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New USC defensive line coach Vic So'oto says he doesn't really care what his linemen have learned previously, or that he's the third position coach for the unit in three years.
They're going to learn his way -- he'll make sure of that.
"I told my wife they're going to hate me before they like me, and right now they're kind of going through that whole process, but we're excited," So'oto said last week.
Among the most intriguing of the new staff hires, So'oto joins the Trojans after serving in the same role for Virginia the last three seasons. He's not bashful in saying that by the time he left, after helping the Cavaliers to the Orange Bowl this past season, the defensive line was the strongest unit on the team because of a shared mentality as much as any physical components.
The numbers were indeed impressive. Virginia was tied for seventh nationally with 46 sacks, with his defensive linemen and the Cavaliers' linebackers all playing their roles in that pass rush in head coach Bronco Mendenhall's 3-4 defense.
Meanwhile, new Trojans defensive coordinator Todd Orlando has said he will be flexible from his own 3-3-5 principles and use a mix of 3-down and 4-down fronts -- USC's base look last year -- to adjust to the personnel.
But in terms of learning and playing to the standard expected, So'oto is not flexible -- he expects his linemen to fully adjust to him and what he demands.
"I don't care what you know, this is what's going to help you be successful because I've seen it and I've done it in the NFL. And whether they're techniques they've learned or not, they're going to learn how to do what we need them to do," So'oto said. "I told them it's a lot like being a free agent in the NFL, for these guys who are juniors and seniors, they've got one year to learn a new system and what a coach wants and to adapt. So for me, I don't want to be like anybody else -- I'm not like any other defensive line coach, I'm just myself. I take from a lot of people as far as coaching techniques and what I like, but as far as what these defensive linemen are doing, they're going to be taught to a standard and asked to do exactly what they're supposed to do.
"And the guys that do it more often are the ones that are going to see the field. I don't really dwell on a lot of the things that happened here before as far as defensive line coaches and defensive line play."
Much of So'oto's intensity and coaching ethos was formed from his own playing career. He was a grinder who got the most out of his physical potential, bouncing all over the field at BYU and then bouncing around a half dozen NFL rosters and practice squads.
"I played tight end, fullback, D-line, linebacker and then played linebacker in the NFL. But a lot of what I learned in college is kind of my philosophy now. I was an undersized defensive linemen, but played two years there. I was 250, and in my mind it was every play I've got to give everything I've got because I'm smaller," he shared. "So that same mindset has spilled over into my coaching career and how I push these guys. Their mindset is I've got to give everything I've got."
Or at least it's going to be.
