Q: “Mike, the last two seasons have obviously been challenging for a host of different reasons. And midway through last year, you lose to Stanford. The administration comes out and basically says, we’ll see what happens at the end of the year in terms of the future of the head coach.
They bring you back. But I’m wondering what going through all of that was like for you, whether you felt like you were having to coach for your job and lessons learned from last season that now will help you headed into this year as you guys try and get back to a bowl and compete for a championship.”
A: “You know, I’ve been fortunate to be in the position I’m in. I’m going to my 11th year as a Division I head coach and I’m fortunate for every day. And I love what I get to do.
I love who I get to do it with. But you know, it’s never been, you know, for me, something that’s been based off of the outside perception. It’s about what are we doing on a daily basis to go and put our best foot forward.
And so, you know, I’m excited for this season. I’m excited for the opportunity. You know, we’ve been able to, I think, bring together a really, really good football team that is going to have a high level of expectation and also a high level of potential of what I believe we can achieve.
And so, for me, you make the most of each day. You know, you come and you put everything that you have into the people that you get to do it with. And then, you know, making sure that you see that growth, you see that improvement.
And, you know, we’ve got a team that is really embracing the work and the expectation we have within this program because we do know what it looks like. We’ve been a part of, you know, being able to lift ACC Championship Trophy. We’ve won 19 games in a row.
We’ve been able to do this. And we have also experienced some really hard and challenging times and we know how to respond and arise from those. And then, you know, obviously it’s about going to take the next step.
So this year, we put ourselves in a position that we all expect to be in. And that’s competing for championships because when you come to Florida State, that is what you aspire to do on a yearly basis. And, you know, we have those same expectations.
But our approach to that is just truly trying to be the best that we can be, you know, day in and day out. So we’re in a position to be able to achieve that.”