WATCH: Pete Golding speaks Thursday ahead of Sugar Bowl
NEW ORLEANS — No. 5 Alabama is only two days away from taking the field against No. 9 Kansas State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. If the Crimson Tide can secure a victory, it’ll give them an 11-win season for the 12th straight time under head coach Nick Saban.
On Thursday afternoon, Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding spoke to the media for the first time since fall camp. Below, we’ve included a video and complete transcriptions of everything Golding said during that media availability.
DC Pete Golding
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Obviously, half of our team, we’re excited to be back in New Orleans. The last time we were here was the ’17, which was a good outcome. Being from Louisiana or growing up, obviously a big fan of the Sugar Bowl. It’s always been a really good bowl.
“They have done an outstanding job this week, entertaining our players. It’s a great venue. We are excited about playing a really good Kansas State team, very talented offense. They do a really good job schematically.
“So we will have our work cut out for us. But we are really excited to be back in New Orleans.”
Q. Your coaching background before you got to Alabama, a lot of small schools, Delta State, those places. In those experiences, did you come across a lot of super small backs that maybe remind you of Deuce Vaughn? Maybe not of his overall talent but just that stature of guy?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “I think whether you are a Division II level, 1 AA, or mid-major, the skill positions aren’t that much different. It’s just the size of the skill positions.
“You go up against a lot of good backs. But to your point, at the smaller level, they are normally a little shorter. They are kind of like Deuce. He’s the [Darren] Sproles type. He’s special with the ball in his hands. He reached top end speed very quickly.
“But, again, he’s one of the top receivers as well. So it becomes a matchup issue of who he’s on. And so to be able to stop the run, you can’t put a DB on this cat all game because he’s in the box and running gap schemes and everything else.
“So covering him out of the backfield is going to be a challenge. But tackle him in the space. We’ve seen some backs, but I think he’s probably one of the better backs we have seen this year, for sure.”
Q. We haven’t talked to you since August. How would you assess your performance as a coach, play caller this season?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Obviously, every day, every week, you’re trying to look back and what can we do better? How can I improve as a position coach, as a coordinator, and as a person? So you’re always continuing to look to improve.
“Obviously, after the season is over, you go back from the evaluation standpoint and assess everything and what needs to be tweaked and what we need to change and how we need to do it better and who do we need to go talk to to do some things better.
“Obviously, I think every day, I try to improve on the previous day. And look at it and evaluate it and see how can we do it better, and then try to coach the hell out of it.”
Q. What’s it like being Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator for four years? How does one last in the job that long? What kind of boss is he?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “He’s a great boss. Obviously, people look at it. It’s black and white, you know? Just like for our players, there’s an expectation of your position. But it’s very black and while, and it’s detailed out what the expectations are. You go to work every day, and you try to achieve it.
“But at least you know there’s no gray. There’s jobs out there to where you really don’t know; you’re not really being told how to do it. You don’t know whether you are doing it right or wrong. You know here. So you hear it every day.
“But it’s awesome just being around the greatest coach of all time, day to day and all day and learning from him, not only defense, but how to manage a team, how to manage people. So it’s been a really good experience for me.”
Q. You’ve come along in the game and grown up during this time of offensive explosion evolution, where teams are spreading you out, they’re going paced, they’re not subbing, they’re not allowing you to sub. When you self-scout, do you ever look back sometimes and think maybe Alabama’s defense is too complex?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “I think we’re always looking at how can you simplify things, but I think offenses do a good job of using the horizontal space in the field and still stretching you vertically with the RPOs, using all 11 guys, especially this team, using the quarterback. It is challenging from that standpoint.
“But, also, as a coach, you want your guys to be in the best position possible based on what they’re doing. And so there’s always that fine line of being too simple, right?
“And then they’re going to go check with me, and then everybody in the building knows what you are in, and they got a matchup and they’re going to win that matchup. To being too complex and motions and shifts and multiple calls within one, you end up not being on the same page. If you get a bust, it doesn’t matter. The call didn’t matter.
