08-23-2023, 06:56 PM
Kolodziej:
* It's fun to see these interviews with coaches now after having had the chance in the spring to see the interviews on TOS, both to compare substance and to compare vibes. As with Talamaivao, to me Kolodziej seems to be more comfortable and relaxed than he did before. Just a subjective sense I get of them settling in more, which makes sense.
* At the early stage of camp (Day 3) the interview occurred it's hard to draw any conclusions and Kolodziej didn't offer any. At this stage it's all about process and trying to do each day the right way until it adds up to something. Kolodziej reflects Taylor's attitude in this respect, which we might expect. If we hear any first two weeks of camp interviews that don't sound like that I'd be surprised.
* Similarly, Kolodziej didn't take the bait when asked if anybody has jumped out, unsurprisingly saying that three days with only one in pads is far too early to make judgments. One thing that was interesting about this answer was the comment that football is "a battle of attrition, the last man - the toughest man - left standing." That's different than saying it's too early to judge because we haven't seen enough of the guys in pads. It seems more like saying he's not going to be impressed by anybody based on what they do in August at all and the premium for him is toughness and how you play in November and December ("that's when it really matters"), including being available and playing with the same effort and consistency as early in the season. Rather than building up or breaking down his guys too much it seems like he's very much about a steady, workmanlike approach. The emphasis on toughness echoes the predominant theme of his previous interview. One thing I don't worry about is this guy being his genuine self and having a point of view in how he coaches/what he wants to instill in his charges. I also don't worry much whether we've improved our DL coaching. It would be shocking if we haven't.
* As a sign of how unwilling Kolodziej was to give any insight into particular players, he took the question on Moi and Phillips and answered it generically to cover both of them, not even mentioning their names. It was as if they were one person, or even that he was talking about the room generally. To me that limits the amount we can read into the comments. I don't doubt the comments on being great guys, doing the right things, doing extra, taking care of their bodies, and coming prepared, but any compliments would apply somewhat differently to different individuals. If you say something nice about a whole team, for instance, that doesn't apply equally to all individuals. It's a generalization. A generalization for a subset of two is more insightful but still has limits. The comment also lost some credibility when he referred to both as veteran guys that take their leadership roles very seriously....Moi is a year into being in the program. That being said, I don't want to dismiss the comments too much. It is a nice testimonial on Kolodziej's take on two of the leaders of his DL room, and in football playing time and experience builds credibility with your teammates and is a big part of leadership, so it's probably true Moi is a leader even though he's only been around a year. It was interesting that Kolodziej said nary a word about skill sets, role in the defense, or anything beyond the intangibles. I don't necessarily view that as a negative commentary on their skills because I do think Kolodziej, like the coaching staff generally, is a very process-oriented, work ethic and mentality-focused coach. When he says "they've done an outstanding job in terms of the physical and mental preparation this offseason, so really excited about what they're going to bring to the defense this fall" I think that's genuine and capturing what he really cares about. The optimism is also noteworthy. Coach interviews in the spring seemed to assiduously avoid getting hopes up but some of the more recent interviews sound more like the coaches think their charges could be decent.
* I don't know if Kolodziej meant it quite as starkly as it sounded (kind of think he did!) but it was really interesting to hear him talk about how the scheme, structure, and expectations of the defense will never change based on personnel. He gave lip service to every year being a rebirth and renewal, but the crux of that comment was the Wisconsin defense is the Wisconsin defense and that identity doesn't change. The coaches have to take the personnel and fit it into the defense and make sure players can adapt to best fit within their roles in the scheme, but the way we play is non-negotiable. This contrasts sharply with coach speak one often hears from other coaches about adapting to the personnel. No way, no how. We have a defensive identity and will fit players into it. Again, this is a coach with a point of view. I am very excited about having a defensive identity for the first time in a long time. Maybe the single thing I'm most excited about with Stanford football.
* The specifics about how we play that Kolodziej talked about being "non-negotiable" are worth some focus because they are the exact same words in the exact same order he used in the spring: "smart, tough, dependable." When I talk about his point of view that crystallizes it as well as anything. Really cannot emphasis enough how much this guy strikes me as anchored in instilling work habits and a mentality of steady, workmanlike effort. Diron Reynolds, if he had a calling card, seemed to be more about technique. I have no idea who understands and teaches technique better between Reynolds and Kolodziej, but it may end up being beside the point. Kolodziej's theory of the case is that he will push his players to have the mentality that shows up late in games and late in seasons. Given how much better Wisconsin DL play has been than Stanford's in recent years, it's hard not to be excited to see this in action.
* Yet more talk of a "fairly communicative defense that is going to require smart guys to execute it." We are hearing this so much that I think we have to believe it. I've made no secret of my bias that defensive football isn't rocket science and I like defenses that let athletic players play instinctively and fast. I also amassed a lot of evidence from the Anderson years, in my opinion, of making defense more complicated than was effective. But we've got new sheriffs in town and who am I to know better than the stewards of the vaunted Wisconsin defense. Really hopeful.
* By the way, there is good reporting by Jackson on TOS that breaks the story of camp so far and I won't repeat out of respect for the paywall, but it's a depth chart development reportedly based on players' differential ability to handle the mental side of the defense. If this holds (and maybe even if it doesn't) the complexity and communicativeness of the defense may end up being a major story for us.
