Transcript: Tight Ends Coach Kevin M. Gilbride

Tight Ends Coach Kevin M. Gilbride
June 19, 2014

Q: How’s the switch been?
A: I’ve enjoyed it. It’s such a different aspect, especially with everything that we do offensively with the tight ends. I’ve enjoyed the guys, they’ve worked hard coming in with this offense and everything that the offense is asked to do in the backfield, in an in-line position, playing the fullback role, playing the number one receiver, the number two receiver. It’s been a lot of teaching and the way that the guys are adapting to learning it, you have to teach conceptually and learn conceptually within this offense and they’ve done a good job with it.

Q: Coach McAdoo was saying that this isn’t a completely new offense, that there are going to be some aspects of the old one. How much, if you can give a percentage, is old versus new?
A: I can’t give a specific percentage but there’s definitely carry-over within our position, being asked to do all of those different roles. There’s a lot of new involved with it for those guys, for those players but it’s been enjoyable for me to teach and it’s been enjoyable, I believe, for them. I think they’ve enjoyed learning the new aspects and the full picture of the offense.

Q: What’s the biggest difference you’ve seen from Adrien Robinson from last year to this year?
A: Well I didn’t’ coach him much last year so I can’t speak to how he was before. I do know this – he’s working incredibly hard to learn. That’s something that, going in, just knowing him as a personality not as someone I’ve taught before, I didn’t know. He’s in there, he’s taking copious notes, he’s answering questions very well. What we need to do is we need to get him to be able to transition that onto the field. He’s made strides, there’s no doubt that he’s made strides but there needs to be a lot more. The more in detail we get with him, sometimes he loses some of the basics as far as the techniques are concerned and we’ve got to get some carry-over with it.

Q: What’s it been like working with Ben McAdoo after working with your father for the last couple of years?
A: I was going to make a joke but then you guys will all write about it. It’s really been very good. He’s a very good teacher. He’s very patient, whether it’s questions from the players, questions from us if we’re not 100 percent sure because it’s a lot, putting in a full new offense is a lot, so there are things that we don’t necessarily know 100% that he does just from the detail perspective. So he’s been great, he’s been great in that regard.

Q: How is your dad doing? I know he’s doing some work at ESPN, is he enjoying it?
A: I think he’s really enjoying it. We get a vacation in the summer, he’s been on vacation since the end of the season so he’s enjoyed it. He’s been able to do what he enjoys doing. He’s spoken at a ton of different coaches clinics, he’s spoken at high school banquets, things like that, things he hasn’t gotten the opportunity to do as much with our busy schedule as a coach so he’s really enjoyed the aspect of the vacation so far.

Q: What’s it been like for you replacing someone like Coach Pope who had been here for so many years and had been identified with the position for so long?
A: I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Coach Pope for four years before so I got to know him as a man and as a coach and a teacher. I haven’t thought much about replacing him so it’s a hard question for me to answer. I will say this – he was a very good coach and a great man.