September 6, 2023 • 48 mins
Texans Voice Marc Vandermeer welcomed Voice of the Ravens Gerry Sandusky, Air Force Head Coach Troy Calhoun and Texans Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Doug Vosik to talk Texans 2024 uniforms.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello Texans. So much good audio today on the podcast.
I don't know where to begin, honestly, because I've got
Doug Vasik, who's the senior vice president of marketing and
Communications with the Texans, and he knows all about the
uniforms and stuff like that, the uniform changes to be.
In fact, maybe I should start there, or maybe I
should start with Troy Calhoun, who was the first offensive
(00:26):
coordinator with Gary Kubiak here with the Texans, and he
happens to be head coach of the Air Force Academy
since two thousand and seven. He was only here one
year then took over at Air Force and at the
time and I didn't tell him this in the interview,
Gary Kubiak said that guy could have that job for life.
He was a QB at Air Force under Fischer de
Berry has coached there since seven and done a remarkable job.
(00:48):
And they play at NRG Stadium Saturday night against Sam
Houston State. It is going to be a showdown as
the Bearcats are now in FCS or FBS. No, they were,
It's D one, that's what I call it. Still Anyway,
Troy Calhoun's with us, and also Jerry Sandusky not that
Jerry Sandusky, Jerry with a G who is the voice
(01:11):
of the Ravens. But man, he's taken a lot of
grief for his name, which is a weird thing when
you think about it, because he happens to have the
same name. Wrote an outstanding book a while ago about
his dad who was losing his memory late in his life,
called Forgotten Sundays. But we talk about the Ravens an
awful lot in the Texans and opening weekend, But let's
start here. As I mentioned Doug Vasik, who's the senior
(01:31):
VP of Marketing and Communications, uniform changes and a whole
bunch of other stuff about the Houston Texans and h town.
And we caught up with him in the Hyundai Texans
radio studio and it was his first time ever being there.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And I think, it's your maiden voyage here, my first one.
I finally made it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Oh my god. I think the question is different, it's
why is it taking so long?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I don't know. Mark. I had to see him get
some reps out there on the external media.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I think you're ready to drive.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
A couple door on training camp and he's like, all right,
you're finally already. You know you made it. You made
it a year, let's go okay.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
I mean we're always looking for you know, innings eaters.
We're always looking for people that can talk a little bit.
So I'm a little surprised it's taking this long.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I can talk it make it wild, but I can
talk for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Oh No, you definitely can. And for people who don't know.
You've given presentations to the players, to everybody, the organization,
to the partners, the limited partners, the city, the fans,
and the focus group, all of it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, we've had them all. Actually, I think first month
on the job last year, I opened up to the
player's room after final cuts and final roster and may
have picked on some of them for their social media game.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
You did.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
That was the broad introduction to welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I think that got you three cred with the players.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I think it did. It's the first time I may
have worked in some other sports, but it's the first
time I delivered that kind of a joke to a
room where they could all kill me. Within normally can
outrun most of them, and I'm going to be safe
where I'll fight them in that room.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Uh huh.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
Who's the most intimidating group that you've talked to, because
when Mark's ruling all that off, I'm going, wow, that's
a p I'd be a little scared in front of
that group.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
And maybe that group players.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I gotta tell you when comes to players, it's the lineman.
But they are like we see them on TV, we
see them on the training field, but as soon as
you're next to them, yeah, my god, but you like,
you know they're big. But when you're like that, I mean,
I'm five to eleven, one fifty, Like you see these
guys and you're like, who.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
It's always funny to me because some of these guys
are twenty three years old, twenty four, and you think
we have interns who are twenty three and twenty four
and they're not as big, and you look at them
differently that way. Right, these are kids still, but they
have to behave as grown men because it's such an
important business.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
But then I look at some of these guys that
are my height, and I'm like, man, I just put
on forty more pounds and actually been a decent athlete.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
And that close.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So that close, that's what you gotta do, Doug. Yeah,
And we talked about some of those presentations. Well, I'm
going to start here, because when you talk to the
players and you talk to the legends, the former Texans
players about what we're doing here and what the mindset
is with hey really leaning into the city of Hughes,
an age town made currently we see all of that.
(04:03):
What has their response been like to you, and what
has some of that engagement been like between you and
those groups.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
It's been amazing, to be honest, that we have run
just man a thorough process over the past year, between
surveys and focus groups and just regular meetings. You're talking
about ten thousand people, hundreds of people through focus groups,
and when it comes to fans and players, there's a
lot of diverse thought in those groups. Right. The way
a sixteen year old casual fan may think is very
(04:29):
different than how a day one stm may think. Right,
a rookie player may think differently than someone who already
wore the jersey and went to battle for ten fifteen years, right,
very different. So I was pleasantly surprised throughout all these
meetings that overall they just want change, they just want evolution.
So when you go into these meetings and you tell
them that we are receptive to what you have to say.
(04:52):
We're actually going to take what you say and help
drive the change through that feedback versus just you know,
smoking mirrors, kind of fake listening when we actually show
them that we're listening. It's been a big thing. So
one was just hey, we want change. It's time to evolve,
it's time to get with the times. Two is, you know,
they like to joke back with us. Actually, so when
we talk about go back last year, we're like, we're
(05:12):
gonna we're gonna lean more into age town, We're gonna
lean more into culture, we're gonna lean more into music,
We're gonna lean more to the arts. It's kind of
like y'all eat to the party. It's about time y'all
got here, right. So for us, it's been really valiating
for all those diverse groups to kind of say the
same thing, like rep the city better, rep the people better,
and change. So hopefully he knows what we've been doing that.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
So one of the things that got instituted was and
you talked about the fans. It made me think about
the fan council. Why was it important to do something
like that Because you talked about the focus groups with fans.
You kind of doing some of that already, but why
the fan council in particular.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That the fan council just really gives a platform where
you can get way deeper on topics. Right, you do
a survey, you're getting twenty thirty questions, You do a
focus group over two hours, you've got a very narrow
list of questions because there's a lot of conversation. But
if you meet with your fan counsel on a regular basis,
you can go super deep.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So use this.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Here's campaign htown made. We ran them through even before production.
Here's what we're thinking, here's the idea, here's the concept,
here's how some of that could look. And they gave
us real time feedback. And I'll be honest, the campaign
wasn't originally called htown made. That came from the fans. Well,
it gave us and they gave us a live edit
in the room and we're like, that makes a whole
(06:23):
lot of sense. And that again the diversity of fans.
We had sixteen year olds, fifty five sixty year olds,
day one fans, fans that are new to us, and
for them to kind of all unite around some of
that feedback, So that depth of knowledge, a depth of
feedback fan counsel is critical. I'll be even things that
you don't normally think about to go that far in depth.
We had an hour long conversation last month about parking.
(06:46):
Parking has got a lot better over the past year.
We have a new game plan. We've done a lot
of traffic studies with the team. However, just hear from
a fan perspective for a whole hour. We thought that
would be a five minute conversation, right, No, So for them,
like we educated them on everything we've been doing, and
then they offer a few suggestions in between that they
live that life every Sunday, right.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And then you get construction thrown in and it boils everything.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I wish we control that, right.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, exactly can you hold off on some of that stuff?
Doug Boptik joining US Texans Senior vice president Marketing and Communications.
All Right, uniforms, this may have come up if you
have to ask, you to have to ask where are
we at? Where are we going? And there's a lot
of attached to that. So what can you share with
us high level right now?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I mean I'll answer any question you had, Okay, right,
So high level, we're finally at a point where designs
are done, which means it's a drawing on a piece
of paper.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So right now, between probably two months ago and November,
Nike's working on actually making the one of one prototypes,
and we've shared in the public callis stated publicly that
we'll have four new uniforms, so across the board, all
four will be new. So we literally get four jerseys
sent to us in November, or maybe we'll go out
to Nike and beaver tenantcy him in person, and that's
the moment where drawling comes to life. So we are
(08:00):
finally at that stage where jerseys are locked, pants are locked,
socks are locked, helmets are locked, which means we may
have a few tricks up our sleeve for next year,
way to honor tradition but also try some new stuff
along the way. So all that's done and we're just
waiting for those first prototypes that we can't wait to
get our hands on.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Okay, this is going to be kind of a touchy
feelly kind of question in some sense, but changing uniforms
it's a bigger deal, I think than a lot of
times I think about.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I'm like, I don't care what we wear. I just
want us to play well. I want us to go
on to a championship.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
But but I know that it means a lot to
a lot of people, including the guys are in that
locker room playing in that new jersey.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
How nervous are you about what the reaction will be
to the jersey, whether it's nationally, locally, etc.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And I know there. I mean, I haven't seen what
they look like, so I don't know.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
But and for me, I'm like, whatever we could wear yellow,
I don't know, it doesn't matter. How nervous are you
about the response to what those jerseys look like and
how it comes out to the public.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Sure we're not wearing yellow. Good, So we're good. We're
good there, Just get that one out there. Here's what
I say in that we are very confident in what
we are rolling out next year. And the confidence comes
from the process. When you run that many people through
a process, right and you actually listen, and that feedback
becomes kind of what you tell Nike to do. You
(09:22):
have some level of confidence that you're delivering on fan need. Right,
It's not about what I think, It's not about what
Greg Grissom thinks it's not about what cal McNair thinks,
it's about what the people think, right, So we can
honestly say the fan feedback drove the process, drove the feedback,
and then yeah, we met with players, maybe they have
some own ideas of their own, and I'll tell you
once we actually unveil the uniforms, there's one that really
(09:45):
was driven hard by player feedback and it's really really
cool as a result of it. So to me, it's
like the feedback we got through the process was diverse
right there. Sometimes you go into research and you're hoping, man,
I just want majority opinion. That way, I could say
two or of people want X, right, eighty percent one X,
and that really drives hard where you're going. Fortunately or unfortunately,
(10:07):
in our process, we didn't hear that. We heard I
want this, I want that, I want this, I want that,
And it was all over the map, and there was
no universal consensus. And the key topics that we're discussed
in all those were If you look at our current uniform,
it's kind of classic, right, simple, understated. So there's a
group of fans that want to continue that tradition. I
want timeless simple, classic, but modernize it. Okay, there's another
(10:30):
strong group of fans. They're like, no, let's get crazy. Right,
uniforms are way different now than they were twenty years ago.
So is there a way to honor tradition but get
wild with the design, right? And some people like persuptually
assume that means younger fans want to get wild. It's
all different kinds of fans that want to get wild.
So that's one. It's just like, are you going simple
clean or you getting a little wild? In design too,
(10:52):
is a lot of fans said to us, hey, you
know our logo is is a bull. You got horns?
You know, I'd like to see the horns become part
of our identity more than just a logo. So again
you go and test that, and you talk to ten
thousand fans and have them in focus groups and same thing.
