Mike Houston Interview (9-4-20)

Carolina not to be in action until the 26 against UC and when I'll be enjoying Butthead pirate Mike, who I had looked down at my notes to make sure this is correct. While everything at 2020 has been moving slowly.

I'm still surprised to see were already on year to her coach Mike Houston and since it's near sucrose you already have a go to barbecue joint set by now in Greenville America… Cannot pick one only here until you everybody agree would be mad at me because you got pictures of Gorby, the Sam Joan Parker's and whichever one you pick your the other two got loyal loyal fans also.

But certainly we got an abundance of barbecue here and not angry.

Will the skylight in or Sam Jones guy Robert, who would you pick since you were there for a long time prefer Sam Jones to your Sam Jones guys.

Well, I miss the barbecue day by day. I don't know that I don't like their wings, one under the barbecue. Wow, that may be the best wings, a founding removal hotcakes there and I know I'm taking off all the folks in Lexington but you know what I spent years in Eastern Carolina. I don't even care.

I'm sorry all right let's transition this to football about. I was watching Southern Miss last night they were playing South Alabama.

I was watching UAB plate central Arkansas. The product looks pretty good to me. It's exceeded my expectations. I'm interested as a coach. How do you think the product of college football is going to be affected by this unusual off-season and for many teams including yours can't be in disrupted problem before I can promise you that just from the standpoint there no way the athletes are in good enough shape you know do not want to be time to have them looking at their level that you expect them to be just, you know you have not had them for the amount of damage normally do. So do I think it's going to be you good football yeah I Will be good competition.

Every game will be better than the last cut deal, but there's no way to take as much time off and miss everything we'd missed and expect things to be as sharp as it normally would be easier. Football coach Mike Houston with us. Your suit will follow on Twitter a really entertaining follow-up ECU coach used to you don't know what you're going to get. Whether or not it's going to be like Kobe Bryant poster or something motivational. And of course a lot of ECU pirates. There take me into the day-to-day over the last few months how much has your day been spent learning about coded versus trying to do the normal football stuff that you're accustomed to this time a year that the difficult part is you know you like your your your head coach of covert management instead of head football coach.

It's just the protocols just everything with the testing and the quarantined contact tracing you know all the standards and protocols limit changed you know they changed a little bit.

They changed shell element that can keep the antibodies is just always everyday is dominated by handling this and certainly it's been very disruptive for me sitting in my chair and the kids a means used. It's amazing that their functioning at Wellesley are because I cannot imagine being in their in their position on the antibodies your your teams had quite a bit of cases over the last few months are you feeling a lot better about where you're at.

Moving forward, considering hey if you've already had the virus and you've recovered from it might be in good shape moving forward and also the fact that there are no students on campus other than the football players.

Well today I don't feel very good three days off a 12 day pause, which was extremely detrimental to our driver for our progress and alcohol are coming along so maybe tomorrow I'll feel better. You know that the student body may not be per se on campus but 75% were here Greenville North Carolina so that when anywhere blame me if I the choice of staying in a college town versus going back home little mom and dad say in the college town, so the threat is still very much a beer for players will love you with all throughout the fall. Every college campus across the country every college football coach across the country is going to have to deal this weekend and week out on the games canceled. You will see multiple games canceled.

You may see a team that has a spike miss a couple games before they can come back and is just this going to be out have to be something that we are prepared to handle and any engaged everyday. You just got a handle what you can control what you can control, try to protect the players number one priority forces keep them safe and try to make sure that you rush somebody back to fast on them extremely grateful that we have the medical care. We do, and this is just in uncharted waters that were the love right now. Lincoln Riley was on with us earlier this summer and he he showered you guys with a lot of praise and was he even said he was rooting for you guys quite a bit and rooting for you specifically, he said, I think of the last month or so. He lost almost an entire position group to come of it yet. Have you ever gotten to a situation that looks that grim yet that we were in the letter right now so it's it is what it is and that the thing is you the contact tracing. So those guys are out for 14 days. They have not tested positive got complicated have been quarantined multiple times have not had the virus yet so those kids missed the mark of training and preparation, practice, and have not had the virus yet and dedicated test positive. You know he's in for a minimum of 10 days, sometimes longer and then you have the return to play protocol and then you have the REIT, ties him to practice multiple weeks later and you know you just this disruption just is this so difficult.

But the position group were you look up and they're all out and then you still gotta figure out how to function.

If you're practicing you know we got applause and so that didn't yet took everybody out of the practice but is just something is very difficult to manage. Right now, here's where my my brain starts to explode with coats every year. Coaches tell me heat illness is something they're worried about almost more than anything else and when I like the CD CDC website for what the symptoms are for heat illness.

There the same exact symptoms so that when you consider hey vomiting knowledge physical fatigue aches. These type of things.

So how do you discern what he illness when somebody has the sniffles or somebody is somebody seems to have body aches versus being out of shape or having God forbid Tobit will turn anything I make of 90 maps of our kids have not had anything that drastic may be a headache or it may be, you know a little bit of upset stomach, maybe just a runny nose. Maybe a call so you know it's the best thing that it makes it so difficult for the trainers and the doctors is how you discern between the common cold and covert, you have you discern between you just dehydrated and covert and it's so symptoms you know symptoms. If that were just thrown around your quarantined and didn't you you contest out of that. If you had a close contact, but still if you lose couple days for some flock that I got a kid right now you know you had 12 day clause came back with practice. It will be a short breath will you yet landed 12 days but he quarantined. He's tested -3 times this week so finally I think you are finally getting back out of quarantined couple practices now and the medical professionals are doing the things that they need to do because they've got a be that cautious but it just is making it hard to function.

Mike used them with me here ECU football coach and I want to close things on a different note here, I saw earlier in the week, homes he got his championship ring and he decided his girlfriend since high school shouldn't leave without a ring either. And he decided to propose on the spot that's been talked about all throughout this week so I'm interested. I know Mike Houston's a romantic guy now.

How did you proposed to Amanda way back when it was actually during fall camp out in high school football coaches during fall camp. We were not to eat one was like a Saturday night before the opener the next Friday and it was just a normal night that had planned that will one night break from my preseason camp and so that that's this cannot happen.

So what anything anything spectacular but it was in the middle preseason camp wishes set her up for her life ahead of the coaches wife and way that is Mike used in ECU football coach coach it's so good to hear from you. Good luck this season. Thanks for doing this.

Thanks a lot for me on your part