CFTV: Matt Campbell on Victory Day, start of 2024 season & camp wrapup

Intro what we get take what you can get what is this night like I know you've done it many times but to be touching yeah you know I I I still would say I go always go back to this it's always been bigger than us here and it's not just about football it's about how do you use your platform to make a difference on the lives of others and you know I think that's what tonight's really all about and you know we get way more out of it than I think sometimes we give so it's it's just a really special night for a team you talk about what you get out of it what kind of things do you get out of it for your team and yourself as a coach oh I I think for me my job is to build young men you know my not my job isn't always to win football games it's how do you build young men to be their best and I I think part of this journey is always finding those Avenues where how do you use the platform that you get to play a game that is really special and we get to do things that are really special um but it's a game and the reality of it is life's about making a difference in the lives of other people and how do you continue to find ways to do that so um to me it's always been my vision and I think these are nights and these are opportunities that continue to put the exclamation point on that I'm going to repeat a question I asked you a few History of Victory Day years ago but I know this came with you to would be pre-existing it came from somewhere else too could you go over the history of it again a little bit yeah yeah I was at a a high school clinic and and there was a great gentleman that that was a high school football coach and and up in the kind of outskirts of Detroit Michigan and you know he's talking about this program and and I was just so enamored by that and I thought geez what a if we did best at a Collegian setting this could have a profound impact and make a difference and you know when we did it at the University of Toledo it just took off and you know it was such a powerful event and I've always felt like coupling it with it a week before the start of the Season means a lot you know I I think there's so much that goes into college football today and you know to bring back some levity of hey this is this is a game and what we get to do is make a difference um I was just so impressed by that always from from that opportunity on and so it's been with us ever since and I'm really grateful that it has been and really grateful to make it help continue to carry on the tradition that some great High School football coach really put a lot of time and effort into forgive me if this is a Why Victory Day question you've been asked before but why is it called Victory Day yeah and that that was really his term um okay you know and and I think the think what you saw tonight it's a victory for everybody right I mean it's a victory for these young people that get the opportunity to go through it it's a victory for their families to be a to experience something that you know they may never get a chance to experience and I think it's a great victory for our kids and you know to be able to have our Spirit Squad to have the band here I mean they don't have to do this on a Friday night they got a lot of work to do before the start of the Season they're just getting back to school and you're just really grateful I think for me it shows a little bit too of the victory of how special it is to play here and you know the commitment from our amazing band and our amazing cheer squad that and they would want to come out on a Friday night before the start of school and be a part of this with us and and make that equal difference we're really grateful for that what does this Last Friday before game week bring out in your players being the last Friday before game week oh I I I just think again that that reminder that I mean these are 18 to 22 year old kids you know and and the reality of it is is you know they're growing from young man to man and I I think the opportunity to take a step back and and realize you know again how fortunate they are to get to do what they get to do but also the impact that they can have on other people and you know I I can't say it enough I I think we continue to try to found this vision of man it is bigger than you and can you give more than you ever take from the hole um probably need more of that in our society in some way shape or form but I think our kids you know really do a great job with that I think they've shown to do a great job with that and great opportunity maybe do that one more time before things get uh you know just get a little hectic with the football season coming their way you know it feels like yesterday since we Fall camp wrapup talked to you but now that fall Camp is wrapped up but just ask if you know your overall impressions of how the group performed yeah again I I I think to me there's a difference between probably where we were a year ago and where we are today just because of you know I think the experience factor and the maturity factor and and maybe even us as coaches knowing a little bit more who we are and I think the thing that I I probably appreciate as the head coach watching this group go through it is a sense of urgency that they had every single day in Fall camp and you know I saw our coaches grow I saw our players grow um and there was a great urgency every single day we stepped on that practice field and I think that's hard to do to to be honest with you and fall C can be a grind and you know there was an extra week this year with school starting a week later but man I thought our kids investment in the in the buying into the process it takes to be successful and um there was a great Buy in value but um now we'll get test it and we'll see can that continue with the ups and downs of the season and with results both good and bad and and how do you handle all those things we're about to get tested about what we've been willing to sacrifice for the last six to seven months M and he we're talking Chaos in practice to us on Wednesday about the chaos that you put into practice can you describe uh what that looks like yeah I don't I don't know um yeah you know to me it's like how do you challenge your team you know I think you can get stale right and you can get stale in practice and um you got to challenge your coaches you got to challenge your team and you I think there's a point in Fall camp where you're kind of installing and then there's a point where you got to be creative and part of that creativity is football is chaos and you know I I think situational part of practice how do you continue to change the rhythm of practice how do you challenge your kids how do you create losses in the in the day and try to see how kids and coaches respond to that and um because all those things are real you know and I I think you guys know this I've said this you think you know but until this ball gets kicked off and the lights come on and there's 70,000 people sitting in the stands you don't know and I think my job is how many different ways can I create chaotic opportunities and force guys our players and our coaches to respond to those within practice and I think the more you do it and the more you fail and the more you succeed what worked what didn't work I think the more you have confidence when you actually step on the field and you know I think we're in a world where we have a lot of fake confidence but like trying to give our kids real confidence how you prepare how you come every day and you know boy this fall Camp if you didn't come every day to practice you were going to get embarrassed you were going to either get embarrassed by the by the game you were going to get embarrassed by the opponent um and and that was rewarding to see and again I I don't know if we've always had all those pieces to create some of that embarrassment but the great programs and the great teams I've been a part of we had that and that's kind of where that iron sharpens iron you better come or you're going to you're going to get exposed really fast and that's kind of what happens on game day is that ad Coaching in chaos libed by you or do you know going in like I'm going to pull the lever at this time yeah I mean you again I you don't want to be so chaotic that your guys aren't able to you know understand what's going on but I think there is a point to whereas the coach and you know I think the the older you get in this you you you're trying to create real life situations that can't actually happen and so some of it's ad lived at times but I I think the the reality is you stay within the structure of at least what you're trying to get accomplished that day but uh yeah I I think being the guy that's the play caller that's been in on offense that you play defense you kind of know like man what are those triggers that you better be prepared for and try to sprinkle those in along the way where did you learn this as a coach to say hey this isn't plan yeah I mean I I you know I was really fortunate to be a part of you know you're talking the winningest High School football coach in the history of Ohio High School football and the winningest college football coach ever in the history of college football and boy it was chaos as a player and it was chaos as the offensive coordinator and the coach and you better bring it every day and I think those values taught me a lot of like hey like I understand now why you did those things because it forced me to be my best and it forced me to prepare my kids to be the best and so I appreciate that I appreciate it now I don't know if I appreciated it then um but I think I appreciate it now because I really understood and and we got great coaches I mean you know there's never a time I'm sure at times it's it's not always like the most comfortable thing but I think their appreciation of hey like they understand what we're trying to get accomplish and it's not no nobody's trying to embarrass anybody you're just trying to get our team and our our whether you win or you lose that's not the that's not the reality of it it's how you did it and how you respond to it and that's what you're looking for as the coach oh