Coach Patrick Nix on finally calling plays

[DKW 86 7,440]

Tech's Nix calls the shots

He's ready to take over play-calling for Gailey

By MATT WINKELJOHN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/29/06

Patrick Nix carried the title of offensive coordinator the past two seasons at Georgia Tech, but other than calling plays as the team was in hurry-up mode, the offense belonged to head coach Chan Gailey. This season, all play-calling duties will be handled by Nix, who's in his fifth season at Tech. In an interview with The Journal-Constitution, Nix said he feels more empowered now.

Q: Has the fact you'll be calling plays changed the way you go about your job?

A: Yeah, without a doubt. In the past, it was [Gailey's] offense, and his decisions. Any change that I wanted to make didn't necessarily mean it was going to be made. You definitely had to pitch through him. Now, you watch opponents coming up or what you did during the spring [on tape], and if you want to make changes or tweak things, then you have the liberty to do that.

Q: Do you need his approval to make philosophical changes?

A: He doesn't even know. ... I know what he wants as far as general principles ... and he knows what I think and believe. I think that's where it ends. He doesn't want to know the day-to-day type stuff. If he wanted to know that, he'd still be the coordinator. He wants me to handle it; move the ball and score points, and find ways to win is the bottom line.

Q: Give me a couple examples of general principles of football that he wants you to keep in mind.

A: Don't get yourself beat. I think a lot of football games are lost instead of won. We want to be in the mindset of not losing the game, but at the same time have the ability to win them, too. There's a fine line there with that. We're not going to be afraid to take our chances, but at the same time, we have to be very smart when we're taking those.

Q: Do you have a different comfort zone now?

A: It's probably more challenging now because you know when you go in it's your decisions, and you're the one putting it together. In the past, you could make suggestions and sometimes they stuck and sometimes they didn't, but now they're decisions. [Gailey] says it all the time: As an assistant coach, you always have suggestions, and as a head coach you have decisions. There's a big difference. It's the same way with a coordinator. It sort of changes your mindset in what you're doing because now when you decide to do something, you're doing it. You're not just suggesting it. You know you can't just go in there and throw something against the wall ... you'd better be sure.

Q: Did you tell Chan that you wanted to call plays?

A: He knew that when he hired me. This will be the fourth team I've called plays for. I think he knew from day one I'd like to, but obviously he didn't know me real well and I didn't know him real well.

Q: What does he do with his extra time?

A: I have no idea. I know he's always busy. He's never in our meetings. We joke about it all the time; there are plenty of fires to put out. A lot of times, we don't want to know all the fires he has to put out, and he doesn't necessarily want to know what we're doing in our meetings, either. He's going to let us go. He's going to run the Georgia Tech football program, and let us run the offense. There's always somebody in his office. Looking back now, it's sort of amazing that he was able to do it all.

Q: When the offense struggles, a lot of the criticism will come your way now. You may be ready for that, but have you let your wife [Krista] know it may be different?

A: We were married when I played, and that's the way it was when I played. You throw an incompletion at Auburn, you're second-guessed. It doesn't matter if you're at Samford, or Henderson State or Georgia Tech, it's going to happen. Our rule has been over the last 15-plus years, we don't read newspapers [or] listen to the radio. ... We might watch ESPN if it's not going to be something about Georgia Tech. We're sort of oblivious to what's going on. I'm not very worried about her at all. She's been there and done that. My mother, having been the wife of a coach for 39 years, has trained herself. The ones I worry about are my 8-, 6- and 3-year olds.

Q: What do you mean?

A: It's unfortunate, but everybody probably does think we're overpaid and everything else. ... It's unfortunate that a lot of times the kids take the brunt of things. People forget that we're human, and that we have families, and kids who love us just like everybody else. Really, when they take shots at me, they're more taking shots at kids. You want to talk play-calling, that's fine, but when it gets personal, and sometimes people do cross the line. We're very guarded at our house, and that's part of the territory.

Q: Has that happened yet, where your kids have taken some heat?

A: It's never happened. That's one great thing about living in Atlanta. I'd say 90 percent of the kids in my kids' class don't know what I do, and they don't know anything about Georgia Tech. Some of them are Ohio State fans, or this fans or that fans. If it was a small college town, it'd probably be different. Living in Atlanta probably gives us a little more shelter. It hasn't happened. It will. I know it will. My kids are very sports-oriented, and they know what's going on.

