Cregg says UT will take hill, capture flag

One of nine new assistant coaches for Tennessee this year, James Cregg talks about offensive line play, laying a foundation for success and his relationship with coach Lane Kiffin.

Q: How have things been for you so far, early on in your tenure at Tennessee?

A: "I tell you what, it's been great. The people have been great. The attitude's great by the players right now, they're working hard. We're building a foundation. We're really grinding them down there, running. We're trying to build a foundation for the future. I tell you what, going back to the people it's just been awesome. The people I've been around this area. It's really warm southern hospitality. It's everything I've hoped for."

Q: What do you like about being back in the college game?

A: "Just the impact you make on kids' lives, you know. Being in college, you really have an impact, a strong impact in the direction a kid can go. The direction he'll go as far as some of these kids don't have any structure at home. Some kids have single-parent homes; some kids don't have any parents in the home. You're like a father to some of these kids. I like that. I like the direction as far as that goes, as far as giving them the structure, just getting them right. Getting them in the right place at the right time, and changing their lives, you know? To me, that's a big, big part of why I come back to college."

Q: What's the advantage of having had NFL experience and now bringing that back to the college game?

A: "It's great. Just the preparation, all the games you play and learning from the professionals that are playing the game. I think you learn a lot from the players that maybe you didn't really realize before. The things you learn from those players that are playing in the NFL is tremendous, the experiences, the coaches that they've been around. It's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable what you can learn from the players, and not just the players but some of the coaches that you're coaching with in the NFL. The guy I worked for, Tom Cable, was awesome. You couldn't get a better offensive line coach than him. He's the best offensive line coach I think I've ever been around, and two of them I played for are coaching in the league. He's tremendous. What he did for me was unbelievable. Just the impact with the players, those guys that you're around every day and the coaches is just a tremendous experience as far as being in the NFL. That's what it gives you. It gets you prepared. To be prepared in the NFL, you have to dot your i's and cross your t's or you're going to lose some ballgames. It was a great experience, and I look forward to bringing that experience here to the University of Tennessee."

Q: What has it been like working with this staff?

A: "It's been great. It really hit home to me when (last) weekend when we had all the recruits and all the staff and we were together on Saturday. Everybody was in off the road, and we're all at that stadium. Being in that stadium was just awesome, just being in the locker room, talking to the kids, having the staff in there, the energy that the staff brings to the table was just tremendous. The kids were feeding off that. It was fun to see our current players that we have now come over and greet the kids and have them feel the energy, too, of the new staff. It's just been awesome. It's just a great, great setting and I sure look forward to working with these guys. These guys are tremendous coaches, and Coach Kiffin took the time to find the right coaches and put them in place. I'm excited to go to work with these guys."

Q: How did Lane approach you about coming to UT? I know you guys knew each other from some previous stops at Colorado State and Oakland.

A: "He mentioned to me as soon as he got the job there might be something for me here. He couldn't promise me anything right away, but when something happened he approached me and said, 'Hey, I need you on my staff. I want you here. I want your energy. I want everything about you here at the University of Tennessee. Your work ethic, the way you approach things, your energy you bring on the practice field. I really want you here, and I want you helping me now. I want you involved with recruiting. We're a little behind right now. I need another guy. I took that opportunity and seized the moment and did it. "

Q: What is it like to recruit with this staff?

A: "It's teamwork. These guys understand the game. I tell you what, Coach (Ed) Orgeron, he's got a great plan laid out and you've just got to believe in this plan, how he's going about doing things. You trust his plan and believe in it. It's a teamwork effort, and everybody's working as a team. There's no individuals. We take over other guys, we help other guys out with their guys. We write letters for other people. We're always doing things together as a team. That's the way we approach it. It's not an individual game, even with recruiting it's not an individual game. It's all about team effort, and that's what we preach when we recruit. Everyone is working together as a team. We learn from each other. "

Q: You'll be coaching tight ends and tackles, working closely with Jim Chaney. What's your philosophy with line play?

A: "We're going to take the hill everyday, and we're going to finish every drill that we do. Everything's all about finishing. Everything we do, we preach finish, finish, finish. The next thing is compete. Compete at everything we do, whether it be a simple drill, anything. We're going to compete at the highest level and compete for everything that we get. That's the most important thing you can stress as a coach, just have the work ethic and compete and finish everything you do. Whatever it is, you're finishing it, whether it be in the classroom or on the football field. You've got to get that taught with your players and make them accountable. I think that's the most important thing that I would stress. That's my philosophy. You're going to take the hill every day and capture that flag. When you don't get that flag, we've got to look back at what happened and why we didn't get it, and let's go back and change what we didn't get."

Q: You and Lane were on the staff at Colorado State and then you reunited in Oakland. How has he changed since you first got to know him?

A: "He's grown tremendously, you know. Just the confidence and how he goes about doing things. The swagger he has now is unbelievable. You'll see it on gameday by the decisions that he'll make and by the way these kids will play is all reflective of him. We had it going, you know, had the great foundation with the Raiders. It's just a shame things happened the way it did, but you know what, in the end, Tennessee got a great football coach. I'm excited. This is his dream job. I've known him for over 10 years, he's always talked about coaching at a big-time college football setting. He finally got what he wanted. He's going to seize the opportunity and go to work and build this foundation that we need to get here and have some fun and win some ballgames."