Some fans will be like, no, thank you, I don't
want to see horns, and they have another strong opinion
that's like horns, horns, horns, horns, horns, right, So how
(11:15):
are you going to take care of two very diverse
groups there? And then maybe I know you're gonna ask
me at some point, you know, there's this whole debate
on this color, right, this H Town blue. You might
say this beautiful, a light blue color.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
But for those who don't know, why don't you share
with us, because I know you did the research. The
H Town blue goes back a long way. This is
part of the history of the city.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
History of city. And honestly, aside from us doing the research, again,
we heard it from the fans. So a lot of
people don't even realize this that and this is from
fans that there's one hundred and twenty year legacy in
h Town regarding we'll just call it a light blue color, right,
which will fondly call eah Town blue now, right, because
our city we own that color at this point.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So in eighteen ninety they didn't call it h Town blue.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Maybe not, maybe not, but I wasn't alive then, you know,
maybe you were.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Now you're good, you're close.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So if you go all the way back right, you
got the blue bonnet, you got to stay flower. Right,
that is a light blue color, and of course you're
going to find that color throughout our community. Right in
the flower two when the street sign started right, which
in a lot of cities they're above ground and h
Town in those historic neighborhoods. You're looking at tiles on
the curb and on the concrete. What color are those tiles?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
The white and h Town blue?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Oh Town blue? All right? Look at the city flag.
What color is the city flag?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Hetown blue?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Agetown blue. Let's use another one. When NASA relocated here, right,
they may have been dark blue when they relocated to
our city. What color did they change their logo to?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Oh htown blue? With the Lyndon Johnson Space Center.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
It's town blue. And then perhaps there is a football
team that comes into town at some point and chooses
a light blue.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Color vaguely familiar.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
They probably just look back and are like, look at
all this light blue around us, we should probably use it, right,
but take it outside of football. Then you go HBD,
you go fire light blue uniforms, like blue cars, like
blue choppers, and then just walk around h Town. Now,
So if you want to go look a look at
micro brews. Right, look at a lot of local breweries.
They do h Town blue colors. Some of them do
h Town blue tile special edition cans. You go to
(13:15):
the clothing brand, so we'll go like do O Savage
Hearted seventy fifty Canal. They always are rocking h Town
blue in their collections every single season. So the color
has completely transcended right football at this point. Yeah, and
if you really think about it, football was just one
part of that one hundred and twenty year story. So
many fans love the color. You could imagine all the
(13:37):
complexities around legal and intellectual property and all those things
that exist, but we may have found a way to
pay a tribute to the color. Oh, we're just kind
of we're just kind of leaving it at that of
like a tribute.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Paying homage, like you versus houstonaune.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well, that's that's all in, right, Yeah, that's all in
for sure. And obviously, honestly, I think the uniforms are
absolutely beautiful. Look, they are on point, and I think
social media and the media will tell you from yesterday, right,
people are loving those. Yeah, you could imagine in a
collegiate space, maybe they got a little bit more freedom
around intellectual property, maybe a lot you know, maybe you know,
(14:13):
because we're in the NFL and there's another NFL team
that has some ip around that, but we're still able
to wait to find a way to do something. So
I know, we're excited based upon the fan feedback, which
was it doesn't have to look like that other team's
uniform or it doesn't have to look like what U
of H just did, but can the Texans figure out
a way to pay tribute? And I think we nailed that.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, well, I can't wait to see four uniforms that
is outside. When do we see them? When do they
get unveiled to the public?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Doug April of next year. So that's not that far
if you really think about it, it's not that far up.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
No, it's not because we have the c's and that
will occupy your time, correct and then the combine and
then and.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Then you're like a week before draft, you're like, all right,
let's let's unveil these things.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
So are you? Are you like a dad with kids
where there's always one of yours that's the favorite, Like
you're my favorite kid, Like you're my favorite jersey.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, you're a favorite. You're good, but you're my favorite kids?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Aren't listening to this?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Is that an interview where I ask you, guys are
your favorite kids?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I thought you were going to go expecting father, like
I gotta.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Get it out.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Wait listen every parent out there listening knows that they
might say that they don't have favorite, they got a
favorite anyway, Do you have a favorite in the four?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I think we all will. I think we all will.
And I say that because, as I was alluding to of,
there was no consensus in the fan feedback. So we
took the approach, which is a little bit different than
maybe current NFL trend. If you look at a lot
of the more recent new uniforms and I won't I
won't take shots at any other team, they tend to
have like one simple look and then they apply it
(15:46):
to three or four uniforms, so you're just basically looking
at the same uniform on repeat. Here's a white one,
here's a red one, here's a black one. For us
over four, we said, okay, if you want timeless traditional,
here's the one uniform that answers that. If you want
to take one step further and say timeless traditional gets refreshed,
we have one for that. If you said, hey, I'm
(16:07):
into this bull thing, let's get wild, we have one
for that. And if someone said, hey, I want you
to pay homage to H Town Blue, and if the
players just saying I want something tough. I want something, mean,
we got something for that. So for us, there's gonna
be favorites. I've got two of mine, and I'm sure
the fans are going to find one or two of
theirs out of the floor.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Okay, I'm asking this question for the eighth floor crew
on game days? Will you be able to read the
numbers from the eighth floor?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Radio bill?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I was not consulted about reading numbers.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
This is important to broadcasters.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Can you read the numbers from the eighth floor of binocular?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You can't worried about somebody a little bit lighter blue
at the numbers they got a pop.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I mean, I can read them. You might need to
get your prescription shot.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I mean the most important thing to broadcasters to be
able to see the numbers.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And the fans too. They want to know what they're life,
of course.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So I can you know, I can't give away too much,
but you can imagine in a in a brand refresh right,
you know, maybe the numbers are refreshed a little bit. Sure,
maybe we looked at some things on fabric to make
them have a little bit more shimmer and shine. So
maybe maybe they'll get your eye a little bit better.
From uptime.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Here you go like that, but that's good, that's good.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You know, maybe there's some tricks there that'll help our
eyes see it a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Very nice. Doug Vossik joining us, senior vice president Marketing
and Communications. And for the fans listening, they might think, well, uniform,
you just order another one to design it, order it.
Can't you wear it on Tuesday?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Right?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It takes time, and in fact, you sped up the
process quite a bit. You want to share a little
bit about that. You came in here and said, wait
a minute, we have to wait three four years.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
What can we do to speed this thing up? And
you've sped it up a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You know, I can't. I can't take full credit at
all at all. So typically you could imagine a two
or three year process to create new uniforms because the
team's going to figure out what's their brand identity, how
do they want to look? And then you send that
as like inspiration to the NFL and Nike and then
they say, here's how we interpret your brand on uniforms.
We kind of did it all at once, right. We said,
(18:05):
we have some hypotheses we want to test. Let's bring
all the fans in as many as we can get
to test them. So that helped us cut down a
lot of time on the research side. Two, I would say,
you know, this is so important to the organization that
you know Cal McNair, Greg Grissom, myself and a few
other staff. We immediately went to the NFL and we
said we want to refresh this is the feedback we're
(18:26):
hearing from our fans. We even took a trip out
to New York to meet with Goodell in person and
said here's what we're thinking, here's what we'd like to do.
And from that moment on, the League said we want
to support the Houston Texans. We think with everything that's
happening down in each town, between on and off field,
all this excitement you're building, how can we help. So
we did have quite some help from the League and
from Nike to say, let's cut some timelines out here,
(18:48):
let's move as fast as we can because let's help
the Houston Texans be their best new selves as soon
as possible. And from us that meant twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Four, we can talk a lot about Jersey. I want
to ask you something, Doug. You're not from Houston and
I like, as Mark said, you got here as fast
as you could. And I ask you that because I
don't know that been around an individual who's embraced an
area or a community more than I've seen you embrace
in the time that you've been here. Why did you
(19:17):
feel that was so important to not only grasp okay,
the Houston, Texans, but the city of Houston.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
And I think about h Town made it's an interesting story.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
You told about the fact that you know that came
out of the fan council, But why was that important
for you to embrace this community in this city the
way that you have and then let that filter through
everything that you've done.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
You know, again, I can't take credit for it, right,
And I will use Mark's infamous line in a different way, right,
I will say, you don't have to be born here
to be from here. Number one. So for me, like
I am a different creative individual, right, I'm into music,
I'm into art, I'm into culture, I'm into all these
different things. And if you think about our city, what
a beautiful place for all those things.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So for me, like it may have taken give me
a while to get here, but like I see myself
in this city, and then the way that the fans
have embraced outsiders like me to come in and trusted
outsiders like me to come in and help shape right
and help be the stewards currently of it. That means
a lot, right. So for me, it was this is
a really cool city, man, right, and it happens to
match my own personal brand. So that's number one. So
(20:21):
it just it made me feel at home right away.
But what drove the process was the fan feedback. Right
first or second month on the job, we're talking to fans.
Forget formal focus groups and formal surveys, We're talking to
fans a training camp, We're talking to fans at every
preseason game. We literally walked the building. Sometimes we're like, hey,
why are you wearing that like new jersey? Other than it,
(20:41):
you know, says Warre Moon. You look like you're eighteen.
You weren't around for that team, right, They're like, Oh,
it's just cool. I love this color. Right, So all
that feedback, fans were saying us, even from those casual conversations,
y'all don't feel h town, y'all don't feel like part
of the city. They say, We'll give you due credit
you guys have done a lot financially for the community
to the tune actually of our event last night, Orceives
(21:02):
a premiere. You know, we're over forty five million dollars
now that we've been able to put back into the community.
But they said, it's not just about the give back.
How are you reflecting us? How are you reflecting our city?
How are you inflecting people? How are you reflecting culture?
And we didn't necessarily maybe have all those answers a
year and a half ago, right, So for us, it
was just listen to the fans right right. And then
once we had a good sense of what was going on,
(21:24):
meeting with Cal and teen, just to say hey, here's
what we're hearing seems like a no brainer. And then
it became about leaning on the fans and leaning from
a lot of people we have here that are from
age town, born and raised to help shape that future
of the creative and the marketing or whatever it may be. So, yes,
this is a city that I think I love because
it really reflects my own character. But at the end
(21:45):
of the day, the fan feedback from day one made
us go, let's lean in.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
And you've leaned in a lot it's good h Town,
may Eytown made all right, Doug, thanks a lot for
joining us. We'll visit again soon. We'll make this a
regular kind of thing, if that's okay with.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You before to coming back.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
All right, thanks, thank you?
Speaker 4 (22:02):
All right.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Great visit with Doug Vasik, the senior VP of Communications
and Marketing for the Houston Texans. Now I mentioned it
at the top of the show. Troy Calhoun, head coach
at Air Force. They're playing Sam Houston State Saturday night
at NRG Stadium, and man, oh man, what a great
visit with him, as he was here in six as
Gary Kubiak's first offensive coordinator. So let's catch up with him,
(22:25):
shall we. Coach. Great to visit with you and looking
forward to welcoming you back to Houston. How's it going well, Mark.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
It's going well. And certainly an honor for us, our staff,
our cadets, and most of all the United States Air
Force Academy to have an opportunity to go down to Houston.