Q: Will you deal with that when it happens, or have you warned them it will?

A: You warn them, but at the same time you deal with it when it happens. It was no different for me growing up. Yeah, it was high school football [his father Conrad Hix, still coaches at Northside Warner Robins], but still in small town everybody's got their opinion of what the coach is doing. It's not always easy. There've been many a day, and many a night when my brother and I have been very upset or very mad, and you learn a lot. If I have to go to school one day for my boy hitting somebody, that'll be part of it and we'll just deal with it. Hopefully, it'll never come to that.

Q: How much different will the offense appear to fans?

A: The real answer is the fans that want to see a difference will see a difference, and the fans that don't want to see a difference won't see a difference. Basically, fans see what they want to. Some will be truly analytical and they'll see a little bit of both, some things that are very similar to what we did last year, and some where they go, "Wow! I hadn't seen that in four years!" The bottom line offensively is get the ball in the hands of the players who can make plays. We've got about four or five guys who can make differences in games. It's our job as coaches to find ways to get the ball in their hands.

Q: In simple language, how will the plan of attack change?

A: You can't say that until the season starts because you ... have to do what the defense lets you do.

Q: Is the offense likely to be any more oriented toward [All-America wide receiver] Calvin Johnson than in the past?

A: There will be times when we know we've got to get the ball in Calvin's hands. I think there will be times when you don't want to say he's a decoy, but ... they'll double-team him, and we've got other options, other good players. When push comes to shove, he's got to sort of be the center point, and they've got to go out and cover him or he's going to beat them.

Q: Is it accurate to say that for Calvin to continue developing, he has to catch the ball more over the middle?

A: I wouldn't say there's anything he needs to do to keep developing. He's basically done any and everything we've asked him to do?

Q: Where does [quarterback] Reggie Ball stand relative to his development going into this season compared with previous summers?

A: He definitely did not make a big leap between his freshman and sophomore seasons, which often happens. He did made a jump between his sophomore and junior seasons, did some things better. But, when you look at the offensive line being a little inexperienced, that sort of drew back what we could do. A lot of it at the quarterback position, you've got 10 other players around you and you can only go as far as those 10 players. Hopefully, those other 10 players can go farther this year and he can, too.

Q: Does he have any more input into what you're going to do offensively than in the past?

A: No, not really. We sort of see what he's comfortable with, but at the same time, this is our system and you've got to fit into that not us fitting to you. I think it's a fine line because as a coach you have to take all the players you have and use them to their best.

Q: Do you envision using him significantly differently than in the past?

A: We're not going to do anything differently in terms of drastic changes, or anything like that. We've gotten him out of the pocket some in the past. It goes back to what the defense will allow you to do so, hopefully, we'll give him a chance to run possibly a little bit more. But we've got some running backs who can run, too.

Q: Do you anticipate Reggie's arm being well enough that he won't be limited?

A: Yes, he finished the spring strong.

Q: Give me a couple guys who stood out in spring practice.

A: [Running back] Jamaal Evans had a really good spring, especially for an incoming freshman. Rashaun Grant, the other running back, did really well. And Tashard [Choice] did well. Michael Matthews, the tight end, really did some good things. Mansfield Wrotto, moving from defense to offense, was a pleasant surprise. Kevin Tuminello, our center, continues to get better and better. Probably the biggest thing overall is our offensive line just being around each other another year, four of the five. I think that was the biggest plus for us coming out of the spring, the offensive line. We've got a little bit of depth for the first time since we've been there.

Q: Any injuries that are worrisome?

A: No ... and the good thing is we have some depth. We don't have but one Calvin, and we know that, but at every other position we've got some depth. You're not going to replace Calvin Johnson if something happened to him. That would have to be a collective unit; everybody would have to replace him.

Q: How good can the Tech offense be?

A: Realistically, we can be 12th in the ACC in offense, but if we're winning games, it doesn't really matter. I do think we can be good enough to help our team win. We've got to help our defense out, and they've got to help us. I don't really care where we end up stat-wise. I used to care about stats, but I've learned stats are for losers. Hopefully, I'm not on the bus or the plane on the way home after a game trying to see where we were stat-wise because that probably means we didn't win and I'm probably just trying salvage something, a moral victory. I'm not real big into moral victories; I'd rather win the game. If that means we got to control the clock, the we want to control the clock. If we have to score 38 to beat 'em 38-35, who knows?