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Speaker 1: We're inside the Indiana Union Construction Industry Radio studio. I'm

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Speaker 1: Matt Taylor. JJ Stankovitz is along our pleasure right now

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Speaker 1: to meet and chat with the new special Teams coordinator

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Speaker 1: for your Indianapolis Colts. That's Brian Mason, who is a Hoosier.

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Speaker 1: You're in Indianapolis, Zionsville native coach Mason. Welcome to the

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Speaker 1: fold and welcome back to town if you will. How's

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Speaker 1: it going. It's going well, really really excited for the opportunity.

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Speaker 1: Can't wait to My wife and I both can't wait

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Speaker 1: to move back to Indianapolis, be back home and have

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Speaker 1: the opportunity with the Indianapolis Colts. How surreal is this?

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Speaker 1: You know, you're coming from the college ranks, Like I said,

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Speaker 1: you're a Zionsville native putting on you know you got

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Speaker 1: that that Colts pull over on right now. How surreal

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Speaker 1: is it to be representing you know, your hometown NFL franchise.

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Speaker 1: Extremely surreal? You know, it's certainly a dream opportunity, not

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Speaker 1: one that never that I really ever thought maybe i'd

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Speaker 1: get that opportunity. But it's so thankful and blessed to

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Speaker 1: be able to be here. Fortunately, every day I come

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Speaker 1: into the office and have the horseshoe one. It's certainly

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Speaker 1: something that you know, I look at, you know, with

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Speaker 1: great pride and over the last week has been surreal

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Speaker 1: and awesome. So can you can you kind of take

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Speaker 1: us through the process that led you here, the interview

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Speaker 1: with Coach Stike in you know, with Chris Ballard, and

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Speaker 1: how you thought the interview went and how you found

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Speaker 1: out you got the job. Really fortunate, Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: to have been able to get connected with Coach Stiken

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Speaker 1: and Chris Ballard. I did not have any you know,

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Speaker 1: previous relationship, had not ever really met them before, but

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Speaker 1: you know, they had reached out about an opportunity to

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Speaker 1: come in for an interview. Thought to be a really

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Speaker 1: good experience, and thought it was a really good experience.

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Speaker 1: Was really impressed when I met Shane and Chris in person,

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Speaker 1: to the interview process, through finding out more about them afterwards. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, really just left thinking, hey, this is a

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Speaker 1: great experience. Really enjoyed the opportunity to be able to interview.

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Speaker 1: When I came into the team room and you know,

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Speaker 1: looked around like, man, this unbelieve I'm in the team

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Speaker 1: room for the Indianapolis Colts and have this opportunity, and

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Speaker 1: you know, just wanted to take advantage of it every

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Speaker 1: way I could and was really blessed to then be

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Speaker 1: able to offer the job. So you told a story

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Speaker 1: interpress conference that you were driving to your mother in

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Speaker 1: law seventieth birthday in Columbus, Indiana when you got the call. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: what was the rest of that car ridal? Well, for

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Speaker 1: the rest of that car right to actually have a

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Speaker 1: two and a half year old and five month old

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Speaker 1: that were sleeping the back seat, So we weren't exactly

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Speaker 1: screaming celebration yet. We were letting them sleep it out

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Speaker 1: until we got to Columbus. But then, you know, we

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Speaker 1: were really able to celebrate once we got in Columbus

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Speaker 1: and talk with family about it before we made a

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Speaker 1: final decision. But it was just an opportunity that was

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Speaker 1: too good to pass up and was really excited to

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Speaker 1: the you know, obviously be able to move down here

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Speaker 1: to Indianapolis. Yeah, you've coached at some major college programs,

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Speaker 1: by the way, Brian Mason is with a special teams

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Speaker 1: coordinator now for the Indianapolis Colts. You've been at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Purdue,

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Speaker 1: Ohio State. How have all of those experiences at major

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Speaker 1: college football programs helped you grow? And what's your confidence

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Speaker 1: level that you can make this jump to the NFL

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Speaker 1: and put the work that you've put into this point,

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Speaker 1: you know, for good use for the colts now, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think the biggest takeaway, you know, being able to

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Speaker 1: work with a lot of other really good coaches. I've

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Speaker 1: been a part of some really other good coach some

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Speaker 1: really talented and good coaching staffs, and being able to

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Speaker 1: take away a lot of really good information, learn and

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Speaker 1: grow from learning from some other really good experience coaches

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Speaker 1: along the way, had a lot of other really good programs,

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Speaker 1: and every single step of the way kind of been

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Speaker 1: able to enhance and adjust and adapt some of my

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Speaker 1: coaching philosophies, coaching techniques, coaching methods, schematic adjustments and things

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Speaker 1: we've been able to do from learning from some really

