Instant Interview Replay: John Thompson (Oct. 7)

Instant Interview Replay: John Thompson (Oct. 7)

10/07/2003

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Head football coach John Thompson fielded questions from internet users on Tuesday morning, Oct. 7, during ECUpirates.com's exclusive, live Instant Interview. Following is the complete transcript of his responses.

ECUpirates.com : Coach Thompson is here and we're ready to go with another Instant Interview. Good morning and welcome, Coach!
John Thompson : Thanks. It's an exciting week. A lot of things happening. We're looking forward to all the hype and excitement from our students and our team.

Brian : Coach, we seem to be consistently short on our kick-offs. I know Cameron has done a good job on field goals but are you considering putting in a stronger leg for kickoffs ie. Dougherty, or Steinbacher?
John Thompson : I just came from a staff meeting where we discussed that. Cam has got to do better in the game. He consistently kicks much better in practice, but we have got to get more depth in the games. Like other positions, these next two days are going to be critical. We have to find a way to do it.

: The offensive line played well against Houston, as did Marvin Townes. What preparations is your staff making to improve the passing game? Troth and Robinson seem to have no confidence and we only have one reciever with the ability to get open. Who will start at QB? Good luck for the rest of the season keep your heads up and play with pride.
John Thompson : You're exactly right. Our offensive line had their best game. Charlie Dempsey, Doug White, Brian Rimpf, Corey Schmidt, and Hagen Mason all really played well, especially in the running game. Marvin had his best day. And our quarterbacks have got to continue to develop confidence. We've got to make some plays and gain some confidence.

Alex : What was the reason for leaving Paul Troth in the game after going 3 and out on almost every series? Yeah, he had a 39 yard pass but that was a jump ball. Also, with Brandon Howard out at long snapper, do you have a backup? Thanks
John Thompson : We felt like we needed to leave Paul in there to let him hopefully find some kind of rhythm. Michael Yartin is our backup deep snapper. We're very fortunate to have a quality backup guy like that.

LC in Big Durham : Coach what are we going to do to score enough points to beat UNC? Thanks and look forward to seeing y'all at the Pirate Walk!!!
John Thompson : We are improving. Our running game is getting better. We have got to open it up with our passing game. I just feel like this team just needs some breaks and then we will explode.

John : Coach, First of all I just wanted to say I still believe in you and the pirates. With the quaterback position up for grabs again will Pinkney be given a chance at this job?
John Thompson : All three guys are getting repetitions in practice. James is getting more reps this week.

Jason : Are the players as excited as I am to beat up on those Tar Heels this weekend?
John Thompson : I hope you are excited as our players are, because we have had two excellent practices. I am very proud of our team in their resolve to keep coming to work everyday and working to get better. Our team has had a positive, determined attitude throughout this whole situation. We're just looking forward to something good happening.

Toby : Coach T, I want to talk about the future of E.C.U. I now you guys are focused right now, but can you tell us yours plans for the future of Pirate football? What we are recruiting. By the way, not many people say anything positive to you on here, so I will. I like the way you're straight with us. I like what I see on the field, I think you are the right man to take ECU to the next level of Div I Football. You get me fired up, and I'm sitting way off the field. Let's all keep our heads high, we'll get through the tough times and sow the benefits. Keep up the goodwork, stay positive, we're behind you 100%. Thanks
John Thompson : Thank you for your positive comments. I see a bright, bright future for this program. We will always continue to build. This program knows what it means to win, to be in bowls, to win championships. That will always be our focus and goals. We are fighting through some tough times right now, but we need people like you to stay with us and we will build this program first of all through recruiting and hard work.

STevereno : Why did you elect to punt with 5 minutes to go and down 2TDs against Houston?
John Thompson : There was 5:40 left in the game. I felt like we could get the ball back. I was disappointed that we didn't. But there will be no time that we are not trying to do everything we can to win every game. Obviously, if I had it to do over again now, we'd try for the first down. But it was fourth and long with 5:40 to go.

Mario Deas : Hi Coach Thompson. What is the triple option and how do you defend it? GOD bless the Pirates with what's left of the season!
John Thompson : The triple option means that there are three phases to one play. It may be a dive, it may be a QB keep, or it may be a pitch, based on the reaction of the defense in that progression.

C Man : Coach How important is getting your first passing TD to get these guys some confidence?, the qb draw seemed to work well in goal line, will we see that more?
John Thompson : We just need to gain confidence in all of our throwing game. We're looking for anything that will work.

Martin : How are we mentally? ESPN has us ranked in the bottom 10 and they are calling our game the pillow fight of the week. Stuff like that has to be tough to swallow for the team, how are the guys including yourself handling the criticism? Good luck this Saturday!
John Thompson : We're going to fight. We're going to be tough. We're going to withstand all of this. The only way out of this is to scratch and claw and dig our way out of this. That's what we will continue to do.

Pirate Kevin : Why do we play so bad each week and you say we are getting better each week yet no improvement in scoring or stopping the other team from scoring can be seen on the scoreboard???
John Thompson : I realize it is frustrating when the score does not indicate improvement. But if you study our team, you will see that we have gotten better. We are no way close to where anyone wants to be. But we are getting better. We will continue to get better. It is going to show up on the scoreboard.

Scott : What are our specific recruiting needs at this time, according to position?
John Thompson : At this time, we're looking for the best players at every and any position. We recruited this past weekend that we were off and really focused on junior college guys for some immediate help. I don't see a position right now that you could say that we're stockpiled.

Nick : I believe having the 5th toughest schedule in Division 1 has helped and hurt us. I mean we have grown every game but have nothing to show on the standings. How do you feel about this.
John Thompson : That's true. We don't have anything to show. But as I said earlier, we are getting better. A tough schedule will pay dividends down the road. It's very difficult right now. I just believe that we're on the verge of exploding and having some great things happen to our players that are really working hard.

Pirate Alum : Other than staying behind you and the team, is there anything the fans can do to help ya'll Saturday
John Thompson : I just appreciate you sticking with us, being positive and believing. The two things that will get us through all this is togetherness and belief in this program.

Kamae : coach...what kind of playing time are freshman getting? it seems as if they are not being equally rotated...
John Thompson : We're playing a lot of first-year guys right now. Some guys had a good game for us the other night. Erode Jean, Kyle Chase, Robert Tillman, Kasey Ross, and we may even see Eric Johnson this week. That's a lot of true freshman getting some time.

brbmba : Have you considered putting Fox or Rios as the punt returner? With the halo rule going away, the first step is more and more important and these two guys are a bit quicker than Copper. Although, you could argue that you need size to protect the ball as well. Anyway, we need some excitement on special teams!! I like Harris and Tillman as the KRs.
John Thompson : Harris and Tillman have done a good job back there. We have to improve our return game. We're disappointed in our punt return game. All of those guys have been working back there. Terrance has done the best job.

Scott P. : Coach, When facing an intense game, how do you keep the team from becoming too emotional? With the excitement surrounding the game how do you plan to keep the team focused, especially in the first quarter?
John Thompson : This is a big, emotional game. But you continue to do the things that you do every week to build up to where we explode at 3:30 p.m. We just have to do a great job in maintaining our focus on the task as hand, which right now, is having a great practice this afternoon.

ECUpirates.com : Although we've had hundreds of questions this morning, that's all the time we have. Thanks for joining us, Coach. Any closing comments?
John Thompson : I'd like to say how thrilling it was early this morning to see so many of our students camped out by Minges waiting on tickets. Our staff and myself went out and greeted them. It was a fun time. I appreciate all the support and the backing, and appreciate people hanging in there because it's gonna be worth it.

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