Graham Passionate About Making Tulsa Better

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Todd Graham believes he never got a better piece of coaching advice than some words from West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez: ``Don't try to like somebody else. Just be genuine.''

Thursday, August 2nd 2007, 8:32 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Todd Graham believes he never got a better piece of coaching advice than some words from West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez: ``Don't try to like somebody else. Just be genuine.''

So the energetic new Tulsa coach is working the only way he knows how: moving non-stop, pouring himself into making the Golden Hurricane a better program.

``That's just how I am. I have a method about preparing a team and how I go about winning football games. I just believe on a daily basis that most coaches are going to get that much out of kids,'' Graham said Thursday, raising his hand about as high as the top of his head, then spreading his thumb and index finger about an inch apart.

``I'm going to get that much more mentally and physically out of them. To do that, you've got to demonstrate that. I'm not going to stand around with my arms crossed on the field. I'm going to coach, and I'm going to coach them with passion.''

Graham calls himself a workaholic, almost to a fault. He predicts he'll work from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. and beyond most days during football season without really coming up for air.

``My greatest asset is my passion and my enthusiasm, and my greatest deficit is my passion and my enthusiasm,'' Graham said. ``You've got to balance those things. I'm very fortunate I've got a wife that brings my kids to see me at work.

``You can't win in this business without spending a lot of time on it, but it's very, very important I think that you know what your niche is, and my strength is inspiring those kids every day and helping give them the structure and discipline they need to be successful.''

Even having experienced Graham's ways when he was Tulsa's defensive coordinator from 2003 to 2005, there's been an adjustment for players to how much his personality differs from his predecessor, Steve Kragthorpe.

``Coach Graham is a lot more intense now about things. (With) everything, it doesn't need to be done now, it needed to be done yesterday,'' offensive lineman Justin Morsey said. ``That's basically how it's happening right now.''

Graham said he's modeled much of his approach after Rodriguez, who has rebuilt the Mountaineers into a national power. Graham brought in two coaches who were fellow assistants at West Virginia _ co-offensive coordinator Herb Hand and co-defensive coordinator Paul Randolph _ in addition to his son, Bo, who played for the Mountaineers and now coaches Tulsa's running backs.

Graham counts on all of his assistants to push him. Last season at Rice was Graham's first as a college head coach, and he hired a staff that offsets his weaknesses and can teach him to be a better coach. It's not uncommon for his staff to spend 45 minutes on a topic, with all the assistants chiming in with their opinions. And Graham likes it that way.

``If we come in here and it's hugs and kisses every day, we're not going to accomplish what we want to accomplish,'' Graham said.

``I don't think anybody on my staff can prop their feet on their desk and really feel comfortable. I don't want them to do that. I don't want them to be that way,'' he added. ``And then, they don't always invite me to lunch either. But they also know that I'm going to battle for them, they know that I love them, they know I care about them.''

He counts on Randolph to be his ``accountability partner'' and tell him if he's doing something wrong.

``We meet and he says, `Hey coach, we're on course,' or `Hey, we're not.' I tell him he has to have the courage to do that. That's not easy,'' Graham said.

``I think that's important. ... You ask me to evaluate me, I'm going to give me a pretty good evaluation.''

In turn, Graham wants the best from his assistants and does whatever it takes to get it.

``I expect perfection,'' Graham said. ``I think that sometimes I can be a little overbearing. Sometimes I know I'm a hard person to work for, but I think at the end of the day the guys that have been with me _ and I've been able to attract some really quality coaches that have all worked with me before _ is because they know deep inside that I really care, and I care enough that I want to win.''

Graham believes he's learned how to push people without crossing the line.

``The key is to be under control and to be poised and that you're not just barking at people because you're frustrated, that you have a plan about what you're doing,'' Graham said. ``You have to channel your enthusiasm, you have to channel your passion or it can be a deficit.''

And while he may push his staff to the limit _ and maybe sometimes beyond _ Graham tries to stay sensible. He carves out time for assistant coaches to have dinner with their families, take their kids to school and go to church.

``At the end of the day it's not just about winning,'' Graham said. ``It's about winning in everything you do, and it's about making a difference in kids' lives.''

Hand said he knew exactly what to expect from Graham when he was approached for a position on the Tulsa staff.

``I think there's an intensity level that he brings every day,'' Hand said. ``He talks about, `When you get up in the morning, I want you to do a handstand out of your bed. I want you to have a spectacular attitude.' He doesn't just ask you to do that. He demonstrates it.

``He's got a great attitude every day he comes to work. He's enthusiastic, and that's contagious.''

Graham calls it having the ``passion to inspire.''

``With me, it's what you see is what you get,'' Graham said. ``I'm surely not perfect, I make mistakes. But I'm going to tell you this: In my heart, I'm trying to do right and I'm passionate about what I'm doing. I think people know if you're genuine.''