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Speaker 1: good coaching staffs, that really good programs that have kind

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Speaker 1: of prepared me along the way. And I know you've

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Speaker 1: only been on the job a handful of days, maybe

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Speaker 1: a handful of weeks here, but for you so far,

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Speaker 1: what are some of the subtle differences from the college

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Speaker 1: game to the NFL game as it pertains to special

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Speaker 1: teams and things that you've already have had to study

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Speaker 1: up on. There's a lot of similarities. Obviously, we're all

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Speaker 1: going to be all about, you know, fundamental development, and

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Speaker 1: the game of football is the same. Those fundamentals that

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Speaker 1: we're teaching and developing are the same. The biggest difference

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Speaker 1: is the rule structure, schematics of the punt game. You know,

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Speaker 1: that's the biggest area that I've been focusing on over

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Speaker 1: the last week and studying and learning and adjusting to

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Speaker 1: the punt scheme of the NFL, and that's the number

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Speaker 1: one adjustment that I think I have to make. Again.

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Speaker 1: That's Brian Mason, special teams coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts,

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Speaker 1: And as you take over this job with the Colts

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Speaker 1: on special teams, you're also working now with Matt Gay,

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Speaker 1: who the Cults signed in free agency, one of the

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Speaker 1: best kickers in the NFL over the last three years,

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Speaker 1: won a Super Bowl with the Rams. Really really consistent,

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Speaker 1: really really accurate. What's your excitement level to work with

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Speaker 1: him and spearhead one of those units in the third

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Speaker 1: phase of the game. We're really excited, you know, obviously

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Speaker 1: being able to get a dependable, proven kicker like Matt

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Speaker 1: Gay who's done it at the highest level, performed under

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Speaker 1: pressure the last two years, has been over ninety percent

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Speaker 1: making field goals, including in a run to the Super Bowl.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're just really excited to be able to

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Speaker 1: bring him into our specialist room and our special teams

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Speaker 1: units and be able to lean on him in some

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Speaker 1: really big moments. Yes, speaking of those big moments, he's

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Speaker 1: twelve or fourteen on field goals in the playoffs. He's

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Speaker 1: made all fifteen of his postseason pats, and he's twenty

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Speaker 1: to thirty two in the fourth quarter in his career,

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Speaker 1: never missed a pat in the fourth quarter. Just those

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Speaker 1: big moments. How do you see that skill and just

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Speaker 1: that that demeanor transferring now here in Indianapolis. Yeah, obviously

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Speaker 1: he's been able to already do it at the highest level.

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Speaker 1: It's going to directly transfer. Um. He already knows and

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Speaker 1: has been on obviously the roster here with the Colts,

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Speaker 1: So he's got really a lot of familiarity with our building,

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Speaker 1: with the facility, some of the players that are here,

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Speaker 1: obviously Chris Ballard. A lot of that stuff is going

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Speaker 1: to allow him to really make the transition smooth and

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Speaker 1: hit the ground running, and you know, being able to

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Speaker 1: do at the highest level for the Rams is certainly

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Speaker 1: going to translate over as he comes to the Colts,

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Speaker 1: and we're really excited for it as you kind of

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Speaker 1: assess the rest of this roster. The ability for him

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Speaker 1: to handle kickoffs as well, whether that's him, whether that's

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Speaker 1: Rigo Sanchez, you have a couple options there. Just how

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Speaker 1: important is that that he has that in his belt too.

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Speaker 1: It's awesome. You know, his kickoffs have been really really

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Speaker 1: good over the last three years. Having that versatility is

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Speaker 1: always important. As much versatility as we can have with

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Speaker 1: our kickers and punters, the better, so they can be

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Speaker 1: able to play off of each other and be able to,

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Speaker 1: you know, pick each other up in a lot of

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Speaker 1: different situations depending on injuries and all those kinds of things.

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Speaker 1: Something that stood out to me, Brian, when I was

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Speaker 1: looking at what you did at Notre Dame last year's

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Speaker 1: You've got a lot of starters and like NFL caliber

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Speaker 1: players to play for you on special teams. Isaiah Fosky

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Speaker 1: in particular, what did you learn at Notre Dame about

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Speaker 1: how to get guys to play, not just play on

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Speaker 1: special teams, but to play hard on special teams. That

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Speaker 1: was really something that I first was able to learn

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Speaker 1: and kind of gain when I was at Ohio State.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of really other top programs in college

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Speaker 1: football that do the same thing, between Alabama and Georgia

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Speaker 1: where they get kind of their best players bought in

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Speaker 1: to be able to provide value on special teams. And

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Speaker 1: it's really being able to get guys, hey, here's how

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Speaker 1: we're going to impact the game. We're gonna impact fuel position,

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Speaker 1: exposial plays. It's going to help us win games, help

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Speaker 1: guys get the buy in to win those games and

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Speaker 1: then be able to take it to another level. Here's

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Speaker 1: how we're going to develop you as a football player.