And you just look at the history of the Air
Force specifically what happens, you know, during those years, and
how prominent NASSA was and yet a large, large number
(22:56):
of young men and young women that have come from
that state, a great state of Texas, and specifically they're
from the Houston area.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You know, it's funny you bring it up that way
because my father is Dutch and he trained with NATO
in jets in the fifties in San Antonio and Laredo,
and a lot of guys who flew those jets in
the Air Force went into the space program, so there
was a lot of crossover there. So it's a big
part of the history of it all right.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Market's phenomenal when you look at the state of Texas truly,
you know, everybody's kind of has their home base or
home identity. The number of bases that we have in
San Antonio, you know, like I said, Nas, I mean
throughout the whole area, and just how incredibly patriotic the
state is in terms of the way they embrace and
(23:48):
respect our service members.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Troy Calhoun, coach of Air Force, joins us on Texans Radio.
Now let's get into it. You have the big game
this week and with Sam Houston State, you're coming off
of victory buble. Well we get into that, Coach, I
have to ask you about your time here in Houston
as offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak's first year. You knew him
from Denver or maybe before that even I don't know,
(24:11):
But tell me about what you recall from being part
of that time in this organization's history.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Well, it was, I mean just a remarkable time. It
truly is. And there's no way to probably fully elaborate
upon how many of those experiences that we came across
during that year that you still utilize today. And it
was nat from the family part of it, just with
a Manda being from Proland, the years that she spent
(24:40):
working at Old Astro World and telling stories and how
many times late on a Thursday night she'd call and say,
you know what, how about swinging by Papa Doze or
Papa Seed is thereby at that time, which was reliant
now is NRG. And you know, I think during that
year was just trying to put a foundation in place.
And we had the number one in the draft, which
(25:02):
ended up being Mario Williams. First pick in the second
round ended up being a player from Alabama named Amiko Ryans,
and you went through that was a really really good
draft that helped put the Texans in a place where
they had a pretty good run there in the following
years and just a marvelous time, far too short, quite frankly,
(25:24):
And it's one of those decisions you don't want to
make whether hey, you remain in Houston with the Texans
or you come back to the Air Force Academy. But
at that time that was a really really good problem
to have.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Well, before we get into your return to Air Force,
you mentioned Amiko Ryans, who's the head coach here. Now,
was there anything you saw, I know you were a
coaching offense, but what did you see from Demico at
the time that you can recall that might indicate, Hey,
this guy's got some outstanding leadership ability?
Speaker 6 (25:57):
They did, you know? I mean, just want how bright
was just so instinctive and he just had that drive
in that verb and that juice that you want in
human beings, especially as an inside linebacker. And certainly he's
i mean just grown and done amazing things as a coach.
(26:17):
And I'll tell you it was really really neat here
in November or what is that ten months ago, we
had the forty nine ers here as they were getting
ready to go play down in Mexico City and had
a chance to visit with Demiko and watch him practice,
and goodness houcking you not be fired up for the
Houston Texans for what could be on the horizon.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Now.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
It may take a little time, just as it did
during the Kubiak years too.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, it took a little time. Five hundred and year
two in a climb from there. Year two, you went
back to the Air Force Academy as head coach, Troy
Calhoun joining US head coach at Air Force. You played
quarterback there. When you were playing quarterback for Air Force,
did you ever think you'd return as head coach?
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Absolutely not. That really wasn't something that even went through
your mind. You know, when I came to the academy, Mark,
I wanted to fly. I wanted to be a pilot.
I had my physical late in my junior year here
at the Academy, and they said, you know what, your
eyesight's not quite where it needs to be, and this
day and age, it'd be an easy fix. You know,
(27:22):
they can zap right across your eyeballs and whether it's
lazy or p RK or whatever's required that way. And
so you know, he ended up going down in another
way to serve as an officer, which was splendid and
You're glad you did. But I think really once you
got into coaching, especially in the National Football League, I
(27:44):
mean just how much football you were exposed to just
day in day out. I mean the amount of film
you were able to study, the ideas and the adjustments
that had to be made, and truly the opportunity to
be able to learn from Mike channnn and Gary Kubiak
and a good number of other coaches absolutely off the charts.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Troy Calhoun joining US head coach at Air Force playing
Sam Houston State at NRG Stadium Saturday night at seven.
You took over for the legendary Fisher to Bury and
there you are coach that had to be a lot
of pressure. He's a legend, had a lot of success.
But you've had a lot of success and seemingly, I'm
not going to say it came right away or it
(28:26):
came easily, but it did come right away. What went
into that for you being able to maintain the winning
tradition at air Force Mark.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Again, I you know the amount of things that were
able to implement from the time in both Denver with
the Broncos and then also there in Houston and kind
of merry up with the requirements of the Air Force Academy,
and that's you know, that's one of the things that
I think is so challenging here is finding somebody that
(28:54):
you can recruit. Certainly they have to be an outstanding
student when they are he or They're going to take
two levels of calculus, they're going to take two levels
of chemistry, two levels of physics, they're gonna take aeronautical engineering,
astronautical engineering, civil engineering. I mean, just they're in take
every one of our guys that'll be playing for this
Saturday's taken at least eighteen or twenty one semester hours
(29:17):
in addition to all their military requirements that they have
in their squadrons. So you know, your meetings are very
very short. You have some time in the weight room
and then your practices. The longest you ever ever practice
is ninety minutes. So it does make you be highly organized,
to be point on and exactly how you teach, and
(29:40):
certainly be very very efficient in terms of what you
get done on the field.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Sam Houston is the opponent for Saturday Night. Coach, what
can you tell us about the matchup as this is
a team that has had a lot of success in
FCS and now's an FBS team trying to make some noise.
What can you tell us about Saturday, Well, they're.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Quite quite talented. I do think when you look back
about the last five seven years, you think back to
the FCS, you know there are three teams you just
absolutely stood out. You know, you go back here in
recent years and it's it's North Dakota State, It's Sam Houston,
It's James Madison. And you just look at the sheer
(30:21):
number of transfers that they've also brought in in order
to elevate their roster and mark we're going to have
a very very difficult challenge, and you know we're at
a place where we don't bring in any transfers and
so this will be this will be a tough matchup
for us. Yet at the same time, there's the reason
why young men and young women come to the United
(30:42):
States Air Force Academy UH to be challenged, because ultimately
it's how you grow not only on the character part,
but also to build the leadership attributes that we need
in our future leaders and officers for our country.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
How has your offense evolved over the years, Coach, Because
you we were with the Koubiak system, as we mentioned
Denver and here with the Houston Texans, and we know
what air Force was running traditionally with coach DeBerry and
you took it over. So how have you changed it
over the years.
Speaker 6 (31:12):
Well, that the zone based the zone based system that
we utilize is exactly what we did in both Denver
and Houston, and that's the predominant part of our running game.
I think the other part is we want to be
tremendous in the passing game. And last year we were
number one in the country and yards per attempt, number
one in the country and yards per completion. And you
(31:35):
have to be balanced. Now what's balanced. It may vary
a little bit from year to year. And I think
the other part that you recall from being with Houston
is it's always got to be who do you have
personnel wise and you have to adapt accordingly. I remember
the year that we had there in two thousand and six,
we knew that we needed to have, you know, a
(31:56):
precise just be really really exact in terms of our
passing game. I think we led the NFL that year
in completion percentage. We went a pretty talented guy and
Andre Johnson we just felt like, hey, we got to
move him, we gotta line him up everywhere. Because of
what I he ended up leading the NFL and catches.
I think he had like one hundred and two that season.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Well, yeah, he was amazing coach. When you look at
the other service academies, how does recruiting go because you
need a particular type of athlete, and I know you
recruit against the other schools, but things are different. It's
a different landscape, like you mentioned with some of the requirements.
What about the other service academies though? Is there a
competition between Army, Navy, Air Force as far as hey
(32:36):
I want this athlete. Don't you want to be in
the Air Force instead of the Navy?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Does that go on?
Speaker 6 (32:43):
Well, I'll say this, these are extremely hard candidates defined,
you know, because what are you looking for? You looking
for somebody that's a three seven plus student. We are
still test mandatory, so that means at least a twelve
SAT or a twenty seven ACT and you have to
(33:04):
be willing to serve for our country and you have.
At the same time, we want somebody as talented so
we can play competitive football. And you know, I will
say this, I think there's a little bit of something
that stirs in each young person as far as what
branch they gravitate to. So maybe not quite as much
as you'd think from afar.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
All right, settle this for me, coach, because I have
not been to a game in Annapolis or at West Point,
and I've been told they're both amazing atmospheres. So I'm
not going to talk about air Force. But if I
have a choice to go to see a game at
Navy or a game at Army, where should I go first?
Speaker 6 (33:46):
Well, I mean, without answering that question exactly, how about
going somewhere where you see Pike's Peak and the rocky
mountains and a clear Colorado blue sky and you know,
right over the top, you think you're almost going to
get a really good hair when those f sixteens are
f thirty five flyes super close over the scoreboard at
Falcon Stadium, Now, Mark, they're both unbelievable venues. And truly,
(34:12):
when you watch the march on you see those young
men young women that are mids or cadets, and as
they head out to the field right before kickoff, and
I mean it does make the hair on your arms
in the back of your neck stand up, just in
terms of you realize, hey, these are you know, when
they were seventeen, eighteen years old, these kids at that age,
(34:33):
that's what they were. They were kids. They made a decision,
they made a commitment to go serve for our country,
and how does that not make your hearts? Well?
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, yeah, phenomenal stuff. Well, we're really looking forward to
seeing it the Air Force Academy, the whole show with
you coaching the way Former Texans offensive coordinator Troy Calhoun,
head coach at the Air Force Academy facing Sam Houston
on Saturday night, seven o'clock at n rg's Dadium. Coach,
thanks so much for the time. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
Absolutely, we look forward to it. Thank you, Mark.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Finally on the pod today, last, but not least, a
guy who's the voice of the Ravens. His name is
Jerry Sandusky. Jerry with a G and does a terrific
job for them, knows everything there is to know about
the team, and he's a really interesting guy, having written
a really phenomenal book actually a few years back, and
I talked to him about that as well. Let's just
(35:27):
dig into the conversation with Jerry joining us now in
Texans Radio. It's voice of the Baltimore Ravens. Jerry Sandusky. Jerry,
how's it going today?
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Doing great? Week one? It's time to play some football, right.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It's time to go and tell me. Let's start here
with the number one guy, Lamar Jackson. He's back. I
know you've talked a lot about him, but we got
to get into it. How has he looked to you
in preparation of this one? What can we expect? Give
me the entire game plan. I know you can't do that,
but tell me what you do know, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
So what I Here's I'll start with completely different offense,
the ground and pound run first read option one hundred
and ten yards for rushing for Lamar. That is the past.
This is a West Coast style offense that is all
about spreading the defense out and getting the ball out
of Lamar's hands fast. It's more rpo than read option.
(36:20):
Now that said, when you spread a field out, it's
going to give Lamar more room to run at his
discretion if plays breakdown and he wants to extend plays,
and I think we'll still see plenty of that. But
I don't think you're going to see merely as much
read option, especially between the tackles where you take a
guy who paid a court of a billion dollars too
(36:41):
and run him through four guys who weigh three hundred
and twelve pounds. They just don't see that happening anymore.
