Throughout the offseason, The Oregonian/OregonLive will be sitting down with each Oregon State assistant coach, where they will recap the 2016 season and look ahead to spring football and beyond.
Up next is Chad Kauha’aha’a, who just wrapped his first season coaching the Beavers’ outside linebackers and will also return to coaching the defensive line in 2017.
Your position group obviously had an interesting season, with all the injuries and freshmen that played at outside linebacker. What are the biggest things you take from that experience that you can build on this spring and in going into next fall?
As a coach, I’m not afraid to play freshmen anymore. I’ve never been in a situation like that, and when you throw kids into the fire of a Division I football game, they did the best they could to respond. But it was an experience for me on how important it is in the offseason to get kids ready. Sometimes you think, “Ah, I’ve got all these freshmen and I’ll never play them. Maybe I’ll play one or two of them.” And I ended up playing four of them. It changes my outlook as a coach and my approach in the spring and the summer, especially the summer for the incoming freshmen, because you never know. With the injuries, it did hamper us a little bit in regards to being as productive as I thought we could be with the youth and the knowledge of the scheme. Obviously, you’ve got a guy like Bright (Ugwoegbu) who’s had a lot of experience playing and picked up the scheme a lot faster. His numbers were pretty good, but should have been better if he didn’t miss the end of the season or if he finished on a few of those sacks. I think he should have been in double digits on sacks, but woulda, coulda, shoulda. He’s just got to finish. But I was pleased with the way Bright played. And then midway through the season, we decided to put one more linebacker on the field, which is what I wanted, but unfortunately we had guys go down. Starting off with Shemar (Smith), then you have to use Joah (Robinett) and Joah goes down. Then you have Shemiah (Unutoa-Whitson). Then all of a sudden you’re relying on Andrzej (Hughes-Murray), and Andrzej was a guy that didn’t even suit up during games throughout the season. Then you gotta hope none of those guys get hurt. They took their lumps, but they finished the season, so I’m real proud of them for that. I am happy that they did get that game experience, because this year there are no excuses of them being young guys and them trying to figure their way out. I’m excited about the outside linebacker group coming back.
You are also returning to coaching the defensive line. How is that going to go as far as flipping back and forth between the position groups in practice and such?
It’s gonna be a juggling act. Coaching the D-line is second nature to me. I know it like the back of my hand. That’s not gonna be a problem. It’s just really my time. Coach (Gary) Andersen did a good job with those guys, but my technique’s slightly different than his. So there’s a lot of teaching that’s going to have to be done with the front. The good thing is there’s probably four guys that played with me the year before (in 2015), so it’s not gonna be too drastic of a jump. For guys like Paisa (Savea) and (Phillip) Napoleon, it’s gonna be different. I feel bad for those two guys, because they’re JC guys and they’ve only got one more year, so I’ll work with them the best I can. But just kind of instilling my philosophy and my demeanor and approach with those guys is gonna be something that they’re gonna have to get used to. I think the outside linebackers know what to expect. I’ll be bouncing back and forth. I feel really good with the graduate assistant that Coach Andersen hired. Matt Ah You, he had his own room at Utah State and just in the little time that I’ve been around him, his knowledge of the outside linebacker spot is on point to what I’m thinking. I think it’ll be a little bit challenging at first, with me spending more time with the defensive line than the outside linebackers. But I think it has to be that way. If you look at the numbers, I think we went up in every category but stopping the run and rushing the passer. So I think that’s something that needs to be emphasized. I’m a true believer in stopping the run. Even though we’re in an odd front, those three guys up front, that’s their responsibility. Now in the pass game, I get it, it’s hard to rush the passer out of the 3-4. I had our defensive line GA, Al Lapuaho, put a sack tape together, and we missed a least 30 sacks just between the outside linebackers and the defensive line. Mostly the outside linebackers. Me as the outside linebackers coach, I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the numbers that we (could have). But again, with the youth and just the new way we were doing the defense that we did last year, I’m still pretty pleased with the amount of pressure that we got on the quarterback. But that’s me being positive. At the end of the day, we’ve still got to finish, so it’s still a negative because that number didn’t go up. But you’ve got to find positive with these young guys, and that is a positive. We can get to the quarterback, but we’ve got to be able to finish. And there’s a lot of things that tie into it. Experience (is one part). I think the biggest thing is probably not having the strength that we should have. You watch film and that showed up a lot — the physicality part of the game. I know that’s gonna change. We’re going right into spring ball to keep their minds fresh with football, and then after that, it’s just getting as big and strong as you can in between (spring ball and fall camp). I don’t see us being bullied. And I used that term with my guys. I’m not ashamed of saying it when I watch film with them, “We can’t get bullied.” We got bullied last year, and I don’t want to see that this year and I don’t expect us to see that. I think we’ll be stronger and we’ll be faster and we’ll be more confident in what we’re doing schematically.
The positive with the defensive line is, besides Sumner Houston moving to offensive line, every contributor from last season us back.
I’m not real concerned with the D-line. We’ve got some talented guys up front. I think we’ve got some big, physical 3-4 defensive linemen and I don’t see us being mismatched against anybody we play in the conference. It’s being schematically sound. I think that’s going to be the biggest thing we need to improve on and take away from spring — obviously getting better fundamentally and technically, but being more sound in the scheme and really understanding what you’re supposed to be doing. That’s my biggest challenge. That’s why I gotta stay with them, probably, the most (during practice). I like the guys we’ve got coming back up front. They’re all veteran guys. I remember coaching these guys two years ago and it was like coaching the outside linebackers last year — nobody had any experience.
You mentioned Ugwoegbu’s strong 2016 season. Other than recovering from the injury, what’s the next step in his development?
