Unbelievable Interview with Oregon OL coach A'Lique Terry

[Charles Fischer]

This is from a podcast at 247...what a terrific young man and hats off to Erik Skopil for a fantastic, incredibly informative interview!

 

"When I got out here, I was like 'Golly, more people need to see this place because there's nothing like it. There is commitment to football, but the commitment to the university is unmatched. If you're anyone with a pulse, there's no reason you shouldn't go to this place."

 

Q: WHY COACHING? WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THIS AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE?
AT: "The Lord makes no mistakes. My dad is a coach. He's a defensive coordinator down in Miami. He's been coaching down there for 20 plus years — longer than I've been alive. All my family is around football. I have two older brothers. One played in the league 10 years. The other played in the CFL and does training. So, I've always been around football, but I never thought I wanted to coach.

 

"We had a pickup truck when my brother got to the league, he bought it for my dad, and we had 12 or 13 people in the truck and we'd take everybody home on the home. So I've always been around that type of an environment, I've always been cohesive with people. A lot of my family is extended family though the game of football. I think the coaching thing kind of got forced into my head.

 

"My senior year at Wake Forest, I got medically disqualified. I had too many concussions. Once again, the Lord makes no mistakes. One of my mentors was LeCharles Bentley. When I was playing I would go see him every summer to work on my skillset because he trains NFL offensive linemen. So any time I would come back from that training, I would coach my teammates — whenever we had extra practice.

 

"So, my senior year I get medially disqualified, and my coach tells me to stay around the team. I got elected before the deal had happened. So he said 'You're a captain on this team, the guys respond to you. Try this coaching thing out, so you can be around anyways'. That was the biggest blessing of my life. That's the only reason I think I'm blessed this young and be in this profession, because I kind of got a head start.

 

"I loved the game so much, that I would've been one of those guys where if I made it to the league [as a player] or if I didn't, I would've been in the CFL or the XFL. I would've been one of those guys consistently trying to make the roster, but because the game got taken away from me, it kind of forced me into this hand, and I'm so grateful for it. That senior year at Wake Forest was hands down my favorite year around football ever.

 

"That's the unique advantage I have over other offensive line coaches across this country, the first guys I ever had to coach are my friends. We know better than anybody. When your coaching your friends you're like 'bro shut up, I'm not hearing that'. So to be able to find that connection and to connect to those guys... at the end of the day, football is a unique sport because everybody is trying to get better.

 

If you find some tools for a guy to get better, I bet they come back. That's kind of the birth of that. I thank coach [Nick] Tabacca my O-Line coach at Wake so much, because he literally gave me the tools and told me to come do it for a year.

 

"Like you said, I could've done something else. The second I graduated, I went to go work for the Orange Bowl for like six months. I worked partnerships and sponsorships. I loved it. I could probably still be working there right now. It's funny how the world works, John Moss was my boss and he played for my dad in high school. I didn't know the connection. He saw my name in the interview and he was like 'I think I know that kids dad.

 

He used run around us at practice'. Sure enough, he ended up being my boss. I loved him to death. I just knew I couldn't work in the regular world. The working 9-to-5 deal, it just wasn't my vibe. I loved the job, but the repetitiveness of it, I was like 'if I'm going to be repetitive in anything I do, I'd rather be around the game of football, doing what I love'.

 

Q: YOU'VE SAID OREGON WAS YOUR DREAM SCHOOL GROWING UP, WHY? WHAT WAS THE HIRING PROCESS LIKE?
AT: "It was a blessing. The unique thing in being from the east coast was that the late night games were only one school at one point. It was Oregon. I was in high school from 2010-14. From that point, you couldn't tell me anything other than Marcus Mariota, De'Anthony Thomas and LaMichael James. The game of football in Miami is a big thing, but so is swag. So you'd see that swag late nights with Oregon.

 

"I remember being a kid, and it's funny now to have my DM's filled with messages from players. I remember I was doing that when Facebook was just starting. I remember messaging coach [Steve] Greatwood 'Hey, my name is A'Lique Terry yada yada yada." He was like 'if you get a chance to come on out, come to camp, man. We're really interested'. Being here now, you see why he was saying those kinds of things. You want guys to get here first so it's not just a field trip.

