WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour Episode 79: Reset Button 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.640 This week on the Happy half Hour, he said the 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.360 words man, he said, the magic words keep pounding means 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:09.920 something to Steve Wilts because he grew up around it, 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:12.480 and he talked about I was here when things were 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.680 good and it was almost like being at a tent revival. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.079 You know. The music's coming up behind him while he's 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:26.560 saying this text. It's time for the Happy Half Hour 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.680 with your friends Kristen Balboni, Augusta Stone and Darren Gannon. 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:35.199 That's right, it's that time of the week. It's the 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.440 Happy half Hour podcast with your friends Darren, Augusta and 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:42.960 Kristen and guys. You know, there's nothing much to talk 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:47.680 about this week, right, It's a shame. Yeah, I don't 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:50.720 have much on the rundown. Yeah, here on Thursday morning. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.040 This is like the first time I've taken a deep 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:57.319 breath and stopped for more than thirty seconds at a time. 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:59.560 Did you sleep at your desk at any point this week? 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.240 I think I crawled under it, you know, So it's uh, yeah, 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.160 there's there's some stuff going on. It's been a week 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.080 here at Bank of America Stadium. Well, let's I think 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:11.480 the best way to do that. I mean, if you 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.400 were listening to this podcast, there is no doubt that 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.160 you know the Panthers have parted ways with former head 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.800 coach Matt Rule. Steve Wilks is now the interim head coach. 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.479 But daring to your point about it being an interesting week, 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:25.760 I thought, what would be really great is to go 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.399 through it almost day by day and what has happened 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.760 and get you guys insight, my insight, and take fans 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:33.720 through a little bit of the behind the scenes what 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:37.120 we've learned about everything. So after um, you know, the 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:41.759 Panthers lose on Sunday at home. On Monday, we get 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.200 the news early in the day that David Tepper has 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.840 made the decision to let go of Matt Rule. And 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.240 you know what I mean, I think everybody wants it 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.800 to be one big, acute thing, and there are people 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.280 who want to know, oh, what was the moment when 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.000 you decided? It was never about one moment. Now they're 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.520 reporters who you know, did I don't know that their 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:08.000 reporters um if there are if if you're looking for 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:10.239 a reason, and you could say, well, there was a 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.120 sea of red jerseys that are high contrast and really 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.880 visible in the stands for a twenty two point loss, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.120 which is the worst loss of the season. I guess 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:20.640 you could say that, but at a certain point, and 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.359 I mentioned this the other day in the mail bag, 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.760 at a certain point, eleven and twenty seven carries its 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.360 own weight, and you don't, I don't know that you 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.239 need a lot more reason other than eleven and twenty seven. 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.840 And you know, I will say not in Matt rules defense. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.880 He didn't need me to defend him. But um, a 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.640 lot of the things Matt talked about wanting to try 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:43.600 to do the specific things, the specific fixes for this 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.920 team that he talked about were absolutely correct. Uh. He 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:52.400 also was not um part of acquiring great quarterback solutions 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.480 over three years, and that's part of the problem ongoing. 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.720 And if when you add all that stuff up together, 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.040 I mean, be in seven and eleven and twenty seven 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.240 and it's the you know, I was around here for 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:07.800 George Seyffert for the one in fifteen year when the 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.440 owner said it sucked the energy out of the organization. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.880 And when you look at it, I mean George's career 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.560 record winning persentage still higher than Matt. So I mean 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:20.480 it was tough and and it was a bad situation, 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.080 and it wasn't entirely one person's fault, and getting rid 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.120 of one person is not going to fix it. But 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.560 it wasn't working well to your point, That's exactly what 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:29.480 David Tepper told us. He told us, you know, it's 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.200 about getting over the hump, and that's just not where 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:34.760 we were. And at this point, it's you know, what 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.680 can push to that to that point And it's like 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.320 Darren said, you know, not being able to find a quarterback, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.680 you know, striking out three times, just not being able 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.520 to find that permanent, good, solid option. And it's not 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.000 from a lack of trying either, I don't think. I mean, 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:50.680 I agree, you know, and so it's one of those 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.920 things where it had gotten to the point where I 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.200 mean he had been he had been patient, and it 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.280 was you know, I just we all look for like 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:00.040 like Darren said, you know, was it the sea of it? 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.400 Was it all of these things? It wasn't. It was 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.520 simply at that point, you know, we're not getting over 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.720 the hump, and you know we're ready to try something new. