By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
GRAMBLING — Minutes after being officially introduced as the new head football coach at Grambling State University, Mickey Joseph let the media and supporters know there are changes ahead for the GSU gridiron program.
Old-school changes.
“We’re going to restore the order,” Joseph said. “They (opponents) need to fear Grambling and that’s what we’re going to set out to do.”
Joseph said setting the proper environment will be key toward reviving the program, which hasn’t had a winning season since the pause for the 2020 COVID pandemic. The Tigers were 8-14 with two losing seasons, the last a 5-6 mark, under former NFL coach Hue Jackson, fired after a sloppy 27-22 Bayou Classic loss to a Southern team with an interim coach.
Joseph, 55, is a former Grambling assistant (2014-15) who spent the 2022 season as assistant head coach, then interim head coach for the last nine games at his alma mater, Nebraska. Influences of the Cornhuskers’ culture he enjoyed as a star quarterback under legendary coach Tom Osborne were apparent in his remarks after being introduced Monday morning on campus.
“My focus is to create an environment where our athletes can excel in the classroom and win championships on the gridiron,” Joseph said. “We want them to be productive citizens in the local community and enjoy prolific careers once they graduate.
“I’m here to win — on the field and off the field. I’m going to be a guy you can touch. I’m going to go into Walmart. I’m not going to hide. I’m not going to say I’m too big for this. I’m a real one, as the kids would say, and I’m going to continue to be that way.”
Joseph said he understands the standard set by College Hall of Fame coach Eddie G. Robinson during his 57-year coaching career at GSU and that he will remember lessons learned from the legend as he tries to make his own mark on the Grambling football program.
“Coach Rob set the stage,” Joseph said. “His shoes can’t be filled. But I know he’d want me to be myself and I know I can lead this program. We have to lead with integrity. You have to do things right by playing hard. … I want everyone to know we’re going to surround these kids with coaches that are going to demand that from them. That’s what Coach Rob did.”
Joseph said passion and aggression will be part of his coaching style on both sides of the ball.
“I’m passionate — I coach with a lot of emotion,” Joseph said. “If my arms are folded that means I’m upset about something. But I have to make the kids feel me. They’re going to take on my personality. We’re going to play hard. We’re going to play to the echo of the whistle. We’re going to be passionate about the way we do things.
“On the offensive side of the ball, we’re going to be very aggressive. We’re going to be a RPO team, we’re going to keep you off balance. On defense, we’re going to come get you and play man. We’re going to be really sound on special teams.”
He’ll first focus on the basics before anything else.
“Fundamentals will override the schemes,” Joseph said. “We’re going to be fundamentally sound.”
Joseph, who was running backs coach at Louisiana Tech in 2016, was wide receivers coach for LSU from 2017-2021, also serving as assistant head coach from 2020-21. Combined with his time as player and coach at Nebraska, he said, lessons learned from those roles will come into play as he takes over at Grambling.
“Structure,” Joseph said of the biggest takeaway he’ll be bringing with him from LSU and Nebraska. “I’ve talked to (GSU President Richard Gallot and Vice President for Athletics Dr. Trayveon Scott) about it. By having structure — getting more pieces into the program. It’s 2023 about to be 2024. You’ve got to have help with these kids, because right now if you ask 10 coaches to run behind 125 kids, that can’t happen. So we’re going to bring more structure to the program and we’re going to get these kids to do things right on the field and off the field.”
Joseph also pledged a focus on in-state recruiting.
“We’re going to touch every high school in the state of Louisiana when it comes to recruiting,” Joseph said. “Because I think right here in the state of Louisiana, pound-for-pound it’s the best state for high school football. So we’re going to draw a five-hour radius around Grambling and basically stay in state to recruit these kids.”
He said he wanted to have only about 15 percent of Grambling’s roster comprised of transfer portal players. Jackson had a heavier percentage.
Joseph said he hadn’t begun to consider what current coaching staff members have a place in the program going forward but said he knows several of those on Jackson’s staff.