 

"It was a blessing because once I got here as a GA [graduate assistant], everything you imagine of a place, it was that times 10. Then the people here were even better. It was just a match made in heaven for me. If you're a football lover, there is nothing negative about this place. I'm just being honest. I'm not recruiting, I literally mean that. I thought Miami was a place that was committed to football, it's not even close when you come to a place like the University of Oregon.

 

"After being here as a GA, I wrote in my personal diary 'If Oregon ever called me back for a full-time job, I'm coming'. Sure enough, when I left for Hawaii, and the year was over, the guys spoke highly enough of me last year, because I didn't know coach Lanning from a can of paint, that he brought me back as an analyst. I was back for like four weeks. It was a short stint. I left for the Vikings and then once their season was over, getting that call from Lanning was a blessing.

 

"I was in Jamaica. I was enjoying a vacation. We had just gotten done with the NFL season. We'd just lost to the Giants in the playoffs. Actually, I was in Japan when he texted me and then I was like 'I'll be in Jamaica in a week, and I'll have my laptop with me and I'm ready to interview'. We already had a tremendous relationship from the month I was here. I communicated thoroughly with him about me leaving about the opportunity at hand in the NFL. He was completely supportive of it. He was like 'we'll cross paths again'. Who knew it would be in such short manner.

 

"I tell this story all the time. Coach Dillingham when I left, he was like 'where do you see yourself in five years? ' I was like 'in five years, I hope I'm the offensive line coach at Oregon'. I was like 'where do you see yourself in five years? He was like 'in five years, Herm will probably be retired from Arizona State, and I'll probably be up for the head coach at Arizona State'. Not even a year later, he was the head coach at Arizona State and I got the offensive line job at Oregon. So, the second coach Lanning called me, I called him and was like 'thanks for making me speak that into existence, because both of us are living out our dreams'.

 

"I was more than blessed and ecstatic when Lanning called me back the second time because it was my dream job to be the offensive line coach at the University of Oregon. For it to happen so young and for it to happen for me at such a time, I say blessed probably too much, but I don't care, because we're blessed.

 

Q: WHAT A STORY THAT IS AND HOW THAT TIES IT ALL TOGETHER.
AT: "Especially now when I was on the road this month, guys are scared about the environment of college football. They'd ask 'coach, are you going to be their long term?' I'm like 'maybe everybody can't say this comfortably, but as long as I do my job and I do what's necessary, and coach Lanning doesn't get rid of me, I ain't going nowhere'.

 

Q: What are the benefits or struggles of being such a young position coach?

AT: "The thing that I feared at first about being so close in age, end up being more of the positives. I think you hear a bunch when you talk to recruits or talk to our guys, it's more so, I'm not a screamer and I'm not a yeller. I've been there. I know what it feels like when someone is unnecessarily screaming at you. The task at hand isn't going to get done.

 

These are young men we're trying to turn into grown men, let's have a conversation first. If we're having the conversation three times, then I might have to raise my voice and get a little out of character.

 

"I want to be the same person every single day and is that me being young? I think it's more that I'm closer to being in the game than a lot of other people. I call it the end-of-the-world disease. Not everything is the end of the world to me. These young men are 17 to 21 years old. They're learning and in this process, it's my job to help them learn and find their ways. It doesn't have to be all screaming and yelling. That's just my style.

 

"Connecting with them, and I'm not sure if it's my age or that the first people I coached where my best friends, so I don't have to be M-fing people all the time to get a serious point across. Coach Lanning does a tremendous job with our staff and says 'if you're coaching, we can communicate'. We're teachers. I learned that from coach Mirabal even prior to this. My dad is a teacher and a coach. We're teachers at the end of the day. I know guys will try to use that against me with me being young.

 

"Coach Mirabal is like my true mentor. He's one my mentors. He said it when coach Lanning hired me 'remember son, coach Lanning didn't hire you to try out for this position, you're fit for this position. Don't let anyone with age try to play with you. This isn't a try out. You've got the damn thing, so do it'. Once I heard that from him, there's no pressure. What pressure is there? The pressure was the interview. The pressure was all that other stuff. Now, it's doing what we all love to do, and what everyone in this building does.

 

Q: WHAT ARE YOUR CAREER ASPIRATIONS?
AT: "I'm a big proponent of being where you're feet are. I lot of my OGs have stated that. This thing is so volatile that you can have an idea of what you want to do, but because this is so volatile, every day have an appreciation for what you doing, so you can control things a little bit better. 

