christmas day and got a chance to go down to Rockefeller Center and go to Radio City Music Hall and see the Rockettes. I even asked them, I said, guys, how long do you stay? How long do 18- to 22-year-olds stay for that?
They said, we stay the whole time. They had a great time. From the New York Rangers game to hospitality they've had to seeing the 9/11 memorial, you know, all the things that make New York really special. You know, they had one day where they were done after practice, and they got the whole day just to spend wherever they wanted to spend it and just kind of roam around New York City.
I think some of you saw that with Mariano Sori-Marin and his meals and getting to travel around the whole city and taste all types of food.
But it truly is a unique experience, and it's first class in everything that the bowl represents and did for us. Everything was first class, which you wouldn't expect anything less from the Yankees.
But we're incredibly grateful to be here. Very humbled. Have an incredible opponent to play tomorrow in Syracuse, coached by Dino Babers, and Dino and I have known each other for a long time. It's just been a really exciting week and one to really have that moment memory the rest of their life.
I even said to somebody on the field, I'm, like, I don't even know if our players truly understand. They're having a picnic at Yankee Stadium. They're just out there eating their sandwiches and just throwing the baseball around and really just kind of relaxing, but I don't know if they truly understand where they're actually at right now because there's a football game to be played.
But can't thank everybody enough. Hospitality has been over-the-top, first class. One of the most unique bowl experiences you could ever have, and this is something we'll take with us the rest of our life.
Heather and I even got a chance to go down to Broadway and see "The Music Man" with Hugh Jackman. That was awesome. I had to tell Heather, hey, eyes on me, eyes on me. I tell you what, he is a tremendous performer. I've seen "The Music Man" a ton of times, but to watch him do it was really special.
Thank you to everybody. I know I just kind of rambled on, but it really is an amazing experience. Unlike any bowl experience I've ever been a part of. So thank you to everybody involved.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, P.J. Dino.
DINO BABERS: Once again, P.J. said it all, but thank you to the Yankee organization, Mr. Levine, Mark, John. All their people have been outstanding.
Once again, just to be in a historic place like this to play a football game in Yankee Stadium, it means a lot. The players, we got an opportunity to experience all the things that Coach Fleck talked about, and he is exactly right. The Rockettes, they stayed there all the way until the end. And they were amazed about their flexibility, and they promised me that our guys would work on theirs to be as flexible as some of those dancers were.
Their experience with the 9/11. You know, we had last year AJ Calabro who was on our football team, and his dad went down as one of the firefighters in 9/11, so that meant a lot to us to get an opportunity to go and spend time there and to talk about that. Something that we've been experiencing as a team while he was with us, the four years he was with us previous to that.
And just being in New York City. A lot of things, but having the guys go down in the elevator and count how many different languages that were being spoken in the elevators when they were went from their floor down to the bottom floor just to go to work. Once again, it just reminds you that you're in a place that's extremely unique. There's some unique places around the world, and there's no doubt that New York and New York City is definitely one of them.
THE MODERATOR: Dino, thank you very much. We can take the first question now.
Q. P.J., you mentioned Derek Jeter's documentary is something that you guys watched. What sort of take-aways or lessons did you try to impart on the team based on the Captain?
P.J. FLECK: I think it's just -- I always say that when I'm not for everybody. I think Derek Jeter wasn't for everybody, but he ended up becoming one of the greatest Yankees because he stood for the Yankee way, he did it their way, and was a great leader in representing the organization in a first class fashion.
But not only that, I think one of the episodes we watched is when he kind of flicks the ball to the catcher, and they get him out. And it seems like a very routine play, but we kind of dived into that play and dove into that play a lot more about that's an easy routine play, but it's years and years and years and years of work.
When the pressure of the moment creates itself, can you make that play with that instinct? Know that you are going to be exactly where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there and then you get a chance to make that play, and it goes down as one of the best plays in Major League history.
So I think that was a piece of it. Then I thought that was really good to be able to see Derek's upbringing. He is from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Heather is from Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is great.
Derek actually gave a scholarship away when I was at Western Michigan University to one of our punters who was a baseball player. That was his favorite player. You know how we like to do our scholarship presentations.
So Derek and his wife gave a scholarship to Derrick Mitchell in our office, and that was one of the coolest 30 minutes of my entire life because I got a chance to spend time with him and pick his brain.
But the upbringing part was really critical for us because we all come from different walks of life. We all face different challenges. A lot of our players have heard a lot of the same things Derek did growing up and watching him overcome some of the obstacles in his life. Not only just baseball but off the field. And watch the work ethic and watching his rookie season not be what it was maybe dreamed of being and then everybody started doubting him, and he kept grinding, kept grinding, kept rowing the boat.
