Coach Brian Daboll: ‘We’ve got a lot of work to do’

Paul (0:00)

As the season wound down, what were your feelings about what was going to happen next year with you, and when did you finally get that notification that you were going to be back?

Brian Daboll (0:09)

Yeah, like I said, I've been in constant communication with ownership, heard this morning. Thankful for the opportunity, got a lot of work to do. Obviously, three and 14, not good enough.

Paul (0:19)

You said you heard this morning, and that was with John?

SPEAKER_3 (0:24)

Yeah.

SPEAKER_4 (0:25)

John taught, we spoke with John. He talked about the defense not being good enough. Have you made any staff changes?

Brian Daboll (0:31)

Yeah, I haven't made any staff changes. I just say everything wasn't good enough. So, you know, when you only win three games, there's a lot of things that need to be improved. And again, it's only the day after the last game. So we'll get started on that process.

Connor (0:43)

Are you considering staff changes? Are you considering it?

Brian Daboll (0:45)

Look, we just got done. We just got done with meeting with the players. I'll sit down with all the coaches, and we'll make the best decisions we can for the football team.

SPEAKER_6 (0:53)

I don't want to say that, but by this point last year, you had already moved on from Thomas McGahey and Bobby Johnson. So it's not crazy that you would have already thought about making staff changes.

Brian Daboll (1:04)

Yeah, I haven't thought about it in terms of, you know, I got a lot of confidence in the guys that have, you know, put the time and effort and energy and results were terrible. But we're moving forward here and do everything we can do to improve it.

SPEAKER_7 (1:17)

John also said you guys had a long meeting on Friday, and you laid out your plan. So within that plan, there was nothing about making any staff changes?

Brian Daboll (1:24)

Yeah, what I talk about with John is private. So we had a long conversation about a lot of different things.

SPEAKER_7 (1:30)

He expressed he wasn't happy with the defense, so it seemed to put Shane Bone in the crosshair, but the owner saying he's not happy with the defense.

Brian Daboll (1:36)

Yeah, I wouldn't take it as that. I mean, look, you're not happy with anything when you win three games down.

SPEAKER_8 (1:41)

You also mentioned he said to you, have you thought about not calling plays next year?

Brian Daboll (1:47)

Yeah, I brought that up. I brought that up to him in a meeting. Again, there's no decision that's been made. Again, we'll sit back and take a look at everything and do what we need to do.

Connor (1:56)

When we talked to you at the owner's meeting, you were pretty adamant about wanting play calling back, talking about the number of coaches. We're often reminded they're still calling plays, so to give it up after one year after taking it back, I mean, why is that something you're considering?

Brian Daboll (2:08)

Well, I'm not saying I'm giving it up or not giving it up. Look, we won three games, so I'm going to consider every option to try to be better.

SPEAKER_9 (2:14)

Brian, what is your vision for the team going forward? Because John talked about the fact that he remains confident in both your vision and Joe's vision.

Brian Daboll (2:23)

I'd just say we got a lot of work to do, and that's what we'll do.

SPEAKER_10 (2:27)

How much of your future here do you think is tied to who the quarterback is going to be in September?

Brian Daboll (2:32)

Yeah, I'm just focused on today here. Just found out we're going to be able to stay, so, you know, got a lot of work to do, and that's what we're going to do.

SPEAKER_11 (2:40)

Why did you do exit meetings this year but not last year?

Brian Daboll (2:43)

I thought it was the right thing to do. Did it the first year, too. Why wasn't it the right thing last year? Because we thought something else would be a little bit better. So didn't like the way we did it last year, so we changed it to this year. Just like you change it from year to year with schedules and practice routines and meetings with whatever it may be. So we figured we'd do it this year. We did it after the first year. We did it in groups, select groups, like free agents versus got rookies versus second year players. So that was the decision we made.

SPEAKER_6 (3:12)

Knowing that you were found out today that you're coming back for next year, but there's obviously no commitment beyond that year, does that make you more willing or more likely to pursue a veteran quarterback than a rookie quarterback who you will have to obviously develop?