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Speaker 1: That's going to help take you to your dreams and

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Speaker 1: goals through your work and fundamental development in special teams.

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Speaker 1: That's going to help them take them as a football

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Speaker 1: player to the next level. And there's a lot different

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Speaker 1: ways we kind of motivate guys to keep them, you know,

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Speaker 1: having fun and engage in all those different ways, but

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Speaker 1: really showing them the impact that we can have on

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Speaker 1: their fundamental development and the impact we can have on

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Speaker 1: a game really goes a long way. Especially then you

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Speaker 1: know you get a little momentum, you get a little success,

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Speaker 1: guys buy in even more. Yeah, I mean the momentum

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Speaker 1: and success. It wasn't a little, it was a lot.

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Speaker 1: Five straight games of the block punt was at eight

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Speaker 1: block punts overall. I read that you change the name

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Speaker 1: of the punt return team to the punt block team

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Speaker 1: to kind of emphasize the importance of affecting punters. Not

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Speaker 1: just necessarily we need to create yardage on returns, we

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Speaker 1: can create yardage by affecting the punter. How did that

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Speaker 1: process go of just getting on that role and getting

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Speaker 1: guys to really affect the punter Last year at Notre Dame, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's really a philosophy that's kind of adapted over time.

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Speaker 1: Like four years ago, we were looking at kind of

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Speaker 1: the analytics of the punt return game. We are having

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Speaker 1: a lot more success when we are a little bit

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Speaker 1: more aggressive at affecting the punter. That had a higher

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Speaker 1: probability of the punter shanking, the punter having worse hang time,

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Speaker 1: which led us to get more of return yards. So

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Speaker 1: kind of over the last four years we've kind of

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Speaker 1: become a little bit more aggressive with our mentality on

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Speaker 1: pump block. That's not to say, hey, our goal is

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Speaker 1: to block every punt. Some of those big explosive opportunities

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Speaker 1: are coming. We're looking to finish and make the play,

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Speaker 1: but we're really just looking to change fuel position anyway

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Speaker 1: we can. Having an aggressive mentality on the pump block

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Speaker 1: team or the field goal block team to affect the

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Speaker 1: punter or a kicker, which a lot of other people

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Speaker 1: maybe aren't as aggressive, can provide us some advantages and

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Speaker 1: being able to flip the field and fuel position in

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest plays in the game, the punt

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Speaker 1: pump block battle, that really affects a lot of fuel position.

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Speaker 1: That's Brian Mason, special teams coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts.

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Speaker 1: How much do you know about the roster right now?

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Speaker 1: I know it's it's right around free agency as we're

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Speaker 1: sitting here talking now. We haven't had the draft yet.

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Speaker 1: But how much do you have to know the strengths

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Speaker 1: and the talent base of the roster as you get

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Speaker 1: closer to the offseason workout program to know what you

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Speaker 1: can do in the clay that you can mold with

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Speaker 1: the guys on special teams as you get closer to

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Speaker 1: the regular season. Absolutely, you know, knowing the roster and

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Speaker 1: you know the pieces that you have in the different

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Speaker 1: ways you can use them on the depth chart to

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Speaker 1: be successful is really key to being successful on special teams.

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Speaker 1: So over the last week, you know, I've really been

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Speaker 1: doing a deep dive, you know, kind of written up

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Speaker 1: reports on every single player that we have had on

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Speaker 1: the roster last year, kind of watched different cutups of

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Speaker 1: what every single guy did on each different phase. The

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Speaker 1: kind of be able to learn what their skill set is,

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Speaker 1: what they've done in the past, you know, finding ways

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Speaker 1: that we can improve or how to use them moving

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Speaker 1: forward in the future. Certainly, by no means do I

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Speaker 1: have that mastered in the last week, and they'll continue

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Speaker 1: into you know, kind of understand who the guys we

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Speaker 1: have and the ways they've been using the past is

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Speaker 1: very key. And we were just talking off the air

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Speaker 1: here before we started the interview. You and I actually

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Speaker 1: played against one another in high school. Your Zionsville guy.

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Speaker 1: I think we met in the regionals in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and three Ron Colley versus Zionsville. You are running back

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Speaker 1: on that team, did you have aspirations back then, like

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Speaker 1: did you know back then you are a good player.

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Speaker 1: You went on to play at Dennison, another Division three school,

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Speaker 1: But did you know back then you wanted to get

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Speaker 1: into coaching. I don't know that I knew I wanted

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Speaker 1: to get into coaching. You know, I knew I really

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Speaker 1: wanted to maybe have a career in sports. I really

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Speaker 1: loved football. I did really love coaching and had, you know,

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Speaker 1: a really big impact on my life was Larry McCarter,

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Speaker 1: who was the head coach at Hinesville and kind of

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Speaker 1: pushed me into, hey, I'm going to play Division three football.

