Everything From Virginia Tech OC Ty Howle At Wednesday's Press Conference

Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Ty Howle spoke to the media during the team's press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Here's the entirety of what Howle had to say:

Opening statement:

"Really excited to be a part of Virginia Tech. I grew up in a small town about three hours south of here. And so, being near to Virginia Tech, I remember, as Coach [James] Franklin said in his first press conference, of the days of Virginia Tech, kicking butt and taking names. So, really excited to get that going here again. I couldn't be more honored to be on Coach Franklin's staff. Obviously, I got an opportunity to be with him for the past six years at Penn State; to have the opportunity to come here and be a part of this is really special to me. I'm just looking forward to getting going. So, really excited about our offensive staff we've built, about our team that we have right now. They're working their tails off getting ready for winter workouts and spring ball, all that, but they're taking it day by day. So excited to be a part of what's going on here."

On Franklin and Howle having a similiar vision

"Andy [Bitter], nice to meet you. I appreciate you all saying your names, too. I'm gonna try to get to know everybody as we get going. So, big thing for us is, the game's about explosive plays and limiting turnovers, right? And everybody says that. Well, how are you going to do that? And I think the first thing starts with being quarterback-friendly, having him in mind with every decision that we make. And then the next piece of it is the offensive line. Those are the two positions that everyone on an offense depends on. And so, building it around those two positions and within the whole offense, it's what our players do well. I think a lot of times, people focus on, this is 'our system' or 'my system', and it's more about the vision of how you can help your players execute. So, we will do things on offense that put our players in the best position to be successful. We have our core fundamental beliefs with our different zone schemes or gap schemes and all those things. But all that is secondary to who you have, how you teach them and how you coach them to do it. Our vision is like, I know there's some things in football fundamentally to be true, it's a lot easier to score points when you're explosive. And the most explosive thing you can do is push the ball vertically down the field. But you got to earn the right to do that through the run game, through being really efficient in your quick game, protecting the quarterback, establishing the toughness and foundational core principles of an offense before you get to all those things. But the vision is to be explosive, tough, to limit our turnovers and do what our players do best."

On having the familiarity with Ethan Grunkemeyer and how much that helps to build tjhe offense around:

"I think the first thing is, obviously, I'll start with [quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien] having the continuity with him, of knowing how he's going to coach our quarterbacks, how he's going to get those guys to prepare and compete. And then obviously, with having a familiarity with Grunk and seeing him at the highest stage, I know he's going to come in and compete. Obviously, we got a lot of talented quarterbacks on the roster. We brought in multiple guys and so, having a familiarity with Grunk is really important. Seeing how he's been exposed to some of the high-pressure situations that we were in last year and how he responded to that. But also, knowing the type of competitor, learner and teammate that he is is more important than any of that as well. But it's a huge advantage for us. And with all those guys, I mean, you look at some of the guys we brought in, we have familiarity with those guys as well. And then obviously the guys on the current Virginia Tech roster, I don't know them as well, but that's what I'm working to get to do. That was my first task when I got here that I set for myself. I tried to sit down as many of the players on the Tech roster as I could, to start building the relationships with those guys. And so, working on that day-to-day. I know one of the things about relationships, it takes time. And so I'm willing to put in the time to build those with those guys. Obviously, I've leaned on our staff that stayed with us, like Fontel Mines and Matt Moore and Coach [Jarrett Ferguson] in the weight room, our team chaplain, Brother Dave, Brent Pry, obviously, to help bridge some of those gaps. But everybody's got a fresh start and clean slate with me. I want to see what guys can do, who they are and who they will be."

On the transition from co-OC to the main OC while being in a new program:

