Throughout the summer ODUSports.com will talk to coaches and student-athletes to get to know them better. Today's Q&A is with assistant coach, Kermith Buggs. Buggs begins his third season as the safeties coach. He is also the recruiting coordinator.
Q: You went to Norfolk State, what’s it like to be back in Norfolk?
KB: It’s great to be home. For us, it’s close to our families. My wife is from Smithfield and I’m from Hampton so the opportunity for both of us to see and spend time with my family has been huge.
Q: You played quarterback at Norfolk State; you coach the safeties here at ODU. How has being a quarterback helped you coach the safeties?
KB: When I first started coaching in the secondary I didn’t realize it but Joe Paterno made me realize that early because the safeties are the quarterback of the defense. Everything their doing in the secondary is just like playing quarterback. And then again, teaching them what the quarterback is looking at and what they’re seeing and what they’re trying to get them to do, because everything you do as a quarterback is manipulated off of safety play. Which way the safety is rotating. I tell them all the time, let the quarterback make the decision; don’t make the decision for the quarterback.
Q: You’ve coached many positions, running backs, tight ends, high school head coach, and now safeties, how has that helped your development as a coach?
KB: Basically because you have an in and out for both sides of the football. Most good coaches can have a good feel for both sides. I tell the young coaches all the time if you have an opportunity get a chance to coach on the other side. It helps you become a well-rounded coach because you understand the techniques and a little bit of everything. When you’re a high school coach you coach everything. I’ve coached basically the offensive line, everything, but it makes you a more well-rounded coach in the end.
Q: What’s harder to coach, offense or defense?
KB: The way they’re allowing the offenses to manipulate defenses now, allowing the run pass-option, allowing them to pull down the line of scrimmage and be 3-4 yards down field, it messes up the defenders reads a lot, so coaching defense has definitely been a challenge but a challenge I enjoy.
Q: Being the recruiting coordinator now, how has that changed your role from being safeties coach to adding that responsibility?
KB: It’s just a different task, making sure that you’re organized with the things you need to get done. You’re dealing with everybody, dealing with every coach on the staff, which I had done as the special teams coach at UConn. You have to deal with the off the field stuff because now you deal with the mailings, what’s going out and coming in, but it’s just another bill on your cap and go to work every day and make sure you stay organized.
Q: Do you have a recruiting philosophy?
KB: The philosophy we basically try to sell is Coach Wilder’s dreams are, the “Aim High,” the 3-5-3, as I always tell them, use football don’t let football use you. As far as the type of athletes we’re looking for, those come from the coordinators. The coordinators determine what we’re looking for in the recruiting process and I handle the day-to-day operations.
Q: You lost three-year starting safety Fellonte Misher to graduation, but you have guys at safety that have played a lot. What do you look for from the safety group this year?
KB: What we’re looking for this year is to have a lot of depth. We won’t have to have a guy play as many plays as Fellonte did. With more guys having the experience now they won’t have to play as many plays. We’re looking for a big year from Rob Thompson, C.J. Bradshaw, who played a lot last year and did some good things and then the young freshmen Kane Miskel and Denzel Williams. We’re looking for them to get some vital minutes for us. As a group, I’m very happy with what we have, and then the glue to the whole group is Sean Carter. He fits in wherever we play him, he can play, free, strong, nickel, he’s the Draymond Green of our defense.
Q: The coaching staff has been able to find walk-ons that not only can contribute, but have turned into starters, all-conference and eventually on scholarship. How important is it for the program to have good walk-ons?
KB: On this level the lifeline of the program is the walk-ons. After your 85 (scholarship players), you want to have good guys to practice against. The scout teams and reps they get, those guys get a lot of work and then they became great core special teams guys. Those guys live and die by special teams and help give us good looks. Having vital walk-ons is a great piece for the whole team. In the end if they start playing for us that’s great, guys like Carter and Andre Bernhard and Brandon Addison at corner. We recruited some good ones this year that we’re really excited about that want to be here, some local kids.
Q: You were at Penn State for eight years, what was it like working with Coach Joe Paterno?
KB: Great. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him. Some of the things he taught me, it was a great time, he was like a second father to me. People always want to say was he involved later in the aspects of the program, yes he was, he was totally involved. We never did anything on the football field without him blowing the whistle. We had no periods, no clock on the side that said five minutes to change periods, we changed periods when he was ready to change periods. He was heavily involved in everything we did. And like I said, he put me on defense, he had a vision for me and my career and I try to go with it.
Q: Do you have a favorite Joe Paterno story?
KB: The best story is actually one with Sue Paterno (Joe’s wife) and it involves my wife. I was a young GA and she wanted to know when I was going to marry my wife, and I told her I would have to get a full-time job before I do that. The day Coach Paterno hired me as the player personnel director she came to my office and said now you can marry Kristy. The second moment from coach is I always told the guys in the press box, if he calls a play, you better run it. So we’re playing Indiana and we’re stagnant, and he wanted to run the reverse to Derrick Williams and for two plays they wouldn’t run it. Then he said I want the reverse and I want it now, at that time he was in the press box and he pounded the table. They ran the reverse and Derrick scored a 50 some yard touchdown. I stood up and said when this man tells us to call a play; you need to call the play. He would handle the reigns for a little bit and if the play he called didn’t work then he would hand it back to the coordinator. I saw it happen more than once, he wanted a draw against Wisconsin when they had nine men in the box, and Tony Hunt ran for a touchdown.
Q: After the 2011 season, you went to Division II Lock Haven for one year. What was that year like?
KB: Lock Haven was the most fun year of my football career. Those guys hadn’t won a game in five years and Sam Perryman (ODU cornerbacks coach) and I went to Lock Haven with John Allen, and those kids, they had three total scholarships, they were playing for the love of football. Being out there with guys that want to play because they love the game was so rewarding for me. Coming from the scholarship area, to guys who just want to play, was basically what I needed at that in time. When we got that first win against Cheyney and they tore down the goalpost, it was one of the most unreal experiences I’ve ever been apart of. That was a great season, even though we only won one game, it meant so much for that university.
Q: How difficult was the 2011 season at Penn State
KB: It was huge. It was a change in my life because I didn’t have control of it. When things happen that you don’t have control over it is difficult for you. The good thing was I did have Lock Haven, I had a chance to go with John and go from there. They had good support staff and people around, and Coach Paterno had taken care of us. We had a year and some change on our contracts left so that was good for us, but just the fact of everybody accusing us of what we were supposed to have known that none of us knew was the hardest part. Dealing with the lies and watching the television, and people saying things that had no clue what was going on was one of the hardest things.
Q: You’re starting year three now at ODU, a lot of young guys have played on defense that have matured into juniors and seniors, what do you look for this year from the defense?
KB: We’re looking forward to turning the corner. We look to be a little more dominant than we can be. We play well in spurts, now we have to play consistently well. If you look back how we played against Marshall, look at some of the series against NC State; we have to carry those out throughout the entire season. That comes down to understanding what it takes to be good on this level. The defenses in this league average giving up about 28-30 points per game. Where I come from that’s entirely too many points. Where I come from at Penn State if we gave up 17, something was wrong with the defense. Trying to get that mentality if they don’t score they don’t win. Hopefully this year will be another significant jump and growth.