John Donovan didn’t know he would be tasked with Zoom meetings, virtual coaching, and social-distancing measures when he accepted the job offer to Washington, but he’s made the best of his short time in the Husky program.
“I enjoyed the NFL and never thought I’d go back to college”, the new offensive coordinator for the Huskies said today during a media teleconference, “I grew up in New Jersey..that’s not close to Seattle.”
But the coach said that UW and the city of Seattle “is not a hard sell”.
Donovan talked about his own philosophy for designing and running an offense, stating that “you want to be multiple” and “run when you have to and when you want to”, but the coach said it’s important to explain to the players the “why” of everything.
He did say that not having a specific, experienced quarterback coming back in 2020 is a “challenge”, but also said that it’s positive as well because now there’s a “clean slate”.
One thing Donovan said stood out to him the first time he looked over the team in person was the offensive linemen, saying they have “great size up front” and “those are big dudes”.
Another subject was that of the quarterback position, in general, and what he wants to see how of the signal caller at Washington.
Donovan mentioned “Mentality” and “team first”. He said he tells the quarterback that “You’re the guy” so he has to be smart; to “see and adapt” and not just depend on his feet for speed, but for quickness in the pocket, “A lot of it’s mental…what’s between your ears.”
Donovan also talked about recruiting and having taken a “test” to get him certified by the NCAA so that he can go on the road and recruit. And after being in the NFL, he said he had to “catch up” on some of the new parameters of texting and direct messaging.
He’ll be primarily involved with recruiting quarterbacks, but said he also will want to take a peak at other targets for the offense to offer his input.
When asked what his biggest attributes are of as a coach, he simply stated “No BS”.
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** Donovan is originally from Jersey but said he grew up knowing that Washington Football is “tough”.
** He also talked about his pre-existing relationship with Derham Cato.
** What happened at Penn State was just bad timing, “We had a great run”, he said, but added that the program was going through the “aftermath of what happened”. He said that there were major restrictions on recruiting and scholarship numbers.
