 Today is, you know, the start of a new era for us. We have obviously a new coach, a new general manager, and we'll have a chance to visit with our new general manager in an hour or so, but we're thrilled to have Coach Smith with us today. And I would say our search was extensive. I think we interviewed maybe seven candidates, maybe more than that. It was clear from the outset we went through the process that there were a lot of very qualified coaches this year, you know, I would say the most that I've ever seen personally in the past. And so I'm really happy about that, and I think that's the progress for the league and progress for these, you know, for these young men. And we're thrilled that the number one choice we made was Coach Smith from Tennessee. And we went through a virtual interview with him that was extensive with a lot of reference checking, a lot of a lot of conversations, et cetera, he was kind enough to come to Atlanta. We did an in-person interview as well. He's got a great background, great credentials, had a ton of experience at Tennessee. And I would say this, and I don't know whether whether Arthur would agree or not. But you know, the fact that he's been to Tennessee and there's been three, three coaching changes there. And in each case, they've chosen not only to keep Coach Smith, but to move him up the pipeline and move him up the ladder in terms of his responsibility is probably a record in the NFL for 101 years that very rarely happens. It's not often that coaching staffs, even selectively, are retained. Sometimes it happens, but usually not. But it goes through three iterations of coaching changes. And to have Coach Smith, in each case, be asked to not only stay on, but to take on additional responsibility, I think speaks well for, you know, for himself. And so, you know, we're excited about that. And I think particularly we're excited about what he's done with the offense in the last two years in Tennessee. And you guys will have plenty of opportunity to ask him all the questions you would like to. This is not really, I'll ask, I'll answer the questions I can and I should, but it's really about you getting to know our new coach. But we're extraordinarily excited to have him at Atlanta. And and so with that, let me just open it up to questions you might have for me. It doesn't mean if you ask me a question, you can't ask him the same question. They'll obviously hear my answer, which may or may not bias him, probably not. He's got great, I would say this, on all the references that we got, there are a couple of things that came out very consistently. Extraordinarily hardworking, great humility, cares deeply about the players. And has always put players in a position to win, whatever their position may be on the field, a little bit of defense. His background, as you know, is an offensive guard at UNC. But he's had some work on the defensive side of the bowl, in addition to all the offensive work he's had. So the humility was another fact that we heard consistently strong, strong with the players when necessary, but fair and balanced. But he definitely has great humility, which speaks well for him. And the other thing, I'll give you an example, this I can share with you, because I think it's not, you know, I don't think I think Coach Gibbs would refine with that. I got a text yesterday from Coach Gibbs, Joe Gibbs. And Joe had Coach Smith on a staff trying to think of the years. It was 2006, I'm sorry, 7, 8, and 9 when Coach Gibbs was in Washington. And you know, and I've got a relationship with Joe. We'd actually, we didn't call him for any references, but he texted me yesterday and said, I just want you to know that this young man, who I had in very early stages of his NFL career, did a superlative job for me. I always thought he was going to go places in the league. He was always hardworking, very thoughtful, bright, always, always was helpful to me. And so, you know, I mean, that wasn't solicited. I didn't call Joe and ask him or anything, etc. But I have a relationship with him. But it was nice to hear that from a Hall of Fame coach as well. So with that, let me let me turn it over to your questions and we'll get through those as soon as you would like. And then we'll get on to the important part of today's press conference, which is you all having a chance to meet Coach Smith and and our fans having a chance to meet Coach Smith as well. So with that, David, I'll turn it over to you. All right. Well, initial questions for Arthur Blank, D-Led. Yes, Arthur. What's the new structure now with your new GM and coach now and who has control of the roster and everything? Because we have the co-team builders last time around. Yeah. Well, I think it's similar in that regard. I think both Terry and Arthur will both report to Refi to Rich McKay. I will say this, they both view that as a, and you can ask them specifically, but they both made a point of saying they view that as a real plus in our situation. They both viewed Rich as somebody who's an experienced NFL executive who's been a general manager, been around the league for 25 years or longer, probably 27 years or so. Somebody who's connected to the league through the competition committee and a variety of other things. So, you know, they view that as a resource that they wouldn't ordinarily have. And I think for, whether it be a first time head coach or a first time general manager, I think that's important. So that structure will exist. I think the beauty of their relationship when they can describe it to you themselves and let Arthur talk about it. But Terry and Arthur really didn't know each other. They hadn't worked together. One of our candidates was a young man, Berth Qualified, who had worked with Terry in the Saints for two years, Joe Brady. And yet, you know, I mean, Terry reached out, developed a relationship with the author, felt very strongly that was the right choice for us. Had done his homework and et cetera. So I think the beauty of both of them is that, whether it's 53 or 48 