- 2 months ago
Kennesaw State Coach Jerry Mack joins Dukes and Bell ahead of their home opener against West Georgia.
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00:00Now, we got to say good afternoon to a guy that's doing a hell of a job up there
00:03at Kennesaw State, Coach Jerry Max, joining us here on Dukes and Bell.
00:06And, Coach, appreciate you jumping on with us.
00:09We're going to be up there right around the corner from the stadium tomorrow
00:11at Twin Peaks as people make their way over to get ready for West Georgia.
00:15How you doing, Coach?
00:16Tell us about how things are going, how things went in camp
00:20and where your team is right now.
00:22Well, right now things are going good because we haven't played any games.
00:27That's the best part about right this moment.
00:30But, no, man, the camp went extremely well.
00:34The biggest thing you're trying to do when you come out of camp
00:37is trying to make sure the bodies are healthy.
00:39And we came out of it with pretty good success.
00:42You know, we got everybody really locked and loaded and available for tomorrow.
00:45We saw the team grow a lot.
00:47One of the things I talk about when we start camp is exactly every week
00:51we're going to reveal more layers about, like, what we are as far as good to bad to ugly.
00:56And we were able to come out of those 15, 17, whatever it was, practices,
01:01and we were able to figure out from a team standpoint what do we need to attack
01:05to try to make this run and be the best version of ourselves this year.
01:09Showed so much poise in that Conference USA Championship game against Jacksonville State,
01:12I bet on you.
01:13How much turnover on the roster for folks who don't follow the Owls?
01:17How many of the same guys, how many new faces do you have on this year's team?
01:20Yeah, so we're probably about close to, like, 50-50, right?
01:24So somewhere in that range.
01:25So we lost a lot of good players, some all-conference players,
01:28some second-team all-conference players from last year.
01:30But we did inherit some good high school students, first of all,
01:34but also, too, some good transfers that, you know, went through spring
01:38and went through fall camp with us and had some success.
01:40And, you know, that's kind of the name of the game right now at this level of football.
01:44You're going to have some attrition, and new stars are born every single year.
01:48So we're looking forward to see who emerges out of this group
01:50that people did not know about last year.
01:54Kennesaw State finished 10-4 last year, won the CUSA Championship,
01:57made its first bowl game in program history.
01:59That's what Mike's alluding to, only the second year of eligibility,
02:02and Coach Mack's behind that.
02:04And they open up tomorrow against West Georgia,
02:07and then Georgia State on September 12th.
02:10Coach, and by the way, limited tickets can be purchased at ksuowls.com.
02:15That's ksuowls.com if you want to go check them out.
02:18I want to talk to you about this retention thing and, you know,
02:21keeping guys in your program.
02:23And how difficult has that been for you knowing that, you know,
02:27money's just being thrown around out here, Coach.
02:29It's crazy.
02:30Yeah.
02:30So we feel like at our level, you know,
02:33we can be very competitive with some of our counterparts.
02:36I'm not saying that we have the most, not saying that we have the least,
02:38but we make a very competitive argument to keep some people internally.
02:43Now, sometimes, like, you know, big fish, you little fish,
02:46we're going to get out there sometimes by, you know, bigger schools.
02:50But, you know, the thing that we have,
02:52the biggest thing that we have going for us right now,
02:54obviously we've had success, you know, under my regime.
02:57And then the second thing is our community and our fan base
02:59has really been a positive thing to try to keep guys.
03:02So sometimes guys see the bigger picture and they see, you know,
03:06how they've been treated in the building along with, you know,
03:09saying financially because everybody wants to get paid.
03:11Nobody wants to do a job for free.
03:13So, like, they compare all those different things that are presented in front of them
03:17and they feel like staying at Kennesaw is the best situation.
03:21To give you an example, we were able to retain the conference defensive player of the year
03:25at our level.
03:26And normally, to be honest with you, you're not going to find many schools
03:29that play at the G6 level.
03:31Sometimes you don't even find them at the power four level.
03:33They're going to be able to retain their player of the year
03:35just because they're going to get poached by some bigger schools.
03:39You know, he saw the bigger picture.