They needed to see that it wasn't just perfect. You know, this wasn't some freak that just every time the bat hit the ball, it went out of the park. He had to work at every aspect of his game and become really good at it and a master at it.
I think that's what we really took away from the Captain was all of that from his upbringing to obviously, you know, where he ended his career and the type of legacy he left with the Yankees. So it was really important for us.
Q. P.J., Is Tanner, if he has been deemed healthy to play -- has he been deemed healthy to play, and if he has been deemed healthy to play, do you expect him to start tomorrow?
P.J. FLECK: Yeah, Tanner has the ability to play. He has been cleared to play. You know, I'm not going to tell you if he is going to play or not yet, but he has the ability to play, and he has been cleared. He has passed all medical protocol, but we'll see how the game unfolds.
Q. P.J., this will be your seventh bowl game. How has your approach and your preparation for the games over the years changed or developed?
P.J. FLECK: Well, you have a system. I think Dino probably has a system too. You have a philosophy of how you go in bowl games. And for us week one we give the varsity the week off in terms of practicing, and then we basically just practice all the young guys.
And then the second week we kind of incorporate everybody with a heavy dose of Minnesota versus Minnesota. Get back to more of a spring ball formality.
Then you get to the third and fourth week. The third week is really game-planning your opponent, and the fourth week for us is having the ability to go do it at the bowl site.
But usually everything is done game plan-wise before we even get here, which we take a lot of pride in because I want this to be an experience for everybody. And I think that's one thing you truly learn. Not just on the field preparation. It's off the field preparation.
These are moments and memories for coaches as well. I've been a part of staffs. We've gone to bowl games, and I have never seen outside. We've been to bowl games before where I never made the bowl trip because it was so close that we just stayed where we were at in our facility.
So any chance that we get as an experience for our families and our coaches and the kids on our team -- not just our players, but the little kids of the staff, I want them to enjoy it as much as they possibly can. It's up to the head coach in my opinion to proactively do that.
People have their own philosophies on that. That's one of mine. We practice, watch the film, and then you're clear because everything is pretty much done. Scripts are down. Cards are done. You have four weeks to prepare, so you are pretty proactive about it.
But I think the biggest thing for me is staying to that routine, but then the dates change, and then you kind of base it off experience from the past.
Q. Dino, how have you seen Nick Monroe grow as a coach in this period when he is serving as interim DC and also now that he is working alongside Rocky a little bit?
DINO BABERS: I think any time that you get moved up in responsibility from an assistant coach to a coordinator position, whether it's permanent or temporary, you get to see how that experience is going to affect somebody, and what really jumps out is the responsibility.
You know, everybody wants to be the lead writer until you're the lead writer, and then they understand the responsibility of the person that's got to go out there and hit home runs and bat in the fourth position and make sure you get those runs around the bases.
It's actually fun to see people stress a little bit about some things that, you know, will come natural to them eventually, but until then they need to be able to work through some things. No different than Nick Monroe doing it on the defensive side, but Jason Beck doing it on the offensive side.
You can help a lot, or you can help a little and let them try to figure some things out on their own. But everybody has to have their first opportunity, and then you either get better or worse from there. It's been fun times watching them, and I'm sure they're excited about their times.
Q. This is a question for Coach Babers. With some of the players on this team opting out or transferring, I want to know what this game means for some of the newer or less experienced faces that we might see out on the field?
DINO BABERS: You know, I think it's a beginning, and we walked -- we walked around practice, and based off of -- I made an account of the guys that were actually at practice, but not playing based off of injury. Of the guys on the sideline, that was a heck of a team (laughing). It was a heck of a football team.
But the guys that are out on the football field it's their first opportunity for a lot of those guys to shine, and it's the end of 2022, but it's also the beginning of 2023 even though we're not there yet.
And I'm excited to see what some of the young people are going to do. They're going to make some mistakes, but if they make them full speed and as the game goes on, if they progress and get better, then that's going to be exciting for our future. And I can't wait to see how some of those young people do.
Q. You guys both talked about the excitement this week and the great experiences that you have shared with your players and with your families. Can you just shed some light on the atmosphere, and this question is for both of you, when your players first found out that they would be coming to New York City for this bowl game and some of the reactions that they had.
P.J. FLECK: We were excited. They were really excited because I think some of our players -- bowl experiences are about where you haven't been. I think that's what's really critical. 95% of our team has never been to New York City, so they have no idea.
