HOOVER, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference’s four newest head coaches were introduced to the chaos that is SEC Media Days on Day 2 of the event. Arkansas’ Brett Bielema, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and Tennessee’s Butch Jones spoke with the media on Wednesday July 17 at the Wynfrey Hotel.
Jones experienced his first taste of a major football conference’s media exposure, after serving stints at Central Michigan and Cincinnati. He said the event was unbelievable.
“When the SEC does something, it’s truly something special, it’s a spectacle,” Jones said. “That’s what makes the SEC what it is today, the best college football conference in the country.”
But Jones was quick to show his respect for his new conference. He hasn’t coached the Volunteers in a regular season game yet, but Jones has already begun to realize how hard it is to win in the SEC.
“Everyone asks me, ‘What’s it like to be in the SEC?’” Jones said. “My constant phrase is, the best analogy I can give you is every day in the SEC is it’s like fourth-and-one for the national championship. It doesn’t matter if it’s practice, recruiting, game time, which I’ll experience soon, the competitive structure of this football conference, the difference between winning and losing is very slim.”
Offensive tackle Antonio Richardson said he was glad to have Jones as Tennessee’s new head coach. Jones coached last season’s No. 1 NFL draft pick, Eric Fisher, while he was at Central Michigan, and the Volunteers’ 6’6” junior could benefit under Jones’ leadership.
“He’s very personable,” Richardson said. “He’s always trying to build a personal relationship with his players, and when you have a coach like that, it’s going to make you want to run through walls for him.”
Malzahn, on the other hand, has been around the SEC, after time as offensive coordinator at Arkansas and Auburn. He said he was glad to be back at the institution he helped win a national title in 2010.
“I’m blessed to be back at Auburn as the head coach, looking forward to the season, real excited about our players,” Malzahn said. “We’ve asked a lot of them since they’ve been back. They really bought into the ‘New Day’ theme, putting the past behind them.”
Auburn finished the 2012 season with one of its worst seasons in the program’s history, capping the year with a 3-9 record and a 0-8 SEC record.
Malzahn said the Tigers need to get things back to the way they were when the team thrived in 2010.
“The number one thing that our players have to do for us to be successful this year is get our edge back,” Malzahn said. “That is the mental and physical toughness, the blue-collar, hard-nosed, hit-you-in-the-mouth Auburn football that’s made Auburn great.”
Fullback Jay Prosch and cornerback Chris Davis were happy to see Malzahn back in Auburn. Prosch said the team noticed a change when the Tigers appointed the new head coach.
“It was completely different as soon as Coach Malzahn came,” Prosch said. “It was a new attitude. He started a fire in everyone; it’s really exciting.”
But SEC Media Days would not have been complete without the state of Alabama’s fierce rivalry coming to the surface.
Besides Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, the talk all week has been centered around the Crimson Tide and its domination of college football and its in-state rival.
Davis said Alabama’s winning ways are not indicative of what’s to come in 2013.
“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating,” Davis said. “I’d say it is what it is. It’s a new day. That’s in the past; this upcoming season will tell it all.”
