Auburn football is officially under new leadership as defensive coordinator DJ Durkin was named interim head coach after the Tigers’ relieved Hugh Freeze of his head coaching duties on Sunday.
Durkin met with the media for the first time as the Tigers’ head coach on Monday, shedding some light on what to expect from the Tigers moving forward.
Here are some noteworthy quotes from Durkin:
On Hugh Freeze
“I do want to take a minute and thank Coach Freeze. Myself, my family, we would not be here without him. Coach Freeze is truly a special, special man. He definitely affected our lives in many, many ways. He sees the person more than the coach, more than the player, and I think he has a unique ability to do that, and a gift to do that. I learned a lot from him, and I’m just thankful for him and for the opportunity to be here.”
On what changes he can make to the offense
“It’s important, in football, you realize it’s not only what you do, it’s how you do it and who does it. That’s a major thing – how you do things, how you do anything in life really matters. You can see a difference in two people doing the same exact thing, but there’s a difference in how they’re doing it. That’s our first focus. Do it with an edge, with relentless effort and with a certain sense of physicality, it has to be done.
“My communication with the offense has been more schematically from a defensive viewpoint. That’s my background and what I know. I’m certainly not going to try to step in to be doing things that aren’t in my wheelhouse, but from those terms of, here’s some things defensively viewing that where we could help and offer suggestions that way.”
On who will call offensive plays
“Derrick Nix (offensive coordinator) will be the play caller. He’ll be the play caller every down. He’s the sole play caller, and I have extreme confidence in Derrick. Derrick and I have worked together at previous stops, as well. Derrick is a great person, a great coach and I think the players really responded to him and understand where he’s coming from. I think Derrick’s going to do a great job, and we will be aggressive in everything we do.”
On any other staff changes
There’ve been no other changes with on the field coaches. There have been some off-field staff changes that have taken place. The on-field thing doesn’t have as much importance anymore with the new rules of allotting more than 10 guys coaching on the field. The important thing to me in my comments to the staff was that I don’t want to be changing a bunch of things, uprooting and guys start changing jobs. I think it’s important we focus on our jobs.
“For me, that’s wearing two hats, but I don’t want to be changing a bunch of other people to doing that. (Jake Jiannoni) is my guy that works with the linebackers on defense. He’s been doing that all year long. As the coordinator, there’s times where I need some help with the position as well. He’ll continue to do that. He does a tremendous job. He’s a tremendous young football coach. In terms of naming someone or something different, we’re not doing that.”
On the plan moving forward with quarterbacks
“We’re evaluating that right now. There’s been discussion about them all throughout yesterday and today, and we’ll certainly come to a decision on that. That’s an important one, obviously. He’s the guy who has the ball in his hands every down, and I’m trying to gather information on that, too. That’s something I’ve not really been a part of and so for me, I’ll be incurring the decisions. I’m gathering information on that, evaluating with the offensive staff, getting their feedback and speaking to those young men.”
On if he will continue to call the defense
““Yes, I’ll be calling the defense. We won’t change how we’re doing that. I think we have a good flow of how to do things on defense, and I love our staff. I love our group, and I don’t want to uproot any changes on that. So, we’re keeping that as normal as possible. Things like this press conference usually don’t come up for me on Mondays. So, we’re up there game planning. There’s obviously a few things that alter kind of what our schedule is, but we do have a good routine and how we do things, and we’re going to keep that the same.”
On if his previous experience as a head coach helps him in this role
“It does. It’s like anything else in life, when you do something for the first time, you either reflect back and then go, ‘Well, I would have done that differently and learned a lot from it’. Certainly, those experiences have helped, and we are all products of our experiences. I’ve been fortunate enough to have those. I’ve been fortunate enough to really be around some tremendous head football coaches throughout my career at a lot of different stops and learn from them.”
On receiving consideration for the full-time job
“Our focus is 100 percent on Vanderbilt. We are trying to go 1-0 this week, and that will take all of our focus, for sure.”
On his message to the Auburn fanbase
“First of all, our fan base is incredible. The support we get every home game, whatever the situation is, whatever’s going on, whatever the time of the game, they’re there at Tiger Walk. That’s the most amazing experience you can have in this game. First off, thank you for your support, and I just want them to know that we are doing everything possible to represent them and this great university in a way that they can be proud of. This place is built on hard work, toughness, blue-collar mentality, and that is what this team has. That’s what we’re going to display. We’re going to play with a relentless effort, play for one another, and really have pride in that AU on our chest.”
On if he has talked to commits and what his message to them is
“I have yesterday, and that’s ongoing. I had a bunch of conversations yesterday and, obviously, that’s every day. That’ll continue throughout today and this evening. The conversations are very positive, very positive feedback on both sides.”
On if he thinks there is untapped potential in the offensive room
“Yes, I do. I think there’s talented guys in that room. I think there’s guy in that room that have the ability to be successful and want to. We have to do a great job of supporting them and providing for them. Absolutely, I do.”
On the identity of a D.J. Durkin coached team
“We make it a big point with our guys that this is our team. I know a lot of the questions and how it’s going is offense and defense, but we’re a team. That’s first and foremost. This is our team. We all take ownership in what goes on out on that field no matter what phase it is. It’s all together. For me, it’s a group of guys that you can tell are playing for one another.
“How do you tell that? By the amount of energy and effort they play with. That’s it. I want our guys to go compete. I want them to play with confidence and not a care in the world. That’s it. We’re going to have a great week of practice and prepare and go out there and let loose. I want us to be the aggressor in all situations. No hesitation. I think our guys will embrace that. I know they will. We’re going to do that as a team.”
On younger guys getting more action
“We’ve had quite a bit of freshmen already playing and contributing, and I think a lot of that will continue. I don’t have a new name for you, somebody who maybe hasn’t been in the mix. Obviously, it’s a Monday. We are still game planning and going through that. Those are conversations we’ll have, but at this time, nothing different.”