 

"If it was ideal to my situation, it's to be an offensive line coach. We have to be responsible for about 20 guys. You're basically a coordinator half the time. I know people don't like to say that, but the responsibility that's tasked by offensive line coaches is already enough. I love the position and everything that comes with it, so I don't have aspirations of being an OC or a head coach or whatever it may be. I learn every day. If that winds up happening a decade from now, let the chips fall where they may. 

 

"Honestly, if there were something that would remove from this position in the next or five years, it would have to be a head coaching job in my eyes. But even then, all due to respect, there's not many places like this place, so if it's not the right fit... "

 

"I was just telling that to someone the other day, 'it's more than just UO, it's fit, it's the people and it's the connection'. I have a relationship with a ton of the players and I helped recruit a ton of the players here, it's just so many chips fell perfectly. Once you experience this place, and I've been blessed to be able to a lot of places — my brother was a 5-star — I went to every school. My dad has been coaching forever and he used to take a van and take us on a trip to all the southeastern schools.

 

When I got out here, I was like 'Golly, more people need to see this place because there's nothing like it. There is commitment to football, but the commitment to the university is unmatched. If you're anyone with a pulse, there's no reason you shouldn't go to this place.

 

Q: What did you get out of working with defensive lineman with the Minnesota Vikings last year?

AT: "I don't hide, and I don't care if anyone thinks I should, but I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't want to do it. As an African-American offensive line coach, I didn't want to be associated with someone who couldn't handle the cerebralness of offensive line play. So I didn't want to go to defensive line and hear 'oh, he's just a defensive line guy because he couldn't handle O-Line. So, I was really like 'I don't know if I want to do this'. 

 

"But then in the interview process, talking to Ed Donatell and Kevin O'Connell it made so much sense. Kevin O'Connell is from the Sean McVay family and a lot of the coaches have coached on both sides of the ball. Once I took a step back and stopped looking at it from such an individualistic perspective, he was like 'you're not wrong in your thinking, but understand how much better of a football coach you'll be when you know what you're opponent is trying to do.

 

"I'm so grateful. I thank Good Gosh daily that I did it. The year that I was able to spend under Chris Rumph, who was the defensive line coach there, and being around Dalvin Tomlinson, and all those guys in that room, being able to learn three different levels of defense and defensive techniques [was significant]. I was tasked with coaching the defensive line.

 

So, I had to learn this stuff quickly to be able to reiterate it to our guys to be able to use it. Like I said earlier, guys will come back if you give them something that they'll use. So being able to teach defensive line stuff through the eyes of an offensive lineman, I think those guys appreciate that even more.

 

"Now I'm able to do that but vice-versa. Now I'm able to teach our guys different things of 'this is what the defensive line is looking for'. I put way more respect on defensive linemen after coaching them for a year. I probably thought it was a little more see ball get ball, but being in a system where it was so much more intricate than that, being so detailed, you realize those guys sacrifice as much as we do, they just get it from a cheat alignment because they get to lean forward at the snap of the ball and we don't. It's really a sacrificial position, and the guys who do it the right way, they take on double teams for linebackers.

 

"Being able now to help our guys see those things, and see things defensively from a shell standpoint, and the eyes guys play with us. Coach Lanning is a tremendous defensive mind and Tosh is a tremendous defensive mind, so they play games with our eyes. Now I can confidently 'them don't worry about this because this is going to happen or don't worry about this because this is going to happen'. If it wasn't for that experience I had last year, I wouldn't be able to be as consistent as I am with it now.

 

"Obviously, being around those guys in the NFL, who do it at the highest level, seeing about how they went about their work every day — Kevin O'Connell, Chris Rumph, Ed Donatell — everybody in that building from the GM all the way down, it's just ran different. Those guys are consistent. It made me approach my work different.

 

"At least me personally, every staff I get around, I'm going to try and soak up as much as possible to see what I can add to my arsenal to become a better ball coach. Being around those guys, I'm forever grateful. Obviously, we had a tremendous year, we were division champs and made it to the playoffs, and all that good stuff. It was a blessing. I'm so thankful for it.

 

Q: What's your dynamic with Mike Cavanaugh like? Is there a good cop bad cop?

