Everything From Virginia Tech Special Teams Coordinator Doug Shearer At Wednesday's Presser

Virginia Tech special teams coach Doug Shearer spoke to the media during the team's press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Here's the entirety of what Shearer had to say:

Opening statement:

"Looking forward to meeting you guys and getting to know you. I'm excited to be here in Blacksburg to be a part of this staff and this community. It's a privilege to work at a place like Virginia Tech, especially when you're the special teams coordinator in the history of this place. And then you combine that with our head football coach and Coach [James] Franklin and how much success he's had at every place he's had. So, every day I get a chance to come in here. It's exciting. Privilege to be here."

On if Shearer had a connection to the staff:

"Yeah, it's a great question. Obviously, have known Coach Franklin from afar. We've met before in a school in recruiting just real quickly. But Ty Howle, the offensive coordinator, we were graduate assistants together at NC State. I was actually in Ty's wedding, believe it or not. So we go way back. So, this is kind of a really cool deal, a full-circle moment for the both of us. So, that was a huge impact to knowing somebody on the staff and got involved in the interview process. Came down here around mid December and had a great interview with Coach [Franklin]. It was an awesome opportunity and you could tell pretty quickly why he's been as successful as he's been. The second he called to offer me the job here, it was a pretty easy yes."

On how Shearer feels about the makeup of the special teams unit and if he feels like he has a head start:

"Yeah, 100%. When you talk about special teams, the specialists are the No. 1 piece to get that thing started. And when you got a guy like John Love, who's made 54 field goals in his career, he's 84.4%, that's pretty impressive. And then you start talking to the kid in your office and he's first class. He's a team leader. He's a captain. He knows all of the team. The guys on the football team, not just in the specialist room. He's got a great demeanor. Really impressed by him. He's a pro. So, we're excited obviously to have John. He knows he wants to continue to improve and our job is to continue to make him better. He's been working like crazy and he's excited for his senior year. I think it's always important when you got a guy like him in the room and Christian [Epling], who's been here and they've played. This is their senior year. It's important they leave it better than they found it, and I think it's awesome when you're a coach and you have seniors in your room. It always means more. But it's important for those guys and so yes, they're huge. Christian starts every play on punt and field goal. He's done it here. He's been successful. He's been reliable and consistent. And then, we're going to bring in some guys at the punting position, to get that thing ironed out. And then we got some really good young kickers here and some young snappers that we'll develop. We'll do a great job there with those guys."

On how Shearer discerns the difference between lip service and all-in in regard to the importance of special teams:

"It's obviously actions over words, right? Head coaches can say it, but they have to back it up. And just in the short time that I've been here, Coach has done more than that. It's all hands on deck on special teams. It's the only time your team comes together, right? Offense, defense and the specialists. It should be the strongest part of our football team. And the way he sees it is, he's in every single meeting, which is huge to enforce that. The offense and defensive coordinators are going to enforce it in their unit meetings. The position coaches are going to enforce it in their position meetings. The position coaches are going to help us on special teams, coach those guys; they're going to coach with as much intensity as they coach their positions on offense and defense as they do on special teams. Obviously, I'm the coordinator and it starts and ends with me. But we also have a staff of special teams-dedicated coaches. We have not just one guy helping me. We got two. One of them is Coach [Greg] Wood, who came down from VMI, who's been a coordinator and a former punter and a former specialist. He's done a great job of developing those guys. We also have Coach [Pat] Shepard, who has been a coordinator at multiple schools, most recently at Youngstown State. So, the three of us are kind of that special teams battery. But it doesn't just start and end with all of us. We get everyone involved and all of our players. You can see it from Coach, how much he demands of it and how much he loves special teams. He understands the impact of it and our goal is to change the game some way, somehow; every play is the play is our mindset, and we're going to chip away at getting that done."

On how special it is to take over the special teams role at Virginia Tech:

"Yeah, when I left the interview and went to the Roanoke airport, I was like, 'I better make sure I get this job.' That place was awesome, and then, you take the ride to the airport because it happens so fast when you get the call, come down, interview, come down here. And then you start driving away and you're like, Beamer Ball and the history of it and Shayne Graham and Joey Slye and we're going to work to invite those guys back here. They're welcome here as much as possible and we want them at our camps around future Hokie specialists and the returners that have been here and it's just really, really awesome. So, when I got on that plane and it left Roanoke to head back up to the Northeast, I was pretty sure that I was going to take this job, but I was like,
'I'd better make sure I get that one.' It's pretty special when you're the special teams coordinator at a place like Virginia Tech. And we respect that. We respect the history of it and the people that have come before us. We're excited to continue to build and take on our own version of it and create another legacy of it, as well."

On if he has met Frank Beamer:

"I have not had a chance to meet Coach Beamer yet, but when I do, I will definitely pick his brain as much as I possibly can. Obviously, he's had a bunch of success. It's a place he went to school. I know that this place has honored his jersey number, No. 25, and I know that we have plans to do similar things. I'll let Coach Franklin talk about that at a later date, because that's something that he'll touch on at some point. But yes, I look forward to meeting Coach."

On Shearer's path into coaching and specifically, special teams:

"I played high school football, played high school lacrosse, in Connecticut. Went to high school in Connecticut. I'm 5'9" on a good day with red hair, and I wasn't athletic enough to play at a high level. I always wanted to go to the University of Connecticut because that's where I'm from. So, I went to school at UConn. There was a head coach named Paul Pasqualoni who was the longtime head coach at Syracuse who's the all-time winningest coach in Big East history. And I was a student assistant. Always wanted to be a coach. Growing up, thought I'd be a teacher and a high school coach at my high school in Connecticut. And Coach Pasqualoni gave me the opportunity to be a student assistant in the program to learn. I learned from Clayton White, who was special teams coordinator there at the time and then ultimately got a graduate assistant job, when I graduated in 2013 with Coach P at UConn. And then from there, you're just in it. You're in the college landscape, you just start chasing it and you work at it every day. And Coach Pete put me into special teams because that was the only role that was left, to be the special teams student assistant. And I'll never forget this. He handed me a DVD of some old-school cowboy punters and snappers and kickers. He's like, 'All right, learn this learn these drills and teach our guys.' And I'm 20 years old, trying to figure it out. Special teams is incredible because you get to coach everybody. I get to stand in front of the entire football team and there's O-lineman on field goal, there's D-line on field goal block. There's all different types of body types on the core four units. So, it's exciting because you get to be around all the position groups. So, that's always been my niche. I've always been able to do that and embrace that and understand that part of the game. Went to NC State and was a GA there. Then, QC. Obviously been a coordinator at Miami (Ohio) and Connecticut the last four seasons. So, I've loved it. I loved embracing it. I think it's an incredible part of the game and looking forward to doing the same thing here."