or 48 or 53 or whatever numbers you want to throw around, I think they both would give you the same answer in that is that who has what, you know, is kind of secondary. Somebody will have the 53, somebody will have the 48. But it's really not terribly important because they both see the world of football through the same eyes, the same vision. And I think that means that, you know, if it comes down to the 53 or the 48, usually it means that you probably keep digging and try to find another answer as opposed to saying, well, I have the 53 or I have the 48. So, I think, Richard, you wanted to call now? Okay. I am, Arthur. I am, and you explained it right. I mean, we tried to set it up in a way that they, it was collaborative. That was kind of what we talked about from the very beginning. I think that's Arthur's vision. I should say our coach Smith's vision and that is Terry's vision. And that was what was talked about. And to Mr. Blank's point, I think when we interviewed Terry, we brought up coaches. First name he brought up was Arthur Smith. When we interviewed Arthur, we brought up GM candidates. First name he brought up was Terry Fontenau. So that was a good thing for us. So I can answer your question. And again, you can ask the other author that same question. But I think what you'll hear is that the structure itself, they'll work together very closely. Hopefully they'll see the world the same way. And for my second question, in these two tough searches, what stood out about both of the candidates that lifted them above the seven and the five people that you all interviewed? Yeah. Well, I think it's a variety of things. First of all, I would say this, I think both decisions were challenging for us, which doesn't take away for one minute of the two that we did select, Terry and Arthur. But I would say that it speaks well, I think, for where the NFL is and where the candidate pool is coming and growing. There were a lot of very qualified people this year. But I think we might, in my view, in terms of Joe Smith, I think what you care about, humility, power, leader, players love him, very creative, produced at a high level in Tennessee, has adopted an offense in Tennessee around their players, around who they have. In this case, they're an outstanding running back and a quarterback who was, frankly, didn't have a great career before he came to Tennessee. And I think I give Coach Smith a lot of credit for that, along with the young man, Ryan Tannehill, for being able to produce at that level. The same thing with really with Derek Henry. Derek was not Derek Henry for a number of years in the league until he was coordinated by Arthur Smith. So I felt all those factors were really important to us. The fact that he's creative, staying ahead of the curve in terms of what's happening in NFL, some leaders have the ability to see around corners. And I think it's important, not everybody can do that. I think that Coach Smith has done that, has shown the evidence of that. I think his offense has been a leading one. I think he's prepared to make adjustments to it based on the players that he has. We've talked about our roster and he'll respond to the questions you all have about that and how he plans on using the roster that we have and the skilled positions that we have. And with adjusting and more emphasis in the future on the running game that we currently have. So I think that's true for Arthur. I think with Terry, spent that many years, I think it's 16 years, 17 years in the Saints organization. Obviously they're produced at a very high level over that period of time. He's been in the middle of all that, both on the pro side and more recently on the college side as well. Later this afternoon, Terry will respond to those questions. He's worked hand in glove with Sean Payton. We actually had a phone call last night from their general manager. Wanted to congratulate us on the selection of Terry and that he was gonna be, he felt badly won because he's a very capable guy. He was gonna stay in our division but that is what it is. But beyond that, he was really very excited for him and he had worked very closely with Sean Payton who is an outstanding coach. I'd also say a very demanding coach. I don't think Sean Payton was saying anything less than that and demands excellence of the entire organization. So that kind of training I think is important. We don't view, I mean, I think Coach Smith and Coach Payton are different people but he wants somebody whose work has had his hand on the anvil and has had a work in an intense situation. I think Terry's done that. His ability on the pro side and to stand and influence in the college side has been outstanding. They've done a great job of filling their roster over the years during free agency and in a variety of ways to recruit players and with players that have later turned out to be performing at a pro bow level. So we like that his ability to have a vision over the whole department and his experience over that period of time. So I think we, I feel very good and our fans should be feel very good about the choices that we made really on their behalf. Charles Odom, Associated Press. For Mr. Blank, obviously you've made history with your hiring of Terry Fontenot and I know that you have another session planned for that but in speaking of the diversity of the hires of head coaches, how important was it for you in your search for a coach to consider minority candidates and do you have any concern that there's not been more diversity in the five that have been hired by the NFL so far? Well, Charles, it's a really good question and I would say that particularly coming on the heels of Monday was MLK day and what have you, those thoughts are with us throughout the year and certainly coming out of Monday as well. In my opinion, I think the diversity of the pool of candidates, both the general managers and head coaches this year is excellent. I also think for coordinators and I think Coach Smith can speak to that in some detail with Rich Khan as