RE: Bloomgren Article In The Athletic
How many of the current players remembered you as the Stanford offensive coordinator who unleashed an offense that scored eight touchdowns and 62 points?
“A lot of them. Even some of the guys that stayed around in the building — the director of football operations, my assistant — they were there. Because of the game, their trip to Sydney was awful. Because the game went the way it did, they were like, ‘Man, that was a horrible trip.’ I’m sure it wasn’t and I’m sure they’re glad they went, and talking to some of the outgoing seniors they said they were glad they went.
Other than staying calm, what was the best piece of advice that Shaw gave to you?
“Just to talk about the word ‘process’ to everybody to make sure everybody — understand that there is so much work to be done. We have a great roadmap. Trust us a little and we’ll earn it. But, let’s just take steps every day. Let’s not think that we can solve this with a magic pill, because there’s not one.
“The best advice from somebody I didn’t know well, and just wanted to give me some brotherhood advice because you’re in this small group of head coaches. … I had a chance to talk to (North Carolina coach) Larry Fedora. We played them in the bowl game two years ago, and I talked to him at the Texas high school function. All his family members are coaches down here in Texas, he has great Texas roots. I had a chance to talk to him and tell him how much I respect his program. I’ve studied his path and he was very complimentary of everything we did at Stanford, as well.
“Then it kind of came and went like many conversations. Then, the next morning I was having breakfast at the Marriott and I walk by and he was like, ‘Hey Bloom, what are you doing?’ And I was like, ‘Just getting ready for an interview in 20 minutes.’ He was like, ‘Have a seat.’ He was like, ‘How’s it going?’ I gave him my spiel that I don’t think I can get it all done. I feel guilty going to sleep. Even when I do go to sleep I’m thinking about X, Y and Z.
“He said, ‘You can’t. You’ve got to make lists every day. You’ve got to cross things off and then go to sleep, wake up and attack the list again. You can’t get it all done.’
“I know that sounds so simplistic and so basic, but honestly at that time, to hear that from somebody who has the experience of being a successful head coach, that meant a lot. That has kind of become a charge in our office — cross another thing off the list, cross another thing off the list, let’s make progress.”
“And then from the Stanford side I was like, ‘Man, what a great trip that was.’ But the other thing about playing them in the first game is the reality that there’s a lot of work to do and I hope they can see that from a sincere perspective. There’s a lot of work to be done and when I tell them that we have a roadmap and a few ideas that they can invest and buy into that.”
Most of the stuff is just rehashing stuff that has been said in other articles but those are the two questions that I thought were a bit different.
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