Mike O'Cain Excited About Carolina Football
January 16, 2000 | Football
Jan. 16, 2000
& Carl Torbush |
Then, one foot in one game in Charlotte changed everything, and now Mike O'Cain is serving as Coach Torbush's offensive coordinator.
Coach O'Cain has rolled with the punches and is now ready to revitalize the Heels' dormant offensive attack.
Mike O'Cain discusses his plans for the upcoming season, his family, and how he stays positive and happy in the high-stakes world of college football.
y: Joe Bray
TarHeelBlue.com
TarHeelBlue: Are you starting to get comfortable being surrounded by all this Carolina blue?
Mike O'Cain: "(Laughing) You know, the transition has been very, very smooth. I was wearing red for so long, but I've known the staff and the people here for a long time. I've known Dickie (Baddour) for six or seven years, getting to know him at different ACC meetings. Carl and I have been friends for many, many years. I've known Ken Browning very well. I've known Coach Rucker and Coach Moody, so the transition has been very easy and very smooth because of the people who are in place here.
"Yes, getting used to the light blue is taking some time, but because of the people the transition has been very easy and very smooth."
TarHeelBlue: If you had the athletes to run it, what would be your ideal offensive style?
Mike O'Cain: "Much like we've done at N.C. State, we want to spread people out and attack people with every phase of the game that you possibly can. A lot of people think you attack the defense with just the running game or just the passing game, well, we want to attack people with formations as well. Spread people out, give them different formations, different things to adjust to. You can gain advantages by different formations and personnel groupings. That's where we want to start.
"Then we look at what we want to do in the running game. I believe that you have to be diverse in the running game, just as you do in your whole offense. We want to have a power phase of the running game where we're going to line up and knock people off the football, where we give it to our tailback or our fullback and say, 'stop us'.
"We want to have an option phase of our offense where people have to defend all three phases of the option. If any of those phases aren't defended, then you have a big play. It takes a lot of time on the defensive side to prepare for a team that runs the option. We may run it one time a game, we may run it fifteen times a game, we may not run it at all, but that defense doesn't know that in preparation, and they're taking time over the week to prepare for that option.
"We want to have a misdirection phase of our running game, where you start a play in one direction, then go back the other way. We'll do that with options, we'll do that with counter-traps and different things.
"In the passing game we want to have a drop-back phase where we're going to spread the field. We're going to get five receivers out if the defense allows us to. We are a protection-first passing game, we believe in blocking people and not letting them get through to your quarterback. But we do want to spread people out, get five receivers out, utilize all of the talent that we have here.
"From there we'll have a play-action series which will probably be the predominant series of our passing game. If we're able to run the football like I hope we will, then you play-action pass off those things. Play-action slows the pass rush down, and they complement each other. Many people think you run the ball to throw the football. Well, you can throw the ball to run the football. That will be a phase.
"Then we'll have the misdirection phase of our passing game, which will be bootlegs where you start the play one way, then the quarterback will fake and he'll roll out or bootleg back away from that.
"Then we have the trick play part of it where you'll run the reverses and other trick plays which aren't a major part of the offense, but are a very valuable part of the offense.
"I believe the talent is here to do all of that, and that's the thing that excites me about being here."
TarHeelBlue: That was to be my next question, do we have the talent here to run the kind of offense you prefer?
Mike O'Cain: "I don't think there's any doubt. Obviously, as we get into spring practice and we begin to look at personnel, there's certain things we may not be able to do, and I can't answer that question yet. But looking at Ronald Curry, Antwon Black, Luke Huard, our quarterbacks, I believe we have the talent to do that. We have very fine running backs, our receiver corps is very good. I believe potentially we have as fine a tight end as there is in the country with Alge Crumpler, and Dauntae' Finger is an excellent tight end. I believe we have talent in the offensive line.
