Nov. 17, 2000

Each week, GoBaylorBears.com features a different guest in "Ask the Bears." This week's guest was head football coach Kevin Steele. Next week's featured guest is head volleyball coach Brian Hosfeld. To submit a question for Coach Hosfeld, click here.

Why is our play calling so conservative? Do you and Coach Meyer see how our lack of offensive output tends to be in direct correlation with play calling? Against OSU, are we going to open up the offense in the first half?
Daniel C. Mullins, Dallas, TX

Daniel, thanks for your question. We see everything about this football team from the recruiting base all the way to future scheduling and everything inbetween, so the play-calling is sometimes directly correlated to the abilities of the players, as well the age and maturity of the players.

Sometimes, yes, offenses appear to be more conservative than they actually are based on the plays which are made. A great example of that would be the first drive of the second half, it is a sequence play call where the plays are listed in advance based on down and distance, and it was a direct reflection of the second drive of the first quarter. The second drive of the first quarter produced basically nothing and looked very conservative, and everybody was excited about the first drive of the second half.

Coach, now that this season is about to be over, what are some specific changes you plan to make in the offseason to show VISIBLE improvement next year?
Duane Davis, Belton, TX

I have a list of many, many improvements. "Changes" is a big word, sometimes change is not always the answer for improvement. Sometimes it is. But the most important thing is to do what you're doing and what you know is good, better, and eliminate the things that are a hindrance.

I think the first thing is we always want to recruit players that can compete in the Big 12, to strengthen the players that you have and to help them gain confidence. We're always looking at the X's and O's, both offensive and defensive plans, to be better. A great example would be, what do you do to a defense that is basically the same defensive scheme as Nebraska plays, and that Florida State plays and that the University of Tennessee plays? With that being said, we have a lot of improvements to be made.

It seems that a great many Baylor alumni are ready to give up permanently on our football program because of our inability to be competitive in any Big 12 games over the past two years and the fact that we have won only three Big 12 games in five years. The references by you and Tom Stanton to internal progress which cannot be seen on the field is of little comfort when we continue to lose to teams like Missouri by large margins. What on the field progress do you believe Baylor fans have a right to expect next year, given that it will be your third season? More specifically, do we have a right to expect at least one conference win?
Philip F. Ricketts, Austin, Texas

Philip, I understand your frustrations. Obviously the thing you have to do is build things. You can't compete with Dell Computers just because you decide to start a computer company in your garage. First there will be struggles, and eventually you start honing your share of the market and doing things better and climb the ladder to success. It's hard work. It's tough. This is a very competitive situation. Internal progress, which cannot be seen on the field, is something that is very evident. I think you've heard the players talk about it, and I see it everyday in their eyes.

Obviously, losses are tough to take, and I think the question of "what do the fans have a right to expect," trust me, on-the-field progress is more than a right to the Baylor staff and myself and this football team, it's our life. Our life is invested in trying to make this thing right, so I think that's what you can expect. You can expect a diligent effort from the players and the coaching staff to give everything within their capacities to be the best that they can be and improve each and every year.

Could you please outline for the fans what improvements have been made this year in the play of the team. Statistically it is impossible to see any. Could you give us some specific examples so we can "think" as you do about this program's future.
James Heffington, Grand Prairie, Texas

James, it's hard for me to convince anyone, I'm not even going to try to convince the football fans of America how to think. That's long since been the case. My focus is that you center on developing young players, getting them stronger, implementing offensive and defensive systems in which you can expand those systems and become very diverse in those systems. Statistics become a focus point when teams are losing, as we are. I've been on teams that win conference championships, and statistics were never brought up. We would have statistics that were not real impressive at times, but they were never brought up. I understand your viewpoint of statistics, but the bottom line is we have to improve in the ways of being a stronger football team and being a team that executes better, and being a team that simply makes plays and gives itself a chance to win.

Coach, Why did we have so many substitution problems against Missouri? Was it their no-huddle offense? Having 12 men on the field cost us a TD, but toward the end of the game on MU's drive for either their last or next to last touchdown, Gary Baxter ran off the field for a play and we only had 10 men. Then on the extra point, again we had only 10 men. Why so many problems?
Jim Wright, Dallas, Texas

The 12 men was just an inadvertent mistake on a signal by a young man on the field. We saw the signal and were trying to get one off. The 10 men problem, we had three guys injured. One had been taken by the trainer and we had not been notified.

Do you re-evaluate your staff at the end of the season? If so, are you satisfied with their production this season? Thank you for your response and Sic'em Bears!!
Cathy Lynn Stewart, Hewitt, Texas

Yes, I do re-evaluate the team, myself and the staff. I appreciate your question, but I would never evaluate my workers publicly, and I don't think any boss in America should.

