Establishing 'Culture' Will Be Big Priority For Tucker's Buffs In Spring Ball
March 11, 2019 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — When Colorado football head coach Mel Tucker opens his first spring practice with the Buffaloes, installing new offensive and defensive schemes will no doubt be high on his "to-do" list.
But equally important for CU's new coach and his staff will be establishing a culture within the team, something Tucker stressed in a Monday press conference.
"How we practice, how we prepare, how we work," Tucker said. "Although we have to get our schemes installed on both sides of the ball, I want to make sure that we're putting our guys in position every day where they can be evaluated and we can find out who can play."
Tucker called the process "huge," especially for a team in its first year under a new coach.
"The two main factors in success are environment and expectations, and a lot of that is culture," Tucker said. "How we go about our business on a day-to-day basis, what are these standards, and what are our goals? How do we work with each other, how do we compete? How do we handle a loss and a win in a drill? Those are things that we have to establish in the spring and then going into the summer we'll build on that and take it into the fall camp and then eventually into the season. Culture is huge."
The Buffs are wrapping up a nine-week strength and conditioning program this week and will open spring practice next Monday. They will be on the field three days, then take a week off for spring break before returning for the final 12 practices in April. The spring game — something Tucker said he wants to be as game-like as possible — is set for April 27 at Folsom Field.
The first practice is something Tucker has been looking forward to for months.
"I love to coach and I finally get  a chance to get my hands on these guys, roll up my sleeves, and see what they can do," he said. "I get to coach, teach, motivate, and develop. That's what it's all about. I can't wait for spring ball to start."
CU's lengthy strength and conditioning session has been valuable for a variety of reasons. Tucker said he pushed spring ball back as far as possible in order to get the Buffs as much time as possible in the weight room and in conditioning, as well as give the CU staff time to meet with players and begin the install of the new offense, defense and special teams schemes.
"(Strength coach) Drew (Wilson) has done a great job with the strength and conditioning," Tucker said. "When the coaches came off the road from recruiting, the coaches got involved also. The team has really shaped up. They look like they are in really good condition. I think we will be able to have a very efficient and effective spring ball so I'm very excited about that."
Tucker said he's seen positive gains in the conditioning drills, including the mental aspect as well as physical.
"I wanted to make sure was every drill had was a defined start and every drill had a finish," he said. "I wanted to make sure the guys were straining to finish the drills and they have done that each and every day. They have pushed each other to do that. They have gotten better every week. I actually see a transformation in their bodies because of what we have done in the weight room and what we have done in our running program. I think they have responded well. We start at 7 a.m. and everyone is there early and ready to work. That is really all you can ask. These guys will do pretty much anything you ask them to. They are really eager. They are pleasers and they are hungry."
Tucker, in his first role as a college head coach (he served as an interim head coach in the NFL), is no doubt anxious to get on the field. He accepted the CU job in early December and immediately turned his attention to hiring his staff and recruiting his first Buffs class.
Now, while he stresses that recruiting is an "everyday" thing, he is also ready to get his players in pads and see what they have. While he has spent time watching game film from last season, he says spring ball will be a blank slate.
"I went back and I've watched some games but I get more out of watching the workouts, how those guys compete in the drills and how those guys lift," Tucker said. "I get a lot more out of that. Then I'm going to get a chance to see them play for 15 practices in spring ball. So I did do some research on some of the games they played, but I want these guys to have a clean slate. I want them to have a fresh start. The past, we're going to let it go. We're starting out clean."
Tucker said he has met with every player on the team, including walk-ons. He and his staff have also watched conditioning workouts and have conducted walk-throughs as they continue the process of installing their new schemes.
So far, Tucker said, he likes what he's seen and heard.
"Overall, I've really been impressed with the way that they have been receptive to coaching, and aggressive coaching," he said. "Anytime that we ask them to do something, they do it. It's a 'yes sir, no sir' group of guys, which is a credit to their character. Our coaches have really worked hard to push the players every day to get better. It seems like the more you push them, the more they embrace it. I think that they welcome the challenge that we're presenting to them as a team."
Tucker also appears to be continuing to adhere to the theme that he began when he took the job. This is not a rebuilding effort — he plans to win right away.
"When we call them up at the end of practice, at the end of the session and I ask them to take a knee, I see a lot of heads nodding as I'm talking to them, not a lot of blank stares," he said. "I think that shows an element of buy-in. Obviously, we haven't had any real adversity yet, but I think this is a special group. I really like this team. There's something about this group of guys that I think is special, and we're going to work really hard and maximize our full potential."
The NCAA allows a maximum of 15 spring practice sessions, including the spring game. That includes three practices in shorts (no contact), four in pads (no tackling), four in pads with tackling a maximum of 50 percent of the time, and four in pads with tackling allowed throughout.
"This is really important because this is really phase two of what we have to do," Tucker said. "Phase one was nine weeks of strength and conditioning, and phase three will be our summer program. We need to make sure that when we come out of the spring game that we know at every position what every guy is capable of doing and what every guy has to do to get better so we can have a really good summer."
To get there, he said, every practice has to be productive. The Buffs have a lot to accomplish in a short period of time, and Tucker and his staff know they have to utilize every minute available to maximize their preparation time.
That also means not getting too bogged down in Xs and Os. What is equally important is how the players practice, how they adapt and how quickly they absorb the culture Tucker seeks to instill.
"I want each and every player to come out of spring ball better than when they came in," he said. "That's development, that's improvement, that's learning the schemes, things like that. We have to learn how to practice. Our tempo is going to be fast. Our goal is to always have the practices be harder than the games and in order to do that, you have to learn how to practice. It's not natural to practice at game speed every single rep, but that's what we're going to do. We'll probably have to build up to that, but at the end of spring ball, I want to make sure everyone knows how to work, how to practice. I want to know who can play."
To that end, he said, he won't overload the Buffs with playbook installation.
"If you try to do too much scheme wise, especially the first year with a new staff, you'll come out of spring talking about what guys can't do and what they don't know, instead of saying, 'This is what they know and this what they can do,'" Tucker said. "That's what I want to make sure, is that we know what type of team we have coming out of spring ball."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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