Steve Irvine’s Q&A with Trent Dilfer About UAB’s Coaching Changes
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - January 29, 2024
The restructuring of the UAB football coaching staff is nearing completion.
On Tuesday, Kevin Garver was officially announced as the program’s wide receiver coach and pass game coordinator. Garver, an Oak Mountain High graduate and NFL coaching veteran, spent last season helping with the wide receivers as a senior offensive analyst. Another key change came with Wednesday’s announcement that Danny Mitchell would transition into the run game coordinator and running back coach roles. Mitchell served a senior analyst working with the offense the past two seasons. He replaces long-time running back coach Hindley Brigham, who departed to take over as the running back coach and run game coordinator under Bryant Vincent at Louisiana Monroe.
The revamped defensive staff includes coordinator Steve Russ, linebacker coach Brent Vieselmeyer and cornerback coach Ryan Lewis Sr., who have all been officially announced. Sam Mills III is expected to be the defensive line coach but an official announcement has not been made. The lone full-time returner from last year’s defensive staff is safeties coach C.J. Cox. Special teams coordinator John Jones will also continue to have a role on defense.
UAB head coach Trent Dilfer sat down with The Banner recently to talk about how the current staff came together.
Did you know Steve Russ before you began the interview process for a defensive coordinator?
“No. So, I didn't know, I had, I had known of (new linebacker coach) Brent Vieselmeyer (and) Russ and I played against each other in college and then played against each other in NFL, when he was with the Broncos and I was with the Bucs. I've known of him but we did not know each other. I knew of them through Ron Rivera, who I wouldn’t call my closest friends, but I've known Ron in the football community for years. And then Jack Del Rio, who I know very well. Jack and Ron are the ones who texted me on all their behalf to kind of get the process going.”
Did you go into the defensive coordinator search with the idea you were looking for NFL experience?
“The number one thing I had was I was going to talk to at least 20 (coaches). I just told myself no matter how painstaking, no matter how brutal, even if I loved the first guy, I was going to talk to 20 because I wanted a broad scope. But I also was going to gather information. So learn, right? So I picked the brains on what they'd done before, their head coaches they worked for, who they worked for. I interviewed guys in conference. I was very tactical on the amount of people. I had three different people in the building help me with all the interviews so I had a vetting process. It wasn't just emotion and what I thought. Then it wasn't NFL, as much. I knew I was gonna add some NFL to the building. It didn’t mean it was going to be a coordinator but I knew I was gonna add some NFL to the building. The biggest thing I was looking for was coaches that truly inspired players to play above their level of talent and professionalism. Like what I'm used to in the NFL on the level of professionalism. I had great candidates and Steve Russ really was heads and shoulders the best fit.”
In what ways was Steve Russ head and shoulders above?
“He has great command. He has the same teaching philosophies as me. He can take complex things and simplify them. I think the military background is a huge thing for me, just the discipline, the structure, the organization. (He had) the triple option stuff. He defended the triple option for so many years. They played against it in practice and then when was a coordinator at Air Force, defended it. His success against it was, he's very successful against it. We have Rice now, too, that’s going to be triple, so we have three triple teams on our schedule. His ability to just, I hate using the word lead because people misinterpret it, elevate people (is special). Like when he gets around people, he inspires them and elevates them. Every reference kind of said that without using that language. Everybody I called, anybody I talked to, said the same thing. You're getting a true commander of men. You're getting a true leader of adults. You're getting somebody that, when he's in your presence, you're the best version of yourself.”
How do you balance doing 20 interviews against the constraints of a ticking clock to get this done?
