March 26, 2009
Hoke's Hires Each week in the Hoke's Hires series, GoAztecs.com will be helping the Aztec faithful get to know the new football staff. Each week, GoAztecs.com will sit down with a new member of the Aztecs coaching staff for an exclusive interview. GoAztecs.com welcomes Darrell Funk to The Mesa as he will be San Diego State's new offensive line coach. Funk comes to SDSU from Ball State where he served as the offensive guards and centers coach. Prior to his stint with the Cardinals, Funk spent five seasons at Colorado State under head coach Sonny Lubick, working with the offensive line. In all Funk has coached at Illinois, Muskingum College, Mesa State College, Rhode Island, Northern Illinois, Colorado State and Ball State. Funk and his wife, Teresa, have two sons and one daughter. GoAztecs.com recently sat down with Funk to discuss the upcoming football season. Hoke's Hires: Darrell Funk On whether young players getting to play at offensive line last year is a good thing: I definitely think when you play early and in those types of situations, sometimes it's not fun at the time, but it's the silver lining in the cloud down the road because more kids gain experience. There are a lot of traits for successful offensive lines, and one of them is experience. Any time you have guys in the game that have been through the fire, understand what the tempo is like once you get going live in real games. That's always a bonus for you. On what he looks for in an offensive lineman: That's a good question. You look for general things, but you can't measure some things like heart. I won't necessarily say if a guy's not 6'4" or 6'5" I don't want him, because one of my favorite players ever that I've coached was 6 foot one and a half inch and 300 pounds. But he had strength, he could run, he had a ton of heart and he was smart. But I definitely think you have to have size potential. You have got to get to that 285-290 plus mark. I don't think you have to be 320, especially running what we're going to do. I think in this game no matter what schemes are implemented, no matter what year it is, whether it's 20 years from now or 20 years in the past, if you're not tough, if you're not physical, if you're not willing to grind it out and be a physical force up front, I don't think you're going to survive in this. On whether you can teach "mean" with an offensive lineman: Innately, some kids are tougher and meaner than others. I think you can push kids to the edge of being a nasty, mean guy in a couple ways. The way they're trained in the weight room here with what coach (Aaron) Wellman is doing, those guys are pushed to the brink and having to step forward and have a nasty finishing mean mentality or they don't make it down there. I think you can teach that. I think you can push kids. You show them what you want on tape, and you just push them to have that nasty streak. Some kids are just that way. Other kids, unless they just completely turn down contact, yes, I think you can push them to that edge where they're going to throw everything they have in there, get a crazy look in their eyes at times and go after people because that's what it all boils down to. On what his players can expect from their coach: I'm going to be on them 24/7 about three or four basic things that I believe in, starting with toughness and branching off from there. There was a time probably 15-18 years ago where I was so into footwork and technique, and you just kind of assume kids are going to be physical, and that doesn't work. You've got to teach them to be physical. Every drill you do, everything you do has got to be a physical, tough, effort-type beginning, and then you branch off from there. I've told my kids for a long time, the three things that will get me going are poor attitude, poor effort, and repetitive errors. Those three things will set me off the deep end. I'm paid to be a coach; I'm paid to get this player better. Kids will ask me, "What's your temperament?" I'm whatever you need to be. I'm going to start in the middle, and if I get things that set me off the deep end, I'm going to be a raving lunatic. Once they pass a certain level with me, I quit being the raving lunatic because they've shown me they can play hard, they've shown me they're tough guys, then I kind of gravitate into the mentor, coaching the little things. But they've got to get past a certain point with me before I'll ever reel it back and be a little more cerebral. On how he ended up here on Brady Hoke's staff: It was a no-brainer. When I knew that Coach (Hoke) was taking the job, and he popped in my room and said, "I want you to go." I said, "I'm with you." It just ended up being a matter of when he could get out here and see the situation. Plus we had the late bowl game. There was no question I was coming. I've worked for some really good head coaches. But I've said this: Brady Hoke does it right. He does the things right by the kids. He does the things right up front. He's a tough guy as a coach; he was a tough guy as a player. He understands the game is won or lost in the trenches. There's no one I'd rather work for than him. On whether he can sense the excitement that Brady Hoke and his staff have brought to SDSU: It's funny you mention the diamond in the rough. We used to always say that when I was playing against San Diego State, coaching against them, and guys that were at Colorado State longer than me would always say that. What a beautiful place to recruit to, what an outstanding educational institution. Kids want to come here. Why haven't they won consistently? The two elements that I think (Brady) does unbelievably are building team unity, because he's all about team, he preaches it not just once in a while; it's an every day situation. And getting everyone going the right direction, that's huge. And the other thing, he preaches toughness. The toughness aspect that he'll bring to this program, those two elements to me he does as good as anyone I've ever been around, and I think that over the long haul, it could be argued that on certain teams one or both of those things didn't exist. His message to loyal Aztec fans: We appreciate your support. We're excited to be here. There have been a lot of fans and boosters and parents of players that have expressed their support. We want to win ball games. We want to do it the right way and we want these kids to have success. The number one thing I'd say is we appreciate your support. Some of it's going to be a work in progress. I hate to use that type of cliché, but some things you'll see a marked improvement right away, or at least a change in the way we're doing things. Some will be a gradual change over time. Stick with us, stick by these kids like you've done and we're excited to be here and we're going to get things rolling. | |||||