They were really excited about it. As a coach you're always going to present it the way you want it to be taken too, right? Bowl experiences are a reward for all of their work. It's a celebration of the seniors. It's something that everybody should be able to share and have a fun time doing.
But when they heard New York City and then when John came to visit us and told them all the things that they're going to do, it just kept going up. Every time you thought, like, it couldn't get more excited, something else was presented. They got even more excited.
Then they started doing their own homework and what they are interested in, and great thing about New York City, it has everything. It's something for everybody. I think that's what makes this very unique is that you get to truly experience the New York City culture.
And our guys are fired up about it. They're excited to play a football game because that's what we're here to do, but they were really excited for all the weekly activities and get a chance to be able to go do what they want to do too.
DINO BABERS: Our guys are excited because we're going to a bowl, and it's something that you should be excited for. I've grown up in the bowl era of bowls, and I think that the bowl system is something that has always been good to college football. And I understand we have the playoff system, and that's another story down the line, and eventually we'll get an opportunity to play in that as well.
But to have an opportunity to play in a bowl game, to celebrate a successful season that you had and then have an opportunity to do it with a first class operation like the New York Yankees, I mean, we knew everything was going to be first class. And when they came down and talked about the bowl, we were already excited, but we were even more excited when we knew we were going to deal with them.
We have a lot of international players. We have players from Germany. We have players from Canada, and this bowl game being so close allows a lot of their families to come in here and watch them play, which is something they don't get a lot of opportunities to do. It's a lot cheaper. A lot more people can get here.
But, once again, it's New York City. You can't find it out in the middle. I love "Yellowstone." I love watching that series, but "Yellowstone" is not New York City. They are totally different and both of them have their own beauty.
To have an opportunity to come out here and to hang out since Christmas and then play a fine, fine, fine football team like Minnesota, and P.J. Fleck and I do go back, and I know that that team will be well-prepared. We'll do our best to go out there and put our best foot forward, but this has been a fantastic experience.
I think overall we think it's really, really cool that we've been hanging out here.
Q. P.J., I wanted to ask about Athan's development. How much was on his plate game plan-wise for Penn State, and how had it developed by the time Wisconsin came around?
P.J. FLECK: Yeah, for Penn State it was as much as he could handle. I think that's been the biggest question for him is what can he handle? Not giving him too much too soon, but still giving him enough to be able to go and win football games. Giving him enough tools in the toolbox.
I think Kirk Ciarrocca has done a really good job of that. There have been times where he is, like, we can't give that to him yet. He is not ready for that piece yet.
Dino's defense creates a ton of challenges for us. It does. They come at you from all different angles and different ways and different fronts, and it's a lot for him. But he has done a really good job of processing it all.
It's a credit to Dino and his staff because they create a lot of challenges around every corner, but it's great preparation for him too to be able to get that experience for four weeks where it's not a standard defense. Not just an even front or an over-front or an under-front. It's a lot of three-down, going to four-down. What's a four-down instead of three-down? What looks like three-down, but we're going to count it as a four-down?
There's a lot of different things that at the do defensively that that's what is tough playing a Dino Babers' defense because if you have to do that in four, five days and you have a young quarterback, that's almost impossible.
When you get four weeks, you can at least process it a little bit more. I know they'll have a lot more wrinkles. That's what coaches do. But I think his development has gotten a lot better in the whole scheme of things, and I think he is handling things a lot better. He is taking more control of the offense.
His presence is better, more confident. He is a pretty confident kid as it is. Penn State didn't bother him. But I think that we have been able to do a lot more with him. He gives us the ability to do some other things as we get to the end of this year and then obviously into next year too with the offense.
Q. P.J., sometimes you see players opt out of bowl games, but what is the conversation like with some of your players, particularly the ones maybe who have pro aspirations? What goes into the decision-making process and the conversations with them and perhaps particularly with Mo who comes off an injury, has a great season, and probably still has pro aspirations as well?
P.J. FLECK: You're seeing a lot of things in college football right now, right? You're not just seeing opt-outs for the National Football League. You're seeing opt-outs to not play. You're seeing opt-outs to transfer. You have people in the portal that are playing for their team still.
It's unique. It's definitely a different time. I think full transparency and communication is critical. I think we talk to our players.
Listen, I'm there to support them. Whatever they feel like they need to do, I'm there to support him. My job as coach is to educate and give my opinion on both sides. Being there doing that, you know, playing in the NFL, coaching in the NFL, seeing it from that perspective, that knowledge is worthy, but it doesn't make that decision final.
But you do add a different element. You bring their family involved in it, bring the player's voice inside and involved in it. A lot of these guys already have representation somehow some way. You bring them involved in it. You hear it from all sides, and then you support the player.
