Speaker 1: So let's start off with a very special guest, my
Speaker 1: first opportunity to interview the new offensive coordinator for the
Speaker 1: University of Utah. He is Jason Back on a Thursday afternoon. Jason,
Speaker 1: how are you. Thanks for the time.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Spence, thank you, no problem.
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on the new job. First and foremost, here's
Speaker 1: my first question, right out of the gates. What Kyle
Speaker 1: Whittingham bronco Minute Hall. What makes them similar? What makes
Speaker 1: them different?
Speaker 2: Both defensive guys, both have a certain culture, toughness, grit
Speaker 2: that they want in their players and they develop in
Speaker 2: their players. Obviously, being on different sides of the rivalry,
Speaker 2: they Yeah, that's brought out a different competitiveness than each
Speaker 2: of them in their relationship. But they are very different.
Speaker 2: And obviously I'm just getting a little bit, but Proker's
Speaker 2: a little more introverted and coach With's a little easier
Speaker 2: and to you know, talk with as I've been out
Speaker 2: on the road with them, and so yeah, I'm looking
Speaker 2: forward to finding that out more though as we keep going.
Speaker 1: You know, Jason, the list of coaches that I can
Speaker 1: ask that question too is very very short, Like you're
Speaker 1: the right, there are very few coaches that have experience
Speaker 1: with both.
Speaker 2: That's true, but maybe more than you think. I'm not sure,
Speaker 2: you know, as you dive into it.
Speaker 1: Well, and that's one of the unique things about this
Speaker 1: Utah BYU rivalries, you know, the cross pollination between coaching staffs,
Speaker 1: And wanted to get your take on that because from
Speaker 1: the outside looking in, fans like to stoke the fire
Speaker 1: of and of course, you know, whoever you support, wherever
Speaker 1: you went to school, that's going to be.
Speaker 2: How you lean.
Speaker 1: But how would you describe what I perceived to be
Speaker 1: a very unique dynamic. You can look across the landscape
Speaker 1: at college football and maybe one coach from Bama ends
Speaker 1: up at Auburn or something like that. Yeah, but the
Speaker 1: list of coaches on both sides that I've experienced with
Speaker 1: the other is pretty stunning, and it makes this rivalry
Speaker 1: Jason kind of one of one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is pretty pretty interesting and it's great to
Speaker 2: be a part of because I've been at other schools
Speaker 2: like Syracuse where they kind of have a rival but
Speaker 2: it's not really you know, their rivals Boston College and
Speaker 2: they kind of have a thing with Pitt, but it's
Speaker 2: not near that same, Uh, you know, spirit of the
Speaker 2: rivalry that you experienced here in Utah, which is great
Speaker 2: to be a part of. And so, yeah, that is
Speaker 2: a unique for both those programs and kind of that
Speaker 2: coaches on each side of it.
Speaker 1: So, Jason, I know you've been asked this, but this
Speaker 1: is my first opportunity to have you on this show
Speaker 1: and interview one on you know, interview you one on one.
Speaker 1: And according to reports, you were a candidate for several
Speaker 1: jobs several schools to call plays and be the offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: What landed you on saw Lake City? What landed you
Speaker 1: on the universey of Utah? What were the elements that
Speaker 1: made you accept this job and say no to the others?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was kind of up for for a couple
Speaker 2: of different P four jobs. And you know, Utah is
Speaker 2: a great program with a great history and a lot
Speaker 2: of success, and so it's a situation where you look
Speaker 2: at it and you can you feel like you have
Speaker 2: every opportunity to be at the top of that conference
Speaker 2: and to have a lot of success and to be
Speaker 2: a part of a program like that was a great opportunity.
Speaker 2: You know, Utah is a great state to live in.
Speaker 2: So for my family and I you know, that's a
Speaker 2: great opportunity to move here and live in the communities
Speaker 2: here because it's a great place to raise your family,
Speaker 2: and the stability with coach with and and then to
Speaker 2: coach Scally is a great, you know, opportunity for a
Speaker 2: coach that you're looking for and to find in a
Speaker 2: program that you're choosing.
