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 Paul Winters was named WSU's head football coach. |
Dec. 17, 2003
WSU Athletics Director Rob Fournier: "Paul and I have a long association. I remember Paul as a student-athlete with some tremendous games. I have followed closely his career at Wisconsin and at Toledo and then at Akron as assistant head coach. I certainly have been impressed not only with his abilities, but what he has done off the field and what he has done to develop the character of a team. I think everything that I was looking for when this opportunity presented itself I have found in Paul Winters. It is with great pleasure that I introduce the next head coach - Paul Winters."
WSU Head Football Coach Paul Winters: "First of all I want to thank the President, Dr. Irvin D. Reid, and athletic director Rob Fournier, for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime - to run the Wayne State football program.
"As you get to know me, you will see that I like to talk about opportunity. I think that's because college football is an opportunity. What we want to do, and what we will do in this program is we will take high school kids and we will work them and train them to be outstanding young men and not only on the football field but in the classroom and in life. I know it is a time of change for these guys sitting here and many people resist change, but you have to remember something - change is growth. It's good. We are going to change some things. We are going to change our attitude. We are going to change our expectations. And we are going to change the outcomes. And I am excited about that. It doesn't sound like I am excited when I try to talk. I try to be calm.
"I am really excited about this opportunity and what we are going to get done here. We will expect success. We will compete for championships and that is our goal and that is our mindset. What we want to do is everything that we do from our conditioning to going to class, to practice to playing the game. We want to do it at a championship level. There will be times when the young men will see that I am chasing them around the football field or chasing them around the campus and making sure they are doing things right. In order for us to compete at a championship level, I have to set the standard and I will set the standard very high. The guys who accept it and rise to that challenge will be successful.
"A quick note on my philosophy of football. The greatest coach in Michigan history. I have listened to him a million times is Coach Schembechler. He is very close to my mentor, Jim Dennison, from Akron. They always say win with fundamentals. You have to block and tackle. We've had success on teams that I have coached because we can block and tackle. We have been a high-powered offense at Akron. We were seventh in total offense in the country in Division I. We will do that with balance. We'll do it with quick tempo and we will attack the defense. Defensively, we want to be a speed defense. We want to be a defense that gets to the football. When people come and watch us they are going to get excited about the way we play defense. We are going to play with such great attitude that it is going to carry-over to the entire team. We will never forget special teams. You win games with special teams. I have been around a lot of good coaches that it seems that they are boring and not getting it done, but at the final whistle they won games because of their special teams. I am excited about this opportunity."