Whatever the decision is made, I was told a long time ago, you cannot make a bad decision as long as before the decision you do all the homework necessary to make that decision. And then once you make it, there's no going back. So you are all in on that decision. That doesn't make it a bad decision because it is what it is.
That's supposed to affect the next thing that comes in. But I give our players a ton of credit because time gives them the ability to think over a long period of time of what they want to do. I tell them right after the season, we're not going to even talk for two weeks. We're not even going to talk about it. I want you to process it. I want you to come to practice. We're not going to talk about opting out, leaving, staying, any of that.
That's why I give that first week off for the veterans. Just be at practice, dissect it, get your body feeling right because a lot of people will opt out right after the season because their body doesn't feel right. None of our bodies feel right. Your body doesn't feel right. His body doesn't feel like. Mine doesn't feel right. The players don't feel right. None of our bodies feel right tend of the season.
But give it a week for the body to feel right, get healthy, and then we'll talk the second week somewhere within that. That's been my philosophy.
And I'm not saying we're perfect. We've had guys in the past opt out. We've had guys not play in bowl games. We've had all that just like everybody else.
That's just what college football is all about right now. That you have to have those conversations for sure, and like I said, I support our players because everybody is treated fairly. Not necessarily equally because we all come from different beliefs. Have to be pretty empathetic towards it as well.
Q. P.J., over the past few weeks have you allowed yourself time to reflect on what Mohamed has meant for this practice?
P.J. FLECK: I've been blessed enough to be able to do it every day. I love my job. I love coming to work. I can't even call it work really. I mean, I love doing it, and I love the players I get to coach.
I'm honored to coach that kid. When you are saying that about your team, they're special. The hardest part about this is this is the last 36 hours I have with him, and that's really difficult.
Heather was talking about that the other day. She's, like, I don't know how much I want to even see him right now. I'll see him after the game. How much do I really want to -- I'm going to cry. You know? Because they're really close to you.
He has been the work horse of this team for four or five years, and the best thing about Mohamed Ibrahim, he was a scout team player of the year his freshman year. We had guys that were better than him, and all he did was keep working, keep working, keep working, and made himself into what I think is one of the best backs in the country.
I don't know if there's respectively a football player as good within 12 yards. Arguably I would love to make his case for it because he is so special, and he is even a better young man. I know he wants to coach one day. He is going to be a phenomenal coach. I look forward to hiring him.
Q. Dino, I wanted to ask you about the Gophers defense. What stands out, and what is key to their success?
DINO BABERS: 13.3 points per game over a 12-game schedule. They don't give up a lot of points. Our one common opponent, you know, Purdue won, but the way they went about it with all the difficulties they had with that quarterback who I think is outstanding. They just don't make mistakes.
I was watching -- I couldn't sleep this morning, P.J., so I was moving around. It's 5:00 in the morning, and I'm watching Wisconsin and Oklahoma State is on TV, and I'm just watching Wisconsin and how they're playing, and I'm thinking, Minnesota's defense is better than Wisconsin's. I think they're ranked higher where.
You know, just that style of not giving up the big play, physical, runs to the ball. Assignment-wise they don't -- they do a lot, but what they do, they do extremely well, and they stay in it. They're consistently good. Not occasional.
I can talk all day because as much as everybody thinks I'm an offensive guy, but I love watching big-time defenses, and Minnesota has one.
Q. Coach Babers, finishing up your seventh season. You have a chance for a second bowl win at Syracuse University. And since World War II in terms of tenure as coaches as Ben Schwartzwalder, Dick MacPherson, Paul Pasqualoni, and you're finishing your seventh year and have another successful year. I know you are living in the present, but have you had a chance to kind of take a step back and really appreciate or think about the things you appreciate the most being at Syracuse University, coaching a team that plays in the dome stadium, the weather, just the appreciation of being at Syracuse University that's had the 44 great players, and you're a part of that fabric of Syracuse football and football history?
DINO BABERS: I really haven't had time to think about it because the opponents are so good. Not only in our bowl opponents, but in conference.
But I will tell you this because it's a fantastic question that you asked. When I had an opportunity to come and coach at Syracuse University, it was a no-brainer for me. When I grew up, my dad -- I grew up in military bases. My dad was a military guy, and to him there was only one football player, and he wore 44, and he was at Syracuse. And everybody else was second, and I didn't have to say his name.
We used to play football in the street, and when we played football in the street, you say, hey, I'm so and so, I'm so and so. He would just, like, if you didn't say this guy's name, you didn't say a name. And you know exactly who I'm talking about.