Speaker 1: Let's let's get a little peak beyond the curtain about
Speaker 1: the interview process. I'm curious and obviously, you know, keep
Speaker 1: to yourself what you need to and that's part of
Speaker 1: the deal when you're talking behind closed doors to peers
Speaker 1: and coaches and people are going to work with and
Speaker 1: work for. But what were some of the questions that
Speaker 1: were posed to you by coach Wit and maybe coach
Speaker 1: Scally and how did you sell your vision to them
Speaker 1: that ultimately landed in this partnership.
Speaker 2: You know, there was I knew there was some interest
Speaker 2: from you through the process early on, mainly coming from
Speaker 2: third parties kind of other people just reaching out to
Speaker 2: gauge interest, you know, that kind of thing. There wasn't
Speaker 2: a lot of necessarily interview, sit down, question answer interview
Speaker 2: type of thing as maybe some of the other jobs,
Speaker 2: but there was a deep dive into watching the film
Speaker 2: of you know, what I was doing offensively in the scheme,
Speaker 2: and so you could tell there's a lot of knowledge
Speaker 2: about what what I was doing offensively and why they
Speaker 2: had interest that way that was more unique to the process. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: I could tell there'd been between with Scaley and other
Speaker 2: people around the program. Man, They've watched a lot of
Speaker 2: film on me, and I'm assuming several other coordinators that
Speaker 2: they were looking at and kind of letting I guess
Speaker 2: that be the resume much more than what you had
Speaker 2: to say in an interview type setting.
Speaker 1: So for our youth fan listeners who are not familiar
Speaker 1: with Jason Beck and his offensive ethos and his belief
Speaker 1: in how offensive football should be played, how much of
Speaker 1: it is simply your system and how much of it
Speaker 1: is simply all right, let me see what sort of
Speaker 1: talent I have at my disposal. Then we're going to
Speaker 1: cater a game plan around that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is very much personnel driven. Catered the game
Speaker 2: plan to your best players, starting with the quarterback, next
Speaker 2: what the old line can do, and then lastly kind
Speaker 2: of all the other skilled players you're putting around around that.
Speaker 2: And so every year it has been different. You know,
Speaker 2: some years you're thrown it for a lot, some years
Speaker 2: are rushing it for more. You know, it's very it's
Speaker 2: very much catered and built around the personnel.
Speaker 1: Tell me, you know when it comes to obviously you
Speaker 1: haven't been on the ground for that long, but there
Speaker 1: have been so many things that have happened since you
Speaker 1: have been hired. What sort of role, Jason, have you
Speaker 1: had in say, the re recruitment of Isaac Wilson And
Speaker 1: obviously your former New Mexico quarterback is now on campus
Speaker 1: here with Devin Dampier, and you're the offensive of course
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, so of course you have a seat of
Speaker 1: the table. But was it drinking through a fire hose
Speaker 1: when you landed where there are a lot of things
Speaker 1: that you kind of had to jump right into when
Speaker 1: it came to the reacquisition and then acquisition of some
Speaker 1: of the kids that are going to be playing for
Speaker 1: Utah football next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with the landscape of college football now, this coordinator
Speaker 2: higher needs to happen pretty fast before that portal opens,
Speaker 2: or ideally it happens before that portal opens. So you're
Speaker 2: heavily involved with that, both in retaining, in attracting players
Speaker 2: and identifying, you know, the pieces you want for what
Speaker 2: you're doing. So, like talking about Isaac when it was
Speaker 2: coming up and it was rumored Devin might be coming,
Speaker 2: there's some concern there, you know, that led to going
Speaker 2: in the portal, and so yeah, it was absolutely a
Speaker 2: recruiting to keep Isaac here because when I watch him,
Speaker 2: he has a lot of talent and a lot of ability,
Speaker 2: and you know, my background developing quarterbacks and UH and
Speaker 2: helping quarterback play I thought would be a strong attraction.
Speaker 2: And so I you know, I wanted to keep him here.
Speaker 2: And there's a lot of people are on the program
Speaker 2: that helped with them, that were involved with that. That
Speaker 2: was some of the first stuff I was doing. So
Speaker 2: fortunate then they have all the old line coming back
Speaker 2: and UH with coach Harden and the great job he's
Speaker 2: done here, that was pretty solid, and then everything else
Speaker 2: was kind of had to be addressed through through keeping
Speaker 2: players and through getting players through the portal.
