A New Beginning

The following article appeared in the June 25, 2006 edition of the Paducah Sun

By Jason Yates
Sports Writer
www.paducahsun.com

Spend five minutes with new Murray State football coach Matt Griffin in the soon-to-be refurbished Stewart Stadium locker room, and it is apparent his vision for the program goes well beyond what happens on the field. In intricate detail, he explains where the flat-screen televisions will go. He revels in the new oak lockers. He explains why players' name plates with hometowns and numbers included are important, and why he wants the facilities to approach the best in the country.

Griffin proudly explains how he beat out a couple Division I-A schools for a recruit because Murray had a superior engineering program. He shares his recruiting philosophies, which include going after several high school quarterbacks for other positions because they are usually smarter and more athletically gifted than other players, even if they aren't adequate passers at this level.

As an assistant at Maine, he explained to potential recruits that it wasn't quite the North Pole, but “Every day while walking to class, you can wave to Santa Claus.”

Griffin explains how a Yankee who went to college at New Hampshire ended up in the Ohio Valley Conference, and what his vision has in store for the Racers.

When you were an assistant at a successful program like Maine, what in the world would possess you to become the head coach at Tennessee-Martin in 2003?

A lot of people don't know this, but I was an assistant there before I went to Maine. I was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1997-98. I left because I didn't think we were going in the right direction at Martin, and the Maine job popped up. When I went there four years later, I remember driving in early Sunday morning from Nashville and seeing the new facility. I'd heard about the building and saw a couple pictures on the Internet that didn't do it justice, but when I saw it I knew we had a shot. And it was also a place that was hungry. It was an opportunity to be a head coach, and it was a 50-50 proposition. When you call those people who are close to you in the business, half those guys said “Hey, it is a dead dog, don't take it.” The other half said “You have the chance to be a head guy at 34 years old, go take it.”

Did you consider Martin a gamble?

Yes and no. I felt my reputation as a recruiter and reputation as a person would land me another job if it didn't work out for us there. I'll feed my family. I've got great confidence in myself, so I don't worry about that side of it. And, you'd have it on the resume that you were a head coach, which is a great experience anywhere. It was somewhat of a gamble, but if you don't spend money you don't make money. That's the way I looked at it.

Last season, you were 5-5 entering the last game of the season against a 2-8 Murray team. What was your mentality as you tried to finish above .500?

I was one very tight guy going into that game because of Murray State's reputation. I didn't care about 2-8 because they had players, Joe (Pannunzio) is a good football coach and they were Murray State. They gave a lot of games away with turnovers, wrong alignments and silly penalties, but they were still scary. It was a great night at that point, but at this night it's not. I've got to find a way to beat (Martin) now because they have nine starters back from the top defense in the conference.

Switching jobs is part of the business, but it is rare to do inside the conference. Has it been tough?

It has a little bit, but probably more so for my family when they still lived in Martin those first couple months. We found out who are friends were, we really did. People who know football know this is a better job and a step up. I don't care what anybody says.

I am thankful for (Martin), it gave me a great opportunity and it made our life as a family better. But I don't owe anyone an explanation for why I want to make life better for my wife and three kids. The fact I was able to do the same for all my assistants, their wives and their children ? again, a no-brainer.

The tradition doesn't run as deep at Martin as it does at Murray. Plus, the scholarship commitment wasn't the same. The expectations wasn't the same. The last conversation I had with (Martin's) athletic director before coming to my second interview here was “If you go to

Murray, you'll have to win all your games. If you stay at Martin, you can win half your games and be here for a long time.” To make that statement, he didn't know me. He didn't know what I wanted, what we wanted or what the kids wanted. You can't tell me there is a kid out there who puts in a 100 percent investment and wants to be .500.

Murray has produced coaches such as Mike Gottfried, Frank Beamer and Houston Nutt. What do you say to people who can't get past the stigma that Murray hired Martin's coach?

I've heard that statement once or twice, but I'm not going to change who I am for anybody. It's something that won't bother me. All I know is that every single day I go to work to get better than the day before. I ask that of my coaches and players alike. Ralph Friedgen and Ron Zook (former Murray assistants and now Division I head coaches) ? they have a plan every day. I have a plan every day. I'm going to do it the way I know, and in four years at the end of that contract it wasn't good enough, they will let me know. I'm sure there are naysayers. There were naysayers when I got the Martin job. But if you pay attention to those guys, they will bring you down the toilet fast.

When you arrived at Murray, what kind of pulse did the program have?

Certainly they were down because they were 2-9. Especially the first meeting or two, you can't put a lot into what a kid says. It's easy to be negative about anything. I take good notes, and I met all 65 or 66 kids. Kids who pointed fingers at previous coaches or players, I put a mark by them. It's amazing because of the 10 kids I put that mark next to, eight of them aren't with us anymore. The two who have made it have flipped. We set our standards, and we told every kid in the program they were going to live by those standards or run themselves off. We're up front. In that first meeting, I told them “Don't respect me for my position, I'll earn your respect. But that's a two-way street. You have to earn mine as well.”

Have you instilled a hunger already?

I think we have, but we are a day-to-day operation. We're not going in there with goals of this many wins because we are one day at a time. Preseason camp is a different animal, and after that we have a one-game season with Missouri. I gauge that question mostly on the seniors, and talking to those guys I feel good.

Without putting too much pressure on him, how big was it to sign a four-year quarterback like Marshall transfer Zach Barnard?

I'm a high school recruiter and want guys who will be here four years. I've known his dad Ron (an assistant coach at Paducah Tilghman) for eight years, and that's why I took him. I won't take a transfer from Marshall just because he is from Marshall. I could be just taking one of their problems, but this kid is an honor student, a great kid and extremely talented. People are excited, and I love that, but I keep reminding them he has never taken a snap in college football. We have to get the right pieces around him and let him grow with them. And Zach knows if he is not the best player come game one, he won't play.

Academics and character are important to you. At what point did you place a premium on those attributes?

It was an evolution because my first couple years I just wanted to see tape ? hey, he is a good player or no, he's not a very good player. My first year at Maine, we had six guys on that team who signed NFL contracts. Five signed free-agent deals and one was drafted in the seventh round, but our record was 4-7. If you had that many NFL guys at this level, you should be well into the playoffs. But those guys didn't care about me, about their teammates or their university. They took and took and never gave. This was 1999, and that was an enlightening year and an eye opener. That convinced to get more involved in all aspects of a student's life. The hardest part to evaluate is the character because you have such a short window to get to know them. I learned a heck of a lot in 1999.

Since you arrived at Martin, the Ohio Valley Conference as a league has struggled. Why do you think that is?

I don't think we are consistent with the scholarships. The Tennessee schools struggle to get to 63, and that hurts. The years I've been associated with this conference, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State have been the big dogs. And Murray has to be counted among those four as the schools who make the commitment financially to compete nationally. It's been disheartening to see our playoff teams get beat soundly. Each school has advantages and disadvantages. There's been a lot of talk about it, but personally I believe it is the scholarship count and finances.

Murray is unquestionably a basketball-first community and school. Why should people be as excited about football?

Because we represent this university the same way all sports do. Those statements don't bother me because I still get to do what I love to do ? coach. As long as I'm on a level playing field within my conference and have the resources everyone else has, I could coach at a badminton school. Murray State football will represent this university with great character and the spirit this school exudes athletically and academically.

Murray State University Athletics

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