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.000 And I think Augusta, you make a great point. Um, 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.960 no one in this building was not trying to win games, 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.320 but at the end of the day, as you both said, 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.960 eleven and twenty seven, one and four to start this season, um, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.480 they felt like it was time for a change. And Darren, 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:27.320 you have, as you said, you have been around this 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.880 organization through multiple coaching changes before we look ahead, and 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.000 we're going to do a lot of that in this podcast. 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:36.200 What does it What does it mean for a team, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.760 for a coaching staff, for an organization when there is 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.520 an early coaching change in the season, right, Well, the 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.119 Panthers have never done it this early. You know, Perry 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.560 Fuel finished up after Ron Rivera, but that was a 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.359 four game, you know, slog to the finish. There's a 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.080 lot of season left now, and it creates an unusual 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.640 dynamic because even though Matt's gone, there are a lot 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.359 of people who Matt brought year who are still working. 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:06.440 And it's I I say this genuinely, it's impressive to 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:10.159 me to see the people that Matt brought here showing 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.560 up doing their jobs, doing them with a smile on 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:14.960 their face. I mean, you see people who were his 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.360 assistants in other places and they've got same energy today 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.240 because that's the job. I mean, these are these are 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.760 people of character who show up when you know they 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.400 are kind of personally hurting. And I've talked to some 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.719 of these people in the halls, and you know, it's 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.279 emotional for them because they came here with him for 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:36.240 a reason, and it's an awkward situation in some ways 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:40.080 because they don't know what's next for them, and they 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.400 show up and they do the job. And I respect that, 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.600 and I've told a couple of them face to face. 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:46.960 I mean, it's just when you see that, you can't 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.599 help but appreciate the effort that goes into you know, 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.680 everybody sees football team, fifty three dudes on the field 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.520 on Sunday, a big coaching staff, whatever, but there's a 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.279 small army of people it takes to put this product 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.680 out on a week to week basis. And you know, 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.000 it sounds kind of cold and it sounds maybe callous, 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.120 but the show must go on and these people are 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.240 continuing to put on the show. And I'm glad that 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:10.919 you brought that up, because that is something that I 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:15.000 have the utmost respect for. Is UM. There is a 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.719 good contingent of people, as Darren said, who were came 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:23.400 here from Baylor Temple. UM bought houses, you know, UM 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:28.240 have families, and regardless of of anything, whether it was 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:32.839 the right decision, you never want people to lose their jobs. Um. 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.920 And so it has been in it has been a 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:37.800 tough week in some respects here for for a lot 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.000 of people that we know and interact with on a 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.480 daily basis. That being said, um, Darren, as you said, 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.480 a lot of them are continuing right now as far 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.440 as we know. Defensive coordinator Phil Snow, assistant special teams 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:54.239 coach at fully are no longer continuing, but everyone else 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.520 is staying the same. So before we get into the 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:58.320 Steve Wilkes of it all, I do want to ask 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.080 a hypothetical to both of you, and I think it's 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.360 something that a lot of fans wonder, and I asked 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.600 Steve looks this yesterday as well. When you are an 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.239 interim coach, someone who has been a former head coach 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.400 certainly is very well equipped to do this job, but 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.040 did not hire the people underneath you, and you start 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.880 out one and four, how much can be done to 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.160 change the things that you want to change to galvanize 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.240 the team, Because, as you said, Darren, there is a 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.760 lot of season left and certainly Panthers fans want to 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.360 see them win some games. Sure, And I think it's 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.720 going to be interesting to see, especially offensively, because there'll 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:39.160 be some changes defensively with Al Holcomb replacing Phil Snow 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.920 as coordinator. I mean, they might call some things differently, 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.600 they might look a little bit differently in terms of alignment, 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.480 But I don't think the changes are going to be 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.280 that big on that side of the ball because if 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:54.360 you look back, Al Holcomb was Steve's defensive coordinator in Arizona, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.960 and and Don Johnson, the defensive line coach pass roach specialist, 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.600 was his d line coach Arizona. So there there is familiarity, 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:04.880 and these guys have known each other for a long time. 