With this offense. I see much more of quick release,
get the ball in the hands of other playmakers out
in space, and then really puts pressure on the defenses
by stretching them sideline.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
The sideline might be an obvious question, but is it
because of the injury issues over the years and the
kind of beating he's taken, being the way he is
being so dynamic in the run game.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
I think that's a big part of it. Mark. I
think you know, he's at his sixth year and it's
a typical progression where the new offensive coordinator, Tom Munkin
had a great line he said, look he is. Lamar
is at the same point that Michael Jordan was in
his career where he recognized, Hey, I can't drive to
the rack and dunk every time. I got to develop
a three point shot. And so for Lamar, it's about
(37:28):
moving the focus of the game from his legs to
his head and becoming more cerebral. See what's open, get
the ball out of your hand. If there's a running opportunity,
take it. But stop taking the big hits and start
making big hits by making big connections with other playmakers.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Gerry Sandusky, voice of the Ravens, joining us on Texans Radio,
all right, what about some of the playmakers Mark Andrews.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Obj is there?
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
What have you seen from the pass catchers so far
in the preseason?
Speaker 4 (37:57):
So OBJ is at It's really it's amazing what he
has brought. He has brought Hollywood star presence. He's a
hard worker, he's the leader, not a diva. I'm so
pleasantly surprised in what the Ravens got with Obj, because
you know, like you've only seen him from Afar, and
then you see him up close, you talk to him
up close. He's so impressive and he's really given a
(38:21):
great sense to this offense of what it can become.
The rookie is a Flowers first round draft pick, is
explosive and quick, and he's going to have huge yards
after catch numbers. And then they bring in a veteran
like Nelson Aguilar, a former Eagle, first round draft pick
who's a very reliable, big body guy. So you know,
you've kind of got the basis covered. The big thing
(38:43):
is it gives Lamar options other than just Mark Andrews.
Mark Andrews is a phenomenal tight end, but it was
so obvious where Lamar was going with a ball almost
every time. Last year, the Ravens were the only team
in the NFL that didn't have a single wide receiver
with more than five hundred yards receiving. You can't do
that in the passing offense. Now, you should have four
(39:05):
or five guys well over five hundred yards receiving. And
that means to me, Mark Andrews becomes more valuable because
defensive coordinators can't say, okay, there's eighty nine, put all
our resources there and we're going to shut down the
fat beginning. You can't do that anymore.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
You're a Sam Dusky, voice of the Baltimore Ravens joining
us on Texans Radio. Give me a plus or two
on offense that nobody talks about, maybe outside of the market,
or maybe even inside the market. Something great or good
about the Ravens offense that is undercovered.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Second string tight end Isaiah Likely so he was a
fourth round draft pick last year along with Charlie Kohler,
another tight end, and you know, nobody really paid that
much attention to him in training camp, and then he
popped in pre season, and then if the season went on,
down the line, he started to make some big catches.
He has that knack that great tight ends do of
finding the open space and making plays after he makes
(39:58):
a catch. Because he was a fourth i'm pick, he
wasn't talked up. He wasn't talked up by your first
round draft pick. And in watching him in training camp
this year, he's the kind of guy that when you
spread out of defense and you start to look for
where's obij whereas a Flowers, Where's Mark Andrews? Isaiah likely
is the kind of guy who could have some huge
games and all of a sudden, the country's asked me
(40:19):
the question, Hey, who's this kid?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
All right?
Speaker 1 (40:21):
What about on defense here? Because I see our old
friend Jadebion Clowney on this unit. Roquan Smith had a
big pick against the Texans as a Bear last year
in the early part of the season. What about the
front seven and what they're bringing here so far?
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Jerry, So the front seven is super sound, and it's
all about roqwand Smith in the middle. He transformed this
defense when he got air midyear. Last year, the Ravens
shaved off almost seven points per game of what they
were giving up. The guy's literally worth a touchdown every game,
he's that good. But he gets the front line set
(40:57):
and he gets the linebacker set. Patrick Queen, who was
very inconsistent, talented but inconsistent, suddenly becomes a very consistent playmaker.
The concern on the Ravens defense right now is secondary.
Marlon Humphrey is down. Rocky Scenes who they signed in
the offseason, didn't play a lot in training camp. He
had some injuries, and so we haven't seen a whole
(41:17):
lot of that group. They brought in some veteran depths,
But that's to me, the front seven takes on added
importance the two young edge rushers, the Daffio Away and
David Ajabo. The more pressure they can get on the quarterback,
the less pressure is left on the back end with
the secondary until you get Marlon Humphrey back in week
(41:37):
two or three or four from training camp foot surgery.
So to me, the front seven is at the moment
the strength of this defense. You get Marlon Humphrey back,
and all of a sudden you might have a great defense.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
What's Justin Tucker's popularity in Baltimore versus some of the
other players. Is it unbelievable considering he's a kicker. Measure
it for me, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
So I'll give it to you the numbers. The first
kicker in the Hall of Fame was John Steneruse, and
he hit I believe sixty seven percent of his kicks.
Justin Tucker is ninety two percent of his kicks. Justin
Tucker is a city wide level of confidence like you've
never seen from a kicker in the NFL because the
Ravens basically Raven fans know that the Ravens can get
(42:20):
the ball to midfield if they got a shot closing
out with a win. Because of Justin Tucker. I'm watching
him before the last preseason game. He was kicking seventy
yard field goals into the net in pregame warm ups. Now,
granted that's pregame, is not the regular season. But Phil,
this guy's in his twelfth here and he can punch
the ball through from seventy yards away. He is a
(42:42):
one man confidence cocktail for the entire city, because all
you have to say is here comes Justin Tucker, and
the place feels great. Never seen anything like it.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
So relative to other specialists, current and former, would you
put him up there with maybe McAfee, like someday's going
to have his own show? What do you think?
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Oh yeah, Look, Justin Tucker could easily be here. I'd
put him up there with like you, Jackman, he could
have his one one man Broadway show. He's got talent.
He's an opera singer. He's funny, he does impressions. He
kicks sixty six yard field goals. He's the most accurate
kicker of all time. I could literally see him like
hosting the Late Late Show or having a Broadway show.
(43:23):
He's that talented of a performer. And I think that's
why he's such a great kicker. You know, were some
kickers the spotlight's too bright and the pressure is too intense.
This kid thrives on a spotlight. I mean, he just
comes to life. It's just it's like his life's blood.
And so whether he's singing Ave Maria at the cathedral
or lining up to kick a game when he field goals,
(43:45):
kind of all the same neighborhood for him, which is
his comfort zone.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Boys of the Ravens. Jerry Sandusky joining us. Jerry, you
wrote a book a while back called Forgotten Sundays about
your father, right. Can you share with me how it's
been for you since you've written that book, and the
kind of response you received, and maybe how things have
changed over the years and evolved after getting so much
reaction to the book.
Speaker 4 (44:09):
So it was kind of a catharsist for me to
write the book. My dad, John Sandowski, had been a
player in the NFL in the fifties, and he coached
in the NFL from fifty nine till ninety four, was
the longest serving assistant under Don Shula. And I grew
up on the sidelines as a ball boy. I saw
all this in the front row. And then at the
end of his life, he suffered Alzheimer's for the last
(44:31):
five years of his life and at the very end
he couldn't remember anything. You know, This amazing life of
a World War Two veteran second round draft pick in
the NFL. He won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts,
he was an interim head coach. All these great things,
the number of Hall of Fame players he coached, and
he didn't remember any of it. And so I felt
compelled to write the book because there were such impactful memories.
(44:56):
And then what came out of it was and by
the way, it's also coincided with the whole Jerry Sandusky
name thing, the coach at Penn State. And really what
came out of this was that you don't own your name.
Your name is the stewardship, and the value of your
life is what you do with your stewardship of that
time that you spend on earth in your profession and
(45:19):
the lives you touch. And the feedback that was so
remarkable was the number of other people who had had
a loved one who had suffered from Alzheimer's or had
gone through a challenge and had you know, learned to
just kind of stand in there and really, like the
message of the book is that success isn't just what
you're willing to do to achieve it. It's also what
you're not willing to do. Because you do place a
(45:41):
high value on your name, and you do place a
high value in the legacy that you will hand that
name to in the next generation. And I think it
resonated with people who have gone through struggles individually, who've
lost loved ones to Alzheimer's, and it just kind of
makes you stop and realize that. You know, there's a
line that I share in the book was the last
conversation with my dad, he had this little moment of
(46:02):
clarity that pulled him out of the deep fog of
Alzheimer's and he looked at me and my brother and
he said, Man, it gets really messed up at the end.
This is not how I thought it was going to
end for me. Live now, don't wait. Live now. And
that's really you know, that's been something that I think
really spoke to a lot of people, and it certainly,
(46:23):
you know, to this day, speaks to me. Well.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
The book is called Forgotten Sundays. It's by Jerry Sandusky
and the forward was by John Harbaugh. That's amazing stuff.
You got the head coach to do that. That's terrific stuff.
And the book is still available Amazon and everywhere else
we can get books.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
Jerry, everywhere else, wherever you buy books, you should be
able to get it.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
I've got one more for you. What are people in
Baltimore saying about the Houston Texans, what do they think
of this matchup in the market.
Speaker 4 (46:50):
So it's interesting. It's very interesting to talk with Ravens
fans because it's a lot like talking to Raven's coach.
They don't know if you get a rookie head coach
who's highly thought of as a great cedigree. You've got
a first year offensive coordinator who has done some interesting
things in the past and is well thought of. You've
got a rookie quarterback who's the number two pick in
the draft. So you've got a lot of pieces, but
(47:10):
there's no tape on any of them doing anything together.
I think this is probably the hardest game that Ravens players, coaches,
and fans are going to have to prepare for maybe
this decade, because that is a rare combination of first
year impact people. Coach, coordinator, quarterback. I don't know that
I've seen that before, so we'll recognize the uniform. It
(47:33):
didn't show a whole lot in the way of strategy
and preseason I saw a lot of Cover two. I
expect to Mike O'Ryan's will be more exotic than that
in the regular season, and you know C. J. Stroud
has a lot of tools, especially I Becau's out in
space like there's around town. There's an element of, you know,
cautious optimism, the feelings the Ravens should have win this game,
(47:55):
but that underlying anxiety of oh what if these guys
are really good and nobody sees them coming.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
And that's that's the drama that leads into Week one
around here sounds interesting. Can't wait to see you, can't
wait to call the game. Sunday at noon in Baltimore,
Texans Ravens. Jerry, thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker 4 (48:12):
My pleasure. Can't wait to see you when you get
to town.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
All right, there's the voice of the Ravens, Jerry Sandusky,
Jerry with a G. And that's the podcast for today.
So great to have you listening. And check out all
the other podcasts wherever you got this one or wherever
fine podcasts are available. Texans Ravens Sunday noon Sports Radios
Extendable one hundred point three FM. Let's Go twenty twenty
(48:36):
three campaign about to get underway. Have a great night,
have a great day whenever you're listening, and thank you
for listening, and go Texans.