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Speaker 1: I had a lot of injury issues, so I actually

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Speaker 1: tore my ACL twice in high school and then twice

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Speaker 1: in college, which then led me to becoming a student coach,

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Speaker 1: and that kind that experience really pushed me into, hey,

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Speaker 1: I love coaching. I'm going to get into this more

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Speaker 1: full time. When you're you're kind of going through you're

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Speaker 1: grinding as a D line coach at Dennison, you're graduate

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Speaker 1: assistant at you know, Kent State, Perdue, Ohio State, you know,

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Speaker 1: you're kind of working your way up. I know you

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Speaker 1: got asked me press conference, like do you ever have

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Speaker 1: envisioned this opportunity in the NFL. But did you just

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Speaker 1: feel like you're making progress as a coach, You're growing

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Speaker 1: as a coach, And when did it sort of become real,

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Speaker 1: like this is my career. This is what I want

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Speaker 1: to do the rest of my career. I think I

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Speaker 1: knew right away, like, hey, I'm gonna I really want

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Speaker 1: to grind this out. This is what I want to

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Speaker 1: do the rest of my life. You know what I love,

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Speaker 1: you know, being able to work with at the time,

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Speaker 1: student athletes. I love being able to work with football

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Speaker 1: players that developed them off the field, going out to practice.

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Speaker 1: You know, the excitement of that, the different schedule of that,

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Speaker 1: and the flow of that. You know, I didn't necessarily

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Speaker 1: ever want to have like an office or desk job.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, right away working at Bluffton University,

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Speaker 1: I was like, this is what I want to do

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Speaker 1: the rest of my life. Did I know exactly the

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Speaker 1: trajectory or the ladder I was going to climb in

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Speaker 1: order to do that? No, but certainly very fortunate along

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Speaker 1: the way. You're like the poster child of of rehab

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Speaker 1: and adversity. Did you tear your acl all four times

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Speaker 1: were you on the football field. Yeah, so I've tore

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Speaker 1: me a CEO five times. I don't have so. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: four times on the football field, twice in high school,

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Speaker 1: twice in college after bluffed. And it's not really on

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Speaker 1: my resume because I was there, so shut. But I

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Speaker 1: was at Butler University for a semester with coach Voris

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Speaker 1: in the spring of twenty and twelve. And I shouldn't

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Speaker 1: have been playing pickup basketball. But you have noon hoops

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Speaker 1: in Hinkle Field House while a defensive the coach at

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Speaker 1: Butler have been there, So how are you going to say? No? So, Actually,

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Speaker 1: the fifth time I tore maco was as an assistant

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Speaker 1: coach at Butler and hingelefield House. Oh my gosh, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: not meant to be. So you had five different surgeries, then,

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Speaker 1: I've had five different surgeries, but I did not get

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Speaker 1: my ACO repaired the last time. I just said I

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Speaker 1: don't need one of ye done with it? Right? Can tell?

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Speaker 1: The couldn't tell the difference the way you're celebrating with

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Speaker 1: your guys on the sideline at Notre Dame. You're working

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Speaker 1: around good Yeah, you know it. Yeah, I've been fortunate. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: certainly you know, get passionate on game day, certainly get competitive.

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Speaker 1: Um sometimes maybe a little bit too much so, but

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Speaker 1: it's been fun. Did you have a Reggie Wayne jersey

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Speaker 1: in your closet growing up? Oh? I did not have

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Speaker 1: a Reggie Wayne jersey in my class. I had Marvin

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Speaker 1: Harrison jersey and a Peyton Manning jersey. I have to

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Speaker 1: apologize to Reggie for here you go. How many how

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Speaker 1: many games of the RCA Dome did you get two

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Speaker 1: back in the day. I don't know the exact number,

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Speaker 1: but I did get to a couple amounts. It was

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Speaker 1: it was one of those things where they'd have youth

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Speaker 1: football games, you know, every now and then in the

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Speaker 1: RCA Dome. And I've got some some good pictures playing

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Speaker 1: youth football games and the RCA Doome every now and

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Speaker 1: then two, which was awesome. Yeah, so no doubt. Well

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Speaker 1: coach again, it's fantastic to meet you. Like again, we

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Speaker 1: crossed paths. I was at two thousand and eight grad

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Speaker 1: at Franklin. You were at Bluffed and same conference. Great

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Speaker 1: to meet you, Great to talk to you, and best

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Speaker 1: of luck here on your early journey in the NFL.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate you guys.