well but I think what you'll see there were a number of coordinators that are diverse candidates that I think will probably not get opportunities this year but will definitely be getting opportunities in the future the very wide range of diverse candidates will see in that regard. And I think the fact that you have two general managers here in Atlanta and in Detroit, the young man we interviewed there Brad Holmes as well both the first candidates that's really important because we haven't had that diversity at the general manager position. And if you look at the history of the NFL you know, more often than we even like but coach changes are made and GM changes are not made as frequently. So I think that these young men and other men in the future will have an opportunity to be part of the hiring cycle for other coaches. I think that which will I think help the issue of looking at diverse candidates in a fair and balanced way. And I think every team has to speak for itself. I think we interviewed a wide variety of very capable candidates. And we just felt for us this point in time that Coach Smith was the best choice for us. And we felt that Terry Fontenot as a general manager was the best choice for us. It wasn't really based on diversity per se it was based on who was the most qualified but we did have a great slate of diverse candidates. And I think that with these GM choices and you got one head coach who was selected by the Jets to be their head coach is a diverse candidate and there are still two other teams that are in the discussion stages and we'll see where they end up. But I am encouraged by the pipeline of the coordinators and not only the coordinators but a number of quarterback coaches and such that I think will create a bigger pool in the future. All right, we got one more for Arthur Blank from Steve Hummer and then Arthur if you want to introduce Arthur Smith after that. I've already done that. He's ready to call. Coach Smith is ready to call. Good, Steve, where are you? Yeah, I'm right here Arthur, how are you? I'm good, thank you. I'm a little bit off the beaten tracker but have you, do you know Arthur's father very well? And I suppose if so, you got a good recommendation from him. Yeah, well, actually I don't know his dad at all. I've never met his father. I did find out during the second interview process that Coach Smith had read my book on just published good company. And I don't know if his dad had read it or not but his dad knew of me and says some kind things about me. So I'm looking forward to it. I did, it was interesting, my son Joshua works at the NFL office in New York and he happened to run into Roger Goodell after we made our selection and the commissioner said to Josh, he said, I want you to know that the young manager hiring is terrific, he's outstanding. Comes from a great family, et cetera, I know his father well and his father and I have a really good relationship which is nice to hear. I will say this and this is just my view and you're welcome to speak to Coach Smith about it but I'm obviously very proud of what his father did, founder of a great international company and has a great track record, great set of values, et cetera. But I think that the fact that he has access to his father and not just as a father but as a counselor and getting advice and counsel from him over the years, from an organizational standpoint, dad, how do we do this? How do we do this? When you have somebody that's disconnected, how do we bring him back in the fold? I mean, there's a variety of things I know with my children that I've been able to share with them over the years that I hope, God willing, that'll be helpful to them in their careers. So I'm sure that Fred has done that with Arthur. That's the feeling I have, he's done that with him. So I think that's an advantage. It's another reason we hired him but it is an advantage I think for him personally. And I think he's taken advantage of that which speaks well for him, it speaks well for his dad and speaks well for their relationship. But I'm looking forward to meeting his father. I do know when I chatted with Arthur, he said, well, my family's gonna be close and just make sure we have several suites available at the stadium for them. So I'm not sure who in the family is for, maybe he'll describe that, but he's got a great relationship with his family and that's important, it's important to all of us because our culture and our relationships with each other, it's not just about winning, but how we win. And it is about winning, I get it, I understand that but it's how we win as well. And I think that Coach Smith is gonna help make sure that happens the right way. But that's a good question, Steve, thank you. Well, thank you, Marcus. All right, well with that, we'll turn it over to Arthur Smith. Coach. Hey, how are you doing? I just wanna thank Arthur Blank, Rich McKay and the whole Falcons organization for providing me this opportunity to be the head coach of Atlanta Falcons. It's an unbelievable opportunity and a dream come true. I also wanna thank my wife, Allison, my kids, Tanner, Sophie and Liam, the sacrifices they've made to allow me to do this job and to get to this point and thank my entire family. I've got a large family, grew up one of 10. I've got a million cousins, nieces and nephews and the support they've given me. I do find a little bit of fate that kind of led me to Atlanta as we go along this football journey. There was an Atlanta native and a great character in college football named Pepper Rogers and some of you guys made me more familiar than others with him. He was a great player at Georgia Tech and obviously he was the head coach at Georgia Tech at one point. But Pepper, when I grew up, it was around Memphis. He was a good friend of my father's and I had the opportunity to start playing football at nine years old, fell in love with the game, gave me an identity and as Pepper was around and we attended a lot of these orange bowls which was an unbelievable thing that I was