03:40He saw that it's an opportunity to not only be successful here again,
03:44you know, he's going to go to the Hall of Fame at this university one day.
03:47He has an engineering degree here.
03:50He's working on his master's degree.
03:51So, he just sees long-term what Kennesaw State can do for him and his family.
03:56It's great to hear, man.
03:57And, again, you've got to get a great staff.
03:58You've got to keep that staff from getting poached as well.
04:00Mitch Militello, again, Coach, for guys who don't follow the program,
04:03talk about your style and what you're looking to do offensively.
04:06Yeah, offensively, you know, we're always going to be the same situation.
04:10We're going to be high-paced and, you know, we're going to push the ball down the field vertical,
04:14but it all starts with the run game.
04:15We're going to always keep a load of backs that can run the football.
04:19And we're trying to continue to build our brand and get bigger and stronger up front.
04:23So, we're always looking for big, strong men up front that can move the line of scrimmage.
04:27On the defense side of the ball, we were on a top defense in the league last year,
04:31especially from an aggressive style.
04:33We led the league in tackles for loss and sacks.
04:35So, we're constantly continuing to try to, you know, put pressure,
04:38apply pressure to offenses.
04:39So, that's one of the things that on both sides of the ball,
04:41we pride ourselves on offense and defense, just in attack mode, you know,
04:45always pushing the tempo on the offensive side of the ball and defensively,
04:49always getting out to the quarterback.
04:50By the way, Coach has an undefeated team last year at home.
04:54You guys were 6-0.
04:55You've got a seven-game win streak heading into Thursday's game.
04:58That dates back to 2024.
05:00Do you bring that up with the guys that,
05:02we don't lose at home?
05:03I mean, this is our defenders.
05:06We don't lose at home.
05:07I mean, what do you say, Coach?
05:09You know, we always talk about we don't want anybody to come in here
05:11and rob the bank.
05:12So, you know, we'll fit there at bank stadium.
05:14So, we're always trying to protect that brand at home.
05:18So, so far, so good.
05:19It's worked out for us.
05:20But we understand that everybody's going to come in here
05:23and they're going to want to knock us off the block,
05:25not only because of the success we've had at home,
05:27but also, too, just for the simple fact, you know,
05:30we've had success in the league.
05:31So, that's one of the things we try to pride ourselves on protecting,
05:34you know, protecting our home base.
05:36And our fan base, you know, our students, our band, and our alumni,
05:40they're a big part of making that environment as hostile as possible.
05:44We always say, ask yourself, Carl, who's the Mac?
05:47He's on the show.
05:48It's Coach Mac with us from Kennesaw State.
05:50Your quarterback is kind of a sign of the times from LSU by way of Syracuse.
05:55Talk about Ricky Collins and how he won the job.
05:58Well, the first thing you did when he walked in the building,
06:01extremely impressed with how Ricky handled himself from a standpoint
06:04of just understanding football, his football IQ,
06:07and then also, too, his leadership ability.
06:09He's a very charismatic character, you know,
06:11and he just gained more and more confidence as he went through the process
06:15that started back in January.
06:16He continued to learn the system and learn the offense,
06:19but most importantly, he started to earn the trust of his teammates.
06:22And that's one of the things that, you know,
06:24as we looked at, you know,
06:25the battle that we had going all the way deep into fall camp,
06:28that's one of the things that continued to separate from him.
06:31I'm not saying that the guy, the young man that did not win the job is any less,
06:35but Ricky just shows a little bit more poise
06:38and a little bit more understanding of what we were trying to accomplish,
06:41you know, during that time.
06:42Now, there's a second part to that.
06:43You know, we're looking to see if those things apply to when he gets under the lights
06:48on Thursday night.
06:49You know, we need to see the same thing that we've been seeing in camp.
06:52We need to see that come to life tomorrow night.
06:55So, Coach, what do you think the CUSA Championship did for not only the program
06:59and the players, but for the school?
07:02I think it helped put the school on national stage.
07:06You know, when you go back and you watch that game,
07:08we played on national television, and just not only that,
07:11just what centered around our whole program and the success that we had last year.