AT: "The law firm is myself, coach Can and Cutter Leftwich. We take tremendous pride in the law firm. I remember in the interview process he asked if I'd have an ego if we brought an analyst on. The more eyes you have on the offensive line the better. Being here with the previous staff, it was coach Cristobal, coach Mirabal and myself. Having multiple eyes on the offensive line is a benefit.

 

"We can sit here and tell a recruit 'you don't think coach Lanning, a defensive coach, is committed to offensive line play? Hello, he's got three guys in here committed to offensive line play'.

"The relationship coach Cav, coach Cut and myself have is tremendous. I just had to kick them out of my office to do this because we're always together.

 

They call us the law firm because we're always together and we're probably snacking on something 24-7. Like you said good cop bad cop, I've learned from coach Cav and he's even said he likes the way that if I do go off, I go off in a way where it's still love. I've learned so much from him and vice versa.

 

"For me, to have someone who has put 30 plus guys in the league and who has been doing this at the highest level since I've been alive, I'd be ignorant sitting here not taking anything in or bouncing ideas off of each other. For me, it only helps the university. I told coach that. I said 'what am I going to have an ego for? If at the end of the day, it's going to help us be better, let's do it'.

 

"I think the relationship we have is tremendous and I think it rubs off on our guys. Recruits come in and they see that. I've been a part of situations at multiple levels where you have multiple guys in a room and it affects the players. On the offensive line we don't have stats, so what do we have an ego for? Let's go get these guys to kick butt and that's all that matters.

Q: WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT SPRING BALL AS YOU USHER IN A NEW ERA OF LINEMEN?
AT: "To me, the will and the fight out of all those guys. Even if you task them something new, they were like 'coach, bring it on. We want all parts of it.' To me, the offensive line unit, to me, it's a developmental position. Guys have to be taught. This is the third time. You all know the first time it happened was Shane, Jake, and all those guys were redshirt freshman and they had 50-something starts. Then we had the Salas, the T.J., Alex Forsyth, Ryan Walk. Boom, now they are going, and its back again.

 

"I think this is one of the things we try to reiterate, even to recruits, this place is built for it. We're going to have growing pains because its new football for these guys, but we have the right guys to put into these positions. That's half the battle. The guys have the mental makeup to do it, the rest is then on us, coach Cav, Coach Cut, Coach Love to help those guys get bigger, faster stronger in the weight room.

 

We'll do our job of development and getting the knowledge up. Those guys want to have it. That's the part that matters most to me. Every single day those guys are getting extra work. We don't have to make it mandatory to get that work.

"When we were out on the road, I was getting screenshots of guys up top saying 'Coach, we got 15 guys out there.' To me, that's the stuff that will matter. All the other stuff sounds good, but who's putting in the work because they know we have to replace four or five guys? We got a whole new lineup and they gotta work cohesively. Just because we're going with four or five new guys we're not going to just say 'Well, we'll take our chances.'

 

We are aiming to go win it all every single year we step out there, whether that is with five walk-ons or five scholarship guys. The expectations are never going to change.

 

"Now we have competitive guys. Who are going to end up being the five? Who isn't going to just put together a few good days of practice, but who is going to put together 30 good days of practice?"

 

Q: How do you decide to go after a player in the transfer portal?

AT: "It's a little different because players are different without a doubt. You probably have a little bit more access to film in college because of PFF. In high school you are relying on highlights and maybe some camp highlights that they do. Portal guys, especially guys — all due respect, there is no set way in doing this. You might find a guy who hasn't played a down and you say

 

'Let's go after him' and there might be a guy who's played a ton of downs and you say 'Let's go after him.' Obviously it'd be more ideal if a guy, played more downs so you had more film to evaluate, and then you go and evaluate.

 

"For me, it's still the same as high school guys. You are still looking for a high-character A-hole. I really want people in our room that if someone drops a wallet with a thousand dollars in there, you get a wallet back with a thousand dollars in there. But once you're within the white lines, it's fricken-You, fricken-Everybody, and if you're not in Green, Yellow, or White, you're going to get it for four quarters straight.