able to do growing up and kind of taught me about the game. My love of the game was built there. And Pepper told me the history of the game and the stories and he had a huge impact that got my interest peaked as a player and then ultimately led to me coach and I just wanted to bring that up because I'm thinking about Pepper today. And then when I started playing football nine years old in the county leagues in Memphis I had so many coaches that had a huge impact that kind of inspired me and I'm not gonna start naming names because I don't want to leave out anybody. And then the same thing when I was at high school with Georgetown Prep and the University of North Carolina. And then obviously when I started my coaching career at North Carolina and to Washington, the Ole Miss and to Tennessee. I can't thank all the coaches, teammates I've had over the years, players and everybody that had an impact on me that allowed me to get to this spot where I am today. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to be the coach here. I'm excited to work with Terry Fontenot and to have a collaborative effort to build this franchise and this football team going forward to 2021 and beyond. And so with that, I'd like to open up the questions. All right. Dear Orlando Leadbutter, AJC. Yes, Coach Smith, welcome to town. We know we've been able to see your offense, but defensively, what do you all want to do? Scheme-wise, and how are you in your search for filling out your staff and so forth? Yes, we're still in the process. We will take our time. We've interviewed multiple people for coordinator spots and staff. And like I said, we will take our time. And we know we want to be adaptable. That'll be a big thing here. We'll play to the strengths of our team, but we want to be flexible and adaptable. So that's one thing we are looking for schematically. And as we get through this process of hiring coaches. Yes, and with that, have you been able to or will you undertake a roster evaluation? Well, we're still early in that process, you know? Biggest thing for me, you know, last season was being the coordinator of Tennessee Titans. And that's where I went all in. And then obviously through the interview processes, we're getting in here in a couple of days. It'll be an ongoing evaluation. There's nothing that we'll do, just be a snap judgment will be thorough. And so we're still early in that process. Tori McLeany from the athletic. Hello, coach. Welcome to Atlanta. I wanted to ask first off, going back to what Arthur Blank was talking about, in terms of you hadn't known Terry Fontenot, can you kind of speak to the relationship that y'all have developed relatively quickly and how you feel you can work with him? Sure. You know, Terry's got a great reputation. I didn't know Terry personally until this interview process started and Terry and I started talking and we shared the same values and that's big. And it's the same values that I believe we all share with the Atlanta Falcons. And that's huge. And I can't wait to work with Terry, you know, as we build it as a day one, like any relationship that'll grow, but it'll be a very collaborative effort. And I can't say enough good things about Terry and the reputation that he has. My second question, how do you see the careers of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones playing into your offense and your evaluation of what you've seen the Atlanta Falcons do over the last year? Sure. But it's more than Matt, Julio. I mean, there's a lot of talented players in this roster and you know, whether you're talking about Chris Lindstrom, Grady Jared, I mean, there's so many players that we were just still early in this process if we fill it out. I mean, the roster today is gonna look different from to September and then as you get to week 17, it's a constant evolution. There's a lot of talent here that we wanna build off of, but I can't give any snap judgments today because we're still early in this process. Is that Klein, WSB? Hey, coach, welcome to Atlanta. I was just curious of your views of the team from afar and what's needed to get this team back in the playoffs? Well, I mean, views from afar, you know, we didn't play the Falcons this year, I put them two years ago, but my concern is 2021 and beyond. You know, like I said, I was concerned with the Titans and Titans offense last year. And as we're going forward, the only thing that matters is us going forward and how we build this thing out. Cause as you guys know, things change week to week, year to year. And the only thing we're looking is going forward. And secondly, with the combine this year going virtual, who do you rely on staff-wise to help you with this process knowing that you can't see your first ever draft class in person for workouts? Well, I mean, the first thing is we're gonna ask our players to be flexible and adapt. And then certainly I've gotta be adaptable. So everybody's gonna play by the same set of rules. And we've gotta be smart and creative and adaptive. This is what the circumstances are. And when we're going through a hundred year pandemic and here we are. And so if we gotta go by Zoom with workouts, that's what we'll do. And we rely on everybody. There's great personnel, people here. And Terry, well, you know, as he fills out his staff or, you know, the collaborative effort there, we'll find a way, I promise you that, but everybody will be involved in it. Jason Butt from the AJC. Hey, coach. Just, you know, in general, when it comes to your offensive line, you know, what is your philosophy of that unit to get things going up front? Well, we'll have a certain standard we wanna play. We certainly, we're gonna play physical and we're gonna play with great effort. And I know a lot of people say that, but that's, we'll be our hallmark. And again, we'll adapt to the personnel we have. And we're always constantly dealing with different injuries and circumstances that pop up. We'll have a standard for those guys and we'll be flexible and it won't have to whoever's