Hello Texans. So much good audio today on the podcast.
I don't know where to begin, honestly, because I've got
Doug Vasik, who's the senior vice president of marketing and
Communications with the Texans, and he knows all about the
uniforms and stuff like that, the uniform changes to be.
In fact, maybe I should start there, or maybe I
should start with Troy Calhoun, who was the first offensive
(00:26):
coordinator with Gary Kubiak here with the Texans, and he
happens to be head coach of the Air Force Academy
since two thousand and seven. He was only here one
year then took over at Air Force and at the
time and I didn't tell him this in the interview,
Gary Kubiak said that guy could have that job for life.
He was a QB at Air Force under Fischer de
Berry has coached there since seven and done a remarkable job.
(00:48):
And they play at NRG Stadium Saturday night against Sam
Houston State. It is going to be a showdown as
the Bearcats are now in FCS or FBS. No, they were,
It's D one, that's what I call it. Still Anyway,
Troy Calhoun's with us, and also Jerry Sandusky not that
Jerry Sandusky, Jerry with a G who is the voice
(01:11):
of the Ravens. But man, he's taken a lot of
grief for his name, which is a weird thing when
you think about it, because he happens to have the
same name. Wrote an outstanding book a while ago about
his dad who was losing his memory late in his life,
called Forgotten Sundays. But we talk about the Ravens an
awful lot in the Texans and opening weekend, But let's
start here. As I mentioned Doug Vasik, who's the senior
(01:31):
VP of Marketing and Communications, uniform changes and a whole
bunch of other stuff about the Houston Texans and h town.
And we caught up with him in the Hyundai Texans
radio studio and it was his first time ever being there.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And I think, it's your maiden voyage here, my first one.
I finally made it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Oh my god. I think the question is different, it's
why is it taking so long?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I don't know. Mark. I had to see him get
some reps out there on the external media.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I think you're ready to drive.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
A couple door on training camp and he's like, all right,
you're finally already. You know you made it. You made
it a year, let's go okay.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
I mean we're always looking for you know, innings eaters.
We're always looking for people that can talk a little bit.
So I'm a little surprised it's taking this long.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I can talk it make it wild, but I can
talk for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Oh No, you definitely can. And for people who don't know.
You've given presentations to the players, to everybody, the organization,
to the partners, the limited partners, the city, the fans,
and the focus group, all of it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, we've had them all. Actually, I think first month
on the job last year, I opened up to the
player's room after final cuts and final roster and may
have picked on some of them for their social media game.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
You did.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
That was the broad introduction to welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I think that got you three cred with the players.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I think it did. It's the first time I may
have worked in some other sports, but it's the first
time I delivered that kind of a joke to a
room where they could all kill me. Within normally can
outrun most of them, and I'm going to be safe
where I'll fight them in that room.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Uh huh.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
Who's the most intimidating group that you've talked to, because
when Mark's ruling all that off, I'm going, wow, that's
a p I'd be a little scared in front of
that group.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
And maybe that group players.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
I gotta tell you when comes to players, it's the lineman.
But they are like we see them on TV, we
see them on the training field, but as soon as
you're next to them, yeah, my god, but you like,
you know they're big. But when you're like that, I mean,
I'm five to eleven, one fifty, Like you see these
guys and you're like, who.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
It's always funny to me because some of these guys
are twenty three years old, twenty four, and you think
we have interns who are twenty three and twenty four
and they're not as big, and you look at them
differently that way. Right, these are kids still, but they
have to behave as grown men because it's such an
important business.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
But then I look at some of these guys that
are my height, and I'm like, man, I just put
on forty more pounds and actually been a decent athlete.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
And that close.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So that close, that's what you gotta do, Doug. Yeah,
And we talked about some of those presentations. Well, I'm
going to start here, because when you talk to the
players and you talk to the legends, the former Texans
players about what we're doing here and what the mindset
is with hey really leaning into the city of Hughes,
an age town made currently we see all of that.
(04:03):
What has their response been like to you, and what
has some of that engagement been like between you and
those groups.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
It's been amazing, to be honest, that we have run
just man a thorough process over the past year, between
surveys and focus groups and just regular meetings. You're talking
about ten thousand people, hundreds of people through focus groups,
and when it comes to fans and players, there's a
lot of diverse thought in those groups. Right. The way
a sixteen year old casual fan may think is very
(04:29):
different than how a day one stm may think. Right,
a rookie player may think differently than someone who already
wore the jersey and went to battle for ten fifteen years, right,
very different. So I was pleasantly surprised throughout all these
meetings that overall they just want change, they just want evolution.
So when you go into these meetings and you tell
them that we are receptive to what you have to say.
(04:52):
We're actually going to take what you say and help
drive the change through that feedback versus just you know,
smoking mirrors, kind of fake listening when we actually show
them that we're listening. It's been a big thing. So
one was just hey, we want change. It's time to evolve,
it's time to get with the times. Two is, you know,
they like to joke back with us. Actually, so when
we talk about go back last year, we're like, we're
(05:12):
gonna we're gonna lean more into age town, We're gonna
lean more into culture, we're gonna lean more into music,
We're gonna lean more to the arts. It's kind of
like y'all eat to the party. It's about time y'all
got here, right. So for us, it's been really valiating
for all those diverse groups to kind of say the
same thing, like rep the city better, rep the people better,
and change. So hopefully he knows what we've been doing that.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
So one of the things that got instituted was and
you talked about the fans. It made me think about
the fan council. Why was it important to do something
like that Because you talked about the focus groups with fans.
You kind of doing some of that already, but why
the fan council in particular.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That the fan council just really gives a platform where
you can get way deeper on topics. Right, you do
a survey, you're getting twenty thirty questions, You do a
focus group over two hours, you've got a very narrow
list of questions because there's a lot of conversation. But
if you meet with your fan counsel on a regular basis,
you can go super deep.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So use this.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Here's campaign htown made. We ran them through even before production.
Here's what we're thinking, here's the idea, here's the concept,
here's how some of that could look. And they gave
us real time feedback. And I'll be honest, the campaign
wasn't originally called htown made. That came from the fans. Well,
it gave us and they gave us a live edit
in the room and we're like, that makes a whole
(06:23):
lot of sense. And that again the diversity of fans.
We had sixteen year olds, fifty five sixty year olds,
day one fans, fans that are new to us, and
for them to kind of all unite around some of
that feedback, So that depth of knowledge, a depth of
feedback fan counsel is critical. I'll be even things that
you don't normally think about to go that far in depth.
We had an hour long conversation last month about parking.
(06:46):
Parking has got a lot better over the past year.
We have a new game plan. We've done a lot
of traffic studies with the team. However, just hear from
a fan perspective for a whole hour. We thought that
would be a five minute conversation, right, No, So for them,
like we educated them on everything we've been doing, and
then they offer a few suggestions in between that they
live that life every Sunday, right.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And then you get construction thrown in and it boils everything.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I wish we control that, right.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah, exactly can you hold off on some of that stuff?
Doug Boptik joining US Texans Senior vice president Marketing and Communications.
All Right, uniforms, this may have come up if you
have to ask, you to have to ask where are
we at? Where are we going? And there's a lot
of attached to that. So what can you share with
us high level right now?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I mean I'll answer any question you had, Okay, right,
So high level, we're finally at a point where designs
are done, which means it's a drawing on a piece
of paper.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So right now, between probably two months ago and November,
Nike's working on actually making the one of one prototypes,
and we've shared in the public callis stated publicly that
we'll have four new uniforms, so across the board, all
four will be new. So we literally get four jerseys
sent to us in November, or maybe we'll go out
to Nike and beaver tenantcy him in person, and that's
the moment where drawling comes to life. So we are
(08:00):
finally at that stage where jerseys are locked, pants are locked,
socks are locked, helmets are locked, which means we may
have a few tricks up our sleeve for next year,
way to honor tradition but also try some new stuff
along the way. So all that's done and we're just
waiting for those first prototypes that we can't wait to
get our hands on.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Okay, this is going to be kind of a touchy
feelly kind of question in some sense, but changing uniforms
it's a bigger deal, I think than a lot of
times I think about.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
I'm like, I don't care what we wear. I just
want us to play well. I want us to go
on to a championship.
Speaker 5 (08:30):
But but I know that it means a lot to
a lot of people, including the guys are in that
locker room playing in that new jersey.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
How nervous are you about what the reaction will be
to the jersey, whether it's nationally, locally, etc.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And I know there. I mean, I haven't seen what
they look like, so I don't know.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
But and for me, I'm like, whatever we could wear yellow,
I don't know, it doesn't matter. How nervous are you
about the response to what those jerseys look like and
how it comes out to the public.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Sure we're not wearing yellow. Good, So we're good. We're
good there, Just get that one out there. Here's what
I say in that we are very confident in what
we are rolling out next year. And the confidence comes
from the process. When you run that many people through
a process, right and you actually listen, and that feedback
becomes kind of what you tell Nike to do. You
(09:22):
have some level of confidence that you're delivering on fan need. Right,
It's not about what I think, It's not about what
Greg Grissom thinks it's not about what cal McNair thinks,
it's about what the people think, right, So we can
honestly say the fan feedback drove the process, drove the feedback,
and then yeah, we met with players, maybe they have
some own ideas of their own, and I'll tell you
once we actually unveil the uniforms, there's one that really
(09:45):
was driven hard by player feedback and it's really really
cool as a result of it. So to me, it's
like the feedback we got through the process was diverse
right there. Sometimes you go into research and you're hoping, man,
I just want majority opinion. That way, I could say
two or of people want X, right, eighty percent one X,
and that really drives hard where you're going. Fortunately or unfortunately,
(10:07):
in our process, we didn't hear that. We heard I
want this, I want that, I want this, I want that,
And it was all over the map, and there was
no universal consensus. And the key topics that we're discussed
in all those were If you look at our current uniform,
it's kind of classic, right, simple, understated. So there's a
group of fans that want to continue that tradition. I
want timeless simple, classic, but modernize it. Okay, there's another
(10:30):
strong group of fans. They're like, no, let's get crazy. Right,
uniforms are way different now than they were twenty years ago.
So is there a way to honor tradition but get
wild with the design, right? And some people like persuptually
assume that means younger fans want to get wild. It's
all different kinds of fans that want to get wild.
So that's one. It's just like, are you going simple
clean or you getting a little wild? In design too,
(10:52):
is a lot of fans said to us, hey, you
know our logo is is a bull. You got horns?
You know, I'd like to see the horns become part
of our identity more than just a logo. So again
you go and test that, and you talk to ten
thousand fans and have them in focus groups and same thing.
