Former Texas Tech men’s tennis head coach Tim Siegel hosts a weekly radio show called Coach Speak and he had on Kliff Kingsbury last night (be careful, this will auto-play). This isn’t a non-transcript, Siegel and Kingsbury were moving too fast for me on that and I didn’t have the time to really go back and listen again, but this is maybe best described as a summary. Yesterday I called it ten thoughts, but it’s essentially a summary, for those of you who don’t have the time to listen to the show. It’s about 40 minutes and it’s worth your time.
1. If you’ve never listened Tim Siegel, he’s got a bit of a start and stop to his cadence, but Siegel loves sports, so he’ll quite literally talk about any sport and likes discussing with coaches the different sports, not necessarily his field. Siegel loves the Saints, so he’ll talk about that.
2. Siegel asked him about what happens from this point until the start of camp and Kingsbury talked about how from now until the end of the season is just summer workouts.
3. With the social media, it has made a difference with how he and the coaches deal with the confidence of players. If a player misses a pass, everyone is on that player, so the coaches have to help that player move past that moment.
4. Siegel is a huge fan of the Saints and Kingsbury played for the Saints and Mike McCartney was the offensive coordinator and said that he was a great offensive mind.
5. The Patriots, with Danny Amendola, is his favorite team, and NY Jets with Jace Amaro and wherever Wes Welker ends up.
6. Played with a team in Cologne, Germany and also in Winnipeg. Was able to travel Europe and Canada and that was a great experience.
7. A lot of the Patriots success is because of Tom Brady, they are built to win games, not put up stats. Coach knows everyone accountable (as does Brady) and if you’re not selfless, then you just won’t be there. Brady had a huge impact on the success. Belichick is who he is on television, and your job is on the line every day because you know that the next guy is coming in. Kingsbury saw Brady a few months ago, and he’s throwing better than he ever has and has done some different training to keep playing for the next five years.
8. Spiegel asked Kingsbury about Jace Amaro and Amaro said that he is excited, he was down last week, but he’s fired up. Will be great for him to watch Brandon Marshall. It will be his second offense, so that’s tough, but as he gets comfortable, his productivity will spike.
9. With New England, it was the friendships that he has, and with New Orleans, there’s the passion and it was a very college-type of atmosphere.
10. Kingsbury says that it’s all the same if a player doesn’t perform and playing in high-profile areas, like Boston or New York, so it doesn’t matter where you play.
11. Kingsbury said that he’s close to Wes and Amendola, just pick their brains and see their success. When Wes came out, Kingsbury told his agent that Welker was the best player he has ever seen, so he didn’t know that he would be as great as he is. To work with the two best quarterbacks of all time is great for Wes, it’s special. I think that Wes might not make it to a training camp, but will play this next year.
12. With “deflate-gate” it motivated them, Kingsbury thinks. Said that he just can’t imagine Brady’s suspension standing up with the Greg Hardy suspension being dropped.
13. The moves the Cowboys have made, this is it for them. They’ve got a lot of pieces.
14. Siegel talked about the DeAndre Jordan situation and said that Jordan made the right decision and can be the third guy and still get paid. Said that this is what happens in sports.
15. Talked about the Spurs and thinks they are the favorite, with all of the pieces back. They were close this year, and ran into some young legs, but it would be hard to bet against them. Talked about David West giving up so much money, understand giving up 25 to take 18 million, but to give up 12 to take 1 million is something he has never seen. You want someone that is going to hold you accountable and make you the best player you can be and that will make you the most money. Guys like Popovich have figured it out and you want to be on those guys’ teams.
16. Was surprised with the Astros success, and hope they can keep it going. It is a nothing-to-lose mentality. Excited for the city with the Texans and Houston.
17. Chemistry — talked about how New England has found this recipe. Extremely tough practices and that’s what helps bond those players.
18. Rapid Fire: Favorite concert was Kings of Leon, Jazzfest, in New Orleans . . . Talked about the Federer and Djokovic match, and how impressive it was for Djokovic to mentally come back from the second set, re-focuses, and dominate. To not have those lapses is incredible . . . Like Kris Bryant in the home run derby although he really doesn’t watch the home run derby. Doesn’t like the new format (this was obviously before the format was changed last night) . . . Shouldn’t have the All-Star game decide the fate of the home team for the World Series . . . Going with Jordan Speith for the British Open. He’s locked in. He is a phenom and pulling for the Texas boy . . . Thinks it will be Spurs vs. Cleveland in next year’s NBA Finals . . . Arizona Cardinals will be the most improved NFL team next year . . . Thinks Seattle will fall off a bit, still be good, but not to the Super Bowl again . . . The Jimmy Graham trade was huge and can’t figure out why he was traded unless maybe he was “stirring up” behind the scenes . . . Rule he would like to change: Once the ball is snapped, they can’t blow the whistle and call the play dead. They need to let it go . . . Was asked about what’s more important to him for a quarterback between mental toughness, accuracy and a big arm. Said that mental toughness and accuracy are the biggest things for him, not the big arm. The big arm is nice, but the first two things are important . . . Can’t wait to get going. Ready to get back out there and get going. The players are working and they want to make everything count. Thinks our guys are hungry and are excited to get going.
-Ed. Note: If you can’t tell, Tim Siegel is really a terrific guy and if you ever listen to Coach Speak, you get that he wants these coaches to talk about more things that the sport that they’re in, but they other sports that they follow and love. I like that, and although this wasn’t some sort of ground-breaking interview, it was fun to hear Kingsbury talk about things other than Texas Tech.