07:15We were on the tip of the tongue on national media outlets.
07:19We tried to do a great job this offseason of making sure we told our story
07:22about how we built it and how we want to try to continue to sustain it,
07:26which is even harder.
07:27So, like, I think that just helped bring more eyeballs to Kennesaw State.
07:31You know, hopefully more people understand where we're located at,
07:34and they look us up.
07:35They Google us and chat GBT us and try to find more and more out
07:39about the university itself.
07:41And I think that just helps the entire brand as we continue to grow as a school.
07:45Well, again, we always talk about the big games.
07:47Last year for those folks who remember, he played Wake Forest really close.
07:49Could have won that game.
07:50And then the Indiana game went another way.
07:53But how do you get guys – I mean, is it easy just to walk in –
07:55you go to Neyland Stadium and just the size and scope of it,
07:58everyone just gets amped up for a game like that?
08:01You know, I think that the Neyland Stadium situation,
08:04when we go to University of Tennessee, it's going to be a great atmosphere.
08:07It's going to be their first night home game that they're going to have
08:10this upcoming season.
08:11So we understand it's going to be juicy.
08:13We understand it's going to be a hostile environment.
08:15I was there for three years.
08:16I understand what that looks like.
08:17But we try to pride ourselves on not playing logos.
08:21You know, we have a certain process that we want to go through,
08:23certain things that we want to try to accomplish every single week.
08:26And if we do that piece, we feel like we've got an opportunity to be in a lot of games
08:30throughout the course of the season.
08:31It's when you get enamored by the stadium or enamored by the logos that you end up losing focus.
08:37So we're just going to apply the same processes and the same things that we always do
08:42and hopefully, you know, give us a chance to have a chance in the fourth quarter.
08:46All right.
08:46Before we let you go, I've got to ask you about West Georgia.
08:48I don't want to disrespect your opponent, but what have you seen?
08:52What do you know about them?
08:53And what are you expecting tomorrow?
08:55A very good football team the last couple of years.
08:58You know, they were in the game all the way to the fourth quarter, this last game.
09:03And then it kind of got out of hand really in the fourth quarter.
09:05But good football team, Coach has done a really good job in his career building programs
09:11and having success.
09:12And like you said, you know, there's some players on our team that played there,
09:15so we understand the caliber of players that those guys will bring in here.
09:19And any time you get a chance to face a team that's in the state,
09:22these guys grew up playing peewee football or know one another,
09:26they're playing high school football throughout the entire state.
09:29That's always going to be – everybody's always going to be on high alert.
09:32So we're looking forward to the challenge.
09:34We know those guys are going to come here ready to play a football game.
09:37You always get better from week one to week two.
09:40And the thing that they have that we don't have,
09:42they've actually played a college football game this year.
09:44So we're just trying to make sure that we dot our I's and cross our T's.
09:49Thursday night, 7 o'clock.
09:52ESPN Plus and in Kennesaw, guys, at the bank.
09:55And as he said, don't let anybody come in here and rob the bank.
09:58Tomorrow's going to be a lot of fun.
09:59West Georgia, Kennesaw State gets their season kicked off.
10:02Coach, congratulations on a great year last year.
10:04But I'm sure you've said nobody cares.
10:06It's all about this year.
10:08And now the season starts for you guys tomorrow.
10:10We appreciate the time.
10:11Good luck.
10:12No question.
10:13Appreciate you guys.
10:14Coach Jerry Mack, ask yourself, who's to Mack?
10:18Love the guy's energy, man.
10:19And it's funny because last time we had Coach on,
10:21we talked about it last year after they won the conference championship,
10:23playing the Myrtle Beach Bowl again.
10:24That did not go well against the Mack team.
10:25But, no, he's a likable guy and the kind of personality.
10:30You hope you don't lose him.
10:31You hope that he doesn't get gobbled up.
10:33But if the trajectory continues onwards and upwards, and he talked about it.
10:36I mean, this is the new world.
10:38And it applies to everyone from Georgia to Kennesaw State.
10:41How do you keep him?
10:42How do you bring him in?
10:43How do you maintain it?