summer I think we've made uh great improvement with our strength levels um we've made consistent improvement with our body comps our body comps are comparable right now to um you know the teams that have achieved their full Su uh potential in the past and I'm very pleased with that you know quite frankly it's a it's a special thanks to our training department um our strength and conditioning coaches Jim Kramer and Ryan napy for doing a outstanding job in preparing those guys but most importantly our our players have shown up and and they've been competitive you know they've been Improvement driven and and they've been tough um through all three segments of our program so far all right and Coach a final question I have for you is is that you know you've had a busy summer with camps you with players and and everything and also getting acclimated again in Fargo you know what's the biggest thing you've learned so far from from your program as you go into your first year Well hiring people um in July is a little bit tough you know we've hired an operations guy here late um we've hired a recruiting guy a little bit later than I would like um just learning you know firsttime head coach um there are certain times of the year that it's easier to go through the full process and to navigate interviews and to visit with people to make best hires possible but I'm very pleased with how our staff has come together um there's a good mix of you know NDSU tradition and experience and knowledge with um some Talent new perspec perspective and Youthful energy um I think we've attacked the recruiting process as good as we we can right now I look forward to looking at the areas that we can improve in um June was challenging but it was exciting and it was uh it was productive for us you know where we stand in in in our minds in a you know acquisition of talent right now we feel really strong about that and I look forward to building the relationship stronger with those families and the kids that we do have verbally committed in this class um I think you know I'd be remiss if I didn't say a special thanks to our Administration um in this early term of you know my career as a head coach but um Dr Cook Matt Larson Todd Phelps um Ryan pral um you know Derek Lang and cleen Hemstead with with uh compliance they've all been there to answer questions um and to find answers rather than saying hey we can't do this um and so I'm real appreciative of them and then uh you know I think our local media here you know does a good job of uh getting some things out and I know NDSU is always looking to improve um ways to connect with our with our fan base all right thanks coach thank you coach our next question comes from Kelly Burke Kelly hey coach uh long time no talk yeah how you doing Kelly good how are you I'm great how how much of a a difference will having 27 seniors be in in your first season back now as head coach yeah I think you know that's an interesting question coming off of a Personnel meeting yesterday you know in in the thing it it brought me back to right like some of this stuff is my third time back here at Fargo into North Dakota State you know we have to be conscious of leveraging a veteran group but we have to be smart with them they've played a lot of football they've practiced a lot there's a lot of repetitions under their belt and we've got to not only sharpen them and sharpen the sword but we have to be very aware um where they're at from a repetition standpoint um I think everybody in our program including myself can improve daily uh we're going to try to go one and0 we're going to try to uh bring back some of the the clima isms you know we're going to embrace the process learn to love it again and we want to have fun um when we're on this journey the journey is as simple as this you know can we reach our full potential as a football team this year um I think there's a lot of programs in this conference that when they do reach their full potential you know they a shot to make a run at something pretty cool and we're going to stay really levelheaded um at the Forefront will be our core values and our standards and then just taking advantage of each and every opportunity starting with um Sunday and Reporting on the 28th and practicing on the 29th what what are your biggest question marks in filling the three starting spots on your offensive line well I I just think to see how the camaraderie um how communication the cohesiveness all shakes out and then quite frankly I I think one thing that I learned about coaching the o line at Iowa is oftentimes we would grade out individually at a high rate but if they all decide to take turns of making a mistake from play to play it just doesn't go very good so cohesiveness and consistency um in applying and you know being actionable to what our standard is upfront um is going to be imperative and and we have some time but that time is starting to shrink and so some guys have separated I think this summer and they positioned themselves in a better position um to be in the top seven and then to find out okay who are going to be the rotational guys outside and inside where's our depth going to come from I do like the depth um we may be a little bit young or inexperienced but no one cares the world don't care and we got to go out and perform there's some there's some guys that we excited to coach that's the bottom line and I think they're hardworking and uh we will get we'll get better day by day finally you know last year cam Miller and Cole Peyton they led the team in rushing touchdown so what kind of balance do you envision having between the quarterback run game and your actual actual running back room and the way you guys utilize fullbacks yeah I think that that's another um that's spot on that's been so a directive that I've had um for our staff is you know I would like for us in a year or two here to have a run running back back on a poster of our schedule you know we want to have a guy that we can highlight we want a very strong group with the running back group um I don't think uh the past offensive staff did a poor job at all it just the way it shook out is K Cole pyton and cam are very capable Runners and sometimes that's the best way to to create leverage um to create opportunities as far as numbers go in the Run game and angles um maybe lighter boxes and so we'll we'll continue to look at every aspect of not only who's carrying the ball but how do we run the ball most efficiently and and try to generate some explosive plays thank you coach you got it coach your next question comes from Victor Halton Victor hi coach how are you good how you doing sir good I'm with college football dogs and I just uh had a question if you would uh comment on replacing uh Matt an who's headed out to Southern Cal yeah I mean unbelievable guy hardworking guy terrific football coach I I've been looking and I've been searching you know okay where are we off I'm not sure um that we're off at all you know we just got to make a few more plays in critical moments we got to be a little cleaner in big games and in big moments we've got to eliminate some bad football at times but you know Matt won a hell of a lot of games the last three years including a national title you know obviously we came up short one time and then you know lost in a semifinal on a two-point play and know but you know just want to mention you know congratulations to South Dakota State getting done again last year um uh Matt an is a really good coach left this program in really good hands uh there's some really good players at the top of our roster with the 27 seniors and um I appreciate Matt's openness uh willingness to communicate with me on on certain topics and and giving me answers and I look forward to staying connected with him especially with Kell n still being on the football team thank you coach your final question comes from Zack Bor good morning Zach good morning coach Zack Bor with Dakota news now Su Falls uh been away about I know you've been away about eight years now from uh the Missouri Valley but in returning what you've seen so far what's changed with within the other programs that you've seen what's different and what looks similar what what's the what are some of the newer challenges to see as you come back into the league I think one of the things we've talked a lot about you know is is um community and team and being a bison is pretty cool right but we got to have a chip on our shoulder you know I still remember a time I think it was Jeff copek asked me you know or asked Coach B at the time you know how are you guys gonna how are you g to catch Northern Iowa you know man that's a good-looking football team and you know as time has gone on you know NDSU has had a lot of success we want to continue to have our success but I guess I have a great deal of appreciation uh for the programs and the institutions and how much improvement they've made um man is this league tough I'm I'm sitting here looking at the standings and the the finals uh final standings from last year and I just it's good football with good coaches really tough uh physical football players and in this conference uh specifically up front you know when you talk about the front the tight ends and the o line um and you talk about the defensive lines and the linebackers that we see very not comparable I would say in a lot lot of cases much better than most mid- major football conferences out there and it's an honor to be the head coach at North Dakota State and to be part of this conference that has continued to improve so many teams in our league have made you know some decisions have made some facility adjustments to to be better and I have a great appreciation and respect level for that um at the same time um I really appreciate what we've done here at North Dakota state to keep us very competitive we understand the standards here and look forward to trying to achieve our goals this year thank you and that's Tim poic's final comments there we'll break we come back Mike mcf in studio we'll listen to uh little playback of that get some thoughts from Mike hour two of hot Mike back after this [Music]