there. You know, and when you were back at Georgetown Prep, what was, how did you come up with your system of, I believe it was Marvel's superheroes to do the plays within the plays there on the offensive line with your good buddy, John Tobacco? Well, actually, I talked about my family. My older brother, he still is, is a Marvel fanatic. And so I just, he'd always said, I wasn't a big comic book reader, but he was and it was just easy to use that. And I've always, I still use that, you know, stuff like that to try to be creative in our teaching that we've used with the player of last year. You can ask some of those guys in the analogies, but that's funny. That's a good research you did there, Jason. Thanks. Charles Oum, AP. I wanted to ask about you being, in your first experience as a head coach, if you have any apprehension about entering a new realm as your first time experience as a head coach and can you talk about those you've coached under and who you've learned from and maybe give an example of something you may have learned, for instance, from Coach Gibbs? Well, there's a lot of things. You know, obviously any job you take, I mean, we all take those risks and I'm excited and you know, there's always unknown and it, but it's constant. You know, I don't want to be the same coach today that I am in 2022 and 2023. And we're constant trying to improve and grow in this job. So, and then going back to your question with the head coaches, I've learned from every coach I've played under. That's all I was trying to listen more than talk, but Coach Gibbs has had a huge impact and he's really had a bigger impact since I've stopped working for him over the years. He's been a great mentor to me. A lot of great lessons learned. Some of those are more private than others and schematically, he had an impact on some of the ways that I maybe wanted to attack the playoffs and that was beneficial to me. But he's been, he's had a known effect and all these guys have. And I just, you know, I start naming names. It's like leaving out some of your brothers and sisters and I'm conscientious of that because I do have such a large family. Kelsey Conway, lineofalcons.com. Hey, Coach, when you're looking at the two years, you were the offensive coordinator of the Titans. You had the leagues leading Russia and Derek Henry, but you were also really good in the red zone. Over those two years, what are some of the keys you've learned to being successful in those areas? Well, sure, certainly is doing the more practical thing, playing to the strengths of your players. Obviously, and we had Derek Henry in Tennessee, there's only one Derek Henry. I certainly don't think we're just gonna go find the next Derek Henry. We'll adapt to the players we have here in Atlanta and the ones that we add to the roster. And then Ryan was very decisive down the red zone. We had a lot of guys that could make plays, hit you from, so we just tried to use the full force of our offense. We didn't want to be an isolation football team. The credit goes to those guys. And we had a lot of guys make a lot of plays for us. And then, obviously, as you look to fill out your staff, how important will the offensive coordinator role be given that you caught the plays last year and assumedly will be doing so? Yeah, it's huge. Any coach we bring in here, they're gonna have to have the same, first of all, they're gonna have to be great coaches and great people, and they're gonna have the same set of values. We don't want grew think. That's why we're taking our time as we go through it. And we've gone through a huge list already and we'll continue to do that with a diverse set of candidates and guys with diversity of thought as well. But yeah, those hires are very important. So we're just trying to make sure we make the right ones. Alex Glaze, 11 alive. Hey, excuse me, sorry. This is for Arthur Smith. Just if you could peel back the curtain a little bit and just kind of let us know just how much of your interview or your pitch was about working with players that are already here, how much was focused on the future? Just kind of what was that conversation like? It was about both. It was about having a short-term plan and a long-term plan. And that's what it is. You made grand statements right now. I mean, there's so many things that could happen before we ever kick off week one. But you've got to have a short-term plan and you certainly have to have a long-term plan and it all factors into it. And just kind of as a follow up for that, I know you already got asked about Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, but just specifically, I want to ask about Matt Ryan, because you have the fourth pick, a lot of people see that quarterback, which is kind of how much have you thought about that? And where do you see Matt Ryan working in next year with the Falcons? Well, we got a long way to the draft, just like with anybody on our roster. I'll be about you. I got to earn my job every day. So we're excited about players that we have and we want to obviously go through the whole thing, but to give you, I can't make a statement today because there's a long process ahead of us as we evaluate this roster. Terry and I and everybody that's going to be involved in decision-making. But Matt Ryan's, it's been a terrific quarterback and I got all respect and world from Matt Ryan. And I look forward to working with him. Will McFadden, landfalcons.com. Hey coach, welcome to Atlanta. You've kind of alluded to this, I guess, some bits and pieces, but what kind of identity do you really want to build with this team here in Atlanta? Yeah, well, certainly we want to be great up front. We want to have a fast team and we certainly want to be physical on both sides of the ball. We want to have guys that are great teammates. We're going to hold our best players accountable. And that's what it is, drop the entitlement. Not that they say it was here, but that'll be a big message in the locker room. And we want to be adaptable because the things