Mark Snyder: 'So nice to be back in the big time'

Notes from Mark Snyder's Beliucci Hour interview

* I'm doing really good. I've had a few opportunities to go to the SEC throughout my career and ended up not doing it. And, I've got to be honest, I've talked with my wife and regretted not doing it when I've had that opportunity. To come to A&M with Kevin Sumlin and be in the SEC was very attractive. It's the best league in the country, bar none. You're going against the best every day and coaching the best. Everyone aspires to be at the top of their profession. I'm not an NFL guy and so I feel like I've now reached the top of my profession.

* Kevin and I met at Minnesota and became friends there and stayed in contact afterward. He's had some other opportunities himself and at times it wasn't the best fit for him, but his excitement when he called me about this place and this fit ... it was a no-brainer.

* I'm very excited. You knew Coach Sumlin would be a star someday, and that's come to fruition. He excels in every part of this job.

* I think SEC football is a bit like Big Ten football. The Big Ten kind of evolved with Northwestern throwing the ball around, like Arkansas did in this league. But the SEC is like the Big Ten with better athletes. When you look at what we do philosophically, we're a lot like Alabama and LSU. When you put on the film and watch A&M, you'll be watching Alabama and LSU. We're all from the same family. It's worked in the SEC so far and we're going to try and continue that at Texas A&M.

* We're based out of the 4-3, so we'll have four defensive linemen with their hands on the ground and seven people behind them. We'll start there. But in order to win a national championship, you can't just be that. You can't just be a 4-3 or a 3-4, you have to dabble in all of them and be good at all of them. Alabama and LSU have excelled because they're able to do that. We'll base out of a 4-3, but we'll run some 3-4, 3-3, goal line short-yardage ... when you look at the schedule, offenses change. You can't just have one idea against every team you'll play.

* There's no doubt about it: Do not let the quarterback get comfortable. That's the whole key. If he does, and they're any good, it's going to be a long day for you.

* We have to have depth. You have to recruit to what you're trying to do. It's going to take us a year or two to get where we would like to go, but that's what's going to be fun about the spring. It's going to be very challenging, because once we do install our three-down stuff, these kids will be used to it. The four-down stuff is what will be new. Where I just left, the four-down stuff was easy and the three-down was new. It's going to be a fun spring, no doubt about it.

* Getting off the football and going straight forward will be the biggest adjustment. No more side-to-side stuff. When you look at the great Miami (FL) defenses, those cats were going like that. That's the last defense I've seen that can sit in about three or four defenses and play it well and get to the top of the mountain. Football has evolved. You have guys like Kevin Sumlin who are on top of the ball offensively, they create problems and it's a pain in the butt to deal with the things they do.

* I called Coach Sumlin about my third day on the road — it felt so good to walk into a high school and get to see some kids that other coaches might not get to see because of that A&M patch. Now you add the SEC patch to it and that brings more vitality to what you're trying to do when you walk in there. The reception's been awesome. It's so nice to be back in the big time again. When you walk in with that patch on ... Texas high school coaches are very passionate, and to be 'the guy' when you walk in there, that's pretty neat.

* Jim Tressel (at Youngstown and Ohio State) prepared me to become a head football coach. I think he saw one when I was young and developed me into that kind of that role. We talked earlier about my opportunities to go to the SEC three or four times, but I stayed with him because I felt he was preparing me to be a head coach someday. He was a great mentor to me and Coach Sumlin will be the same way with some of these young coaches. Some of these young coaches we brought are the exact same way. But Jim Tressel is a great man and a super, super human being.
 
* Coach Sumlin has hired a great staff. We have great chemistry and I think that bleeds right over into the kids. Terry Price, what a great combination, being in the SEC so long and coaching the D-line. And if you look at our entire staff on that side of the ball, we watched Marcel Yates from afar when he was at Boise. We knew he was going to be special. Matt Wallerstedt has been all over the country and left a coordinator position to come here and coach our linebackers. And a guy like Price, who has all the SEC experience and recruited in the SEC, an alumni of Texas A&M and a great person. We're very excited about this and Coach has done a great job of putting together our staff. We cut up a little bit and have fun.

* The spring will be fun and competitive. But the key is, we have to make sure these kids get better. We have to get them, not so much O vs. D, but playing at the right pace and becoming better fundamentally, end of story. We need to do this more on defense, get up the field more, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us.

* I think Larry Jackson has been very excited about the work ethic. There's no issue with these kids' 'want-to.' It's there. We've got that C on our chest for a reason. Our job is to coach these kids up. Nowadays, we're getting older, whether we want to believe it or not. Trust is a big factor, and a kid knows if you're going to help him get where he wants to go. As long as he feels like you care about him and you have the tools to get him where he wants to go, he'll give himself to you. When you have kids doing that, that's when you get to the top of the mountain.

* We want to work on fundamentals. Let's get our package in and play as fundamentally sound as possible. We'll carry that from the spring into two-a-days. We're going to be very efficient with our practice times.