 

"When you pop on the film, obviously you can't see if he's high-character kid, but you can see if he's an A-hole. You can see if he's consistent, if he's finishing consistent. The kid might be in a situation where he might be at his roof there, and he wants to go somewhere else, and that's on us to evaluate on film. This kid has a ton of extra growth, this kid is doing this right now, this kid could do this, whatever the case may be. We are never going to reach. It has to be a necessity and its somebody that truly fits of what we are and what we want to be, we'll go after them.

 

"If not, if he doesn't fit, no disrespect, but other people might dive at every single thing possible, but we're not going do so. Once again, we are going to recruit our tails off with the high school recruit and then if it's a necessity and it'll help our program for the portal, we'll go that route."

 

Q: WHERE DOES YOUR GROUP NEED TO MAKE STRIDES BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS?
AT: "For me, because it's such a young group, kind of, you've got Grizz [Steven Jones] and some older guys, but for me it's the mental finish. We've got a bunch of guys right now who finish their tales off, but to be a young group, that can mentally withstand whatever happens to us. Have you ever seen Men in Black? They have that little flash that erases your short-term memory.

 

It's one of those deals, because they're going to be growing pains. Some of these guys have never played collegiate ball yet, and they're going to be required to play a lot of collegiate ball. There's going to be growing pains.

 

"So having the mental fortitude that no matter what happens we can come back and be the same great player you know you are regardless of what happened or what the result was. If you talk anything physical, come out here and watch a workout. They work their tail off. They're explosive. They can change direction. All of that stuff we're going to get. If you've played the position, you know it's going to be more mental than anything. If those guys continue to grow themselves mentally, I think we'll be exactly where we want to be.

 

Q: WHAT'S BEEN THE MOST CHALLENGING AND MOST SATISFYING PARTS OF THIS JOB SO FAR?
AT: "Probably the most challenging part is the amount of things you have to get done. When you're a GA you don't realize the amount of things you've got to get done. I'm not trying to sound corny, but I missed the guys when I was on the road last month. There are so many things that are required. It's not like it's a burden. You just don't realize that when you're a GA role.

 

You do a ton as a GA, so you're like 'I'm always busy'. Then you realize when it is your position, you're respectfully accountable for a lot more. That's probably the biggest surprise, I guess, is that you're responsible for a lot more, but that's just because it takes me away from the intricacies of football and the teaching that I like. But, it'll come naturally because they'll see me everyday when the season gets here.

 

"The most satisfying part is seeing a guy literally not be able do it, and then a week later he might be one of the best in the room at doing it. That's like 'OK we've got some grass here'. I'll given an example. Dave Iuli in the first week of spring was struggling to run outside zone because it wasn't so much an outside zone team last year. It's keeping those guys confident. 'Yeah, you're not getting it, but you haven't done it a ton'.

 

Then a week later, he's ripping off the ball and stretching the three-technique. That's probably the most satisfying when you see guys struggle, because they might really be trying hard for two days and still can't get it. You have to understand that repetition is the king of all. A week later that dude is doing it.

 

"That's probably not even the most satisfying. That would be seeing Dave or Poncho [Iapani Laloulu] telling teammates 'Look, do it like this'. Then it becomes contagious and all those guys are helping each other. That's probably the best part of our room. The camaraderie those guys got. Those guys love each other, and that's half the battle right there. If you love each other, you're going to play even harder on Saturday."

[Smith72]

Thank you Charles for transcribing the interview.

 

I agree totally that Coach Terry is a terrific person and Our Beloved Ducks are fortunate he is coaching the Ducks!

 

He's the kind of coach I'd run through a wall for!

[Drake]

A young coach that is willing to work hard, wants to learn from others, and teach lessons about the game of football to his guys.

 

Kind of sounds like Dan Lanning wants to surround himself with people like himself. Our “young coaching staff”seems to have a tall ceiling. 

[TerryM9]

I absolutely loved this post, thanks Charles!

[kirklandduck]

Loved reading this article. It makes you wonder if Lanning is slowly building a staff of both quality and longevity similar to the golden Oregon past of the Mike Bellioti years and before with coaches staying for a decade or more.

Edited June 3, 2023 by kirklandduck

[Charles Fischer]

Reading this also gave me more assurance about his ability to recruit as well.

[idontrollonshobbas]

When I was listening to this podcast, I was blown out by Coach's charisma, energy and passion for the game and teaching young men.  What an inspiration...

 

High character A-holes.....that says it all.