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:09.120 So I think there's an opportunity for you know, even 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.760 though you're making some changes almost continuity, that's the side 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.600 of the ball you can depend on, and I think 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:16.080 that will be the side of the ball you will 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.720 continue to depend on. If you're the Carolina Panther, you 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.400 wouldn't want it to change that much, I wouldn't think, 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:25.080 because they are doing a good job. Yes, exactly. Well, 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.120 that's something I actually got to speak with J. J. Jansen, 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:28.800 who I feel like, like Darren told me and it's 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.000 so true. He's like the historian in the locker room. 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.839 You know, he just he knows like he talking to him. 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:36.800 You know, you ask him three questions and he talks 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.960 for five minutes and it's just amazing and perfect well 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.840 well on, you know, it's just it's it's very useful 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:45.360 stuff Like I'm sitting here in the whole time, like 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.120 I feel like I'm reading a book like this is 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:49.280 just so useful. But one of the things he talked 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.800 about was with Wilkes, because they know him pretty well. 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:54.760 He was here from seventeen and also the fact that 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.520 he's been on staff and he has that presence which 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.240 on Noble talk about at some point, but he has 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:01.800 such a commanding presence that it's like, oh yeah, everyone 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.319 in that locker room already had so much respect for him. 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.200 So he's made kind of these minor tweaks that I 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:11.240 find really interesting. Um, like changing the days that they 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:14.320 were pads from Thursdays to Wednesdays to get you know, 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.640 just kick start the week and and start off physically 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.360 and then um, but also just just he doesn't want 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.000 to change too much. I think one of the things 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.040 that he said yesterday that I really liked was that 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.920 he's simplifying but going faster and those and you could 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.240 feel that rhythm in practice. I think I think you 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.120 could feel I kept asking the players. I was like, 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.040 did it feel bouncy? Because it felt bouncy and they 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:37.720 were like. I was talking to Davey on Nixon and 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.120 he was like, yeah, I think it did feel bouncy 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.240 because it was like there's just a pep to the step. 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.120 I don't know how to describe it other than I 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.559 just felt, you know, like everything was moving at a 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.000 higher pace. And so I think pacing is one thing. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.240 Intensity is one thing. But nothing like schematic overhauls or anything. 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:55.480 Because it's it's week six. You can't do that at 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.320 this point. But there's like subtle things that I think 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.079 make a big difference. And it's interesting. Yesterday out on 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.960 the practice field, there was some guy named Luke something 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.080 or other just hanging out on the sidelines and I 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.960 asked him, you know when they walked in the door, 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.719 um wearing full pads. I said, you know, this is 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.520 how you guys did it right when, back during the 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:19.760 Ron Rivery years And he said yeah, And I said, 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.959 what's the difference Wednesday to Thursday, and he said, for me, 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:25.600 I liked it because a get him out of the 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.040 way early in the week. You know, I liked Okay, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:29.960 if you know you're gonna carry pads, if you know 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:31.719 it's going to be a contact day, you wanted out 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.840 the way early. But he said, from a practical standpoint, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.080 a lot of times when the game plan goes in, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.640 Wednesday is first down, second down day. It's the day 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.240 you're working on run stuff. It's the day you're doing 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.280 inside drills. And so when you get to Thursday and 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:49.840 it's third down day and a lot of pass coverage stuff, 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.800 he said, just from a practical standpoint, it's easier to 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.600 not carry pads on Thursday. And that is a minor change. 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:58.439 I mean, if you look at a seven day week, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.400 you know, do they get extra time to recover from 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.960 wearing pads now under this schedule, yes, But they also 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.440 have a day fewer to recover on the other side. 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.160 So it's a six and one half a dozen of 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.720 another kind of distinction, I think. But just listening to 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:17.120 Luke talk about what it does, and and I think 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.199 as much as anything else, Steve probably did it to 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:24.000 get everybody's attention and to say, hey, you know, and 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.000 j J in Augustus story this morning said it perfectly. 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.440 It was almost like hitting the reset button and it 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.240 was a chance to sort of focus everybody all right 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.800 over here on me. This is what we're gonna do. 