Editor’s note: This is the final entry in an ongoing series on the four new Arizona football assistants who haven’t met with the local media. Today: defensive backs coach Greg Burns.
Greg Burns officially joined the Arizona Wildcats’ coaching staff on March 9. His first day in the building was supposed to be March 16.
The timing couldn’t have been stranger.
In between those dates, the coronavirus pandemic ramped up and the sports world shut down. Arizona was scheduled to resume spring practice on March 17. Instead, the final 11 practices were canceled, students were sent home and everyone has been in a holding pattern since.
“My first day of work was supposed to be, ‘Hey, let’s go,’ ” said Burns, who replaced Demetrice Martin as the Wildcats’ defensive backs coach. “But then it was like, ‘Slow it down, there’s some issues we have to deal with.’ ”
When he interviewed for the job, Burns briefly met one of the players he’d be hired to coach. Otherwise, he hasn’t seen any of them in person.
The former USC assistant, 47, has dealt with that issue the only way he knows how: By keeping the lines of communication open.
“Though phone calls, through texts, through Zoom,” Burns said. “Check on them, see how they’re doing. Not necessarily everything having to always be football-related … but just to make sure they’re doing OK, how’s your family, those types of things.
“I don’t plan on getting all the answers in one sitting. This has to be a continuous process. I now have 8-10 new players/sons that I have to get to know. We’re working our way through that.”
Burns and his wife, Crystal, have three sons: Christopher, 16, Carter, 13, and Cooper, 10. The family has been living in Southern California, where Burns is from and where he last worked, while the boys finished up school.
Burns talked mostly about football during a 30-minute video chat with the Star this week. Toward the end, the subject turned to the social-justice movement that is sweeping the nation. Burns became emotional, pausing several times to dab his teary eyes while discussing the conversations he’s had with his sons and his players.
Below are highlights from the interview, which has been lightly edited for context and clarity.
What have the past few months been like for you?
A: “Everybody’s using the phrase, but it is what it is: It’s adapting to the new normal. Just figuring out how to survive, stay sane, take care of the family, try not to live in fear, those types of things.
“It’s surreal. Are we in a movie? I’ve seen this before, but I didn’t think I’d be in it.
“But at the same time, what’s happening in this world is real. You gotta take it serious. Couple that with what’s going on recently … you just try to learn as much as you can, listen and then just try to do whatever you can to do right.”
What’s your initial impression of the DB group you inherited?
A: “Not bad. We’re thin. That’s the first thing you notice.”
Arizona lost four safeties to the NCAA transfer portal and has only four scholarship safeties on the roster. Do you have enough to survive a season?
A: “I would like more. But at the same time, someone’s gonna have to step up. I don’t know this yet, because I haven’t had my hands on them, but maybe there’s a shift in positions. Multiple things can happen. Maybe an incoming freshman (or) a walk-on may surprise us.
“All I know is that the group that I’m going to have, I’m going to make sure that everyone has a clear opportunity to show me what they can do. I will ensure it to them. They’re gonna have a chance to perform. They’re gonna have a chance to try to beat out the next person in front of them. I will give them that opportunity. It will not be a situation of, ‘I didn’t get a chance to show them what I can do.’ That won’t be the excuse.”
Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads has a lot of background as a defensive backs coach. What have the conversations been like between the two of you?
A: “When I did my interview, it felt like we came from the same tree. It was almost eerie. We were like, ‘Have we met before? Who do you know that I know that we know the same types of things?’
“The style in which he wants the secondary to play is very familiar to me, from coverages to technique. There’ll be a couple of technical things different here and there, but I appreciate him giving me the opportunity to do what is more comfortable for me, more so than ‘I want you to do it this way because I did it.’
“And it’s going to be communication. That’s the way I coach. I’ve done it this way, but I’ve also done it in a bunch of ways. So which way would you like it done? He’s got the vision of it, and I want to make sure I’m doing exactly what he’s mentioning.”
You were at USC during the peak years of the Pete Carroll era (2002-05). What was it like being a part of that?
A: “I truly enjoyed the opportunity, especially as a Los Angeles kid. … The experience there, the opportunity to win, to learn football was huge, especially personally, from the standpoint of developing as a coach.
“Under Pete Carroll, I grew tremendously in my understanding of football play, as well as a secondary coach. I learned a lot of football, a lot of technique. He’s a defensive back coach also.
“I earned his respect, because he left me alone. He let me do it. I knew I was doing the right thing, what he’s asking, doing it the way it needed it to be done.”
What are some of the main points of emphasis that you’re going to try to get across on a regular basis in your room?
A: “It’s a bunch of different things, but the one thing you have to get across is do your job. Rely on your technique. You’ll hear phrases like ‘No whining, no complaining, no excuses.’ I don’t want it to be in a situation where you’re trying to explain to me. No. Process it. I’ll explain to you what I need you to do, and then I need you to do it. I don’t want you to whine about, ‘He’s holding me,’ or this or that. Take ownership of your actions.
“There’s a thousand things. But it all starts with doing the job.”
There’s a lot going on in the world, from the pandemic to the protests. What have the conversations been like between you and your players, you and your sons, over the past 10 days or so?
A: “It’s brutal. It’s been beyond real. I’ve been blessed, with my wife, to raise three young men. They’re still children. We’re doing the best we can as parents to develop them the right way. We believe we have good kids.
“But you start looking at what’s going on in this world, and … it scares me, because it could easily be someone I care about. My oldest son is 16 years old. He’s taller than me. We have ‘No Shave November,’ and he can grow out the full beard. At 16, he looks 20. He could easily be mistaken (for someone older). He could easily be surprised in a situation and not know how to react — someone saying ‘stop’ and he doesn’t realize it, and something unfortunate can happen, for no reason.
“So it hits home. But you just teach them. You try to talk to them.
“I was fortunate enough to talk to my players as well. I tend to write a lot of things down. So I wrote something down about what was going on, and then I read it to my players, just so they can understand. Because everybody’s looking for an answer. And there’s no answer that’s immediate. It’s a process.
“I gave them the analogy of football. I basically just told them, as a football team, one of the team rules has always been to protect your teammates, protect the team. In order to protect the team, when you’re out with your teammates and you see your teammates doing wrong, you stop them. You say, ‘No, don’t do that.’ Or, if guys are somewhere, and something starts to escalate, you pull your teammates away. You say, ‘No, let’s go.’
“We have a lot of individuals who are smart, and simply, you just know right from wrong. It’s not necessarily about the individual that’s doing it. I’m curious why the people that are standing around aren’t doing it. Why aren’t the other cops saying, ‘Hey, don’t do that’? That’s what we do in football.”