change. I mean, where you're drafting from changes year to year, how you add in pieces here, there and free agency you got to be flexible. So we want guys that are adaptable. And especially from week to week, how we got to go play the game to win. And then, you know, Mr. Blank said that you guys were, or you were obviously their number one choice, but you interviewed with a bunch of teams. What was it about the Falcons that attracted you to them? There were several factors. It was the way it was structured from Arthur Blank down to Rich McKay and the way this organization, it's one of the premier organizations in sports, it's first class in every aspect. So, you know, it was helpful to go around and see how other people did it. But I was strong in vision. I was thankful that they offered me the job and happy to be here. To Ron Davenport, ESPN. Coach Art, congrats on this. You know, gonna hate to not have you here in Nashville, but that being said, what are some of the things that you learned so much from Mike Rable to help prepare you for this opportunity? Yeah, I mean, I can't thank Mike Rable enough for having the faith in me to give me the shot to be the play caller. You know, Mike Rable, he holds every player on that roster accountable. And there's a lot of great leadership lessons I learned from Mike. He was very flexible with things we did. I'll miss that relationship a lot. He had a huge impact on my career. But yeah, I mean, but I'm not Mike Rable. You know, the same thing we'll tell our players. You gotta be yourself. I'll be myself. There's a lot of lessons learned from very good coaches I've been around. But yeah, there's only one Mike Rable and I don't think I can have the same temperament he does and the ability he has in practice to get one group and run right into the next. And then to follow that up, you've seen multiple coaches install their culture and establish that. So for you, what would be the key to doing that successfully and immediately? Because you know, NFL, not for long. That's how it works. I'm sure you want to hit the ground running. Sure, that'll be the message early on. You know, what the expectations are and how we're going to hold guys accountable. But you know, you don't come in here day one. It doesn't happen overnight. You know, anything good is the foundation. You got to build day by day. And, you know, that meeting team, the first meeting we have, depending what the league rules are in the spring, that's a slow build as we go through it, building up to the season. Michael Cunningham, AJC. Yes, coach. With Tennessee, one of the, I guess the foundation is your offense was a wide zone with the play actions and the bootlegs. I'd assume you're going to stick with that philosophy. Could you please just explain what you believe are the streams of that approach? Well, you know, we also ran at these amount of gap streams, too. We were flexible, but certainly, you know, had a wide zone foundation, but we adapted, you know, I think that's a lot of times that there's a lot of mythology to it. People just, because they come from one system, but if you look around, so there's a natural evolution. Whether you look at what's going on in San Francisco to the LA Rams, to the Green Bay Packers, and there's more teams that run it. I'm just going with the connections there, but we certainly adapted to Tennessee. We were good with our foundation. Well, we were a little bit bigger in other spots. I think that the Evans would show we did adapt to those. Whether it was the wide outs or certainly Derrick, and we'll continue to do the same thing here in Atlanta. Thank you. Jeff Schultz, the athletic. Hey, Arthur, you said earlier that you don't want group think you want a diversity of thought. Could you expand on that a little bit and adding to that, you've obviously worked for a lot of head coaches without necessarily saying what you took from each one. What have you learned in terms of what it takes to be a successful head coach and have a successful staff? Well, sure. I think that the worst thing you can do is to go hire a bunch of yes men on a staff. You want guys with experience, you want young guys, you want creative guys. You want to share the same values, but you've got to challenge each other. I think the best thing that happens sometimes is there is fair criticism and you've got to constantly evaluate, and that's a challenge as a head coach to make sure you're getting the right information to you. People are telling you what's really going on, because that happens a lot of times in different leadership structures. So that's one thing and we want creative and we want an environment where we're able to sustain success with the multiple coaches here. And then you go back to about how to lead. I mean, I've taken leadership lessons from a lot of different businesses and a lot of different love reading about history and then certainly my work with different head coaches. And they said, we mentioned Joe Gibbs and Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls and did it with three different quarterbacks. There are certain things that I didn't realize at the time, but looking back by how he went about how he managed the team on a day-to-day basis. And there's a lot of coaches that I've learned from, but the consistent message is that work. It's a long, hard road and it's day after day being consistent. That's honestly the most consistent message I can give you what I learned from those guys. And does the follow-up, does it, you've been on both good teams and bad teams, obviously you've been in the lead for a while. Does it take a while in the NFL to turn things around, whether it's schematically, whether it's philosophy, whether it's just attitude? And so as you look at the Falcons, the team obviously that has missed the playoffs the last few years, what should your message be in terms of how long this can take to turn around? I'm not gonna give predictions because every circumstance is so different. Every year there's a different, I mean, certainly