"So yes, I believe we have the talent to do all that. How much we do of any one phase is yet to be seen. I believe to be successful offensively here or anywhere else, you have to be diverse offensively, you have to do a lot of different things, and you have to be balanced between the run and the pass. You don't ever want anybody to hone in on what you're doing.
"At this point in time we're not a Nebraska, where you can just line up and knock people off the ball play after play after play. Also, I think you're finding where even Nebraska can't do that anymore. They're having to spread people out and use the passing game more. The key to our offense is to be diverse and to be balanced."
TarHeelBlue: Have you had the chance to sit down and talk with Ronald Curry?
Mike O'Cain: "Yes we've had two really good conversations. This past Friday we visited for a good while when we were both in the weight room, then he came in yesterday and we had a very, very good conversation. Not so much about football, but I want to get to know him and Ronald get to know me, and that's the way it is with all the players on our offense.
"I think coaching is more than just player-coach, there's got to be a relationship built between the coach and the player. It's got to be built on trust, and that's what Ronald and I started yesterday. I visited with Antwon last Friday, and Luke's coming in today.
"But Ronald and I had a chance to visit and talk about his family and my background, his background. We did talk a little bit about football, more from my end on what we're going to do offensively, and I saw a glitter in his eye, an excitement there that he's excited about coming back.
"I'm just getting to know Ronald, but I keep hearing people say that Ronald Curry wants to be very good. If he wants to be very good, then he will be very good. That's my job, and our offensive staff's job, to put all our players, not just our quarterbacks, in a position to be successful and use their talents to the utmost."
TarHeelBlue: How is he healing?
Mike O'Cain: "He's coming along very well. He's walking around, not normally but moving very, very well. Hopefully, if things progress like we hope, he would be able to do some parts of our offense in spring practice.
"He wouldn't be able to go out and go full speed and run and cut, but maybe in a pass-skills situation he could drop back just in a straight line, go through his reads and throw the football to the proper receiver. If we can get that much out of him this spring we'll be very fortunate.
"That may be pie-in-the-sky optimism, but he's coming along very well. He feels very good, and that's what the doctors have said."
TarHeelBlue: Would you comment on Antwon Black?
Mike O'Cain: "He's also very excited. I had a great visit with him on Friday. He's a young man who we recruited as a quarterback at N.C. State. Now, fortunately we didn't get him, back then it was unfortunate that we didn't get him.
"Antwon has a lot of ability, he's a very gifted young man athletically. He's got a very strong arm, so we're just going to see. Unfortunately for him, he was put in for about a game and a half and then got mono and was unable to play. However, given the limited time he had to prepare, I was very impressed with some of the things I saw. I feel very good about him."
TarHeelBlue: Will Domonique Williams move back to fullback or tailback?
Mike O'Cain: "We haven't decided that at this point in time. That's something we'll discuss once we get off the road recruiting, and maybe even before that.
"We really haven't had a chance to sit down as an offensive staff and discuss personnel. We don't have our offensive coach that we're waiting to fill, depending on what Carl wants to do. Once we get everyone in place we'll sit down and discuss personnel."
TarHeelBlue: From what you've already said it's obvious Alge will play a prominent role in your offense.
Mike O'Cain: "The offenses I've run over the years have always needed, and been helped by, having a dominating type of tight end. Alge and Dauntae' both fit that mold. They both catch the ball well, and they both have good running skills after they catch the ball. They're big targets, and we want to utilize the tight end quite a bit in what we do."
TarHeelBlue: What about the talent we have at tailback?
Mike O'Cain: "Again, I don't know an awful lot about it. I had a chance to see Daniel Davis up close and in person on Nov. 11, and I was very impressed with him.
"We recruited Willie Parker last year out of Clinton. I was very impressed with him as a high school senior. In talking with the other coaches here they feel he can be a very good back.
"Then after that I really don't know. I've seen Rufus Brown a little bit, but don't really know his ability level at this point in time.
"Dominique, Anthony Saunders, it's just going to depend. We've got to come up with a fullback somewhere."
