Q & A WITH AL LUGINBILL : Recruiting Top Priority for the Aztecs’ New Coach

SAN DIEGO —  Al Luginbill does not officially take over as the 13th football coach in San Diego State history until Wednesday, but already he is hard at work putting together a plan for the Aztecs.

Since it was announced Monday that he would succeed Denny Stolz, Luginbill has met with SDSU players and coaches, worked to assemble his coaching staff and prepared for the transition that will become complete after the team banquet Tuesday night.

The appointment marks Luginbill’s return to coaching after serving nearly 3 years as an associate athletic director at SDSU. Luginbill, 42, previously was as an assistant at Wyoming and Arizona State, including 3 seasons as defensive coordinator. His only previous head coaching job was at Pasadena City College, where he led the Lancers an 11-1 record in 1977.

Luginbill took some time out from his schedule of appointments Thursday to discuss his early plans for SDSU, his philosophy of football and the reasons why he has decided to return to coaching.

An edited version of the conversation:

Question: What have these first few days since the announcement of your appointment been like?

Answer: I’ve been working until 2 or 3 in the morning. But what has become very apparent to me is, being removed from the profession for a couple of years, you forget where you are, and that is San Diego. What a tremendous asset that is when you start getting calls from people who want to work here. I mean awesome people calling with unbelievable credentials, proven credentials. Yet it is important for me to know an individual’s complete background. What I do with my first staff will be the most important decision I will make during my whole time that I am here. I am taking my time. I am not rushing into anything, and I have no set agenda.

Q: What are you looking at in assembling a staff of assistant coaches?

A: I want good people who are success-driven, who can recruit.

Q: Why is recruiting a priority over other qualifications?

A: They wouldn’t be successful in coaching if they couldn’t teach, so I expect that. Recruiting is like shaving: you have to do it every day. You have to do it 365 days a year. I want people who like to recruit because we are selling San Diego; we are selling ourselves; we are selling the program. I ask each one of them point blank: “You are on a year-to-year basis. Can you accept the fact that the major part of your evaluation is based on your ability to bring in outstanding student-athletes at San Diego State? Do you have any problem with that?” Everybody says no, but I can tell from the rest of the interview if that is a priority with them. Some head coaches say you have to have a blend. There are coaches out there who are great X and O coaches that are also great recruiters and great motivators. Those are the three qualities that I want. A lot of head coaches say you can’t find that in an individual. I disagree with that.

Q: What qualities do you look for in your players to make a successful football program?

A: We look for toughness and speed. What does toughness mean? Will they compete hard on every down? Football is a violent sport. People hit you. What does toughness mean outside of football? Will they go to class? Do they show up on time for meetings? If I inherit that type of individual, then I don’t have to teach it. On the physical side, we’ve got to have size. A big fast, tough athlete, 9 times out of 10, will beat a little, fast, tough athlete. That’s pretty simple. So I want to get as many big, fast tough athletes as we can.

Q: What are your views on academic requirements from your players?

A: Every student athlete that is highly recruited out of high school feels he can to play professional football. Less than 1% of the players in college football reach that goal. I still want them to have that goal. There is nothing wrong with that. But along with that, I want them to be realistic. I want them to have something to fall back on; that’s a degree.

Q: You have been an assistant coach in both the Western Athletic Conference while at Wyoming and in the Pacific 10 while at Arizona State. Those are the two conferences San Diego State competes in and most closely against. Will your background at those schools serve you well here?

A: No question. I am convinced that in the states of California, Arizona and Nevada, there are 25 outstanding student-athletes who will come to San Diego State and be extremely successful. They may not all be recruited by UCLA or USC, but that doesn’t make them necessarily bad athletes. In those states, there are close to 1,500 high schools. The numbers are staggering. We’re going to evaluate talent on the ability to win the Western Athletic Conference title because that guarantees us a bowl bid. We get that type of talent year in and year out, we will compete with the UCLAs and the Miamis of the world. Believe me. Brigham Young has proved that. Air Force has proved that. Wyoming has proved that. We proved that 2 years ago. We can play with anybody on any given day, if we are the champion of the Western Athletic Conference.