* It's fun to see these interviews with coaches now after having had the chance in the spring to see the interviews on TOS, both to compare substance and to compare vibes. As with Talamaivao, to me Kolodziej seems to be more comfortable and relaxed than he did before. Just a subjective sense I get of them settling in more, which makes sense.
* At the early stage of camp (Day 3) the interview occurred it's hard to draw any conclusions and Kolodziej didn't offer any. At this stage it's all about process and trying to do each day the right way until it adds up to something. Kolodziej reflects Taylor's attitude in this respect, which we might expect. If we hear any first two weeks of camp interviews that don't sound like that I'd be surprised.
* Similarly, Kolodziej didn't take the bait when asked if anybody has jumped out, unsurprisingly saying that three days with only one in pads is far too early to make judgments. One thing that was interesting about this answer was the comment that football is "a battle of attrition, the last man - the toughest man - left standing." That's different than saying it's too early to judge because we haven't seen enough of the guys in pads. It seems more like saying he's not going to be impressed by anybody based on what they do in August at all and the premium for him is toughness and how you play in November and December ("that's when it really matters"), including being available and playing with the same effort and consistency as early in the season. Rather than building up or breaking down his guys too much it seems like he's very much about a steady, workmanlike approach. The emphasis on toughness echoes the predominant theme of his previous interview. One thing I don't worry about is this guy being his genuine self and having a point of view in how he coaches/what he wants to instill in his charges. I also don't worry much whether we've improved our DL coaching. It would be shocking if we haven't.
* As a sign of how unwilling Kolodziej was to give any insight into particular players, he took the question on Moi and Phillips and answered it generically to cover both of them, not even mentioning their names. It was as if they were one person, or even that he was talking about the room generally. To me that limits the amount we can read into the comments. I don't doubt the comments on being great guys, doing the right things, doing extra, taking care of their bodies, and coming prepared, but any compliments would apply somewhat differently to different individuals. If you say something nice about a whole team, for instance, that doesn't apply equally to all individuals. It's a generalization. A generalization for a subset of two is more insightful but still has limits. The comment also lost some credibility when he referred to both as veteran guys that take their leadership roles very seriously....Moi is a year into being in the program. That being said, I don't want to dismiss the comments too much. It is a nice testimonial on Kolodziej's take on two of the leaders of his DL room, and in football playing time and experience builds credibility with your teammates and is a big part of leadership, so it's probably true Moi is a leader even though he's only been around a year. It was interesting that Kolodziej said nary a word about skill sets, role in the defense, or anything beyond the intangibles. I don't necessarily view that as a negative commentary on their skills because I do think Kolodziej, like the coaching staff generally, is a very process-oriented, work ethic and mentality-focused coach. When he says "they've done an outstanding job in terms of the physical and mental preparation this offseason, so really excited about what they're going to bring to the defense this fall" I think that's genuine and capturing what he really cares about. The optimism is also noteworthy. Coach interviews in the spring seemed to assiduously avoid getting hopes up but some of the more recent interviews sound more like the coaches think their charges could be decent.
* I don't know if Kolodziej meant it quite as starkly as it sounded (kind of think he did!) but it was really interesting to hear him talk about how the scheme, structure, and expectations of the defense will never change based on personnel. He gave lip service to every year being a rebirth and renewal, but the crux of that comment was the Wisconsin defense is the Wisconsin defense and that identity doesn't change. The coaches have to take the personnel and fit it into the defense and make sure players can adapt to best fit within their roles in the scheme, but the way we play is non-negotiable. This contrasts sharply with coach speak one often hears from other coaches about adapting to the personnel. No way, no how. We have a defensive identity and will fit players into it. Again, this is a coach with a point of view. I am very excited about having a defensive identity for the first time in a long time. Maybe the single thing I'm most excited about with Stanford football.
* The specifics about how we play that Kolodziej talked about being "non-negotiable" are worth some focus because they are the exact same words in the exact same order he used in the spring: "smart, tough, dependable." When I talk about his point of view that crystallizes it as well as anything. Really cannot emphasis enough how much this guy strikes me as anchored in instilling work habits and a mentality of steady, workmanlike effort. Diron Reynolds, if he had a calling card, seemed to be more about technique. I have no idea who understands and teaches technique better between Reynolds and Kolodziej, but it may end up being beside the point. Kolodziej's theory of the case is that he will push his players to have the mentality that shows up late in games and late in seasons. Given how much better Wisconsin DL play has been than Stanford's in recent years, it's hard not to be excited to see this in action.
* Yet more talk of a "fairly communicative defense that is going to require smart guys to execute it." We are hearing this so much that I think we have to believe it. I've made no secret of my bias that defensive football isn't rocket science and I like defenses that let athletic players play instinctively and fast. I also amassed a lot of evidence from the Anderson years, in my opinion, of making defense more complicated than was effective. But we've got new sheriffs in town and who am I to know better than the stewards of the vaunted Wisconsin defense. Really hopeful.
* By the way, there is good reporting by Jackson on TOS that breaks the story of camp so far and I won't repeat out of respect for the paywall, but it's a depth chart development reportedly based on players' differential ability to handle the mental side of the defense. If this holds (and maybe even if it doesn't) the complexity and communicativeness of the defense may end up being a major story for us.