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Football
Q & A With Offensive Line Coach Roy Istvan
April 23, 2008
You are holding your last practice before the Spring Game tomorrow. Talk about the progress of the offensive line since the first practice back on March 29, and what you're looking for out of the Spring Game? It's night and day. We've gone from a three-point sprinters stance looking to block the guy in front of us to being able to align in a two-point stance, scan the protection, and call the different fronts. Overall, it's been a very productive spring for the offensive line and the offense in general. We just need to continue to progress in our understanding of what is asked of us on each and every play. What's the most important item you've worked on this spring? It's the overall communication, understanding what the guy next to you is trying to accomplish, and if he's going to help you block or if you're going to be in a single-block. What was your goal for the line coming into spring practice? The biggest installment we needed to make was to bring the five linemen together as a group. We're five-strong. If you cut off the thumb, the hand isn't strong anymore. We need five guys working together as one. That's been the motto of the spring. What's been the biggest adjustment for the student-athletes to make with this new system? Going back to high school, so many of these guys have never been in an offense where they have thrown the football. (Former Buffalo Bills assistant coach) Jim McNally once told me that pass protection was like teaching kids Chinese - it's not easy to do. That's been the biggest adjustment for them. Talk about your relationship with coach Rizzi and how you ended up coaching here at URI.
Darren was at the University of New Haven and I was at Southern Connecticut, and we were rival schools. We knew each other from playing against each other and saw one another a few times every year. When I left to Southern Connecticut to go to Buffalo, he went to Rutgers, where we again played each other. We knew each other on the field more than anything.
You played ball at Southern Connecticut State and later coached there. What was the experience of coaching at your alma mater like? From the time I played to a volunteer assistant to a graduate assistant and then a coach, I never left Southern Connecticut. Honestly, it all blends together for me - there wasn't much of an adjustment. I went from playing one day to coaching the next. What's the biggest similarity or difference between coaching at Buffalo and now working at URI? We have a lot better weather here (laughs). They're similar in some ways in that you bring in a new coaching staff with new expectations and new goals, so in that aspect, any coaching move is the same. Overall, how has the transition here at URI been from your first week on the job until now? I was the last guy hired. There were eight guys here, and I was the ninth. Those guys squared off and walked around the office and told me where my desk was, where my locker was, and you could see every one of them was filled in except for the blank where `O-Line' coach was. It took a little while, but it's home. Many of the coaches here at URI had previous relationships prior to arriving here in Kingston. Talk about the meshing of the coaching staff? I joke around that I'm a Southern Connecticut guy and almost every else is a New Haven guy. We were rivals, so it's funny to work for Darren (Rizzi), Chris (Pincince), Joe (Trainer), and Eddie (Allen). At the same time, Rob (Nevaiser) was at Yale and Chris Zona was in school at Hamden, so seven of the nine guys were within a few miles of each other. We have a lot in common and a lot of our backgrounds and places we have gone are the same. It's been an easy transition and they're all easy to work with. What's been the most enjoyable part of working both with this staff and at URI? On a personal level, the coaches here have been very welcoming, which has made the transition easy. For my wife and kids, the area is unbeatable. I tell everyone that for nine of the 12 months in the year, anyone in the country would want to live here. It's a beautiful place with a lot of things going on. It's a great place to go to school. That's what's made being here great. |
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