As he hopped on a Zoom call with reporters at 8 a.m. Thursday morning, USC interim head coach Donte Williams joked that he's much more of a natural night owl than a morning person.
"So this is all new to me to have to talk so much nowadays in the morning, but that's OK -- it's for a good cause," he said. "I'm happy to be the head coach right now here at the University of Southern California and this has always been a dream of mine. I'm looking forward to this challenge just like this team is looking forward to this challenge."
A lot of what has transpired since Monday afternoon, when USC fired head coach Clay Helton and elevated Williams to the interim role, has certainly been defined by new challenges for the former associate head coach/cornerbacks coach.
He's spent the last few days trying to learn the language of USC's offense, he's sat in on offensive line meetings and tweaked the Trojans' practice routine while trying to get everybody to quickly turn the page on the surprising news of Monday afternoon, get ready for a road game at Washington State on Saturday and maximize the rest of this season.
What he hasn't been doing much of is sleep.
"That's been the biggest thing is you don't know what you don't know. So when you sit in this seat right now you don't realize how much a head coach actually does when it comes to the media, when it comes to these different obligations because it's different from controlling a position group to worrying about not just the team but everyone in the organization. Making sure everyone is held accountable. At the same time, making sure I'm held accountable myself. So you know, it's no time to waste," he said.
"And really the most free time I've had is when practice has ended and I have a chance to take a shower. So other than that it's been non-stop, whether it's getting home at 1 o'clock in the morning and being right back up here at 5:30 in the morning. ... It's almost like I go home and I just basically take a shower and close my eyes and I'm right back at work. But I embrace that. And this team embraces that."
RELATED: Full transcript of Donte Williams' comments Thursday morning | USC's assistant coaches react to coaching transition, talk moving forward
Williams scored points with the fan base this week when he had the Trojans practice in full pads both Tuesday and Wednesday, rather than just Tuesdays as was the in-season procedure under Helton.
It's almost as if he had been handed a playbook of what to say to fire up a long-frustrated fan base that found renewed optimism for the future this week.
"How Tuesday practice went, it started off kind of slow and to me the energy picked up as the practice went. And then you look at Wednesday's practice, there was no low in it at all. From the get go right away it was high energy. Both days were in full pads so guys were flying around," Williams said. "... It was competitive. It almost seemed like a game-type atmosphere. I'm all about making practice as hard as possible on Tuesday and Wednesday so that the game is easy."
Nothing looked easy for the Trojans (1-1) a week ago, as they entered the Coliseum as 17-point favorites over Stanford and found themselves down 29 points in the fourth quarter on the way to a 42-28 loss that served as the final straw of the Helton era.
Less than two days later, he was officially out as head coach, with athletic director Mike Bohn emphasizing that he believes in the potential of this season and that he felt the team was more likely to reach its goals with Williams in charge the rest of the way.
Williams' Monday had started just like any other, focused on the cornerbacks and preparing for practice when he was told just before the Trojans' regular 2:10 p.m. team meeting of the coaching change. Since then, it's been a whirlwind for him.
And for the rest of the staff, for that matter. Safeties coach Craig Naivar is suddenly in charge of the entire secondary, former analyst Michael Hutchings is now the linebackers coach, etc.
"I think it's been really good. I think it will enhance [the defensive backs], especially being in a room together and having more of making sure they're all on the same page communication-wise, which I think will help us moving forward a lot. And for me to even take a step back," Williams said. "I've taken the role of kind of sitting in everybody's position meetings, and it's not just to see what they're doing; it's more to just hear them to make sure I know what's going on. I sat one day in Clay McGuire's room the whole position meeting just to hear what the O-line is saying. My biggest thing is making sure I understand the offensive verbiage. I know what I would do if I was playing our offense, but that's a whole different animal when you hear the verbiage and all the things that goes on. It's almost like I stepped in the room and they were speaking a different language.
"But after you sit in here all day and watch cut-ups, you start to pick up on different things. I'm appreciative because the offense has took me in and it's like I'm learning Football 101. I feel like I'm a freshman."
The Trojans have at least 10 games ahead of them still to determine how this season will ultimately be remembered, but it's an interesting spot for the coaches, who don't know what their own futures hold beyond that point.
Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell both dismissed that as a factor on Wednesday, but it's not just about coaching the players -- Williams is trying to keep the gas on the pedal for USC recruiting as well, regardless of the fact that neither the coaches nor the recruits know who will be on staff here in three months.
"These guys are pros. There’s no other way around it. They’re pros. A lot of guys have been through this before. This is not their first rodeo," Williams said. "When you’re at USC, you’ve done something great to get to this spot. These guys have been around. They have a lot of mentors themselves. It hasn’t been a problem at all, making sure they conduct their business. ...
"[Recruiting] is one-third of the job. So you may not have time, but you find time. Whether it’s when I wake up at 5 am to make sure I contact guys on the east coast, or it’s night-time and I’m contacting guys on the West Coast, I find time. It does not matter what it is. Recruiting, everyone thinks it’s all day, 24-7, but I think recruiting is 25-7 -- you have to almost make an hour in the day. But that’s something that’ll never stop."
Williams wants to keep this 2022 USC recruiting class intact as it stands, he wants to increase the accountability on the players and coaches, to weed out the "dumb mistakes" that have so often undermined this team. He wants make sure the Trojans are getting more out of practice, while he's both overseeing game-planning for Washington State and learning blocking calls in an offensive line meeting.
It's no wonder why he hasn't had much time for sleep this week.
But he genuinely believes he can pull all of that off and make the enhancements, as he likes to say, across the board three weeks into an ongoing season. He believes the Trojans have put that Stanford debacle and the aftermath behind them. He believes this team has "hit the reset button" on its season and its goals.
Saturday afternoon in Pullman, Wash., will show a lot about these Trojans and whether there is not only fresh optimism for the future but for the present as well.
"I think in life and in football you have to embrace the suckiness. You have to embrace that. You have to embrace when everything is against you, when the chips are stacked against you. And I think right now this team embraces that and I think we're going to show the world on Saturday what we're all about," Williams said. "... Being able to go on the road and show how united we are is major for us. I think we're going to stick together and that's what we're going to do."