TarHeelBlue: Are you able at this point to assess the overall speed of the offense?
Mike O'Cain: "No, not at all. I won't really be able to do that until spring practice."
TarHeelBlue: Is it also too early to anticipate any position changes?
Mike O'Cain: "Yes. Again, I don't know enough about our personnel at this moment.
"The only personnel changes I can foresee right now, and I don't know if you'd call these personnel changes, is utilizing our backfield talent in the best manner we can, fullback and tailback-wise.
"I believe our wide receiver position is pretty much set, not one, two, three and four in number of ranking, but in the group of young men we have there."
TarHeelBlue: Will having Coach (Robbie) Caldwell here help make the transition for you easier?
Mike O'Cain: "Quite a bit. I think the key is my expertise has been with quarterbacks, receivers and running backs, and Robbie's has been with the offensive line. I know offensive line schemes, but all the little techniques and nuances that go with that position I don't know quite as well.
"The communication with your offensive line coach is tremendously important, and obviously our communication will be very good."
TarHeelBlue: What do you think of the facilities here?
Mike O'Cain: "(Laughing) At my press conference here it was my first opportunity to tour the facility and I was very, very impressed. I'd heard an awful lot about it, and knew it was a very fine facility.
"It just shows the commitment that has been made here to football and to athletics in general to be very good. In recruiting it's important for these young men to come in and see that commitment. You can talk about commitment all you want, but until they see that commitment it's hard to sell them.
"And then also it's great for the young men who are already here. There's one thing I've been very impressed with. If it was involved with a player, it was done as well as it possibly could be. The locker room, the lounge, the training room, the weight room, the dining facility, the things the players have more immediate contact with and use the most, it is very first class.
"And that's what athletics is all about, the players are the program. Without these players, you don't have coaches."
TarHeelBlue: Do you have an "open door" policy with your players?
Mike O'Cain: "Very much so. That door will only be closed if I'm in here with another player or in a private conversation. I did that as the head coach at N.C. State.
"Again, I believe that relationships are most important. We can design all the schemes you can imagine offensively and defensively, but if the coaches and players don't believe in one another then those schemes won't amount to anything."
TarHeelBlue: How is your family adapting to your new job and routine?
Mike O'Cain: "They're very excited. Obviously they're excited because we didn't have to move. We've been in Raleigh for 14 years. Jenny, our oldest daughter, was six months old when we moved to Raleigh. Lizzi was born in Raleigh. That's the only place they've ever known.
"We've lived in the same home for 14 years. So being able to stay there has been very, very good for us. And with the opportunity that Carl gave me, I'm very fortunate that we didn't have to move.
"They're going through an adjustment. Being in Raleigh for 14 years all they've known is N.C. State and red. But at the same time they understand how loyalties change when Daddy's job changes.
"It was very difficult the other night at the basketball game for our daughters because they're very good friends with Coach Sendek and his daughters and wife. I asked Lizzi who she pulled for. She said 'I just sat there.' There has been adjustment, but it just takes time."
TarHeelBlue: How's the commute?
Mike O'Cain: "Not bad at all. It's about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the traffic. It's 25 miles from my back door to the parking lot here. In the afternoon it gives me a chance to clear my head on the way home.
"It's a very small sacrifice to be able to stay in the same home and the girls to be able to stay in the schools they've been going to.
"We may consider moving a little closer in a couple of years when they're both in the same school, but right now we're staying where we are."
TarHeelBlue: People have to stay "current" in their profession. How does a football coach stay on top of what is going on in his profession?
Mike O'Cain: "I think visiting with different staffs at different times of the year is very important for us. And we also stay current by during the season looking at other people and seeing what they're doing offensively and defensively. Even though you're preparing for a certain team, you're looking at what those other teams are doing against that particular team so you stay current there.
"Just being around young people helps you keep current with life just in general. Young people mostly love to enjoy life so they kind of keep you from getting stale and in the doldrums."