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:36.520 It's gonna be in pads. It's gonna be a little 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.920 more direct. It's going to be, you know, just going 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.920 down the checklist. And that's kind of the way Steve's 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.560 approaching this right now. I agree completely. You know, Um, 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.000 Jonathan Stewart was standing beside Luke at practice and he 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.560 pointed out to me the difference of pads on Wednesday. Um, 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:53.960 he said, you know, this does look a little bit 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.520 different pads on Wednesday. And then I later talked to 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.000 Steve Wilkes and he pointed out the pads on Wednesday. Now, 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.520 to your point, Augusta and Darren, is that going to 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.920 make a difference in in wins and losses that alone 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.320 over the course of the season. No, But it is 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:11.360 a great example of some things that you can change 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:15.240 and mold to the to your philosophy, UM, as an 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.959 interim head coach that you feel helps the team perform 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.960 better without Augusta, as you said, really going in and say, Okay, 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.200 we're gonna do things entirely different. So it is, as 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.880 you said, a reset. I want to go back to 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.520 Steve Wilkes the person as well, because, like I said, 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.520 if you're listening to this podcast, you have probably read 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.280 the coverage on Panthers dot com. Hopefully you will see 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.880 our interviews with him and learn more about him. But 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.520 we've all had a chance to talk to him and 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.160 talk to the current players that have played for him 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.920 in the secondary former players, and so I just want 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.720 to get a sense from from you too about who 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:55.679 he is and why this is different. Potentially, then, as 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:56.959 we have talked about in the past, when you have 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.680 an interim head coach kind of coming in to finish 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.199 things out, because it does feel very different. A lot 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.200 of that starts with who Steve Wilkes is as a 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.320 coach in person. Right. One of my favorite things about Steve, 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:09.959 and pardon me if I get a little corny here, 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:13.240 but Steve is from and of he is Charlotte. Man. 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.000 I mean that kid grew up he was born here, 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.600 he grew up here, he played it West Charlotte, went 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.360 to Appalachian State, came home and played for the Charlotte 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.280 Rage for God's sakes out at the old Colisseum on 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:28.520 Thai Vola. He is Charlotte to his core. Can I 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.319 interject really quickly because I have a story that I 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:31.599 think you're going to love, and then I want to 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.440 get right back to that. I asked him about this yesterday. 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:36.440 I said, what made you want to come back? And 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.200 what has drawn you back to this place? And he 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.000 said the same thing. He said, Charlotte's home. He said, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.320 I always used to joke that I had two favorite 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:44.199 teams in the NFL, the one I was currently working 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.920 for in the Panthers. So to come back as DB's 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:48.680 coach had simplified things a little bit. He said, we 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.720 actually kept our house in Charlotte each time we moved um. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.280 And I said, I said, Steve, did the Rinners treat 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:57.520 it right when you move back in? And he said, actually, 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.199 we didn't have Wrinners. So he's I mean, don't know 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.400 if his wife was gonna be okay with him saying that, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.280 but daring to your point, I just wanted to interject 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.720 there there is no doubt that he considers this place 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.559 his home. Yeah, no doubt. And and one of us 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:13.079 is strong I mean one of you know he I 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.440 think that's why there's kind of a feeling out in 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:19.040 the community. Is the situation he's walking to into ideal. 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:24.240 It is not the problems that led to this team 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.920 being one and four remain. It's still an uncertain quarterback situation, 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.160 even when everybody's healthy, which they are not. But there's 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.960 something about Steve that presence. That word comes up a lot. 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.760 My god, if you watch the forty two second video 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.880 from his first press conference, he said the words man, 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.280 he said the magic words keep pounding means something to 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.200 Steve Wilkes because he grew up around it. And he 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.320 talked about I was here when things were good, and 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.320 it was almost like being at a tent revival. You know, 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.240 the music's coming up behind him while he's saying this, 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:04.160 And and people do flashback. They do remember fifteen and 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.600 one in two thousand and fifteen, They do remember Thieves Avenue. 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.000 They do remember Josh Norman going from being kind of 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:15.160 a fifth round afterthought to becoming all pro cornerback Josh 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.600 Norman thanks to Steve Wilkes. And you know, there's a 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:22.080 good feeling attached to that. And Steve's got that quality 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.160 about him. I mean I kind of joked about it 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.040 internally just looking at the pictures. This man has a 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:31.080 cinematic quality about him. They his players called him Denzel 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.040 back in the days, and oh, I can see that 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.800 now that you say that he's got that whatever that is, 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.920 Steve's got that, and he knows how to command a room, 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.560 and you know he did it. And I actually, like, 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.400 you know, I was talking earlier about admiring the people 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.880 who show up and do the thing when it's uncomfortable. 