we all need good players. I mean, that's the beauty of the NFL and that's what I love about it because there is a lot of parity and there's a lot of strategy involved in building the rosters and when you have to adapt to injuries. But it's hard for me to compare. That's one thing you'll learn from me. I'm not gonna compare players. I just, it works for some people I don't because I think we're all different. And I think every team that we're gonna coach the 2021 team will be different from the 2022 team. There's a different set of issues everywhere. So that's just kind of my philosophy in there. Steve Hummer from the AJC. Yeah, I don't know if it's possible in a summary but what most, I guess, about your father's examples help get you to where you are now? Well, first thing I'll say, one thing I just made clear, like just because of my father is I've never mistaken his success for my success and I've said that before and I wholeheartedly believe that. He didn't push that on any of his kids. And I was fortunate enough, obviously you don't realize it growing up. Nobody knows, we're all born in different circumstances and that's what it is. But I had great parents, both my mom and dad that didn't instill great values on us, hard work, compassion. And we're fortunate enough. I mean, I obviously didn't realize a little kid who my dad was didn't think and I certainly don't think I'm special. He doesn't think he's special. But just like every resource that we'll have here in Atlanta, I'll use them all. And my dad, as we've gotten older, has provided me great lessons in management, leadership, leadership strategy. And he's been a great father and the father that I want to be to my kids as well. And as you're coming up in this profession, I don't know, in any strange way, did your background almost work against you? Did you always have to prove that you were really interested in this football thing when you had so many other options in life? I don't know. Maybe in some ways it probably helped. Maybe it lowered expectations. I don't know. It passes people around me. I never knew any way just to try to work hard and do a good job at the job that gave you. Jay Black, WSB radio. I'm sorry, Steve cut off. I couldn't hear what he said. I'm sorry, I still can't hear you. Yeah, Steve was cut off. I mean, he had another follow on question. Well, no, the better way to ask that would probably be as you were coming up. How often were you asked how important is football to you and given your background? And what's that an issue? I don't think everything's an issue. I mean, I don't get offended by anything. It just made me want to go prove it wrong. Maybe it gave me a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. And that's what I love about the game of football. There's results. That's why that's what attracted me to this game. One that gives an identity. There's no sport like it. You talk about diversity and people have different backgrounds. I mean, look at professional football. It's different than any other pro sport. Let me see the world and it's a different light. And you had to go out there and prove it. It didn't matter if your dad was a CEO or you're from Pomona, California. Get on that football field, you got to go prove it. And that's what's always attracted to me. And that's what is the results driven business. And I want to be judged by that. Jay Black, WSB Radio. I just want to know what your pitch was to Arthur Blank. Why did you think you're the man for the job? Well, I was very confident in what we had done. But I thought it was a great fit. It was first of all, it was unbelievable to be able to get this opportunity to sit in front of him and to risk the game and present myself why I could be a head coach, using my history of what I've done as a coach in different backgrounds and different aspects of the entire team, not just the offense, my philosophical beliefs and how to build a team and how to coach a team. Those are all I presented to him. So again, it's like taking the SAT. I mean, it's great for a number, but just look at the body of work. And that's what I wanted to present to him was, here's my body of work. Here's what I've done my history throughout the game. So that's what I presented to him. And outside of football, how much time have you spent in Atlanta and what do you think of the city? Well, I love Atlanta. I mean, that's what I said. It's like a dream come true. You talk about fit. I grew up in Memphis, went to high school, and I lived in DC. And then I went to Chapel Hill, spent a year in Oxford, Mississippi, and then in Nashville. So I've been all around up and down the East Coast and definitely in the Southeast. And being from Memphis, there's a similar field to it in terms of hospitality. And Atlanta is obviously different. It's a bigger city. And it's got a great history. And my family and I are excited to be part of this community. All right. We got time for follow-ups. Reminder, if you have a follow-up, I'll just type that in the chat. Jason Butt from AJC. Hey, coach. I wanted to go back to the beginning when you mentioned Pepper Rogers. Why is the history of the game so important to you? And how has learning the history of the game helped shape you as a coach? Well, just been history in general. I love history. There's a lot of lessons. Somebody said life's the same story. It's endlessly repeated. So you go and study history. And the history of the game, I mean, it's just my love of that. It brought it to me. And Pepper, if anybody in here had talked to him or knew from covering Atlanta here, he was a great storyteller. I've always been fascinated by great storytellers. And he was a character. And just loved listening to it. That's what I grew up to. Maybe there's a nostalgia to it. Just taking back on it. Is that Klein, WSB? Hey, coach, have you hired anybody for your staff and any current or last year's coaches you'll be talking with to possibly join? Yeah, we'll talk. There's a certain number of guys we'll talk to. We haven't made