Some fans will be like, no, thank you, I don't
want to see horns, and they have another strong opinion
that's like horns, horns, horns, horns, horns, right, So how
(11:15):
are you going to take care of two very diverse
groups there? And then maybe I know you're gonna ask
me at some point, you know, there's this whole debate
on this color, right, this H Town blue. You might
say this beautiful, a light blue color.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
But for those who don't know, why don't you share
with us, because I know you did the research. The
H Town blue goes back a long way. This is
part of the history of the city.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
History of city. And honestly, aside from us doing the research, again,
we heard it from the fans. So a lot of
people don't even realize this that and this is from
fans that there's one hundred and twenty year legacy in
h Town regarding we'll just call it a light blue color, right,
which will fondly call eah Town blue now, right, because
our city we own that color at this point.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
So in eighteen ninety they didn't call it h Town blue.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Maybe not, maybe not, but I wasn't alive then, you know,
maybe you were.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Now you're good, you're close.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So if you go all the way back right, you
got the blue bonnet, you got to stay flower. Right,
that is a light blue color, and of course you're
going to find that color throughout our community. Right in
the flower two when the street sign started right, which
in a lot of cities they're above ground and h
Town in those historic neighborhoods. You're looking at tiles on
the curb and on the concrete. What color are those tiles?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
The white and h Town blue?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Oh Town blue? All right? Look at the city flag.
What color is the city flag?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Hetown blue?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Agetown blue. Let's use another one. When NASA relocated here, right,
they may have been dark blue when they relocated to
our city. What color did they change their logo to?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Oh htown blue? With the Lyndon Johnson Space Center.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
It's town blue. And then perhaps there is a football
team that comes into town at some point and chooses
a light blue.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Color vaguely familiar.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
They probably just look back and are like, look at
all this light blue around us, we should probably use it, right,
but take it outside of football. Then you go HBD,
you go fire light blue uniforms, like blue cars, like
blue choppers, and then just walk around h Town. Now,
So if you want to go look a look at
micro brews. Right, look at a lot of local breweries.
They do h Town blue colors. Some of them do
h Town blue tile special edition cans. You go to
(13:15):
the clothing brand, so we'll go like do O Savage
Hearted seventy fifty Canal. They always are rocking h Town
blue in their collections every single season. So the color
has completely transcended right football at this point. Yeah, and
if you really think about it, football was just one
part of that one hundred and twenty year story. So
many fans love the color. You could imagine all the
(13:37):
complexities around legal and intellectual property and all those things
that exist, but we may have found a way to
pay a tribute to the color. Oh, we're just kind
of we're just kind of leaving it at that of
like a tribute.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Paying homage, like you versus houstonaune.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well, that's that's all in, right, Yeah, that's all in
for sure. And obviously, honestly, I think the uniforms are
absolutely beautiful. Look, they are on point, and I think
social media and the media will tell you from yesterday, right,
people are loving those. Yeah, you could imagine in a
collegiate space, maybe they got a little bit more freedom
around intellectual property, maybe a lot you know, maybe you know,
(14:13):
because we're in the NFL and there's another NFL team
that has some ip around that, but we're still able
to wait to find a way to do something. So
I know, we're excited based upon the fan feedback, which
was it doesn't have to look like that other team's
uniform or it doesn't have to look like what U
of H just did, but can the Texans figure out
a way to pay tribute? And I think we nailed that.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Yeah, well, I can't wait to see four uniforms that
is outside. When do we see them? When do they
get unveiled to the public?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Doug April of next year. So that's not that far
if you really think about it, it's not that far up.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
No, it's not because we have the c's and that
will occupy your time, correct and then the combine and
then and.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Then you're like a week before draft, you're like, all right,
let's let's unveil these things.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
So are you? Are you like a dad with kids
where there's always one of yours that's the favorite, Like
you're my favorite kid, Like you're my favorite jersey.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, you're a favorite. You're good, but you're my favorite kids?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Aren't listening to this?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Is that an interview where I ask you, guys are
your favorite kids?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
I thought you were going to go expecting father, like
I gotta.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Get it out.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Wait listen every parent out there listening knows that they
might say that they don't have favorite, they got a
favorite anyway, Do you have a favorite in the four?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I think we all will. I think we all will.
And I say that because, as I was alluding to of,
there was no consensus in the fan feedback. So we
took the approach, which is a little bit different than
maybe current NFL trend. If you look at a lot
of the more recent new uniforms and I won't I
won't take shots at any other team, they tend to
have like one simple look and then they apply it
(15:46):
to three or four uniforms, so you're just basically looking
at the same uniform on repeat. Here's a white one,
here's a red one, here's a black one. For us
over four, we said, okay, if you want timeless traditional,
here's the one uniform that answers that. If you want
to take one step further and say timeless traditional gets refreshed,
we have one for that. If you said, hey, I'm
(16:07):
into this bull thing, let's get wild, we have one
for that. And if someone said, hey, I want you
to pay homage to H Town Blue, and if the
players just saying I want something tough. I want something, mean,
we got something for that. So for us, there's gonna
be favorites. I've got two of mine, and I'm sure
the fans are going to find one or two of
theirs out of the floor.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Okay, I'm asking this question for the eighth floor crew
on game days? Will you be able to read the
numbers from the eighth floor?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Radio bill?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I was not consulted about reading numbers.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
This is important to broadcasters.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Can you read the numbers from the eighth floor of binocular?
Speaker 1 (16:45):
You can't worried about somebody a little bit lighter blue
at the numbers they got a pop.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I mean, I can read them. You might need to
get your prescription shot.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I mean the most important thing to broadcasters to be
able to see the numbers.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And the fans too. They want to know what they're life,
of course.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So I can you know, I can't give away too much,
but you can imagine in a in a brand refresh right,
you know, maybe the numbers are refreshed a little bit. Sure,
maybe we looked at some things on fabric to make
them have a little bit more shimmer and shine. So
maybe maybe they'll get your eye a little bit better.
From uptime.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Here you go like that, but that's good, that's good.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You know, maybe there's some tricks there that'll help our
eyes see it a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Very nice. Doug Vossik joining us, senior vice president Marketing
and Communications. And for the fans listening, they might think, well, uniform,
you just order another one to design it, order it.
Can't you wear it on Tuesday?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Right?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It takes time, and in fact, you sped up the
process quite a bit. You want to share a little
bit about that. You came in here and said, wait
a minute, we have to wait three four years.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
What can we do to speed this thing up? And
you've sped it up a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You know, I can't. I can't take full credit at
all at all. So typically you could imagine a two
or three year process to create new uniforms because the
team's going to figure out what's their brand identity, how
do they want to look? And then you send that
as like inspiration to the NFL and Nike and then
they say, here's how we interpret your brand on uniforms.
We kind of did it all at once, right. We said,
(18:05):
we have some hypotheses we want to test. Let's bring
all the fans in as many as we can get
to test them. So that helped us cut down a
lot of time on the research side. Two, I would say,
you know, this is so important to the organization that
you know Cal McNair, Greg Grissom, myself and a few
other staff. We immediately went to the NFL and we
said we want to refresh this is the feedback we're
(18:26):
hearing from our fans. We even took a trip out
to New York to meet with Goodell in person and
said here's what we're thinking, here's what we'd like to do.
And from that moment on, the League said we want
to support the Houston Texans. We think with everything that's
happening down in each town, between on and off field,
all this excitement you're building, how can we help. So
we did have quite some help from the League and
from Nike to say, let's cut some timelines out here,
(18:48):
let's move as fast as we can because let's help
the Houston Texans be their best new selves as soon
as possible. And from us that meant twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
Four, we can talk a lot about Jersey. I want
to ask you something, Doug. You're not from Houston and
I like, as Mark said, you got here as fast
as you could. And I ask you that because I
don't know that been around an individual who's embraced an
area or a community more than I've seen you embrace
in the time that you've been here. Why did you
(19:17):
feel that was so important to not only grasp okay,
the Houston, Texans, but the city of Houston.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
And I think about h Town made it's an interesting story.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
You told about the fact that you know that came
out of the fan council, But why was that important
for you to embrace this community in this city the
way that you have and then let that filter through
everything that you've done.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
You know, again, I can't take credit for it, right,
And I will use Mark's infamous line in a different way, right,
I will say, you don't have to be born here
to be from here. Number one. So for me, like
I am a different creative individual, right, I'm into music,
I'm into art, I'm into culture, I'm into all these
different things. And if you think about our city, what
a beautiful place for all those things.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So for me, like it may have taken give me
a while to get here, but like I see myself
in this city, and then the way that the fans
have embraced outsiders like me to come in and trusted
outsiders like me to come in and help shape right
and help be the stewards currently of it. That means
a lot, right. So for me, it was this is
a really cool city, man, right, and it happens to
match my own personal brand. So that's number one. So
(20:21):
it just it made me feel at home right away.
But what drove the process was the fan feedback. Right
first or second month on the job, we're talking to fans.
Forget formal focus groups and formal surveys, We're talking to
fans a training camp, We're talking to fans at every
preseason game. We literally walked the building. Sometimes we're like, hey,
why are you wearing that like new jersey? Other than it,
(20:41):
you know, says Warre Moon. You look like you're eighteen.
You weren't around for that team, right, They're like, Oh,
it's just cool. I love this color. Right, So all
that feedback, fans were saying us, even from those casual conversations,
y'all don't feel h town, y'all don't feel like part
of the city. They say, We'll give you due credit
you guys have done a lot financially for the community
to the tune actually of our event last night, Orceives
(21:02):
a premiere. You know, we're over forty five million dollars
now that we've been able to put back into the community.
But they said, it's not just about the give back.
How are you reflecting us? How are you reflecting our city?
How are you inflecting people? How are you reflecting culture?
And we didn't necessarily maybe have all those answers a
year and a half ago, right, So for us, it
was just listen to the fans right right. And then
once we had a good sense of what was going on,
(21:24):
meeting with Cal and teen, just to say hey, here's
what we're hearing seems like a no brainer. And then
it became about leaning on the fans and leaning from
a lot of people we have here that are from
age town, born and raised to help shape that future
of the creative and the marketing or whatever it may be. So, yes,
this is a city that I think I love because
it really reflects my own character. But at the end
(21:45):
of the day, the fan feedback from day one made
us go, let's lean in.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
And you've leaned in a lot it's good h Town,
may Eytown made all right, Doug, thanks a lot for
joining us. We'll visit again soon. We'll make this a
regular kind of thing, if that's okay with.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You before to coming back.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
All right, thanks, thank you?
Speaker 4 (22:02):
All right.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Great visit with Doug Vasik, the senior VP of Communications
and Marketing for the Houston Texans. Now I mentioned it
at the top of the show. Troy Calhoun, head coach
at Air Force. They're playing Sam Houston State Saturday night
at NRG Stadium, and man, oh man, what a great
visit with him, as he was here in six as
Gary Kubiak's first offensive coordinator. So let's catch up with him,
(22:25):
shall we. Coach. Great to visit with you and looking
forward to welcoming you back to Houston. How's it going well, Mark.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
It's going well. And certainly an honor for us, our staff,
our cadets, and most of all the United States Air
Force Academy to have an opportunity to go down to Houston.