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.880 It would have been so easy for Steve to turn 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.000 Tuesday into the Steve Wilkes Show and come, look at 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.920 the guy. Yeah, let's talk about Johnson C. Smith. Let 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.320 talk about with Charlotte. And he kind of made a 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.200 passing mention. He's like, listen, I know it's important. I 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.120 know it's important for people from my community to see 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:12.920 people succeeding. But this is about how we fix this 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.040 one and four football team. This is about we got 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.360 a game, sunny. I bet he said focus on the 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:21.120 rams about five times during a twenty minute press conference, 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.440 so you could tell where his head was. And as 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.320 easy as it would have been to turn it into 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.160 the Steve Show, he kept spinning it back to yes, 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.800 I know, yes, that's important, but over here we got 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.080 two rams. Over here, we've got to lock in on 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.000 the football and the stuff we gotta fix this week. 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.080 And to be fair, he probably is. I mean, he 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.840 does have to game plan on a short week, but 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:46.520 for a team that he was not the head coach 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.120 of last week. So I did get that sense of 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.360 in terms of professionalism, he probably is like in his 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.400 head answering these questions from me or from either of you, 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.160 going okay, well if we adjust this a little bit, 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.160 and that is what you want from your coach, Augusta. 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:03.840 What have you learned about him from from talking to 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.000 players exactly? I think the locker room, Like Darren said, 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.960 you know, he he really does have their attention. I 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.560 think that's one of the biggest things. Um. I heard 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.399 everyone I talked to just about yesterday. I talked to 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.480 five or six different guys about it, and they all 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:19.399 kind of gave the same message, which is something that 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:20.919 he had told us in the press conference. But it's 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.199 something that I feel like just in terms of that 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.399 locker room. I mean, we went in there after the 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:27.600 forty nine years game and it it felt, you know, 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.000 it was they were they were disappointed, and you could 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.600 feel that disappointment. And then going in, yeah, it was. 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:35.480 It was a tough loss. It was very tough. It 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.320 was the roughest locker room experience since I've been here, easily. 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.640 And then it felt like we had been very well 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:44.840 removed from that, just from being a few days yesterday. 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.359 And everyone I talked to was like, I mean, coach 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.880 Looks said, he told us, you know, seasons not canceled. 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.520 Seasons not canceled. And that's something I just kept here, 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.159 you know, No matter what I asked, they were like, 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.920 he said, season is not canceled. And they like that message. 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.480 You could tell that they you know, there was also 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.560 that since of disappointment, like Okay, you know, this is 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.119 a business. The job is to get results. If we 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.280 don't get results, and this happens, and and I like, 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.439 I think they like the fact that Steve has been 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.200 so direct with them, like, okay, so the reason that 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.080 I am here is because we haven't been performing, so 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.440 we need to be better. Very pointed. And I think 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.400 that kind of pointed, tough love kind of thing has 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:22.840 really resonated with a lot of the guys. Um they 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.359 really seemed to to to buy in. I mean everyone 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.560 from I talked to Gante Foreman for a while and 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:29.280 he's one of those guys. Sometimes you catch him and 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.760 he's really talkative, sometimes he's not. Yesterday he really wanted 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:33.400 to talk about it, which I thought was kind of cool. 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:37.000 Um JJ obviously, and then Christian McCaffrey. I think Christian 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.600 really really likes the I think he likes what Steve 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.720 Wilkes brings, the intensity, the pointedness, things like that, and 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.560 one thing, I think it's in the interest of fairness. 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.840 It's worth point. Now we talked about and I used 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.520 the word bleak about that locker room that was a 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.720 result of the game rather than any kind of pervasive 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.040 sense in the room. That is a great point because 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.200 I knew that immediately what you were saying. But that's 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:00.879 a it's a great point to point out to people listening. 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.000 The locker room was not bad. It's not like there 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.439 was any kind of descent in there. It's a pretty 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:09.399 tight knit group. And Augusta came in the summer and 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.680 saw the Panthers games, and you know, you were there 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:15.000 and we saw how this team was kind of coming 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.680 closer together. It was actually a pretty good locker room 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.080 they are. I'm down there on the sidelines throughout the 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.160 games they played together four and a half minutes left 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.840 in that game to score game. They're still working, they're 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.399 still game planning, and Darren, I think that's a great point. 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.120