TarHeelBlue: It had to be an awfully trying time for you at the end of last year. Did your faith help you get through it?
Mike O'Cain: "Oh tremendously. Faith is very important whether you're winning or losing, but particularly when you face adversity. When I first became a head coach in 1993 I learned you don't control so many things that affect your livelihood. You don't control injuries, the weather, the officials' calls. But if you start to believe you can control those things it'll eat you up.
"So you have to put your life in the hands of the good Lord above. You know that in the whole scheme of things He's going to take care of you. What may look like adversity today may be a blessing tomorrow. And that's how I look at this.
"Nov. 24 may have been the best thing that ever happened to me. I try to go through life that way. I believe things happen for a purpose and a positive reason. I think if you can go through life that way then you have a much better chance for being successful and happy. And I think that by understanding that you're not in control helps you too.
"Another thing that helped in this thing was that I didn't take it personally. I understand that it is a business now. You try to keep that part away from the player, but the monies that are being generated by college athletics now is tremendous.
"You understand that you're a part of that business. N.C. State made a business decision. They made a decision that it would be best for N.C. State not to have Mike O'Cain there. I didn't take it as a slap against me, but just as a decision they made.
"A statement I like to use is Gen. Patton's 'Now it's time to go forward.' One of Patton's statements was we're always going forward, and that's what I want to do with my life.
"It's the same thing with this football program at Carolina. There's been some adversity, now it's time to get that behind you. Learn from it, and then go forward. That's what the O'Cain family, the Caldwell family and North Carolina football will do."
TarHeelBlue: A lot of N.C. State fans are critical of you, wondering how you could move to your arch-rival. Would you like to respond to that criticism?
Mike O'Cain: "I would like to respond to that. People have to understand that this is a profession. It's an occupation for me, it's a livelihood. It's no different than someone leaving Southern Bell and going to MCI.
"Obviously when you're at that particular institution your loyalties and all of your energies are generated to helping that program and that university be as good as it can be. When that is no longer a part of your life, then you go to the next step in your life. You move forward, you go to the next program.
"When I was at N.C. State, North Carolina was a rival. I didn't hate North Carolina. I didn't hate the people here at North Carolina. One of the criticisms of me was that I didn't do that. But if I've got to coach and develop and generate a motivation of hate, then I'm getting out of this business. That's not what this business is all about.
"Yes, rivalries are great, but they're not based on hatred. They're just good, fun rivalries.
"So, I hope people will understand that it is a profession. And at the same time, I didn't have many choices. N.C. State made a decision to release me, I didn't make that decision on my own. If things had been the way they were, I'd still be at N.C. State. If they had lived up to their contract and kept me on, I'd still be right there, but they made the decision to get rid of Mike O'Cain, Mike O'Cain didn't make a decision to leave N.C. State. When that happens you have to go with the opportunity that presents itself, and North Carolina was a great opportunity for me and my family.
"Football is our livelihood, but faith, family and friends is what it's all about. If you've got those three things, then football's ok, but if you've got football and you don't have those other three things, you're miserable."
TarHeelBlue: A few months ago, in your wildest dreams, could you have imagined all this?
Mike O'Cain: "No way. A few months ago we were rolling along. We weren't great, but we were playing pretty well. It's just funny how things change so quickly. But no, I would never have imagined coaching at North Carolina. That's why I say you just leave it to the good Lord. You look to Him for guidance, and he always puts you in the right place."
TarHeelBlue: Do you have anything that you would like to say to Tar Heel fans?
Mike O'Cain: "I'm just tickled to death to be here. I'm tremendously excited. The opportunities here to me are infinite. We've got some work to do. We've got some things we have to build on from an offensive standpoint here. I think we have to improve the confidence level of our players.
"The opportunity and potential here really is unlimited. I'm excited about not only working with Carl and his staff here, but just getting to be a part of the University of North Carolina.
"It's a great opportunity for me and my family, and I couldn't be happier."