any hires yet. We're getting close, probably on a few. But again, we're going to be very thorough about this. We're just like I told earlier with Terry and I, there's going to be no snap judges made. And we want to be thorough. We want to get it right. Jeff Schultz, the athletic. Yeah, I also was going to ask Arthur Piany plans to retain any hold assistance. But also, unless I missed it, did you, if you were clear, I'm sorry, if I missed it, are you calling players or are you not calling players? Does that have you have to be determined? No, I'm going to call a place. OK, is there any, as a follow-up, sometimes when head coaches call plays, they lose sight of the big picture. I'm not saying that's the case here, but sometimes they don't. I mean, do you expect that to sort of be an adjustment? Well, I mean, here's my number one job is I had coached the team. So that's all three phases in every player on the roster. And so it's my job to make sure I coach the entire team. And I understand, you know, there's examples we talk about history or some that have done really well and some that haven't been. But again, I understand what my job is and my job is to coach the entire team and also do that to call a place. And there's precedent there that it's been done and been done at a high level. So very confident you hire the right people and it'll be a collaborative effort. And in my job, like I said, I will coach the entire team. Thank you. Jordan Davis, 90 to nine. Hey, coach, I have a few quick questions for you. What do you subscribe to as far as do you kind of take a look at what you have as a person of offensively and say, hey, I'm going to just try to make an adjustment and try to work with what I have? Or do you try to, or is it a matter of you saying, here's my system and here's what I'm going to run. And I'm going to make sure I have is that you want to make sure you have what you need in order to be able to run what you want to run. Well, there are a lot of factors in there. And we have a foundation, but we're not going to be rigid. We said, we're going to play the strength of our roster. And at our roster, there's a constant evolution. I mean, the whole thing is you're constantly trying to improve your football team. I'm constantly trying to improve myself as a coach. So we will have a foundation how we want to play up front. And there's certain core beliefs we have in terms of running the football. But we're not going to be rigid. We're going to be flexible and adapt. And we'll play the strength of our roster. And again, what our roster looks like right now, certainly will look different in the coming months. And I can always change during the season. You've got to adapt because they're 100% in this league. There's going to be injuries. And we have to adapt. And that's what the really good teams do. And also, what do you attribute to the type of success that you've had, common players in the red zone? What do you think that is a part of? Well, like I said, we tried to spread the ball around. We didn't want to play isolation football to use a basketball term. And we wanted guys, we wanted the ball moving around. We wanted to hit them from a lot of angles. And we had good personnel there. We had a lot of unselfish players. Same message, we'll preach to these guys. Follow up from Charles Odom with the AP. Mr. Blank mentioned appreciating your humility. This is a sport with a lot of bravado. And sometimes we see that even on the sideline from people in your position. How does humility as a coach? Well, it's a huge factor. I mean, you understand that it's a competitive business. There's a lot of smart coaches on the side and there's a lot of good players. And I certainly will never think I've got all the answers. I think once you do that, I mean, you're set up for an epic fail. So I understand and I appreciate it. We certainly got confidence, but just understand that. So as you think you've got all the answers, you're gonna get humble and this league will help you quick. Will McFadden, landfalkins.com. Hey Coach, you've talked about adaptability, making your scheme fit the players that you have. If after looking at the roster, evaluating what you have, if you deem that you need one, how important will it be to go get a workhorse type running back? Somebody that could carry the load if they need to get 25, 30 touches a game. There's a lot of ways to do that. So to answer your first question, it'd be adaptable. If you got two guys, great. I mean, Cleveland's found success doing that this year. We adapted to Derek. Like I said, there's only one Derek Henry and he's like having Shaquille and Neil in his prime. And so you're gonna have to feed the big fella. And certainly we did that in Tennessee and I'm certain that can be different for them. I mean, like I said, every year is different. But that's what that's an example was playing our strengths. There's multiple ways to do it. You got two guys, you got three guys. Or if you do find one, I think we have to be flexible and that's something that Terry and I will map out and then we'll see what happens this spring and what pieces we add or what we use it currently on the roster. Thank you. To Nature Batiste, 92-9. Hey, Coach, congratulations on getting the newest opportunity. I talked to Harry Douglas about this, somebody who has played for both franchises, Falcons and Titans. And he said, one thing that stood out to him is you demand toughness on both sides of the ball. You know how to scheme things up and you use players in the perfect spots, especially on offense. So maybe what's one thing that you would want your players to know when you think about how your former players think about you? Well, it's certainly nice of Harry and Harry is certainly one of the toughest players I've been around. And yeah, I just know that we're gonna be consistent. We'll be fair and we're gonna hold all these guys accountable. And the best thing we can do is hold our best players accountable. Thanks, Coach. Here's that standard. Thank you.