Q: Attendance was down again this season. How much pressure are you under to improve that?

A: I can’t put people in the seats unless we win. And when we win, they will come. But it has to be consistent winning. You can’t expect people to come out to watch you unless you give them something to watch. This community supported the Aztecs for a good period. The attendance did not start sliding until they hadn’t done well for a period of time. It is entertainment, and people will come if they are entertained. Our basketball program last year was an example of that. They were not the most talented team, but they were fun to watch because they played so hard. I liken our situation to that.

Q: How would you describe your defensive philosophy?

A: We will be a pressure defense. At Arizona State, we were a simple 3-4 defense that brought people from everywhere. We overloaded the offense. We always said we were going to have one more person coming than you could block. Offenses are now starting to catch up with pressure, and everybody has gone to pressure now. But because the quarterbacks are so talented, and the skill people are so good, if you allow them to sit back there without any heat and without any obvious heat that he may have to think about before the snap, they will pick you apart.

Q: It has been 4 seasons since you have been on a field coaching. Have you kept up with game, and have you seen many changes?

A: The only thing that has changed is that they are using pressure defense more, and I always played pressure defense. The offenses haven’t changed. Better athletes, better athletes every year.

Q: What is your philosophy on spreading your talent between offense and defense?

A: We recruit skill on offense, and we recruit the best athletes we can find for defense. When we recruit linemen, we play them on defense first. As for linebackers, they have to be athletes. It is an athletic position. If a linebacker isn’t a skilled player on offense in high school, I get real nervous. I want to get to the point where we have great athletes at every spot. Right now, we’re not at that position. I want to get to that situation.

Q: You have said you will make the special teams a coaching priority of yours. Why?

A: It is a big-play opportunity. Where else can you give up or gain 45 yards on one play? In our spring practices, the first thing we will do will be work on special teams. I don’t believe in stretching; I believe in active warmups. It gets the intensity level up. It gets adrenaline going. Everybody will participate in the kicking game. That may be a shock to this football team. I don’t know.

Q: Situation substitutions have become more and more a part of football. What are your thoughts on using such tactics and competing against them?

A: If I was facing a team that was a big situation defense, I might go no-huddle on them. Anything to throw them off. Offensively, quarterbacks and receivers are like pitchers and catchers. It’s like a shooter in basketball. We’re going to have a lot of out of (receivers), but I want one kid out there for a series. I don’t want him running in and out of there. He can get as tired running on and off the field as he does in the ballgame. If we substitute, I want it to be for a series. That is how you do substitution, and that is how you end up with 11 guys on the field.

Q: Have you had any offers before this to return to coaching in the years since you left Arizona State?

A: I did in the first 2 years, but they weren’t right. If I could stay here for the next 20 years in this job, I’d be the happiest man alive. I really like this environment in San Diego.

Q: Was it a disappointment to you 3 years ago when Athletic Director Fred Miller asked you to join him at San Diego State as an administrator rather than for the coaching job he eventually offered to Stolz?

A: I do not deny the fact that when he first talked to me, I thought he was talking about the football part of it. The ASU connection hurt me at that particular time. I don’t think he felt comfortable with being Tempe West, and I understood that. I missed being around the athletic arena, and when I got back into it, I realized I made the right decision. I didn’t realize the shambles the department was in; that has been corrected. The two things left to be done are for the football and basketball programs to generate the revenues to support our other sports.

Q: When did Miller first discuss the possibility of coaching with you, why did you take it, and what are expectations?

A: I talked it over with Fred Saturday night. I didn’t talk him much Sunday except for a little bit on the phone. I didn’t want to talk to him. He didn’t try to talk me into it. It had to be my decision. I took all aspects of it. I knew what was on the line. I’m not naive. But I certainly agree with Denny there is some good young talent in this program. I don’t deny that fact. They better win. They’re expected to win.