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Q&A: Dick Tomey

 
New USF football administrator Dick Tomey said his regard for Bulls coach Willie Taggart "has grown" since he began his job last month.
New USF football administrator Dick Tomey said his regard for Bulls coach Willie Taggart "has grown" since he began his job last month.
Published March 6, 2015

Veteran Division I coach Dick Tomey, USF football's new administrative overseer (at the bargain-basement price of less than $7,000 a month), sat down Thursday afternoon with Tampa Bay Times staff writer Joey Knight. A swath of subjects, from Tomey's role in his new gig to his legendary "Desert Swarm" defense at the University of Arizona, was covered. Here are some excerpts from the 30-minute chat.

You've been living in Hawaii. Why come here and take on this job at this stage of your life? (Tomey is a 76-year-old grandfather of eight)
"Well, we're not through with Hawaii. ... But I think the reason I'm here is because of Mark Harlan and Coach (Willie) Taggart. I'm driven by people, not places. But obviously if you look at my background it looks like I'm driven by sunshine, and I'll clearly admit that (Tomey has coached at Arizona, San Jose State and Hawaii, among other places). But I've known Mark for a long, long time and I just think he's gonna be a sensational leader for South Florida. ... Mark asked me to come down (last fall) for two or three days and speak to all the coaches -- male and female -- and all the administrators about a variety of subjects. And in the meantime I got to know Coach Taggart and really started to develop a relationship with him because we just kept in touch over the phone. In fact, I believe we talked every week the last six months except two. Sometimes we talked for two minutes and sometimes we talked for a half-hour about what's going on. And I developed a really good feeling about him and who he was and all of that."

Describe your role here. What has Mark assigned you with doing?
"I think my role is gonna evolve, but right now I'm just trying to make sure when I walk by an office I know who that is. I'm trying to meet people and I'm trying to engage people, and I'm trying to attend as many USF events -- basketball, softball, baseball -- and engage with all the coaches. And then I think my role in football is to have a certain amount of oversight on all the things that football's involved with: compliance, the training room, the equipment room; all the people that run all those departments, as well as the football staff. I don't go to football coaches' meetings. That's rare. I've ducked in at a few and I'm going to duck in one this weekend. I go to practice when I can, but I'm gonna miss some practices, I'm sure. ... I think my role is evolving but my role basically is to help, and if I've got something to insert that I think will be helpful, I try to do that, but I try to do it in the right way. But like I told Coach Taggart, there may be some times when he or one of his coaches just wants to tell me to shut up. And I've said that to everybody because I've got opinions. You can't be a head coach for 29 years and not have opinions about a number of things. But I'm just gonna try to choose the right time to make a comment."

It has been said USF is close to turning the corner. Based on your initial observations and the homework you've done, do you agree?
"I would agree this is the kind of place that, if you're looking for places in the country that have a lot of the basic ingredients to have a great program -- football program, basketball program, athletic program -- I think this is one of those places. Now obviously, there are places for years that have had the ingredients and they really haven't made it happen. USF in football, when Coach (Jim) Leavitt was here, has a history of ringing the bell and really doing some great things. But I don't think it's a stretch to say this place has many, many of the ingredients that you need. That's very encouraging, and I think that's where I believe somebody like Mark can provide great leadership and be able to cut through some of the minutiae that some people get bogged down in, and yet do a great job in all the areas necessary to do it. He does a great job of picking people, and I'm not talking about me. I mean, picking people, picking coaches. I've gotten to know (basketball coach) Orlando (Antigua) and I've gotten to know (baseball coach) Mark (Kingston) and some of the coaches he's chosen lately, and I think they're all tremendous people. You can have all the stuff, but if you don't pick the right people, you're screwed."

I'm sure you've heard the dialogue about the value of on-campus stadiums. Does a place like this need one?
"Absolutely, I agree. ... I think South Florida, with the potential of the program, (an on-campus stadium) would be wonderful. And I think if you talked to Mark (Harlan), I think he'll say that he's on it and he's working at it. We've had some conversations about that, and so I think he very definitely agrees."

Your Desert Swarm defense at Arizona (which produced 10- and 12-win seasons in the 1990s) rarely blitzed and lined up the same way all the time. What made it so effective?
"Same alignment all the time...with very few exceptions. It was that the people fit the system. The system was unique. The system was developed by some of our coaches in concert with a system that had been developed in Canadian football. It was based on simplicity, it was based on the ability to play fast and play hard. We had a bunch of guys that were not three-star, four-star or five-star guys necessarily. We had some guys that were overlooked in cases, but they had a
burning desire to succeed and they were trying to prove themselves every day of their lives because of it, and that makes a huge difference."

So (former Wildcat) Teddy Bruschi wasn't a five-star player?
"Teddy Bruschi was probably a two-star guy, but he was a five-star player. ... He had 52 1/2 sacks for a career. If somebody has a career where they have 30 now, they think he did a great job. When you watched (high school) tape of him, great student, but he was short. He was like his coach -- I was short. And he grew an inch maybe in school, but he was such a great person and great player because he was so quick. And he was the kind of guy that made everybody better."

What are your impressions of Willie Taggart?
"My regard for him has grown since I've been here. ... I watch Coach Taggart after practice talking to the team, and they are locked on to him. They're riveted on him. And he has a little bit of Coach (Bo) Schembechler in him because he's not always just barking at them. He injects some humor into it. That kind of approach, I think, just has a staying power with people of all kinds. So I've just been impressed. I'm more excited about Coach Taggart and what he brings to the table than I was when I got here."