We have had so many coaching changes in the 90's, that one of the administration points of stability has been that there has been no change in the last two years. Your contract was recently extended and that will be seen as a positive by any recruit that comes to Baylor. Isn't it time to change offensive and defensive coordinators for next year?
Joe E. Ratliff, Arlington, Texas

In the five years before I came to Baylor, this program had four different offensive coordinators and four different defensive coordinators. Obviously change was not the answer then, and I don't believe in making change for change's sake now. Greg Meyer served as offensive coordinator on two Big 10 championship teams within the last five years. He is a good football coach and will help us win at Baylor. Brick Haley is an outstanding defensive coach. Both Greg and Brick are important parts of Baylor's rebuilding process and future success.

Coach, I have three questions:
First, on many occasions, you attributed our lack of success to coaching deficiencies ("we as coaches didn't get it done" and "it all begins with me") Did you take this position because you didn't want to harm the psyches of a young team, or were there in fact coaching deficiencies? If deficiencies exist, what are your plans to resolve them?
Secondly, we have an absolutely alarming lack of fan support--on both sides of the field (west and student/east side). I fear that we are raising a generation of students who have no tradition of winning Baylor teams, and 29,000 fans at Homecoming speaks for itself. Do you think that winning alone will correct these issues?
Third, many fans have noticed a propensity for first down play-calling that is entirely too predictable--Bush into the line. I think that we would all agree that the results have been somewhat less than we would like. Given that when your staff made a change (the flea-flicker at Nebraska) and had negative results, how much should we attribute our shortcomings to the lack of an effective offensive line?
I have been a Bear fan for many years and will be so again next year, and I certainly support your efforts. Hoping for a better 2001!
Duke Presley, Dallas, Texas

Duke, thanks for the questions. A good leader takes the blame for any deficiencies. The psyche of our team is very important. We're dealing with young men, and I don't want them to take all the responsibility on their shoulders. I'm the one who has been trained for this and is getting paid for it, so I want to take responsibility.

As far as fan support, student attendance across the country has really gone down. Winning will certainly help a great deal, but when you look at Baylor historically, it's never been a great attendance university, as seen in the fact that we've only had a sellout crowd five times in 50 years. We need to do everything we can to change that. Kansas State did.

As far as the play-calling, last time I got asked this question, we were in one-back set four times and ran Bush in a line, and we threw the ball eight times on first down in one of the games I was asked this question. I think sometimes you do get leary of trying a whole lot of things on first down and making it second-and-10. When things aren't working, what happens is you at times get very cautious. You try to be a little more safe, and that's not always good.

What were your goals for the 2000 season? Did you reach them? What are your goals for next season?
Jonathan Clark, Austin, TX

No, we didn't reach our goals for the 2000 season, Jonathan. Our goals for next season? Well, we're still in the 2000 season. At the end of the season we will sit down, assess the year, and make our goals for next season.

Coach Steele, I heard you speak at the Dallas football luncheon this August and was impressed with your candor and delivery. After getting through this season, I wanted to ask you the following questions.
1) What do you bring with you from Nebraska that you think you can instill in our team at Baylor?
2) What will you and your staff be doing in the off season to improve the play of our defensive and offensive lines?
3) What are your priorities on recruiting?
4) Reggie Newhouse and Robert Quiroga are impressive receivers. How are you planning on getting the ball to them more often?
Thank you for your time and consideration. It's hard for us to understand the position you are in, but I support you and wish you the best.
Kirby F. Warnock, Fort Stockton, Texas

I think the biggest thing I brought from Nebraska is a non-panic, building, stability situation. That's the one great thing about Nebraska, they never panic. They know things are a process. There are some X's and O's things, particularly defensive, that we bring.

On the offensive lines, we will make the guys better that we have through strength and conditioning and quickness drills, and we will also recruit. Our priority recruiting is on the offensive and defensive line.

Quiroga and Newhouse are very good receivers. We're throwing the ball at a high rate now, most games 30+ times a game. I don't think we'll ever be a team that will throw it 50 times. We sure do appreciate your support, Kirby, thank you very much.

Coach Steele - first, let me tell you that I believe that you are the first man that is a fit at Baylor to be the football coach since Grant Teaff, and I hope you succeed. As a big Baylor Football Fan who never misses a home game, how long do you think it will be before we start really winning and competing in the Big 12? The perfromances we're seeing week in and week out are really hard to take, and frankly make it tough to be a fan. What's it going to take to turn this thing around, and do you believe you can get it done?
David Dooley, Plano, TX

I think recruiting is going to take tough guys like you that are winners, that keep believing and know that you can build. To win in the Big 12, based on the other two Big 12 programs that I've been in before, we have to get bigger and stronger, and we have to gain a confidence factor which will come through winning more games as we build. At some point in time, what will happen is we'll win, then win again, then win again and it catches fire, just like anything else that has a mental side to it.

What are your priorities in terms of scheduling nonconference games in coming years?
John Ferrell, Arlington, TX

When I came here, the nonconference schedule was set for about five years, so we're working on schedules for 2005, 2006 and 2007 right now. We always want to have at least two home games there. Generally speaking, scheduling has become hard. We want to schedule teams that will come in here every year and we don't have to return a home game to them, and then one big game from a national standpoint, or at least a national conference.