“So I think, yeah, obviously simplifying things, especially with young players, but I think offensive now, they’re so multiple. But based on formation, you kind of know what you’re going to get. So you try to pare it down and help your kids out so they can work that throughout the week.
“Absolutely, we’re always looking for a way to make it easier, while still not giving away what we’re doing and being too simple.”
Q. In coaching young linebackers, what have you seen in Jihaad Campbell grasping the playbook and just playing fast as a young linebacker?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Yeah, Jihaad was an outside linebacker in high school. So that transition from outside to inside is hard, because obviously, as an outside piece, you are not reading, diagnosing the box. You don’t have keys, and you don’t have a run and pass responsibility.
“Obviously, the spring and the summer was big for him. Coach [Nick Saban] and I were talking about this this morning. One great thing about these bowl games is these kids get 11 extra practices. I think Jihaad Campbell and Shawn Murphy, those two freshmen linebackers, have really taken advantage of these extra 11 practices.
“I think he’s become more comfortable in the position. I think he’s trained his eyes this season so he can trust them. Athletic ability has never been the issue. He’s got really good twitch. He’s got really good pass rush ability, having been an outside backer in high school.
“He’s starting to learn and be able to read and diagnose the box, and motion and flashers and things like that aren’t affecting him as much. He’s taking a big step. We expect big things from his future.”
Q. Alabama’s defense has kind of developed a reputation that precedes it over the past decade and a half. When you are constantly facing opponents that are bringing their A game because they are playing Alabama, how does that make your job more difficult as a defensive coordinator?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “I think the biggest difference, probably, have been in Alabama and other places is you are not really going to get what you have seen on tape from a lot of people. Whether they have done it all year, they’re going to go back, and what has caused issues for you in the past, regardless of whether it’s in been their package or not.
“A lot of teams are it’s like that. So the tough part is in the preparation for the kids. You’re working things throughout the week that they are not seeing it in the tape. Because if you don’t work in and expose it to them during the week, and it happens in a game, they won’t be ready.
“The tough part of college football now is the multiple formations, the unbalances, the formation of the boundaries, the tempo, the empty game, and a lot of things they can’t do in the NFL, right? It’s illegal.
“So that’s so much a part of offenses now, to where you really bring it down. 60% of the plays that we see in the game are either formation in the boundary or an unbalanced formation. It’s not even a normal set. And so that’s most of the game now.
“Getting those checks and being on the same page and getting that done is the tough part.”
Q. You mentioned Shawn [Murphy] and Jihaad [Campbell]. Where do you stand at that position right now? It looks like you guys are a bit banged up in the middle of the defense.
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Obviously, Henry [To’oTo’o] is playing in the game. We will have Deontae Lawson, who has been playing in the Will position. Shawn Murphy has worked the backup position, along with Kendrick Blackshire who has been out for a while. We’ve got him back healthy. And then at the Will position, obviously you have Deontae [Lawson] and Jihaad [Campbell] and then Ian Jackson as well.
“We have been rolling six guys through the bowl game. We try to get them a lot of reps because we will see who shows up on Saturday. But those six have been getting all the reps.”
Q. K State started two quarterbacks throughout the season. They have announced obviously that Will Howard is going to get to start. But how do you handle the potential of Adrian Martinez getting some time?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Obviously got to prepare for them. I think that’s the one thing that’s changed now more than ever, is you are seeing a lot more athletic quarterbacks, run stop quarterbacks throughout the year, whereas used to not do that much, especially in this conference. So we are seeing them more so. You got to understand obviously up front, I don’t think they change schematically really who they are. Obviously, there’s a little bit more of the quarterback run game with nine in the game. But they’ll still do it with 18 in the game as well. So the big thing, I think, of the difference with nine is when coverage breaks down and it’s not there, the ability to extend the play. I think it’s a little more consistent when 18’s in the game.
“We got to be ready for both of them. Obviously, we watched tape on both of them. Our kids understand there is going to be two quarterbacks playing in the game primarily. And we have got to be aware of who is in the game.
