Q+A With Duke Football: Coach Elko

DURHAM - The Voice of the Blue Devils, David Shumate, sat down with Duke head coach Mike Elko for a question and answer session that first appeared in GoDuke the magazine.

DS: It's been about a month since you took over. I would imagine in some respects it feels like it's flown by and in others it feels like a lifetime. How have things gone as you start to settle in here?
ME: Yeah — it's gone great. I think we've been able to get the staff together, so we're excited about that. We have a direction in terms of where we want to go in recruiting and we're looking forward to hitting the road. Yeah, there's definitely been times where it's felt like it's flown by and feels like it's been three years already.

DS: You said that once you got through the recruiting window and the early signing period that building your staff was going to be your first priority. It feels like it's really starting to come together now. From a broad view, you said pretty explicitly that it wasn't about getting together your friends and people you've known over the years, you wanted the best available. How did that inform these searches and how has that turned out as you're starting to get the pieces together now?
ME: I think we've done a really good job of going out there and getting a really good blend. There are some guys that have some familiarity with me that I'm comfortable with, and I think we were also able to go out and get guys who have done really good jobs coaching their positions at this level at other universities across the country. So, I think we've blended a really good group together and I'm excited to give them a vision and watch this thing work.

DS: I don't want to run down the whole list, but I did want to get your perspective on the two coordinators. Let's start with Kevin Johns, coming over from Memphis and having so much experience there. The passing numbers are gaudy, the scoring averages are really good, but what stood out to you as you decided to bring him in as offensive coordinator?
ME: Kevin just had such a diverse background. He's been an offensive coordinator at a lot of different institutions, done it really well at a lot of different places and a lot of different regions. It almost reminded me a little bit of my background. He's just been a guy that's been able to figure out how to move the football and score points in a lot of different situations. Then we had a lot of different conversations, and I just felt a connection in terms of vision, philosophy and where we wanted to go.

DS: When you take a look at what he's done, I mentioned the passing numbers and the scoring. There will be a number of different pieces here and working with a different group of players, and obviously this applies to both sides of the ball. How do you formulate the approach? I know you said your focus would be on your personnel and adapting the scheme to them. Is there a philosophy in terms of game strategy that has developed or is that something that's still coming together?
ME: I think that will be the next step. Now that we've got the staff here in place, I think it's really going to turn into roster evaluation — who do we have, what do we have, who are our playmakers — how do we need to feature them and what are we going to build our philosophy around. I think it's hard to talk about that until you really become familiar with the players and see what they're capable of and that will be an ongoing process through spring ball and then heading into the summer and really try formulating an identity of what we want to be this fall.

DS: Then on the defensive side of things, when you look at Robb Smith and think particularly about that third-down defense they had this past season at Rutgers, what were some of the things that stood out about him that made him the right fit to lead your defense?
ME: So, Robb's a guy that's been a defensive coordinator at a lot of different places. He's got a tremendous background and a recipe of success. He's done it well at a lot of different places and then obviously there's a comfort with Robb — he spent a year with us at Texas A&M and I think just terminology-wise and in terms of how we want to run the defense, I think he and I are very much in line when it comes to what we want this thing to look like.

DS: When you look at the cross-section, everyone has a good bit of experience that you've already referenced, and a good chunk of that at the Power 5 level. But you also have a noticeable blend of some younger guys and some older guys. Was that by design or was that just how it worked out as you selected the best candidates?
ME: No, I think that was by design. You're always trying to build diversity, and diversity comes in so many different ways. It comes in age, it comes in demographic, it comes in where people are from and what backgrounds they have. I think we were trying to make sure that we had a group that could relate in a lot of different ways to a lot of different groups, and I think we were able to do that as it all came together.

DS: Just building on that, the experience factor — it seems like it was a point of emphasis that guys had experience at the highest Division I levels of football to be a part of this staff.
ME: I think anytime you're building a staff, you want to be able to take chance out of it. So, if you're able to see a guy have a lot of success doing what we're asking them to do at another institution that's very similar it makes it easy, right? It just makes the transition easy and makes you feel really comfortable and confident with what he can do. I don't know if we went in thinking that was necessarily a prerequisite, but certainly that's where you want to start from and as we shot high, we were able to get a lot of our first choices.

DS: I'm as guilty as anyone, when we think about staff we seem to automatically go to coaches. I was struck, though, by the fact that some of your first hires were in the recruiting office and the weight room. You're obviously building a program, not just a football coaching staff. How important are all of those other pieces of the program to what you guys are ultimately trying to do?
ME: I mean they're huge. I want to again thank Nina (King) and President Price for their commitment to be able to go out and do those things. The weight room was the most important thing with how quick this semester came. Our kids are down there training now, so we wanted to make sure we got that piece in place. That's a five-man staff and we were really happy with what we were able to do and obviously David Feeley leading that group. We're really excited about that. Then the next thing became recruiting, and we wanted to make sure we had those pieces in place and that department up and running. That's the lifeblood of our program. I still think there's some room to grow there. We've got some scouting positions to add and some creative positions to add to really get this to where recruiting is something that we're doing in a department by itself all day, every day. That's obviously in addition to what we're adding to it as a coaching staff.

DS: You mentioned the recruiting that will taking place over the next few weeks and you're also going to start getting into spring ball before too long. Take us through the next few months in regards to the priorities for the current team and of course building for the future.
ME: We're going to have a stretch here where it's really important to get out on the road. We want to make sure we're shooting for those in the class of 2023, and those at the top of that class, and I think we want to get our hat in the ring with some players that we think fit what Duke stands for and we think Duke will appeal to. We'll go up and down the East Coast and out into the Midwest and make sure Duke is very visible. Then as you get into February you sit down and it really becomes about our players — development, getting to know them, starting to talk scheme, establishing our culture. I think that's one of the things that we've maybe gotten a little bit behind on just because everything gets running so quick, so we want to make sure we give a good bit of time and energy to our current roster and building those identities and then you'll be into spring ball and out on the field practicing.

DS: It's crazy how quick it comes. As we start to wrap this up, part of this is obviously the football side of things and you've certainly sunk your teeth into that. But I've seen you over at Cameron a couple of times and a part of this is Duke welcoming you. What has it been like to be on campus and get to know this place? What has the Duke experience been like for you so far?
ME: It's been great. This community has been so welcoming. Obviously, this university and those that are a part of it have been awesome to me and my family. I just want to make sure that I'm out and visible. I don't want to live in a box, I want to make sure that the head football coach at Duke is a part of this community and a part of the Bull City and this university. Getting out and talking to students and just running into people on campus and around town, all of those things are just really important as we build this program.

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Q+A With Duke Football: Coach Elko

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