“And you’re recruiting your own roster because of the portal. I mean, literally our season ends, the portal opens and we’re hiring (new coaches). And I’m coming off of neck surgery, I was two weeks removed from neck surgery. You know me well enough, I won't over over spiritualize anything, but this was a big challenge prayerfully for me. You know, just really trying to be my best. That's one of the ways I'm my best. I had to trim other things out of my life. You know, like there was no grandkid time, my wife wasn't really around. It was like the first two months when I was here, I was here from 6 to 10 every day. And then I was, I was tactical about it, I guess. Like I was very conscious of how to structure the interviews, how to space them out, what research to do in between, how much time is spent after, getting quiet and thinking through it, rewatching the interview and looking at my notes again. Not letting it become an emotional thing all the time. I think the people that helped me, Rip (Scherer) was super helpful. Rip Scherer was a huge. Rip, Lyle (Henley) and Joey (Roberts), those were the three. Those were there the three I really leaned on. We would do a little unpacking each after each one but then I would go back to them and really unpack (to) make sure we're hearing the same things, seeing the same things, looking for the same things.
I've done a list of all what I would call my mistakes, our mistakes and natural mistakes. It’s like I own these these, they are a 100 percent on me. I gotta get better at these. Then there was kind of the “We” stuff. Did you get undercut, challenges resources, whatever. Things I couldn’t really control but that were inhibitors to success. Then the third one was interesting, when I started doing this list, was just things you can't control. There’s the “Trent inhibitors”, things I got to get better at. There are the “other human inhibitors”. People that were in the way of us being successful. And then there were “natural inihibitors”, just things you couldn’t control. As I looked at that list, as I was addressing fixing it, it allowed me to see it through a clearer lens. OK, this is a me thing, that I can fix with this. OK, I won't make that mistake again. And there's the people, like there's some things that I could have controlled but people were the hinders. Let's make sure we don't have those type of people again. The natural things, those are going to keep coming up, I need somebody to tackle those with me. You know, I can't be a one-man band tackling those. This person had to be able to fit in all three buckets.”
Scheme was probably a thing, not a huge thing. There were some non-negotiables I had in scheme, but most of them didn't make the interview process if they didn't have some of that stuff. I watched a ton of film. I still haven't done our self scout, that will be the next couple of weeks, because I had to watch them. I watched dozens of colleges from dozens of years. I watched NFL film. I would go back after seeing a presentation and then go watch my own video of that, not just the presentation video. It was a tough process. I think I did eight or nine in person. I did the other 10, 11, 12, whatever it is, either Zoom or phone call. There were some that you eliminate pretty quick. I had two or three in person after Steve and those were the hardest, because they were very good. Like really, really good. But you know, Steve had kind of captured me after his. So they had to beat Steve, it kind of became that. I didn't know if I'd get them either. There's an economic aspect. They're not offered the job. They don't know what the job is in their interview. So you had to create a list. You know, I felt really good with a three deep.
The ones (on the list) after Steve were very impressive as well. I had a good list. I was surprised how many people were interested, considering it's theoretically a one-year gig. You know, we all know the realities of this. I was impressed with the coaching pool that was out there to choose from. I got a ton of interest early on but then guys started getting (other offers). Like, I going to interview a guy in the Power 4 and then he got an extension as a position coach, which paid him (3 times) what I’d pay him as a coordinator, for a four-year contract. That’s what we’re competing against. That was part of it, too. Even before you start to flirt, you need to know if we’re in the same weight class. You need to know if we’re shopping at the same stores, so to speak. Even with all that, the opportunity to interview people, it was a big pool.”
How did you get a really good FCS coordinator in Ryan Lewis Sr. as a position coach?
“He interviewed for the coordinator job. He was in the top (group). He was awesome. Like, I’d feel totally comfortable with Ryan Lewis as the coordinator and I told him that. He interviewed four different times. They all interviewed three. All the ones in the finals interviewed three times. (Lewis) killed the phone, he killed the zoom, he killed the in-person. Steve was just a better fit for where we're at now, so then I called (Lewis) in for a fourth as a position interview. And he was awesome in that too. I try to stay away from labels, but he has as impressive (resume) as a FCS coordinator in the last three years as anybody in college football. Their points per game, the way they play, their recruiting, who they recruited, who they're able to elevate within their system, the style for which they play. I mean he was awesome.”
How much of a say did Steve Russ have in filling out the defensive staff?