And you just look at the history of the Air
Force specifically what happens, you know, during those years, and
how prominent NASSA was and yet a large, large number
(22:56):
of young men and young women that have come from
that state, a great state of Texas, and specifically they're
from the Houston area.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You know, it's funny you bring it up that way
because my father is Dutch and he trained with NATO
in jets in the fifties in San Antonio and Laredo,
and a lot of guys who flew those jets in
the Air Force went into the space program, so there
was a lot of crossover there. So it's a big
part of the history of it all right.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Market's phenomenal when you look at the state of Texas truly,
you know, everybody's kind of has their home base or
home identity. The number of bases that we have in
San Antonio, you know, like I said, Nas, I mean
throughout the whole area, and just how incredibly patriotic the
state is in terms of the way they embrace and
(23:48):
respect our service members.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Troy Calhoun, coach of Air Force, joins us on Texans Radio.
Now let's get into it. You have the big game
this week and with Sam Houston State, you're coming off
of victory buble. Well we get into that, Coach, I
have to ask you about your time here in Houston
as offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak's first year. You knew him
from Denver or maybe before that even I don't know,
(24:11):
But tell me about what you recall from being part
of that time in this organization's history.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Well, it was, I mean just a remarkable time. It
truly is. And there's no way to probably fully elaborate
upon how many of those experiences that we came across
during that year that you still utilize today. And it
was nat from the family part of it, just with
a Manda being from Proland, the years that she spent
(24:40):
working at Old Astro World and telling stories and how
many times late on a Thursday night she'd call and say,
you know what, how about swinging by Papa Doze or
Papa Seed is thereby at that time, which was reliant
now is NRG. And you know, I think during that
year was just trying to put a foundation in place.
And we had the number one in the draft, which
(25:02):
ended up being Mario Williams. First pick in the second
round ended up being a player from Alabama named Amiko Ryans,
and you went through that was a really really good
draft that helped put the Texans in a place where
they had a pretty good run there in the following
years and just a marvelous time, far too short, quite frankly,
(25:24):
And it's one of those decisions you don't want to
make whether hey, you remain in Houston with the Texans
or you come back to the Air Force Academy. But
at that time that was a really really good problem
to have.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Well, before we get into your return to Air Force,
you mentioned Amiko Ryans, who's the head coach here. Now,
was there anything you saw, I know you were a
coaching offense, but what did you see from Demico at
the time that you can recall that might indicate, Hey,
this guy's got some outstanding leadership ability?
Speaker 6 (25:57):
They did, you know? I mean, just want how bright
was just so instinctive and he just had that drive
in that verb and that juice that you want in
human beings, especially as an inside linebacker. And certainly he's
i mean just grown and done amazing things as a coach.
(26:17):
And I'll tell you it was really really neat here
in November or what is that ten months ago, we
had the forty nine ers here as they were getting
ready to go play down in Mexico City and had
a chance to visit with Demiko and watch him practice,
and goodness houcking you not be fired up for the
Houston Texans for what could be on the horizon.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Now.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
It may take a little time, just as it did
during the Kubiak years too.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, it took a little time. Five hundred and year
two in a climb from there. Year two, you went
back to the Air Force Academy as head coach, Troy
Calhoun joining US head coach at Air Force. You played
quarterback there. When you were playing quarterback for Air Force,
did you ever think you'd return as head coach?
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Absolutely not. That really wasn't something that even went through
your mind. You know, when I came to the academy, Mark,
I wanted to fly. I wanted to be a pilot.
I had my physical late in my junior year here
at the Academy, and they said, you know what, your
eyesight's not quite where it needs to be, and this
day and age, it'd be an easy fix. You know,
(27:22):
they can zap right across your eyeballs and whether it's
lazy or p RK or whatever's required that way. And
so you know, he ended up going down in another
way to serve as an officer, which was splendid and
You're glad you did. But I think really once you
got into coaching, especially in the National Football League, I
(27:44):
mean just how much football you were exposed to just
day in day out. I mean the amount of film
you were able to study, the ideas and the adjustments
that had to be made, and truly the opportunity to
be able to learn from Mike channnn and Gary Kubiak
and a good number of other coaches absolutely off the charts.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Troy Calhoun joining US head coach at Air Force playing
Sam Houston State at NRG Stadium Saturday night at seven.
You took over for the legendary Fisher to Bury and
there you are coach that had to be a lot
of pressure. He's a legend, had a lot of success.
But you've had a lot of success and seemingly, I'm
not going to say it came right away or it
(28:26):
came easily, but it did come right away. What went
into that for you being able to maintain the winning
tradition at air Force Mark.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Again, I you know the amount of things that were
able to implement from the time in both Denver with
the Broncos and then also there in Houston and kind
of merry up with the requirements of the Air Force Academy,
and that's you know, that's one of the things that
I think is so challenging here is finding somebody that
(28:54):
you can recruit. Certainly they have to be an outstanding
student when they are he or They're going to take
two levels of calculus, they're going to take two levels
of chemistry, two levels of physics, they're gonna take aeronautical engineering,
astronautical engineering, civil engineering. I mean, just they're in take
every one of our guys that'll be playing for this
Saturday's taken at least eighteen or twenty one semester hours
(29:17):
in addition to all their military requirements that they have
in their squadrons. So you know, your meetings are very
very short. You have some time in the weight room
and then your practices. The longest you ever ever practice
is ninety minutes. So it does make you be highly organized,
to be point on and exactly how you teach, and
(29:40):
certainly be very very efficient in terms of what you
get done on the field.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Sam Houston is the opponent for Saturday Night. Coach, what
can you tell us about the matchup as this is
a team that has had a lot of success in
FCS and now's an FBS team trying to make some noise.
What can you tell us about Saturday, Well, they're.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Quite quite talented. I do think when you look back
about the last five seven years, you think back to
the FCS, you know there are three teams you just
absolutely stood out. You know, you go back here in
recent years and it's it's North Dakota State, It's Sam Houston,
It's James Madison. And you just look at the sheer
(30:21):
number of transfers that they've also brought in in order
to elevate their roster and mark we're going to have
a very very difficult challenge, and you know we're at
a place where we don't bring in any transfers and
so this will be this will be a tough matchup
for us. Yet at the same time, there's the reason
why young men and young women come to the United
(30:42):
States Air Force Academy UH to be challenged, because ultimately
it's how you grow not only on the character part,
but also to build the leadership attributes that we need
in our future leaders and officers for our country.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
How has your offense evolved over the years, Coach, Because
you we were with the Koubiak system, as we mentioned
Denver and here with the Houston Texans, and we know
what air Force was running traditionally with coach DeBerry and
you took it over. So how have you changed it
over the years.
Speaker 6 (31:12):
Well, that the zone based the zone based system that
we utilize is exactly what we did in both Denver
and Houston, and that's the predominant part of our running game.
I think the other part is we want to be
tremendous in the passing game. And last year we were
number one in the country and yards per attempt, number
one in the country and yards per completion. And you
(31:35):
have to be balanced. Now what's balanced. It may vary
a little bit from year to year. And I think
the other part that you recall from being with Houston
is it's always got to be who do you have
personnel wise and you have to adapt accordingly. I remember
the year that we had there in two thousand and six,
we knew that we needed to have, you know, a
(31:56):
precise just be really really exact in terms of our
passing game. I think we led the NFL that year
in completion percentage. We went a pretty talented guy and
Andre Johnson we just felt like, hey, we got to
move him, we gotta line him up everywhere. Because of
what I he ended up leading the NFL and catches.
I think he had like one hundred and two that season.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Well, yeah, he was amazing coach. When you look at
the other service academies, how does recruiting go because you
need a particular type of athlete, and I know you
recruit against the other schools, but things are different. It's
a different landscape, like you mentioned with some of the requirements.
What about the other service academies though? Is there a
competition between Army, Navy, Air Force as far as hey
(32:36):
I want this athlete. Don't you want to be in
the Air Force instead of the Navy?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Does that go on?
Speaker 6 (32:43):
Well, I'll say this, these are extremely hard candidates defined,
you know, because what are you looking for? You looking
for somebody that's a three seven plus student. We are
still test mandatory, so that means at least a twelve
SAT or a twenty seven ACT and you have to
(33:04):
be willing to serve for our country and you have.
At the same time, we want somebody as talented so
we can play competitive football. And you know, I will
say this, I think there's a little bit of something
that stirs in each young person as far as what
branch they gravitate to. So maybe not quite as much
as you'd think from afar.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
All right, settle this for me, coach, because I have
not been to a game in Annapolis or at West Point,
and I've been told they're both amazing atmospheres. So I'm
not going to talk about air Force. But if I
have a choice to go to see a game at
Navy or a game at Army, where should I go first?
Speaker 6 (33:46):
Well, I mean, without answering that question exactly, how about
going somewhere where you see Pike's Peak and the rocky
mountains and a clear Colorado blue sky and you know,
right over the top, you think you're almost going to
get a really good hair when those f sixteens are
f thirty five flyes super close over the scoreboard at
Falcon Stadium, Now, Mark, they're both unbelievable venues. And truly,
(34:12):
when you watch the march on you see those young
men young women that are mids or cadets, and as
they head out to the field right before kickoff, and
I mean it does make the hair on your arms
in the back of your neck stand up, just in
terms of you realize, hey, these are you know, when
they were seventeen, eighteen years old, these kids at that age,
(34:33):
that's what they were. They were kids. They made a decision,
they made a commitment to go serve for our country,
and how does that not make your hearts? Well?
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, yeah, phenomenal stuff. Well, we're really looking forward to
seeing it the Air Force Academy, the whole show with
you coaching the way Former Texans offensive coordinator Troy Calhoun,
head coach at the Air Force Academy facing Sam Houston
on Saturday night, seven o'clock at n rg's Dadium. Coach,
thanks so much for the time. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (35:03):
Absolutely, we look forward to it. Thank you, Mark.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
All Right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Finally on the pod today, last, but not least, a
guy who's the voice of the Ravens. His name is
Jerry Sandusky. Jerry with a G and does a terrific
job for them, knows everything there is to know about
the team, and he's a really interesting guy, having written
a really phenomenal book actually a few years back, and
I talked to him about that as well. Let's just
(35:27):
dig into the conversation with Jerry joining us now in
Texans Radio. It's voice of the Baltimore Ravens. Jerry Sandusky. Jerry,
how's it going today?
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Doing great? Week one? It's time to play some football, right.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
It's time to go and tell me. Let's start here
with the number one guy, Lamar Jackson. He's back. I
know you've talked a lot about him, but we got
to get into it. How has he looked to you
in preparation of this one? What can we expect? Give
me the entire game plan. I know you can't do that,
but tell me what you do know, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
So what I Here's I'll start with completely different offense,
the ground and pound run first read option one hundred
and ten yards for rushing for Lamar. That is the past.
This is a West Coast style offense that is all
about spreading the defense out and getting the ball out
of Lamar's hands fast. It's more rpo than read option.
(36:20):
Now that said, when you spread a field out, it's
going to give Lamar more room to run at his
discretion if plays breakdown and he wants to extend plays,
and I think we'll still see plenty of that. But
I don't think you're going to see merely as much
read option, especially between the tackles where you take a
guy who paid a court of a billion dollars too
(36:41):
and run him through four guys who weigh three hundred
and twelve pounds. They just don't see that happening anymore.
