5 questions with Purdue defensive line coach Brick Haley
WEST LAFAYETTE − Brick Haley is the elder statesman of the Purdue football coaching staff.
Amidst a relatively young group is the defensive line coach with 31 years of experience from major college football to the NFL.
Last season, Haley was at Minnesota, a one-year stint before he moved to West Lafayette to reunite with new Purdue head coach Ryan Walters, who he worked with at Missouri, where Haley was senior associate head coach and mentored the defensive line for four seasons.
Haley's coaching career also has led him to the sidelines at Texas, LSU, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, Baylor, Clemson, Houston, Troy, Austin Peay, Arkansas and with the Chicago Bears.
As a college linebacker, Haley was named Alabama A&M's Most Valuable Player in 1988 and was inducted into the school's athletics hall of fame in 2005.
Q: This is obviously a pretty young staff. Are you a mentor for some of these guys?
A: We're a little younger than I am used to. But the maturity of those guys are well beyond their ages. I've been excited and impressed with them since I've been here. There may be some mentoring going on at some point, but for the most part, these guys are very mature and I am just excited to work with them.
Q: You've been on the staff at some powerhouse programs. What drew you to Purdue?
A: The biggest thing that drew me was the head football coach. Coach Ryan Walters and I have known each other for awhile. We've worked together. We had a really good working relationship and I was excited for him and excited for the opportunity to come and work with him again and come and work for this program. The biggest thing is his work ethic, his confidence, how he carries himself. It was just refreshing to watch him as a young coach as he worked his way through this thing.
Q: When it comes to coaching this defensive line, where you're going to have a lot of interior guys, what's the intrigue, the skill. What are you looking forward to and what's the challenge?
A: You're looking for bigger bodies. You're looking for guys that can come two-gap, but also be able to play single gap because of some of the things that we do in the package. You're only going to have so many of those guys. There's a lot of bodies out there like that that you have to recruit, but you have to try to find the right ones that fit for what he's trying to get done defensively. The biggest thing is what's intriguing is everybody you coach, for me, these guys are pretty much clones of each other. One side should look just like the other. We keep it simple and hopefully get guys in here that can help us get this system the way we want it.
Q: What do you like about this defense coach Walters is bringing with a five-man front and bringing pressure?
A: It creates a lot of situations for offenses where you can not get as many double teams, not get as many combos. It's a lot more single blocks, some one-on-ones for our guys to have a lot more opportunities to go win. That is exciting for me, but also it excites our players when they realize they don't have to have 700 pounds pressing against them just about every other snap.
Q: Who are some of the guys you have in your position group and how they might impact the defense this year.
A: That's really an unfair question right now. I actually haven't had an opportunity to see these guys work. I do think there's some guys in the room that can help us up front and add quality minutes. We've got some guys who've played a little bit, but not a lot of guys who have played a lot. With us changing systems, it would be unfair to them for me to make speculations on them right now until we get through at least three or four practices in the spring and have an opportunity to see those guys work and move around. ... Right now, Joe Anderson could be a guy that would be one of the defensive ends we feel comfortable with. Then, Cole Brevard at the nose position. I really like the offseason stuff that Mo (Omonode) has done. For me, it's too early to make a prediction of who is going to be where and what is going to happen, but I do like the way they've worked in the offseason so far.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: 5 questions with Purdue defensive line coach Brick Haley