Speaker 1: Is the plan that Devin's the starter certainly feels that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean that's definitely with the history and the
Speaker 2: background and the interest and the commitment all that that's
Speaker 2: for Devin not to come in and be in uh
Speaker 2: uh up front getting reps. You know, that just makes sense.
Speaker 2: And my job is to develop and coach all of
Speaker 2: those guys in the room and develop all those guys.
Speaker 2: And because everybody, you know, anybody's a play away. Anybody's
Speaker 2: a play away. So you've got to be developing the
Speaker 2: whole room. But it's nothing's just handed to you. You've
Speaker 2: got to still earn it, improve it, and show it
Speaker 2: all the time. But Devin has a head start. He
Speaker 2: knows the offense, he knows the verbiage, he knows you know,
Speaker 2: how that all works. And so he's coming in in
Speaker 2: that position while everybody else is competing for the opportunities
Speaker 2: behind that. And like we told everybody, I mean, if
Speaker 2: if somebody's clearly out playing somebody else, the best guy's
Speaker 2: gonna play. You know, I'm not coaching my son in
Speaker 2: pee wee football. And so but Devin's in an advantage
Speaker 2: with everything, and he's a really talented player, which is
Speaker 2: why we want and to get him here.
Speaker 1: Well, Jason, at the last two years or any indicator,
Speaker 1: you need to be five deep at the quarterback position
Speaker 1: for the Utes. Unfortunately, that's been what has transpired because
Speaker 1: of the lack of health. So besides Devin and besides Isaac,
Speaker 1: how's that room looking right now? And are you looking
Speaker 1: to add to it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're well, right now we're full in the room.
Speaker 2: We've brought in a couple other transfers. Of course, you
Speaker 2: guys know Nate, he was here previously and he's back
Speaker 2: and so he'll be doing some stuff in the QB room,
Speaker 2: but kind of also seeing what else he can add
Speaker 2: to the offense. Brendan transferred in from Oklahoma, so he's
Speaker 2: in that room working. A couple high school kids that
Speaker 2: were signed by the previous staff with Bird and Wyatt
Speaker 2: or here, they're on campus, so they're you know, starting
Speaker 2: to wrap their heads around college football and what that's
Speaker 2: like and what those expectations are. And then we got
Speaker 2: a couple up good walk ons to the program and
Speaker 2: Drew and Dollon that are also a part of that NIXT.
Speaker 2: So yeah, right now there's there's seven guys that were
Speaker 2: development and working with for that reason that you're talking about. Now.
Speaker 2: Hopefully we don't hit that, hopefully we don't see five quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: but but that is the reality. You got to your
Speaker 2: coach and everybody up developing everybody. And you know, I
Speaker 2: lived in that world as a player, just you know,
Speaker 2: being a play away as primarily a backup in my time.
Speaker 1: Before I said you lose Jason, as a child of
Speaker 1: a former sports executive that moved a bunch of different
Speaker 1: times where my dad changed jobs. The most important thing,
Speaker 1: as the wife out of the kids, how they handling
Speaker 1: the adjustment.
Speaker 2: Well, they haven't moved yet. We're still in the process
Speaker 2: of doing all that. But you know they've been a
Speaker 2: part of this thing quite a few times. As the
Speaker 2: kid get older, that brings different challenges with it. But
Speaker 2: my wife's amazing, and you know, she's been in this
Speaker 2: thing the whole time. You know, we got married in college,
Speaker 2: so she's been been along for this ride the entire time.
Speaker 2: And she's amazing. The kids are great and has its
Speaker 2: pros and cons as you know, and she just try
Speaker 2: to focus on the best parts of it and make
Speaker 2: the most of all those things.
Speaker 1: Well, Jason, we'll finish where we started. Congratulations on the opportunity,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate the time, Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Fan's good to visit with you, all right.
Speaker 1: Jason Beck, the new offensive coordinator for the University of
Speaker 1: Utah