“I told everybody in the interview process, I would not hire their staff, I'd be a voice in hiring their staff. There's a big difference. That was hard for them to trust. Like most head coaches are going to hire their assistant coaches. I said, I'm not going to do that. I made that mistake with Sione. I set Sione up to fail, that's one of the biggest mistakes I made. He didn’t have a chance from day one because he didn't get to hire his people. You know, the only one he hired was C.J. Cox, the only remaining (defensive) staff member. Think about it. So I was not going to do that to another person. I mean, I will go to my grave regretting how I handled the Sione thing, doing that for him. Part of it was because we're both coming from high school, part of it was because he had to stay there (at first). I didn’t hire anybody right away. That’s bygones but said I’m not going to make that mistake again.
With Steve, I said I'm gonna be true to my word, Like I'm not gonna force anybody down your throat. I said I would like you to interview some people that I am aware of. He went and interviewed on his own. I had nothing to do with the interview process of any defensive staff member until the final interview. So like Vieselmeyer has history with Russ. They kind of said yeah, I'm in. I flew Vies and his wife up to my Tahoe house because we're on vacation. My wife met his wife, you know, we spent the day together. While we were on vacation, Russ and Cole (Peterson) were doing defensive line initial interviews. They started with like 18 guys and whittling it down.
Ryan (Lewis) ended up re-interviewing with Russ and he loved him. I had called C.J. and said ‘I’d like to keep you but I've told the coordinator, I'm not doing this, it’s going to be his decision.’ So CJ and Wilson (Appleton) and Matt (Wright) and Deshaun (Oliver) and John Jones, who is the special teams coordinator, but does help with defense, they all had a head start (for analyst and quality control spots). I said, you know, let's do this, you're all under contract for January, this is a great audition. So they basically auditioned while they're kind of putting recruiting together, trying to put a roster together and honestly all impressed enough to where Steve was like I gotta have these guys. So it was pretty cool how the whole thing unfolded.”
Does the offensive staff still stay pretty much intact?
“I wanted to trim the staff, too. It’s interesting having NFL guys in the building, they’re very accustomed to this. In the NFL, you don’t have (the same size) support staff. You have some quality control guys, but they have their own things they're doing. So you do your own cutups, you do your own drawings, you do your own cards, you do your own projects, you do your own PowerPoints. So you do that in the NFL and you get better. That's how you become a professional coach. It's no different than if I'm gonna give a big talk to, whoever, let’s say DeWalt. If they want me to come speak at their corporate headquarters, I'm not gonna have somebody else do my PowerPoint. I'm gonna do it. I'm the one presenting. I'm the one that has all the information. I do think it's a flaw in college football. I think it's a massive flaw in college football, that other people are doing coaches’ jobs. So they don’t own the information all the time when they present it to kids. That was already a point of emphasis.
So, trimming offensively was a natural thing that was going to happen. By doing so, Kevin (Garver) gets elevated. You don't have a six-year NFL receiver coach sitting in your office as an analyst. It's just dumb. I was able to make that happen. Nick (Coleman) getting the (offensive coordinator) opportunity at FIU was great because I wanted (offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen) to be coaching the quarterbacks anyway. Nick is awesome. But the model, I think it was one of my mistakes. When the head coach is a quarterback guy, now you have three voices. As a young person, it’s like ‘Well, who is the voice?’ Nick forever will be a great friend, he's an awesome coach. This is best for both sides. He gets to do what he really is probably best at, to coordinate. Then not adding anybody but GAs and student assistants to this point.
We still have a running back coach to hire. The Hindley (Brigham) thing caught me off guard but it's understandable. He's been here 10 years. I'm more, that one hurt more losing a friend, like Hindley became a very good friend. But I get it, I really do. Our exit meeting was awesome. It was more like ‘Hey friend, I’ll see you later” type thing. And he gets elevated. Now he can be a run game coordinator (at Louisiana-Monroe). It’s hard to be a head coach and offensive coordinator, so you need a Hindley. I think that's a good move for them. It opens up a void here but it gives us an opportunity to maybe reshuffle how we do the offensive stuff too.”