Old Dominion University Football running backs coach and special teams coordinator Charles Bankins completed his first season with the Monarchs in 2016. A 21-year coaching veteran, Bankins has coached at practically every level of football, including high school, Division I, II and the NFL.
Q: How did you get into coaching?
CB: I was tricked into coaching by my high school coach. I had no desire to be a coach, I was going to be a political speech writer. My coach after my senior year of high school, he got out of coaching because he had twin daughters to take care of and then when I finished college he decided to get back into coaching and said “you’re coming with me”. I said no I’m not, I’m going to work on Capitol Hill, he said yes you are, and that’s how I got tricked into coaching. But I loved it, I loved the players and watching players develop.
Q: What was your major in college?
CB: I was an organizational communications major and a political science minor.
Q: You started coaching in high school and then went to Eastern Kentucky. What made you want to stay in coaching?
CB: Then I got on the whole sports marketing thing. I coached high school and then I came back to sports marketing but I was hooked on coaching, I went to EKU and when I got there in August, the receivers coach was leaving in December, they said I could wait until December or come in during the fall. I didn’t want anyone else to come in and take it so I started in the fall doing academic advising.
Q: You went to James Madison. Talk about your career with the Dukes.
CB: The biggest thing I learned, I went through two head coaching changes when I was there and watched the culture change. The biggest thing that helped me when I got into coaching was when we were playing perennial power Georgia Southern. We were up 21-0 and right before halftime one of their running backs runs out of bounds and he goes “you guys really don’t think you’re going to win this game do you?”
And they came back, returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown and won 24-21. When you expect to be the best, the score doesn’t matter. When you build a culture of winning you never think there is a chance you’re going to lose. That has helped me in my coaching career, the expectations I have for myself and my players that we are going to be the best, whatever position I’m coaching I want them to be the best on the team, best in the conference and country at their position.
Q: You have coached every position on offense. What has that done for you?
CB: It’s just like what we want in our players. It creates flexibility, I feel like I have a big picture view of what we’re doing. I had an interview for a job and they said if you had to say one position you were an expert at, what would you say. I said if you ask other people, they’ll say running back, if you ask me, I’ll say offense. I think knowledge of each position you know how the whole works so you’re a part that fits into it. It helps me to have an understanding of the mindset of the players at the other positions from their point of view so I can tell my players, this is what the quarterback is looking at, or this is what the o-line is looking at. When I was with the tight ends and tackles, they always hated when the running back would run into their back. From our point of view as a running back, it allows you to understand how all of the pieces fit together.
Q: You have coached at just about every level of football – FBS, FCS, Division II, NFL. What are similarities throughout the different levels?
CB: The similarities are the hunger and the drive to be really good at it. I think all players, from high school to the NFL, want discipline and structure. They just want to know that they are around people that will help them be better at doing their job.
Q: What are some of the major differences?
CB: It’s more the strength of the players. When you’re in high school you think you’re the strongest guy there. You don’t realize there are people all around the country that are better. Even guys I’ve had that have come from the best programs in the country, they can’t match the intensity of being at a college program at the high school level. When a guy goes from college to the NFL it’s kind of the same thing. Then it becomes more of the speed, and those guys, the focus of, I have to do this for survival, to feed my family, it’s a little different than hey, I like being the best guy in college football.
Q: What made you jump to the NFL?
CB: I think everyone wants to be in the NFL, coaches and players. I had an opportunity, I had done two internships and for me, I always wanted to coach at the toughest level, competing against the best day in and day out. That was the draw of coaching in the NFL.
Q: Your first taste of the NFL was an internship with the Green Bay Packers. What was that like?
CB: It was great. William Henderson was one of the running backs there, and I get to training camp the first day I step on the field, one of the third or fourth team running backs turns to me and asks “what do I have on this play?” I just walked off the place but luckily we were a West Coast offensive team and I was like, this is how we run it, you should fit on the weakside linebacker. Then Henderson told me not to be afraid to answer these guy’s questions. They just want people, they don’t care where the information comes from, if it can help them make more money, they’ll take the help. But don’t try to fake it and act like you know something you don’t know. Once you get that reputation it spreads through the league.
Q: How are you able to balance coaching the running backs as well as special teams?
CB: I think all players want to be the best at what they do and they know I’m going to try to help them get there. I’ve been fortunate enough to be around Pro Bowl special teams players, I’ve coached two rookies of the year in the NFL. The balance comes from being organized and understanding you can’t do it all and lean on your graduate assistants and quality control guys. To also establish a regiment with the players that this is how the guys in the pro’s do and you’ve got to approach it like this.
Q: A lot of times in high school these guys are not playing special teams. Is that something you have to instill in them?
CB: It’s great when you have a head coach that’s all in when it comes to special teams. We talk about a third of the game is special teams. In the first meeting we have I tell the players I’ve never seen a game that did not have a special teams play to start it. Since I’ve coached at the next level, I can say if you really want to make it to the NFL you have to prepare like a pro and that doesn’t start your senior year.
Q: As the special teams coach you get a chance to work with just about every player on the team. Is that something you enjoy?
CB: I do love that because every guy that comes through the program I get to know. It helps in recruiting because I can tell a player that I’m recruiting that I might not be your position coach, but I’m the special teams coordinator so you’re stuck with me.
Q: What makes a good running back?
CB: All the guys we recruit know how to run the ball. It’s the intangibles, it’s contact balance, speed, power, the ability to know what the defense is going to do before you get the ball in your hand, then dictate their reactions. Ray does an excellent job of getting to the hole fast. Jeremy Cox is a strong kid. All the guys that I’ve coached that have been exceptional have this drive that no one can touch them. I think that’s what separates them and makes a good running back.
Q: You have good depth at running back with Ray, Jeremy, Gemonta, etc. How do you handle playing time?
CB: There’s only one ball. I’ve been fortunate, when I was at Hampton two years in a row we had two running backs rush for 1,000 yards in one year for two-straight years. They all know, I don’t care who is running the ball, but when you’re in there you have to produce. If your not getting it done you will not play.
Q: Last year was your first season at ODU. What was the year like for you?
CB: Fantastic. It was a very open group. It is a great work environment. The kids were very receptive. They were really open to accept the coaching and I fed off of that and the kids were ready to take the next step. What I brought was to raise the expectation of who they were.
Q: You’ve been to bowl games before, NFL regular season and playoff games. What was it like playing a bowl game in the Bahamas?
CB: There’s nothing like going to the Bahamas. We were in week three and my daughter goes, are we going to a bowl this year, we haven’t been to a bowl this year what’s going on. I told her we’ll be alright. Not only to go to the first bowl game but to go to the Bahamas, but for these kids and the program to say your first bowl game was in the Bahamas was a special thing.
Q: How do you like morning practice?
CB: I love morning practice. When you practice in the afternoon, by the time the kids get to practice, they’ve been through class, a class he may be struggling in, he also saw all his classmates, and then you have to get them focused for football. And also a lot of times in the afternoon is when teachers have office hours, so our student-athletes don’t have time to use all the tools that allow them to be great students. Switch to morning practice, now we have their full attention when they come in. They’re completely focused on football, they practice, take a shower, and now the rest of the day is for them.