The next step for Bright is continuing to get stronger in the weight room and continuing to fine tune some of the little things. For him, it’s footwork. At 229 pounds, how is he gonna take on that 300-pound tackle? He works the technique pretty well, but he’s gonna have to fine-tune it and make some adjustments. And that’s gonna have to come from him, because he has all the tools to be really good. He’s got the athleticism. Now, he’s gotta take what I’m teaching him and kind of add little tweaks here and there for what makes Bright feel comfortable. I think Bright has earned the right to maybe take a little bit more chances and play football at times. Schematically, Bright is sound. He knows what everybody is doing, and that’s what we’re trying to get with the young guys. But in order for Bright to take over a game, which he can — and in the position he is, he should — he needs to kind of find something in himself to take the next step. With the depth that we have, I think it’s gonna help Bright even more. Bright’s not gonna be playing 60 or 70 snaps. When I cut his numbers down in reps — which will happen, because I have a lot of faith in these new guys — I think that’ll make Bright a better player. He’s not gonna be so gassed. Bright can play 70 or 80 plays, but he won’t be as effective as he would be if he took 45 or 50 reps.
Who are some players that you’re really expecting to make significant strides this spring?
Up front, I’m looking for Paisa Savea and Phil Napoleon to have really good seasons. I’m so excited to work with those guys, because I thought I was gonna work with them the year before, before the changes (on the coaching staff). I recruited them. I pretty much hand-picked those two guys. I think Kalani Vakameilalo is another one. And then outside linebacker-wise, again, I go back to what’s gonna happen? I don’t know if they’re gonna have breakout seasons, but I’m hoping we get the production I think we can out of Kee Whetzel, out of Hamilcar Rashed, out of Shemiah Unutoa-Whitson. Those three guys I think can be special players, but at the same time, you still have Joah, you still have Shemar. I’m in a good situation where some people will panic and say, “I’ve got all these new guys. What do I do?” You just keep rotating them through. Spring ball’s gonna be huge for the young guys that are practicing, Kee and Hamilcar. Kee Whetzel I think has a huge upside. Hamilcar Rashed is another one who we’re gonna move to B ‘backer, because he just keeps growing and growing.
And now Hughes-Murray is moving inside.
I think that’s a good move, moving Andrzej inside. Andrzej’s a smart kid, and that’s why we moved him. If we needed to move him back to the outside linebacker spot, it wouldn’t be a hard transition for him. But after losing Caleb Saulo and then Andrzej showing us what he can do, I think that was an easy move. And I also lost Doug Taumoelau. I think he’s another outstanding outside linebacker, but with the depth we have, I think moving Dougie in was another smart move for us defensively. I know it’s gonna work out. I don’t think I’m gonna those guys again.
You had worked with defensive coordinator Kevin Clune prior to him coming to OSU. How would you describe his leadership style, either with the coaching staff or defensive players?
For us working together, because of our relationship, we’re comfortable with one another. We can talk openly and freely to one another about ideas and whatnot. He’s not the type of guy where it’s, “We’re gonna do this my way schematically and that’s it.” He’s always open to suggestions and he wants us to bring something to the table. I think that’s good when we have that easy work relationship and having everybody involved. I think he holds a lot of people accountable, including himself, the coaches and the players. I think they understand he really preaches knowing your assignments and your alignments and communication. That’s one thing with Coach Clune that has to be on point with him. I thought our communication this year was really, really good. Out of all of these years coaching, whether it was verbal or it was some type of signal between the back end and the outside linebackers, I thought that was outstanding. We meet with (the players) every week and we go over goals. Goals are not just put on the board and left there and nobody talks about it. He brings it up. Like in spring ball coming up, we’re gonna meet every single day as a defense and he’s gonna point out the positives and negatives and did we meet this goal or that goal? It’s making sure they understand that he’s holding them accountable to what he says, and I like that about him.
You’re now entering Year 3 at OSU. In the big picture, what are the biggest changes or areas of progress you’ve seen since you arrived with Coach Andersen?
Obviously, the kids have bought into what Coach Andersen is preaching. Believing in the core values. Believing in his philosophies. Believing in him and us. I think that’s a huge deal. It’s always hard when there’s change, especially if somebody was doing something (else) for so long. We still have a few kids from the old regime, but at the end of the day, we had them for two years and going on three years. Even though we didn’t recruit them, and Coach A told us this, these are our guys. The athletic department stepping forward and building these facilities, I think that’s helped in the change. You see the difference in the way the kids look today. I think the weight room mentality and what Coach (Evan) Simon has done in there has changed, at least from when I first got here. There’s certain things that we do way differently than the last staff did, and the way somebody’s body develops is important to Coach Simon, but more importantly, to Coach Andersen. You can see the progress that they’re making there. They’re held to certain standards that they have to meet body-type wise and weight-room wise.
What’s your message been to your players before spring practice begins?
My biggest focus is being mentally ready in regards to the scheme. Understanding the defense. Again, we have a bunch of new guys coming in and Andrzej moving out. There’s no Bright, there’s no Shemar, there’s no Joah (while they’re still recovering from injury). Then Bright (needs to be) getting with them and Adam Soesman getting with them and going over stuff. I’m not really worried about conditioning. I think Coach Andersen’s brilliant when it comes to managing time and whatnot. He knows we’re not in the best of shape (because of the condensed winter conditioning period), so he’s gonna be smart with how we practice and whatnot. It’s focusing on our fundamentals and our technique, getting the scheme down, getting these guys reps and still being in the groove of football and then moving forward from there.
Oregon State assistant coach offseason interviews
Defensive coordinator Kevin Clune
Offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven
Offensive line coach T.J. Woods
Cornerbacks coach Cory Hall
Running backs coach Telly Lockette
— Gina Mizell | @ginamizell
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