"Obviously, there's transition when you change job titles, but I think one of the the great things that working for Coach Franklin in the past six years is he's empowered us as coaches. Last year, I got to call it in the spring game or on the back half of the 2023 season, got to call some games there. And then, having the opportunity to call it at a former school before Penn State as well. The logos change but the work doesn't. But I think Coach does a great job of preparing you for these roles and working with you on these things. So, it hasn't been a tough transition from the standpoint of the job. It's about the people getting to know the people here. Just like me getting to know you guys, getting to know our players, getting to know the guys that we brought in and figure out what's going to be best for Virginia Tech. But the transition has been easy from the standpoint of job title. I got a really good group around me. It's a group effort. We were fortunate. We hired some guys with some really, really good resumes on the offensive staff. You look at a guy like Warren Ruggiero, who's been a coordinator for 33 years. You look at a guy like Danny Rocco; [he] was a head coach at VMI but was at Delaware, Richmond, Liberty. That's a huge advantage for me. And I lean on those guys, because I'm a no-ego guy from the standpoint of, I'm not one of these guys that think I know everything. A lot of people in football are that way. I'm not. I have things that I believe in, but I just want to find the best way for Virginia Tech, for Coach Franklin, for our offense and for our kids. And so, having guys like that in the room, you look at Matt Moore. Obviously has had an unbelievable career coaching the offensive line, has been a coordinator, right? You look at Norval McKenzie, he's been with Coach Franklin when he was at Vandy for a short time. So, we got a ton of experience in the room that I've been able to surround myself with, to help with that transition of those things and to help with what's best for all of us. I'm not worried about what's best for Ty or stats. I'm worried about what's best for our team. And so, to have a lot of experience in that room is a huge advantage. And obviously, leaning on Coach Franklin as well. I've been with him for six years. So, me and him have always had great dialogue back and forth about how we see the game. I've learned a ton from him over that course of time period and continue to do so. But the transition's been fairly easy. I'm really excited. I got my wife and kids moving down tomorrow. So, excited about that one. I got twin boys that are six. So, they'll be starting school here in Blacksburg. We've heard nothing but great things about the education system here and so excited to get them down here. That's probably one of the biggest transitions I'll make for right now. But it's been smooth. It's the community has been unbelievable to me so far. It's nice being back down in the South a little bit. My dad was a high school coach for 30 years, so you guys that are covering practice and stuff when you're around, you'll probably see him and a couple of his cronies around watching practice. They'll just be watching the offensive line. That's what they do. They watch the offensive line and critique us. But I'm fortunate to have that; that's been a good transition as well."

On the new players coming from a number of different places and how that impacts spring practice:

"It's a huge impact. So, whenever you're building a team, that's what it's about. It's about building a team. It's not about building a player or building one position group. It's about building the best team. And so, when you're doing that, the first thing is, you got to start with culture. And that's what we've spent a lot of time on. Obviously, we've been out on the road recruiting. We've been able to have, I think, two position meetings now. And the first thing we did in a unit meeting is to talk about our core values, talk about what we're going to build the foundations of this team on. And obviously, echoing the message with Coach Franklin. But that is the biggest thing you got to attack, way before you get into the X's and O's. It's how we can get these guys to help each other, to coach each other, to to to be around each other? When the coaches aren't around, how are they interacting? Are they supporting one another? And so, we spent a lot of time focusing on that. We a team event that we would do, go out and get to know each other. We've been trying to spend as much time around these guys in the building, cross ball, offense, defense. That's the first thing before getting into the X's and O's. And then obviously, as you do that, you got a lot of guys who hadn't necessarily been in the system or been with you. You got guys who are coming in and weren't in the same schemes. And so, you're going to obviously feed those in chunks to them. I'm a big believer in teaching theory of chunking. Like, hey, here's a section. Not just giving them everything we got, right? Here's any possibility. Like, no, let's start with the basics. Let's start with the foundations and learn that. Then, we can move on. And so, that's been the piece from a teaching and X's and O's standpoint that we've been going through with these guys. But we've been spending a lot of time on culture, getting these guys bought into Coach Franklin's vision, but also around each other and joining each other as teammates. That's the step because it takes all 11 on an offensive football play. You got one guy who goes wrong, a catastrophe can happen. And so, we got to get those guys coordinated and moving in sync with one another."

On the process of getting quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer to commit to Virginia Tech football:

"Obviously, with this whole transfer portal, it was new to me, I'll be honest. I've never taken a tight end out of the transfer portal when I was the tight ends coach at Penn State. So, when he decided to to go in and do that, we had a lot of conversations about what it would look like here for him, from the standpoint of what he can expect from us. I'd been around him. Danny had been around him. Coach Franklin had been around him for a long time. So, the people are the same, but the logo is different, the location's different. Obviously, some things will change in how we did some things there versus here. It's a different place, different team, different players on the offense, different schemes. So, talking through some of those things with him, because the relationships were there. So, once we felt good about that, he decided to join us and come to Virginia Tech. So, it wasn't a long drawn-out process or anything like that. It was more making sure both sides are in agreeance and in a good place, that it would benefit both parties for him to decide to come to Virginia Tech."