“Schematically from a run game and a pass concept, they are who they are, at least up to this point.”
Q. It all kind of starts with Deuce Vaughn. Who are some other guys on the Kansas State offense that concern you a little bit?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Obviously, the tight end is a big target. They move him around. He runs the ball. He’s off. He’s open. He’s 6’6”, got good hands. He’s a big part of the offense.
“I think 4 (Malik Knowles) can stretch the field. I think he’s athletic. They find ways to get him the football.
“And they got a lot of good players that play within the system. And I think that’s one thing, depending upon who is at quarterback, they are really good at taking what you’re giving them.
“I think they are very patient on offense. They have a lot of complementary plays based on the front and coverage you’re in, both in the run game and the pass game.
“So they do a good job of taking what’s there. We got to do a good job of stemming and disguising, not always showing what we’re in.
“I think this game is going to be about stopping the run and tackling guys in space. I think they will do a good job with the movement keys. We got to be really disciplined in the back end with our eye control and make them drive the field. We can’t give up explosive plays and a flashy game.”
Q. We talked about guys’ pivotal decision earlier this month of when Will [Anderson] said that he would play in this game. How pivotal has that been to the defense? Just how central is he now to that defense going forward?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Absolutely. I think he’s kind of the heart and soul of that defense.
“That’s kind of the mentality of Alabama. I think that starts with Coach [Nick] Saban. I think people come to Alabama and they want to compete against the best. They want to play in big time games.
“I know we are not where we want to be right now. But the Sugar Bowl is a great venue. It’s a great event. It’s an opportunity for them to compete.
“That’s the guys that we are trying to recruit. That’s the people this day and age that you need on your time. It ain’t always about money. There’s opportunities to go out and get better, improve my craft.
“It’s about competing. It’s about winning the damn game. I think that’s the competitor in Will, and that’s the competitor in a lot of our guys. There’s still opportunity for him to increase value but, more importantly, to go out there with his boys and finish this thing the right way.”
Q. When you look at your career, what would you say your goal is within the coaching world?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “I really don’t get caught up in it. I don’t have it. Obviously, I try to be the best coach that I can, the best person that I can. I got into coaching to affect young men. You can do that whether you are a position coach, coordinator, or head coach.
“And I’m in no rush, I have said this before, to be a head coach. I think there’s a lot more to that. I love game planning. I love being in the room with our guys. Obviously, I got to do a better job of putting them in a better position, continue to coach them better so they have better product on the field.
“Right now I’m just worried about K State and getting through tomorrow to be honest with you.”
Q. Statistically, this was a top ten defense this year, but there were some breakdowns against Tennessee and LSU. How do you explain what happened in those games compared to the bigger picture of what the defense was?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “Obviously, A, they have some really good players. That’s one thing about Tennessee. They are an explosive offense. They’re going to find ways to create one on one matchups. But the biggest thing even in that game, we talked about it going into it, is contesting every play.
“When you are playing against good teams, you can’t have uncontested plays. A couple of those were uncontested plays: Busting a motion adjustment. have an audible, they run the same play every time, we don’t get the checks. Getting all 11 guys on the same page was a big piece.
“But also, in big games, guys got to step up and make plays when they need to. And I felt like in those games and critical moments, the other team stepped up and made more plays than we did. That’s something obviously we emphasize towards the end of the year.
“When you look at those two games specifically, we had the opportunity in both those games in the fourth quarter to win the game on defense and we didn’t. There were some critical third downs in the LSU, the last drive. Had the opportunity to get off the field and we didn’t. Same thing with the Tennessee game.
“And so obviously, we’ve all learned from that, and we watched that on tape. But we had to live through that. Things we got to clean up, we got to improve on.
“There’s that part of being competitive greatness. Being at your best when your best is needed. Whether that’s a call or that’s a play and a player doing his job. We all got to improve on that.”
Q. I know you’re not focused on the future, but do you plan to be at Alabama next year?
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PETE GOLDING: “I’m still under contract, so absolutely.”
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