Monachino On Improving the D-Line, Assignments, Toughness & More

CHAPEL HILL – Ted Monachino isn’t new to Chapel Hill, he’s just new to his new job within North Carolina’s football program.

Monachino, who was the team’s defensive analyst last year, and noted pass rush specialist, is now UNC’s defensive line coach. He took the job before new defensive coordinator Geoff Collins was hired, deciding to remain in college instead of getting back into the NFL, where he has spent 16 years as a coach, including as a coordinator.

So, Monachino met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center to field questions about his new role, the returning players up front, changes that will be implemented, and more.

Above is video of Monachino’s Q&A session, and below are some notes from what he had to say:

*As an analyst, Monachino was not permitted to speak directly with players this past year, per NCAA rules. He spoke to coaches and they could relay what he was saying, but analysts are hamstrung that way. Now, as the DL coach, Monachino can work hands-on with the players up front.

“All those suggestions that I made a year ago, they could take them or leave them. Now I’ve got a chance, because I’m really one of the guys, I can continue to hammer things if I need to hammer them. I’ve got a ton of respect for what Coach Collins has done in his career, and I’m really enthusiastic about we’re going to do together going forward.”

*As a “words that work guy,” Monachino says he operates by the following five words that apply to him:

-Excited

-Determined

-Focused

-Honored

-Aligned

“I think that word alignment is really important. And the thing about all that stuff is I could take the word ‘I’ out of it and replace it with the word ‘we,’ because in our time that we’ve spent, that’s been our goal. It’s to make sure we’re aligned and everybody is pulling in the same direction.”

*Monachino said he and Collins agree that putting players in position to do things they are capable of is key. Not doing so puts them in situations they cannot handle as well and will struggle. That hurts the team, obviously, but also morale.

So, when asked about the culture of the defense, he said it’s incumbent on the coaches to utilize their personnel in manners the personnel can be most effective. Don’t put guys in coverage that shouldn’t be in coverage, as an example. Some guys are better up front on first down than third down, so use them accordingly.

“Figure out best way to use their dominant traits to help us win games.”

*The word on Monachino over the last year was he wanted to get back to the NFL. But he ended up taking the UNC DL job before the NFL chaos opened. What was it about his year in Chapel Hill that made him want to stay in college and stay at UNC?

Also, Monachino said he took the job not knowing who would be the new DC.

“I had no idea. The thing went down with (former DL Coach) Tim (Cross) and I on the same day… As I was driving back here from Atlanta, I got to go home for the new year… I was driving back, I was 15 minutes off campus, and Coach Brown called. He said he had just let Tim go, and wanted to know if I was interested, and if I was would I be committed.

“I said ‘yes’ to both, I am interested and I am committed. I had no idea who the coordinator was going to be, I just new the head football coach at the University of North Carolina wanted me to be a part of something special that he wanted me to help him get to where we’re trying to get to.”

And as for his year at UNC that made him want to stay?

“I do think that we’re really close, I know we’ve recruited a bunch of really good players here. This league, I don’t think it gets the respect it deserves offensively. This is a difficult league to play great defense in.

“So, those four schools that played really good defense this year in our league, that’s a huge compliment to those four defensively…

“I’m at the point now in my career, that I’m looking for the greatest challenges, I’m looking for the best opportunities to work with the people I want to work with… This NFL thing, it’s a crazy, crazy thing, and it’s spinning fast right now, and there’s going to be an awful lot of things that happen over the next three weeks, and it’s really nice for me to not have to worry about that.”

One of the consistent takes on UNC’s defense for a long time is that it lacks toughness and nastiness, it doesn’t have enough of a grinder disposition.

“When you see it (roughness, nastiness) on tape, you have to point it out and you have to praise those guys that show that. I think that you also have to point it out when they need to make an improvement.

“When I ask a player how good he wants to be, and he wants to be the best, and I put the pointer on him in the meeting room, and I say, ‘hey man, the best guy doesn’t practice like this. I need you to be tougher in this situation against this double-team or against this down block kickout.

“If they’re of the same mindset, they’ll buy right in. If not, it will be a long, challenging relationship.”

*Staying on that, he was asked if he thought the defensive front got pushed around too much late last season.

“We all would love to say we created a flat wall on every snap and the ball poured wherever it was supposed to. I don’t think we got physically dominated much, so when you say pushed around, I think that there were times that where we were in the perfect storm business where we may have a movement on that was going in same direction as the run game was going, and if you start running that way and the run’s going that way, and I grab onto your inside shoulder and run you that way, sometimes you feel like you’re getting pushed around a little bit.

“But, I don’t think we got physically dominated very often, I think there were times that simply doing our job got us a little sideways because of the job we were asked to do. On the playbook page, great, awesome, sounds all 11 guys have a designation under their little picture on the playbook page is great. But let’s also not forget at the snap of the ball, there’s a 320-pounder that is trying to keep you from doing all nine of those things you’re supposed to do. And he’d like to gore you. There are 11 one-on-one games and sometimes you do get moved around a little bit.”

*Monachino said he really enjoyed meeting with the defensive line, and added, “it was a really encouraging meeting, I think they’re excited for the change.”

*The defense will be a 4-2-5, and while they aren’t eliminating the jack position, it will morph into a bit of a hybrid position. So, Kaimon Rucker might be a hybrid outside linebacker, but also a rush end with a hand on the ground, or even standing up. So, it doesn’t sound like his role will be dramatically different this fall.