John Stiegelmeier has spent part of the football offseason on the recruiting trail. We caught up with him to get an update on recruiting and how he feels about the 2011 season.
Q. Where have you been in the past six weeks?
A. I’ve been to Arizona, California, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas City, Chicago, and the Minneapolis area
Q. What are some of the challenges of recruiting players to play at SDSU?
A. I think the initial challenge, and I hate to say this but I think it’s real, many of the guys we talk to did not have us on their initial radar. A lot of the guys perceive themselves or want to be a I-A player. The next level down, the fact that we’re in kind of a remote area, it takes a lot of educating about our university and football program. I’m not knocking anything; that’s the first thing I think. The weather is also a factor for a lot of kids.
Q. What are some of the details about the university and football program that you elaborate on to potential recruits?
A. We try to prove it to them. We talk about the academic success our program has had, you’re picking a peer group, a group of guys that you’re going to hang around and play football with whether it’s here or Norhtern Iowa or New Hampshire or wherever. Our track record, our success pattern is very good, we talk about our success on the field and what’s been built. The biggest thing we try to prove to them is the type of people that are here in the three communities: Brookings, at SDSU, and SDSU football.
Q. You have some committed recruits coming in, what do you have to say about the guys that have signed on to SDSU?
A. Everytime you get a commitment it’s kind of like Christmas for me as a head coach because it’s adding someone to our football family. I’m excited about all the guys, seldom does it happen fast enough, to get all 18 commitments in December before Christmas, but good things take time – my dad taught me that. So we stay the course and find guys that fit.
Q. What are current players doing at this point in the offseason?
A. A number of them have lifted over break, either here or in their home communities. What’s going to happen now is we’re going to crank up the offseason program. That’s why our strength coach is so important because he gets them now, he’s developing them, we don’t coach them now. It’s all strength and conditioning and agility right now.
Q. It’s the case every year, but you’re losing some high-achieving players next year, how challenging do you think it will be to replace guys like Kyle Minett and Cole Brodie?
A. Sometimes you lose guys that you just don’t think you can replace. Kyle Minett, Cole Brodie, Dean Priddy at punter, and a number of guys like our two tight ends Colin Cochart and Alex Beyer are all guys you have some of those feelings for. Almost 100 percent of the time I’ve been amazed at how guys have stepped up. Their number is called and they get it done beyond what I thought they could. It goes back to believing in players and believing in the human spirit and effort.
Q. With that said, how excited are you to start spring ball?
A. I love spring ball because you get to coach but you don’t have to get ready for Saturday. I don’t have to worry about schedules. If it rains and you cut practice short you’re not going to be behind your opponent. It’s a chance to develop players, to really coach coach and not worry about schemes. I look forward to that. There’s a lot of work to be done before we get there. We evaluate every play, every defense, every special team and steady ourselves to improve and ready our football program.
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