With this offense. I see much more of quick release,
get the ball in the hands of other playmakers out
in space, and then really puts pressure on the defenses
by stretching them sideline.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
The sideline might be an obvious question, but is it
because of the injury issues over the years and the
kind of beating he's taken, being the way he is
being so dynamic in the run game.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
I think that's a big part of it. Mark. I
think you know, he's at his sixth year and it's
a typical progression where the new offensive coordinator, Tom Munkin
had a great line he said, look he is. Lamar
is at the same point that Michael Jordan was in
his career where he recognized, Hey, I can't drive to
the rack and dunk every time. I got to develop
a three point shot. And so for Lamar, it's about
(37:28):
moving the focus of the game from his legs to
his head and becoming more cerebral. See what's open, get
the ball out of your hand. If there's a running opportunity,
take it. But stop taking the big hits and start
making big hits by making big connections with other playmakers.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Gerry Sandusky, voice of the Ravens, joining us on Texans Radio,
all right, what about some of the playmakers Mark Andrews.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Obj is there?
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (37:52):
What have you seen from the pass catchers so far
in the preseason?
Speaker 4 (37:57):
So OBJ is at It's really it's amazing what he
has brought. He has brought Hollywood star presence. He's a
hard worker, he's the leader, not a diva. I'm so
pleasantly surprised in what the Ravens got with Obj, because
you know, like you've only seen him from Afar, and
then you see him up close, you talk to him
up close. He's so impressive and he's really given a
(38:21):
great sense to this offense of what it can become.
The rookie is a Flowers first round draft pick, is
explosive and quick, and he's going to have huge yards
after catch numbers. And then they bring in a veteran
like Nelson Aguilar, a former Eagle, first round draft pick
who's a very reliable, big body guy. So you know,
you've kind of got the basis covered. The big thing
(38:43):
is it gives Lamar options other than just Mark Andrews.
Mark Andrews is a phenomenal tight end, but it was
so obvious where Lamar was going with a ball almost
every time. Last year, the Ravens were the only team
in the NFL that didn't have a single wide receiver
with more than five hundred yards receiving. You can't do
that in the passing offense. Now, you should have four
(39:05):
or five guys well over five hundred yards receiving. And
that means to me, Mark Andrews becomes more valuable because
defensive coordinators can't say, okay, there's eighty nine, put all
our resources there and we're going to shut down the
fat beginning. You can't do that anymore.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
You're a Sam Dusky, voice of the Baltimore Ravens joining
us on Texans Radio. Give me a plus or two
on offense that nobody talks about, maybe outside of the market,
or maybe even inside the market. Something great or good
about the Ravens offense that is undercovered.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Second string tight end Isaiah Likely so he was a
fourth round draft pick last year along with Charlie Kohler,
another tight end, and you know, nobody really paid that
much attention to him in training camp, and then he
popped in pre season, and then if the season went on,
down the line, he started to make some big catches.
He has that knack that great tight ends do of
finding the open space and making plays after he makes
(39:58):
a catch. Because he was a fourth i'm pick, he
wasn't talked up. He wasn't talked up by your first
round draft pick. And in watching him in training camp
this year, he's the kind of guy that when you
spread out of defense and you start to look for
where's obij whereas a Flowers, Where's Mark Andrews? Isaiah likely
is the kind of guy who could have some huge
games and all of a sudden, the country's asked me
(40:19):
the question, Hey, who's this kid?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
All right?
Speaker 1 (40:21):
What about on defense here? Because I see our old
friend Jadebion Clowney on this unit. Roquan Smith had a
big pick against the Texans as a Bear last year
in the early part of the season. What about the
front seven and what they're bringing here so far?
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Jerry, So the front seven is super sound, and it's
all about roqwand Smith in the middle. He transformed this
defense when he got air midyear. Last year, the Ravens
shaved off almost seven points per game of what they
were giving up. The guy's literally worth a touchdown every game,
he's that good. But he gets the front line set
(40:57):
and he gets the linebacker set. Patrick Queen, who was
very inconsistent, talented but inconsistent, suddenly becomes a very consistent playmaker.
The concern on the Ravens defense right now is secondary.
Marlon Humphrey is down. Rocky Scenes who they signed in
the offseason, didn't play a lot in training camp. He
had some injuries, and so we haven't seen a whole
(41:17):
lot of that group. They brought in some veteran depths,
But that's to me, the front seven takes on added
importance the two young edge rushers, the Daffio Away and
David Ajabo. The more pressure they can get on the quarterback,
the less pressure is left on the back end with
the secondary until you get Marlon Humphrey back in week
(41:37):
two or three or four from training camp foot surgery.
So to me, the front seven is at the moment
the strength of this defense. You get Marlon Humphrey back,
and all of a sudden you might have a great defense.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
What's Justin Tucker's popularity in Baltimore versus some of the
other players. Is it unbelievable considering he's a kicker. Measure
it for me, Jerry.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
So I'll give it to you the numbers. The first
kicker in the Hall of Fame was John Steneruse, and
he hit I believe sixty seven percent of his kicks.
Justin Tucker is ninety two percent of his kicks. Justin
Tucker is a city wide level of confidence like you've
never seen from a kicker in the NFL because the
Ravens basically Raven fans know that the Ravens can get
(42:20):
the ball to midfield if they got a shot closing
out with a win. Because of Justin Tucker. I'm watching
him before the last preseason game. He was kicking seventy
yard field goals into the net in pregame warm ups. Now,
granted that's pregame, is not the regular season. But Phil,
this guy's in his twelfth here and he can punch
the ball through from seventy yards away. He is a
(42:42):
one man confidence cocktail for the entire city, because all
you have to say is here comes Justin Tucker, and
the place feels great. Never seen anything like it.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
So relative to other specialists, current and former, would you
put him up there with maybe McAfee, like someday's going
to have his own show? What do you think?
Speaker 4 (43:00):
Oh yeah, Look, Justin Tucker could easily be here. I'd
put him up there with like you, Jackman, he could
have his one one man Broadway show. He's got talent.
He's an opera singer. He's funny, he does impressions. He
kicks sixty six yard field goals. He's the most accurate
kicker of all time. I could literally see him like
hosting the Late Late Show or having a Broadway show.
(43:23):
He's that talented of a performer. And I think that's
why he's such a great kicker. You know, were some
kickers the spotlight's too bright and the pressure is too intense.
This kid thrives on a spotlight. I mean, he just
comes to life. It's just it's like his life's blood.
And so whether he's singing Ave Maria at the cathedral
or lining up to kick a game when he field goals,
(43:45):
kind of all the same neighborhood for him, which is
his comfort zone.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Boys of the Ravens. Jerry Sandusky joining us. Jerry, you
wrote a book a while back called Forgotten Sundays about
your father, right. Can you share with me how it's
been for you since you've written that book, and the
kind of response you received, and maybe how things have
changed over the years and evolved after getting so much
reaction to the book.
Speaker 4 (44:09):
So it was kind of a catharsist for me to
write the book. My dad, John Sandowski, had been a
player in the NFL in the fifties, and he coached
in the NFL from fifty nine till ninety four, was
the longest serving assistant under Don Shula. And I grew
up on the sidelines as a ball boy. I saw
all this in the front row. And then at the
end of his life, he suffered Alzheimer's for the last
(44:31):
five years of his life and at the very end
he couldn't remember anything. You know, This amazing life of
a World War Two veteran second round draft pick in
the NFL. He won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts,
he was an interim head coach. All these great things,
the number of Hall of Fame players he coached, and
he didn't remember any of it. And so I felt
compelled to write the book because there were such impactful memories.
(44:56):
And then what came out of it was and by
the way, it's also coincided with the whole Jerry Sandusky
name thing, the coach at Penn State. And really what
came out of this was that you don't own your name.
Your name is the stewardship, and the value of your
life is what you do with your stewardship of that
time that you spend on earth in your profession and
(45:19):
the lives you touch. And the feedback that was so
remarkable was the number of other people who had had
a loved one who had suffered from Alzheimer's or had
gone through a challenge and had you know, learned to
just kind of stand in there and really, like the
message of the book is that success isn't just what
you're willing to do to achieve it. It's also what
you're not willing to do. Because you do place a
(45:41):
high value on your name, and you do place a
high value in the legacy that you will hand that
name to in the next generation. And I think it
resonated with people who have gone through struggles individually, who've
lost loved ones to Alzheimer's, and it just kind of
makes you stop and realize that. You know, there's a
line that I share in the book was the last
conversation with my dad, he had this little moment of
(46:02):
clarity that pulled him out of the deep fog of
Alzheimer's and he looked at me and my brother and
he said, Man, it gets really messed up at the end.
This is not how I thought it was going to
end for me. Live now, don't wait. Live now. And
that's really you know, that's been something that I think
really spoke to a lot of people, and it certainly,
(46:23):
you know, to this day, speaks to me. Well.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
The book is called Forgotten Sundays. It's by Jerry Sandusky
and the forward was by John Harbaugh. That's amazing stuff.
You got the head coach to do that. That's terrific stuff.
And the book is still available Amazon and everywhere else
we can get books.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
Jerry, everywhere else, wherever you buy books, you should be
able to get it.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
I've got one more for you. What are people in
Baltimore saying about the Houston Texans, what do they think
of this matchup in the market.
Speaker 4 (46:50):
So it's interesting. It's very interesting to talk with Ravens
fans because it's a lot like talking to Raven's coach.
They don't know if you get a rookie head coach
who's highly thought of as a great cedigree. You've got
a first year offensive coordinator who has done some interesting
things in the past and is well thought of. You've
got a rookie quarterback who's the number two pick in
the draft. So you've got a lot of pieces, but
(47:10):
there's no tape on any of them doing anything together.
I think this is probably the hardest game that Ravens players, coaches,
and fans are going to have to prepare for maybe
this decade, because that is a rare combination of first
year impact people. Coach, coordinator, quarterback. I don't know that
I've seen that before, so we'll recognize the uniform. It
(47:33):
didn't show a whole lot in the way of strategy
and preseason I saw a lot of Cover two. I
expect to Mike O'Ryan's will be more exotic than that
in the regular season, and you know C. J. Stroud
has a lot of tools, especially I Becau's out in
space like there's around town. There's an element of, you know,
cautious optimism, the feelings the Ravens should have win this game,
(47:55):
but that underlying anxiety of oh what if these guys
are really good and nobody sees them coming.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
And that's that's the drama that leads into Week one
around here sounds interesting. Can't wait to see you, can't
wait to call the game. Sunday at noon in Baltimore,
Texans Ravens. Jerry, thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker 4 (48:12):
My pleasure. Can't wait to see you when you get
to town.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
All right, there's the voice of the Ravens, Jerry Sandusky,
Jerry with a G. And that's the podcast for today.
So great to have you listening. And check out all
the other podcasts wherever you got this one or wherever
fine podcasts are available. Texans Ravens Sunday noon Sports Radios
Extendable one hundred point three FM. Let's Go twenty twenty
(48:36):
three campaign about to get underway. Have a great night,
have a great day whenever you're listening, and thank you
for listening, and go Texans.
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