Growing up with that and then getting an opportunity to meet Jim Brown and have him come and speak to the team. And, first of all, to realize how big he is, and I don't mean heavy, at his age. The shoulders on him, you're going goodness gracious, what did he look like back in the '50s?
Then he has some -- he has played some years, so watch him come up in front of the team and then finally get on his stool, and then once he sat down and started speaking, nothing but knowledge flowing out of him and pride. And even getting to see the -- I can't think of the movie now. That one night in Miami. What's the name of that movie? Where they had Kareem and him and Mohamed Ali and -- I think Bill Russell. Bill Russell, not Kareem.
To have all those guys there and to see the stuff that he was doing behind the scenes. It's just -- you can go on and on and on.
Him sitting down and talking to the Crips and the Bloods in Los Angeles in his house. So he brought those two gangs to his house. Now, this is the way. I'm a little bit different. P.J. is square, but I'm a little bit different.
P.J. FLECK: Hey.
DINO BABERS: My first thought is you brought the two biggest gangs in Los Angeles to your house. My thought is how many times has the guy's house been robbed? Go back and check. I have a number for you. You know what I mean (puts up zero).
Just so much respect. I can go on and on. Floyd little, 44, Ernie Davis. You know, I told everyone in my first press conference if those games where sometimes, you know, you had to pick a guy to be, I would pick Larry Csonka, and I was in one of those neighborhoods they would say, you can't pick Larry Csonka. I would say, why not? You know, he's -- I'm going to be Larry Csonka, okay? So you guys can be whoever you want. I'm going to play like Larry Csonka, and the list just goes on and on and on.
The Conrads, the Richardsons, everyone. I'm going to stop because it's one of those things I could go a long time on and everybody else asks questions, but if you want to talk about it afterwards, the tradition, unmatched.
Q. Dino, I think one of those younger guys that people are expecting to see a lot of tomorrow is LeQuint Allen Jr. at running back. I'm curious what you have seen out of him in these weeks leading up to the bowl, especially after Sean Tucker's opt-out and maybe where his head is at right now?
DINO BABERS: LeQuint works as hard as anybody does, anybody I've ever seen in practice. There's another freshman. I'm not going to mention him, but LeQuint on offense, the other guy on defense, I've never seen freshmen come in and make such an impact.
The last person that reminds me of it that he reminds me of is Chris Elmore as far as the impact that he makes at practice. And even though he is young, he doesn't play that way.
So I'm excited that he is going to finally get his opportunity. I'm not excited that Sean is not playing, but I'm excited that LeQuint is going to get his opportunity, but I don't think people are going to be disappointed at all.
You know, he is going to get bigger and stronger, and he is going to do exciting things here at Syracuse. There's no doubt in my mind you're talking about a very, very unselfish guy that plays a bunch of special teams as well. But he reminds me of an old school player that I'm constantly having him Google and look through the archives on. Not as old as Jim Brown, but if he ever tells you -- I won't tell you, but if he ever tells you, it will be a good write. But every time I see him on the football field, that's who he reminds me of.
Q. Coach Babers, I want to know how you think that Garrett Schrader has been playing over the past few weeks and what you would hope to see out of him in Thursday's performance?
DINO BABERS: I think, first of all, I think that his play best Boston College, I thought he played a really good game, and I thought he was exceptional in the fourth quarter.
But it's been fun to see as the weeks go to see him get healthier and healthier and healthier. What you are going to see is a healthy Garrett Schrader, which is what we always want to see. And he is a big guy. He is bigger than what people think. When you walk up on him, you go --
P.J. FLECK: I told him today, you're bigger than I thought. I thought you were big. I said, you are bigger than I thought. I went back to Coach Ross. I said, he is bigger than we think.
DINO BABERS: You don't realize how big he is. As a coach, I'm, like, man, back in the day if I would hit you, do, do, do, do. None of this targeting stuff. We would be going at you.
Once again, when you are around him all the time, he is a big target coming at you. He is not a little pony. He is a thoroughbred. He is a big, big cat.
And when he is healthy, you know, he is hard to bring down. Especially when he is determined to go somewhere. But I think that the throwing part of it with Jason Beck and the job that Coach and I did before he left, I just think the guy is improving every day as a passer, and I think that's the key to everything.
But the thing that he gives us most is his leadership. I mean, he leads, and we follow.
THE MODERATOR: Coach Fleck, Coach Babers, thank you very much for your time. We're looking forward to seeing your two schools battle tomorrow. 2:00 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN Radio as well, and here at Yankee Stadium. Thank you, guys, for joining us. Thank you, everyone, for joining us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports