Preparing For Battle:
Exclusive Interview With New A&T Head Coach Alonzo Lee

By Semaj Marsh
bluedeathvalley.com
August 4, 2009

In the timeless book “The Art of War”, ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu stated that most battles were decided well before the actual fighting began. It was his belief that success was dictated by the amount of preparation one did prior to competition and also the knowledge one had of themselves and their enemy. That philosophy has since been adopted by a countless number of military leaders, business professionals and head coaches. It's also one that is currently shared by new A&T football coach, Alonzo “The General” Lee. Since taking over the Aggie program in January, Lee has worked nonstop to upgrade his talent level and get his troops ready for battle. Last week, we were able to catch up with the longtime defensive guru and talk to him about the challenges he'll face as he enters his first season as head coach.

Bluedeathvalley.com: First of all, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with us today. I know how eventful this off-season has been for you as you’ve begun the task of rebuilding the A&T football program. What was one of the first things you felt needed to be fixed here?

Alonzo Lee: "The first thing I wanted to change was the mindset. The bottom line is that if you believe you can win then you have a chance. That’s the biggest thing I wanted to come in and change. I want our guys to have a championship mentality. Then once you get the mindset right, everything else falls in place. That’s because, as a player who is a winner, you know that’s when everything else comes into play. That’s when the hard work comes in. Now the weight room comes in. Now the concentration comes in. Now the discipline comes in; all those things play a part. But it begins right here [points to his head]. The most important area on the football field is between the two ears. And that’s where it had to start."

Is there a tried and tested formula you’ve used over the years to instill that mindset into your players … or is your approach different with each new situation?

Alonzo Lee: ‘It’s always a little different everywhere you go. Basically, I’ve been blessed with a talent to motivate. If you find a man’s spirit then you also find him. So I go in and I try to find out what turns the young man on; what gets that motor going. Then I accelerate on those points. We knew that coming in and having so many years of being down – having won only a few games per year – it’s tough. That mindset was really down. We had to come in and really attack and tell the kids, ‘Hey, this thing can be done.’ I have personally been in a situation where (a similar turnaround) was done, so now they see that Coach has been there before. I’m excited about all the things that we’re doing because I’ve been in a situation as a player where the team had won only one game and we came out the next year and won a national championship. I believe all things are possible – because I’ve been there. I’m not talking from a book; I’m talking from experience."

When you look back to your arrival as head coach here, was there an immediate buy-in from the players or were there some guys who were still on the fence initially?

Alonzo Lee: "You always have a few guys that question you, but the thing I told them was that for the next four or five weeks I’m going to be eye-balling you and you’re going to be eye-balling me. So we’re going to get a chance to figure each other out over these next few weeks. One thing about it is if you don’t really have a love for the game, you probably won’t like me. If you’ve got love for the game, all the things I’m going to throw at you, you’ll be ready for. You’re ready for the hard work in the weight room. You’re ready for the discipline; going to bed early – doing all the things that it takes to be a champion. I make a point to tell guys that it’s a big difference when you are an athlete. Some guys get it screwed up because they see athletes doing the wrong things and you hear all the negative things involving some athletes. But when you look at all the great athletes, all you hear about is their work ethic. You know, the sacrifices they made; the things they had to do to be where they are. On the other hand, you’ve got some guys who didn’t do any of that sacrificing but they claim to be an athlete. That to me is not an athlete. An athlete is not a guy who every time there’s a party, I’m the first one there. Every time there’s a function going on, I’m the first guy with a drink in my mouth. Every time there’s a woman around, I'm ready to jump in bed with her. You know, to me that’s not an athlete; that’s a womanizing alcoholic. But if I’m an athlete, I’m doing the things I need to do. I’m getting my rest, I’m in the weight room and no one has to tell me to be there. I’m doing all the extra work that’s it takes because I’ve just got this love for the game and I want to be the best I can be. When I came in, there were a few guys who were unsure but eventually everyone starting rolling along. We had a couple of guys that decided they were going to miss study hall on me. My philosophy is ‘the way to the field is through the classroom’. You’ve got to be a champion every day of the week. You can’t just be a champion on Saturday and think it’s going to happen. You’ve got to be a champion starting on Sunday and continuing that throughout the week. That’s going to church, that’s going to class every day, that’s going to study hall – that’s doing all the things you need to do. Well, I had three guys miss study hall on me and they had a chance to meet me at 6 AM in the morning when I like to work out. And after that, the news spread that Coach Lee was kind of crazy at 6 AM in the morning. I told them that I was going to be the disciplinarian. You’ve got to answer to me. We had 100 percent study hall attendance after that. We had no one actually miss the work out sessions during the offseason. That means we’re buying in. Although you still are going to have some guys hold on to some coattails, because they want to be Aggies but they still are unaware of how much of a price it is to pay. We’re bringing that old thing back: it’s hard to be an Aggie. Some guys found this out when those 100 plus walk-ons came out and only three of them made the team."

On the flipside, when you first arrived here there must have been some areas of the team that you quickly indentified as strengths you could build on. What were they?

Alonzo Lee: "I knew our defensive line – with Adam Beal and all those guys coming back – was going to be a big strength for us. We also had some decent skills guys. We have a couple of decent running backs. But we knew we had to take the few guys that had been around here and build on them. We are really trying to do some things with our defensive line. We have a couple of offensive lineman who really have stepped up this spring. It was basically a matter of seeing how much these guys have improved. One of my biggest sayings is that we’re only strong as our weakest link. So if Adam (Beal) is one of the strongest guys on the team, how strong is that last guy? Is that last guy giving you the same type of push, that same type of effort as Adam? If I can get him doing that, then we’ve just became a strong team. I wanted to build more on the overall strength of the team, more so than just taking a few individuals. But I think those three defensive lineman – they’re all seniors this year- are going to have to be great leaders for us. Carlton Fears has really stepped us as a quarterback. He’s going to be a real solid leader for us. He’s been doing some great things this summer as far as getting guys out there and encouraging guys to work harder. We’re just basically trying to have our seniors step up and tell them, ‘Hey, this is your last year. You guys really haven’t had a winning season since you’ve been here but we can go out with a bang.’ And right now they’re all buying in."

What area on the team has the most quality depth right now?

Alonzo Lee: " Honestly, depth is going to be rough spot for us this season. Right now, we have those three guys at defensive line who are going to be seniors. We have a quarterback in Carlton Fears who’s going to be pretty good. But our depth is mainly going to be our young guys that are coming in. I can’t sit here and say that we have a whole lot of depth right now. Our depth is going to be our young guys. Now, we have some pretty good young talent coming in but, again, they are going to be freshmen and they’re going to have a chance to make freshmen mistakes. But we are going to get those guys in the mix pretty early."

A lot of fans have been excited about the stellar class of recruits you’ve been able to bring in this offseason. It seemed like every month you were making another big announcement of some great prospects you signed. Realistically, how much do you expect these incoming freshman and transfers to make a contribution this season?

Alonzo Lee: “I hope they make a great contribution. We’ve got a couple of (1-A) transfers, we have a couple JUCO players coming in, and we hope they make an outstanding transition and are able to help us. A few of the guys took it upon themselves to try to be here this summer. They were able to learn the system and all those things play a big part. We’re hoping they come in and immediately make an impact. But we had 56 guys who went through the spring with us. I’m expecting those guys to make it tough on any new guy that walks in the door and (tries to win a starting job). Will they? Now, that will depend on how we come out the gate. With all the guys we were able to have here this summer, I think we are going to come out the gate pretty well.”

I know you said that Carlton Fears made a lot of strides this offseason. Is it too early to pencil him in as the starter?

Alonzo Lee: “He’s our starting quarterback. Coming out of the spring, he really made a separation and really took it upon himself that he was going to be the guy. Right now, he’s just doing some outstanding things. We’re super impressed with the way he carrying himself this summer and doing all the things he needs to do. We’re looking forward for him to be our leader on offense.”

How about his backup at the quarterback position? Is that still wide open?

Alonzo Lee: “We have a few guys … and that’s a good thing. I think between the Herb Millers and the Lewis Kindles and guys like that, we will be alright. Kindle is coming in and his folks got him here this summer during the second session of summer school. He’s definitely going to play a big part because he’s a guy who can throw the ball very well. I think overall our numbers at quarterback are going to be pretty decent as we roll along."

The running back position also looks to have some very exciting position battles this camp. I know as a blue-collar type coach, you prefer to grind it out with an offense control the clock and eliminate costly turnovers. Is it fair to assume that you will opt to run the ball more than we’ve seen in recent years?

Alonzo Lee: “We’re going to run it, but we’re going to be pretty balanced also. I’ve been with (new offensive coordinator Chennis) Berry all summer and we’ve been going back and forth with our philosophies and we’re going to take what the defense gives us. We’ve had a great chance to sit down and just pick each other’s brain all summer. I wanted to get him to the point were he understood every single thing defensively they we might face this year and how to react to it. I think we’ve come up with a balanced attack that’s going to be very successful.”

Everyone knows you as a defensive guru, but how do you plan to handle the offensive side of the ball this season? Are you going to be hands on or will you just delegate that responsibility to your assistants?

Alonzo Lee: “Coach Berry is an outstanding coordinator and he has Michael Morand right there by his side as his co-offensive coordinator. You’re not going to find a better offensive line coach and a better offensive mind than Coach Berry. My whole thing was just to make sure they understand what hurts defenses. Being a defensive-minded coach, I know exactly what hurts me. I tell them, ‘Coach, y’all can do all the things you want to do but we definitely need to do this, this, and this. Because these are the things that have hurt me over the years and they will hurt any defense.’ That’s my spiel right there. I’m going to let him run the ship but I need to see a little of this and a little of that because I know those are the things that hurt defenses, regardless of what defensive scheme you run. Those are the things we are going to try to make sure we attack offensively.”

Unfortunately you are faced with the challenge of having to replace Mike Ferguson this season who was one of the most prolific running backs in school history. Are you looking at using a running back by committee type system this year or would you prefer to have just one every-down back replace Mike?

Alonzo Lee: “We have a couple of good running backs that are coming in and, you know, Quintin Cosby finished up this spring as out starter. He runs ball pretty well and he has a nice little burst. But we’ve got some guys coming in that can take it the distance also. We have an every-down type back coming in that’s about 6’2, 230 lb named Toney Coles who transferred in from a junior college. He’s about a 4.4 runner and he also got himself down here this summer so he was able to get into the mix and learn what we’re doing. So we have some backs that are going to be pretty doggone good.”

Is Nigel Tomlin still in the mix?

Alonzo Lee: “Nigel is going to be alright but that thing that hurts him more than anything is his speed. Nigel is not as fast as those other guys. Nigel can do some of this and he can get the ball down hill for you, but you’ll catch Nigel in the open field. These other guys, you’re not going to catch them. And see, when we break into the secondary I’m looking for us to get the ball into the end zone. But Nigel is definitely a good, solid back and he did some really good things for us this spring.”

One name that has been talked about a lot on the Internet is a guy named Larry Raper who you signed late in the summer. What can you tell us about him?

Alonzo Lee: "We’re going to play Raper at that inside slot position. Raper is going to our bubble screen guy, our reverse guy, our quick pass guy – because we know he can wiggle and get that ball in the end zone. You blink on him and he’s gone. We’re really looking forward to having him here. He’s another guy that made it here for the summer so he’s going to have the system under his belt pretty much and he’ll be able to come out the blocks a little sooner.”

Read part two of this interview